Elf Clan Charter

 

 

 

Elf Clan originally was the largest themed (non-business) group on Second Life, the very first themed group (not business or education) to acquire a private region on SL, the first group to reach 500... 1,000... 1,500+ members. This was at a time when 100 members was considered a "large" group on Second Life.  When we finally left Second Life due to excessive costs*,  Elf Clan had over 2,000 members and was the largest Fantasy group on SL.  A group of that size and rapidly growing needed an extensive charter.  The Elf Clan Charter was written in 2005 and became the foundation of group conduct and policy.

 

WHY A CHARTER?

In those days Second Life was new, people weren't used to how things worked, and we didn't have the tools we have today.  We were renting lands on eight regions.  So our original Charter was a small guidebook of how to conduct life on Second Life, how to rent land, how to host events, how to battle griefers (there were no anti-griefer tools such as freezing), expected conduct of members and visitors, how to gain different Titles in the group and more.  The Charter was so comprehensive that other groups requested permission to duplicate our Charter for use in their groups.

 

Today things are quite a bit different.  Our group is smaller, our events less "official" (no more Titles), and we no longer rent parcels.  Even the Eldar (once the leaders of Elf Clan) no longer exist.  (They have been replaced by the Sentinels, basically group land owners and moderators.)  So now our Charter is trimmed to the bare necessities.

 

THE ELF CLAN CHARTER

THE CORE GUIDELINES are still the same as they have ever been.  The basic rules and core motto is found on the home page.

 

KEEPING IT UNREAL.  As has always been our policy, real life is to be left in real life.  Elf Clan lands are a place where people come to get away from such things.  Thus we allow no politics, religious themes, holidays, symbols or practices (not even fantasy-based ones, as these can offend RL sensibilities).  Our fantasy theme has nothing to do with RL activities and practices.   The same holds true for real life ethnic, cultural or social activities of any kind. 

 

While Elf Clan supports charities in spirit, there are plenty of places people can go to participate in charity events.  Elf Clan is a place people come to leave all such concepts behind so they can enjoy a few hours in peace and harmony in a fantasy setting where no such world exists.

 

In short, please leave real life in real life. 

 

NO RENTALS.  As mentioned above, all of our lands are used for group activities.  We no longer rent out parcels or homes. But if people want to 'camp' on our lands (hang out and spend most of your time there)... that's what they're for.  Make the entire group your "home".  You may use our sandbox to temporarily rez items.

 

HOSTING EVENTS.  If you're interested in hosting an Elf Clan event please let us know.  We have several games and activities already set up and ready to use, or you may have one of your own in mind.

 

DEALING WITH GRIEFERS.  We have far more tools to deal with such now.  It's simple:  1.  Sit down.  2. Call for assistance via Elf Clan Chat.  Something as simple as "We have a griefer at (wherever)" is sufficient.  3. Write down the actual name of the griefer (not their "display" name)  and copy/paste any relevant chat to a notecard or text file.   4. Remain seated until a Sentinel comes and takes care of the problem (or the griefer leaves). 5. Lastly, please turn in an abuse report to Linden Lab with all applicable info. 

 

IF A SENTINEL ISN'T AVAILABLE... ignoring or laughing at griefers can be very effective.  Don't let them anger you. Remember: griefers can't do permanent harm; we can.  They can be banned by Linden Lab and their account frozen.  They will be perma-banned from our lands.   The advantage is yours by simply keeping calm.  Go ahead and chat with your friends. Griefers can't afford to stay around very long.  The longer they remain on our land the more danger they face dealing with Linden Lab... or us.

 

MAKE A FRIEND.  We might also mention that in our past at least two griefers became loyal Elf Clan members once they learned more about who we are and what we stand for.  Sometimes remaining calm and explaining what Elf Clan is about will make the griefer feel welcome... and realize he's found a new home.  Or it may bore him to tears and he'll just leave. You never can tell :D

 

 

That's about it.  Enjoy yourselves on our new Elf Clan lands.

