Death From Above / DFA

A wise man once said ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’. Well, we are tired of standing idly by and watching while evil men profit and thrive on the suffering of the weak and downtrodden. No more.

If you are like us and feel rage at the injustice, the subjugation of the innocent, and man’s cruelty to man – If you do not believe that might makes right, then stand with us, and together we will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy our brothers.

Thieves, murderers, tyrants, look to the sky. Your day of reckoning has come.

Here’s a general rundown of some of the general rules and guidelines that help to define our culture in DFA, as detailed by Havoc:

For the most part, everything boils down to this: Don’t be a jerk, don’t cause drama, do the right thing.

Pretty simple, and all facets of the same idea, but also much easier said than done. I’ll try and expound a little:

Do not fall victim to John Gabriel’s GIFT: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 – We are all real meat-based human beings (Except for Cele who is clearly a robot, and Perris who is some kind of mutant space goat) and our actions have real consequences. We are all fallible, and we all (mostly) have feelings. Try not to be insensitive / hurtful / inflammatory, we’re all supposed to be on the same side here.

That being said, any time you put lots of people in the same space, conflict will arise. It’s not possible to have a ‘no drama’ guild, so instead we strive for ‘low drama’ and ‘calm / rational conflict resolution’. Most disagreements arise from simple miscommunication, and that can be compounded by the volatile gasoline-coated nature of the internet. Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, don’t lose your temper, and come fetch me or another officer if you need help working things out with another member.

Most of all, just try and always put others before self. It’s a deceptively simple idea, but clashes directly with our base human nature. Nevertheless, this is the principle that drives us and defines us as a group, and it alone will solve a good majority of problems before they arise.

A few other particulars to keep in mind:

We do not discriminate against anyone for their race, religion, or sexual orientation, and we have a zero-tolerance policy on bigotry. We judge others based on their choices and their actions, nothing more. To that end, while crude language and obscenities in general are A-OK, discriminatory language and epithets are not.

On that note, while we accept followers of all faiths (or non-faith), we also do not find it wise to discuss religion or politics in public, be that the forums or chat or whatever form of VOIP. It is simply not the right venue for it, and distracts us from the common values that bind us together.

On the subject of guild organization:

Our leadership structure has remained essentially unchanged for the entire duration that DFA has been in operation. Death From Above is led by a benevolent dictatorship that is supported by a cabinet of officers. I always try to do what’s best for the guild as a whole, putting the needs of the many above the needs of the few, in the best way I know how. I’m not perfect, and fortunately I have a great group of officers to help me keep my head screwed on straight. I know I can’t make everyone happy all the time, but I try anyway, and I have an open door policy. If you have a problem, bring it to me and I’ll do my best to help you sort it out or at least explain why I’ve done things the way I have when it’s something you don’t agree with.

Ultimately, the goal of the leaders is to develop and execute policy to support the clan’s vision, serve the members at large, and to lead by example. Sometimes we fail, and then we get back up and try again. It’s not a perfect system, and it’s not for everyone, but we’re pretty happy with it and find it to be more efficient than more distributed forms of government for our (comparatively) small number. In the end, nobody is forced to be here (except Haplos), which is pretty much the only time a dictatorship really works. ;)

Finally, recruits are treated the same as members in almost every instance – we do not have 2nd class citizens or any ‘privileged’ ranks. That being said, we may have to take some extra precautions or extended vetting in Star Citizen due to the possibility of spies from pirate / troll guilds attempting to infiltrate the ranks. The upshot though, is to not feel bad if you are a recruit for a potentially long period of time – we like to really get to know folks and make sure that we are a good fit for each other in the long run. It’s a process that has served us very well over the years, and many of us have been playing together for more than a decade as a result. We take good care of each other, and many of us have since met or already know one another or in RL. We’re not just another gaming clan, we’re a second family.