What are the general abbreviations and conventions?

WTE-ANGA - Wedge Tailed Eagles Australasian Net Gaming Association

WTE Unit - An individual gaming entity within WTE-ANGA.

Executive Council - The top level command branch of the association comprising of the WTE Commanding Officer, WTE Executive Officer, WTE First Officer, WTE President and WTE Representative.

Representative Council - The command branch that is made up of representatives from each WTE Unit. The WTE President is elected from amongst this group to be a member on the Executive Council.

What is the WTE Charter?

The WTE Charter is in place to provide a number of high-level guidelines that all members agree to abide by while they are members of WTE. The items outlined in the charter are not for negotiation and are in place to protect the interests of the association as a whole, be it via the internet and its webpages or via its members, their conduct and the reflection on the integrity of the association caused by these actions.

The Charter is in no way intended to infringe on a member's standing within the association or detract from their enjoyment of being a member. It is merely a tool with which all member's agree to abide by.

What is the WTE Content Ownership principle?

The general ownership principle of the WTE is that it is owned by the members for the members. However, any and all submissions made to the website and the server will remain the property of the WTE should the contributor leave the association.

This is a condition made by the association so as to protect work that might be detrimental to the association should it be removed out of spite or other reasons. The creator, under law, still remains the intellectual owner of their creations and the WTE will not stop them using a copy of their creations elsewhere. The only exception to this rule is if the member in question created the content in conjunction with another member. If this is the case, then the other parties are required to give their consent.

However, by placing any submission onto the WTE server, creators are thereby allowing the WTE open-ended usage of their creation. WTE staff are only too willing to offer members copies (including source code) of their own work for use elsewhere. There are some restrictions on the above point. WTE-specific concepts, not originally conceived by the creator of a product, may not be duplicated elsewhere without the express permission of the Executive Council. It is understood that anything built for the WTE is done so at the creators free will, and thus comes under ownership of the WTE. If the creator wishes to duplicate their work elsewhere, the Executive Council will generally release the code/objects for the creator's use

Who owns WTE?

The names Wedge Tailed Eagles Australasian Net Gaming Association and WTE-ANGA and the domain http://wte-anga.com remain the property of WTE-ANGA.

Any content within the WTE-ANGA domain remains the property of WTE-ANGA and cannot be replicated without the express permission of the Executive Council unless it falls under one of the clauses stated below.

Who is responsible for the content management contained within WTE?

Responsibility for the management of content on the website resides with the Webmaster, with the Executive Council providing guidance where necessary.

To make unit areas more customisable, the Webmaster has provided the ability for specific members to access the folders containing web pages for the particular units. Who gets access to these areas is determined by both the Webmaster and the unit command staff. By default, the Unit OIC and 2IC get automatic access to these work areas. The OIC and 2IC can also stipulate certain unit members who can also access these areas.

Please do not ask for access to the website management screens unless you have a need to use them.

What are the supported games?

The games supported by WTE-ANGA are the games supported by the associations gaming units. This does not mean we discourage our members from playing other games online with other WTE members. In fact, we encourage it, especially if they're able to carry the WTE name further.

That being said, there are some restraints on our supported games: All members are to be aware that it is against policy for members to actively participate in a game in WTE while also being an active member of an external group using the same game. The supported games are defined by the WTE Executive Council according to the various factors such as demand from members, possible future growth or trial run. The Executive Council reserves the right to retire a unit (and its supported games) if it deems the interest level isn't there. Supported games will be provided with a level of service that unsupported games will not enjoy. These include recognised activity points towards a member's service record as well as dedicated support for the provision of webspace for the unit that supports the game.

Any member can recommend a game to be recognised as a supported game by presenting a trial case that will at least see the game promoted to trial status. If the Executive Council believes a game has promise and shows encouraging growth in its initial weeks, the unit that supports it could become permanent.

What is the definition of unsupported games?

Any game that is not supported by a WTE gaming unit is considered an unsupported game. The WTE places no restrictions on these games though they are not afforded the same level of support that the supported games are. They do not receive activity points and are not given webspace.

Involvement in WTE's supported games should take precedence over unsupported games if you have involved yourself with a WTE gaming unit.

Is there such a thing as Trial Units?

A member can, at any time, make a case to make an unsupported game supported. To do this, they should present their proposal to the WTE Executive Council who will then consider it. If they deem the proposal has promise, they will arrange the formation of a unit to be formed under a trial status. A trial unit, while being afforded the same level of support as a fully-fledged gaming unit, can be retired if it is deemed to be unsatisfactory after its first one or two months.

If the Executive Council, deem a trial unit to be unsatisfactory, they will issue a retirement order of the unit. If the Unit OIC and staff disagree with this assessment, they can show cause to the Executive Council (and the Representative Council) as to why the unit should remain.

In some cases, trial units (as with full units) can be placed in recess if a need is seen for the future but not the present.

What are full units?

Full units are those units which have established themselves as viable entities within the association. Their membership has grown and activity has remained consistent. The association realises that some units will not reach the same capacity as others and will use a combination of factors to determine the viability (ie. Real Time Strategy is a recognised gaming genre with a smaller player base than the more main stream Flight Sims and First Person Shooters).

A full unit will only be retired if one of the following conditions is met: The supported game(s) are no longer viable and no replacement has been found. For a game to be no longer viable would mean that the support in the general community has dropped dramatically as has the number of people playing; and The above condition exists and no replacement game (of a similar gameplay basis) is found. If the unit finds itself without command staff and no member willing to take the role. If the unit suffers a severe reduction in active members and weekly activity.