 

---o---

 

 

 

 

A BRIEF ELF CLAN HISTORY AND CURRENT STATUS

In 2011 when rising SL fees cost our group $350 a month per region, Elf Clan left Second Life.  At that price we could not recoup our costs through rentals.  We had already shut down six out of eight regions.  We'd gone to host company Linden Lab and explained things, asking them to lower the costs to prior levels, pointing out that if our fees didn't return to prior levels our alternative was to shut down our lands entirely and leave Second Life.  They didn't care, and they discovered we were not bluffing.  We shut down November 2011 and moved the largest themed group on Second Life to a competitive company.  This predictably had repercussions on SL, both in population and revenue.

 

As a prominent SL News blog at that time stated, "When a group such as Elf Clan leaves Second Life, something is seriously wrong with the company."   It most certainly was.  Linden Lab (under prior owners) was greedy and seemed to not care about customer needs and circumstances.  We foresaw that Elf Clan leaving would cost Linden Lab far more than they imagined and told them so.  They didn't believe us, but our prediction proved true.

 

There were several thousand Second Life members and groups who were as upset about costs as we were.  When they saw Elf Clan leave they followed us and left SL as well, taking their money and creativity with them. This put SL-competitor Opensim on the map. 

 

When we initially attempted to negotiate with Linden Lab and they ignored us, we tried to warn them that if Elf Clan left Second Life it would cost their company considerably more than the US $50,000+ in land fees we'd paid them over the 7 years we were there (yes, Second Life land is that absurdly expensive).  That prediction proved to be true.  It is roughly estimated that Elf Clan's exit along with the people who shut down their SL lands and followed us to Opensim (or left virtual worlds altogether and turned to other activities) cost Linden Lab several million dollars in lost land fees during the 13-year period from 2011 to 2024. 

 

We're not grousing here. These are realistic facts, and this tale simply a lesson to be learned:  meet customer needs or lose those customers to the competition. 

 

ELF CLAN ON OPENSIM

Today Elf Clan owns 50 regions on two 25-region Opensim continents that are large, beautiful and fascinating... and they cost considerably less than $350 per region. (Opensim is open-source software that allows us to run Elf Clan on our own computer server for approximately the cost of host equipment and electricity.)   We have far more land area, improved building tools, and two million prims at our disposal.  (We don't use anywhere near that... about 90,000 prims per continent serves our needs well.)  On Opensim we have virtually no prim limits, no LI limits, no prim size limits, no linking limits (either in prim count or distance), no upload fees and no sim crossing lines (our regions are joined together in one contiguous land mass). Our lands are larger and more detailed than anything we ever built on Second Life and we have large sailing oceans that we never enjoyed on SL.  Opensim is a creator's paradise.  Elf Clan is not active on Opensim because well, a great deal of time has passed and Elf Clan's glory days are done.  But the lands serve as a testament to one of the most original, largest and most active groups formed in the early days of Second Life.

 

ELF CLAN ON SECOND LIFE

Years after our leaving, Linden Lab changed hands and eventually lowered prices back down to "still absurd but workable". A couple of enthusiastic members offered to host our group once again (on smaller land parcels).  So at their request and for the sake of our still-remaining Second Life members (mind you, 20 years have passed and many of us are no longer young), Elf Clan returned... not in our former SL glory and not as active, but still offering the occasional fun event and a 24/7 peaceful, harmonious environment on family-friendly lands.  Dragon Hearth is approximately 1/2 region in size, and our lands at Elf Clan Memento are on a small parcel.  We are in the process of developing a small third land but that is still sometime off in the future as the need arises. 

 

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED

Over the years we discovered something to hold true:   It's not the amount of land you own or where it's located.  It's the people who enjoy it that make it home.  Virtual worlds can be a great waste of time and money if integrity and honor are not part of the equation.

 

--Wayfinder Wishbringer, founder of Elf Clan

 

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