The Sword's Edge
Issue 45: 9th May - Forged in fire, tempered through wisdom, sharpened by resolve.
Another month, and even more cabal members online all the time and looking for things to do..
In April we were lucky to have a fantastic Cabal Pride event - which definitely exceeded the expectations of the planning team behind the event. We have had a massive increase in recruitment in the cabal and lots and lots of activity.
Going forwards into May, we launch a new Joke Competition for all members of our cabal to participate in. You can read more about it in this months issue, as well as in a thread in our Noticeboard form. Planning for MEGAversary is ongoing and it is not too late to get involved!
See you all ingame,
~ Katelin
Cabal Pride Overview
The concerns we had about running Cabal Pride this year were fortunately unfounded, and there were so many of you there that at some points there were queries in the general chat channels about whether we had reached capacity in Agartha. We are very thankful so many of you turned out to support and represent our cabal for Cabal Pride 7!
Some of you have already asked about whether we will run another next year. Honestly I think we have to leave that decision to closer to April / May 2021. With just 3 cabals signed up this year, the event was more so for socialising than lots of cabals advertising themselves - and attending a social event alone doesn't take as much planning and headaches as Cabal Pride often does for our events team! Perhaps we can hold another Brainstorming session at the start of the coming year.
If you use Twitter, there are lots of amazing screenshots there to look over here via the #SWLCP7 , we also had some screenshots posted in this forum thread.
Representing our cabal
I am very biased, and incredibly proud of our cabal - and I know many of you are too. That said, sometimes it can help to remind each other of those little common sense things so that our day to day teaming and interactions are even more positive!
As I am sure you all read in our directives, our General Conduct guideline asks that
All members of Nine Swords will:
- Remember that they are representing the cabal at all times.
- Show respect to our community.
- Use our communication resources responsibly and considerately.
- Keep themselves up to date with guidelines set out within our Cabal Directives.
What does this mean exactly? Well - our name, is above your head all the time - whether you have that feature turned on or not! That means, if you are extra super nice it reflects on us… and if you have a stress and don't handle things optimally, it reflects on us too.
One of the key areas we have to manage is when we team for dungeons, raids and lairs etc. Most of us do this every day, and not just once or twice. Many of us have had lots of good experiences.. we all remember the really bad experiences though!
If for example, you are running a team and getting members for that team from the Looking for Group channel, those people may not know you. But as team leader, they are likely expecting you to lead the team competently! If you are not leading a team, but have joined one then during any run always consider your assigned role and act accordingly, e.g. tanks always pull. It is always the goal not to ruin the game experience of the other players.
I know one thing I have struggled with recently is crashing - lots of people are having similar issues. Some days where I have crashed a lot I don't want to even consider teaming and forcing others to suffer my problem… but there are other days where I had a stable connection until I zone into a dungeon. Even though the crash is not my fault.. or your fault if it is you crashing, apologise to your team for keeping them waiting. It is polite.
What happens if you are in a dungeon and your door bell rings, or the phone rings? Definitely acceptable to tell your team you need 2mins to answer it, not acceptable to say nothing for 20mins and leave your team hanging. Emergencies do happen, but please use your common sense and common courtesy.
Our leadership team in Nine Swords aims for everything to work smoothly for the cabal as a whole. This is done to ensure the environment within the cabal remains and continues to be a positive one. If you have any questions or concerns based on what I have written here, I am very open to discuss those points with you!
MEGAversary
It is certainly not long until Nine Swords will be celebrating it's 8th Anniversary, and SWL will be 3!
For the 3rd SWL Anniversary, Nine Swords will be doing all we can to support MEGAVersary - the community run anniversary events. Getting involved with the planning and offering your time and team leading for MEGAversary is still possible. HolloPoint is actively checking this thread here in our Tasks forum. Please do not be shy to let him know you want to help!
Competition time!
We all like a good laugh. So, when Rifla got his hands on a couple of Evil Laugh emotes… we knew we had to think of a funny competition!
From today Swords, until the end of the month - we want you to submit a SWL themed joke.
How does the competition work?
- Head over to this thread here to submit your joke.
- The joke must be SWL themed, otherwise it will be disqualified.
- The joke must be your own work.
- One entry per Cabal Member.
We will put the entries up for cabal vote on Saturday 30th May, and there will be 7 days for our members to vote on the entries. The top two voted jokes will win an Evil Laugh emote!!
What's in a name?
This month, Rifla decided it was about time we all understood the meaning of his name!
The surprisingly 26 year old(!) and very random origin-story of Rifla
The year is 1994. The norwegian tv channel "TV2" remakes a 1991 Danish tv show called "The Julekalender"(The Christmas calendar).
The series got cult status with music that caught on with older kids in Norway and loved by adults as well, and among products coming from it was a bag of potato-chips named after one of the characters.
This beautiful bag of chips was on the computer desk in front of me when I 26 years ago was forced to input a username in a game a sadly cant remember the name of at this moment. The same username has followed in lots of different games ever since.
All the episodes can be found on YouTube with English texting but sadly 1994 graphics has not aged well. https://www.youtube.com/
Joining our divisions
Our divisions need you! So, if you are feeling settled in Nine Swords and are looking for how you can be more involved - as well as heading along to any scheduled workshops or Sharpening the Blades to get advice and talk about what you could do, here is a summary of what is currently going on. There is always so much to get involved with - so why not help shape how our future looks!
Recruitment: Recruitment has been on the up this last few weeks - the only way we can ensure to maintain what we are doing, is by more of our members having their recruiter training and helping the current Recruiter team!
Academy: Ensuring that as many of our new members are given support, and not feeling they were recruited and not cared about is very important to us. Every single member in our cabal is integral to our success! Our Academy program includes new member sessions and workshops that you can get involved with.
PvE: What a busy division! So many things going on all the time … but with so many of us wanting to do things - we always need more people leading teams! Get in touch with Phanth or Rifla if you want to step up and help Nine Swords continue to be active and full of teaming possibilities.
The Pen: Our 9S Bestiary and The Great Library are living projects. They will never be finished. But we have members asking questions about things every day. Why not take time to contribute to the resources we have to share your knowledge!
RP: If Roleplaying is your thing and you want to contribute to RPing becoming more active in Nine Swords, get in touch with Katelin.
Public Relations: Our PR division has been continuing to deliver The Sword's Edge, as well as keeping our communication resources up to date.
Events: Events focus is on the bigger, not day to day events, but on the large scale ones. Those that require lots of planning, lots of resources and a huge stack of patience! If you think you could contribute to this division, get in-touch with Yuriksha.
PvP: If you want to sharpen the skills of the cabal through PVP events such as tournaments, and fight nights. - get in touch with our leadership team!
Need more information? Why not check out our division overview in the 9S Directives: Division Overview
Your next issue of The Sword's Edge...
Your next issue of The Sword's Edge will be released on the 9th of June - see you then!
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