A Word from our Crown Prince, Jerod

Jerod's Thoughts on Clan Philosophy
There are many clans in bloodlines to chose from that range from very formal and rule driven to very informal.  Here is one extreme from an actual clan that no longer exist.

All clan members approved by the King and Queen
Strict Guildines on Turnings
Scheduled Formal Group Turnings
Strict Chain of Command with Strong Authority to King and Queen
Formal Dispute Resolution Guidelines
No Biting or Souls Allowed for Blood Dolls

From talking to Darrell about how and why he formed the clan, I think i can best sum it up based on the introduction of our blog "Very few rules, have fun, show respect and keep your drama to yourself."  I like to say we have three rules Have Fun,  No Drama, Have Fun . You might throw in respect each other too.

 In my opinion the more rules and the more formal you get the more work it is to enforce and oversee everything and the more complaints you get.  I have been in Divine for nearly 2 years and similar clan for nearly a year before that.  I have watched many clans get more controlling and in most all instances, due to the freedom in sl to just leave or log off, those clans don't last, almost without exception. 

The wisdom of the founders of Divine and why it has lasted, is it combines the two.   We have a formal royal structure to get the required tasks done to have fun and help each other out.  We have very few restrictive rules other than those to keep things respectful such as chat rules and simple guidelines like the roles of lieges, vamps, lycan, hybrids and blood dolls.  The classes we give are to assist lieges and teach those that want to learn,  not mandate all actions and behaviors.

To be sustainable,  you should not have mandates you cannot enforce or without consequences but you can create expectations that you have to make this a fun and respectful place to come and enjoy secondlife.    For example, we should expect and have guidelines in place that if you bring in a new clan member and make them a blood doll, vamp, lycan or hybrid that you should make sure you spend the time to teach them or start them off slow as a blood doll until they can learn.  But again, the classes are to help our members not to control them.  If a liege wants to spend several hours teaching a new member the things they will learn in the classes we should not mandate it unless we become overrun with new untrained members.  At that time the leadership should discuss the issue with the liege.
 
Again, in my opinion, classes are to assist lieges not control them.    I and many others came to Divine because of its general philosophy. "we give you a place and a family to have fun, respect each other and we reward those who contribute to that goal and are willing to learn the basics of the game and the clan". 

Those are my thoughts about what Divine is in the spirit of what Darrell meant to create and so many others have carried on as one of the longer lasting clans in Bloodlines.
Jerod