Retiring a full unit is a large step and not one taken lightly. All involved members will be consulted prior to the move.

Is there a Chain of Command?

There are two chains of command for people to follow in the association. One pertains to a members place within the association itself and the other pertains to their place within their units.

Is there a member representative in the Chain of Command?

When a member has an issue to raise with regards to their direct involvement with the association as a whole, they can simply talk directly to the WTE Representative. The WTE Representative is a member elected directly from the members to represent them on the Executive Council. The WTE Representative is simply there to give the members a direct voice into the Executive Council and represents the interests of the members with regards to the association without any influence from the units.

In the case that a member does not believe they are being fairly represented within the Executive Council by the WTE Representative, they can escalate their issue to the Executive Officer who will then consider it.

Always remember that the WTE Representative is there for the purpose of representing all members in the Executive Council with regards to their role within the association.

Is there a unit Chain of Command?

If a member has any issues with regards to their involvement within a unit, they are to follow the Chain-of-Command guidelines laid out by that particular unit. Failing that, they are to pass their concerns to the Unit Officer-in-Command and Unit Second-in-Command. If the unit commanders believe the issue is large enough, they can then pass that information on to the Representative Council via their unit representative. The council will then deliberate on the problem and either pass it back to the unit (with or without a solution) or will pass it on to the Executive Council via the WTE President.

If a member believes that a problem is not being addressed, they can escalate this to the Executive Officer.

Is there any appeal process in the Chain of Command?

In the case that a member believes their issues, concerns or problems are not being handled justly, they can escalate it straight to the Executive Officer. This must be done only after the appropriate Chains-of-Command have been used.

The Executive Officer will consider all escalations on a case-by-case basis and will consult the appropriate Chains-of-Command to get both sides of the story. They will then consult with the Commanding Officer and First Officer to determine if any further action is required and inform the member.

What is the Executive Council?

The Executive Council is the controlling body of the Wedge Tailed Eagles Australasian Net Gaming Association. Five members sit on this council for the purpose of deciding the overall direction and guidelines of the association.

Two positions are elected from the members (the WTE President and WTE Representative) and three members are permanent positions decided upon by themselves.

The three top positions, in order, are the WTE Commanding Officer, WTE Executive Officer and WTE First Officer. In the case that one of these members leaves their position, the member(s) below them will ascend into the position above. Once settled, new member(s) will be appointed into the vacant positions by the remaining member(s) in the above positions.

Decisions discussed by the Executive Council are passed by majority vote (thus the odd number of members). In the case that an even number of positions are filled at the time of a vote, each position is appointed a number of points for their vote:

Position Points
Commanding Officer 3 pts
Executive Officer 2 pts
First Officer 1 pt
WTE President 1 pt
WTE Representative 1 pt

Each member of the Executive Council has the opportunity to request that a decision be passed to the general member body for a vote. For this to occur, at least one other Executive Council member must concur with this request. Such decisions must pertain to major policy changes and not simple day-to-day running’s of the association.

What is the role of the Commanding Officer?

The Commanding Officer is the overall leader of the WTE association. Their primary purpose is to co-ordinate those below them and ensure the association as a whole is heading in the same direction. Less concerned with the day-to-day running of the association, the never-the-less need to know of the associations progress to ensure that nothing is going wrong or that the association is not wandering.

As the designated leader of the association, the Commanding Officer remains the chairman of the Executive Council and in most cases their vote should be taken with authority that the position it comes from suggests.

The Commanding Officer generally works in concert with the Executive Officer with regards to issues within the association.

What is the role of the Executive Officer?

The Executive Officer is the right-hand man behind the WTE Commanding Officer. The Executive Officer maintains a juggling act within the association, concerning themselves not only with the day-to-day runnings of the association, but making sure that the day-to-day stuff remains parallel to the goals set out by the Commanding Officer.

The Executive Officer is the coal face leader of WTE, there to ensure that the association remains on track while also informing the Commanding Officer of developments and receiving directives and observations back.

The Executive Officer works in concert with the Commanding Officer with regards to issues within the association.

What is the role of the First Officer?

The First Officer is the fallback guy of the WTE Commanding Officer and WTE Executive Officer. In the case that one of the afore mentioned cannot undertake their work, the First Officer is ready to step in and fill the breach.

The First Officer do not involve themselves entirely within the operations of the association but is required to provide input and their vote on Executive Council decisions plus reinforce executive decisions throughout the association, either directly or in concert with other Executive Council members.

What is the role of the President?

The primary role of the WTE President is to represent the interests of WTE's gaming units on the Executive Council. The WTE President is elected from within the Representative Council members by those members.

The WTE President is also responsible for chairing and organising the Representative Council. It is their duty to call meetings and formulate a majority standing on issues that directly affect the gaming units.

When the Executive Council is discussing topics that will not affect a unit, the WTE President is still required to provide input and their vote on the issue.

What is the role of the Representative?

The WTE Representative is the voice of the members on the Executive Council. Elected directly from within the general member body, the WTE Representative's primary purpose is to represent the interests of the WTE members on the Executive Council without any influence or bias to gaming units.

As most decisions made by the Executive Council will affect the members in form or another, the WTE Representative must be involved at all times in the decision making process.