Clan:Caped Carousers

Introduction
Perhaps best known for its public displays of mass Quest Cape (and other) emotes, the Caped Carousers are an eclectic mixture of relatively mature players of all ages, including an unusually high proportion of RuneScape Player and Forum Moderators.

Origins
The Caped Carousers were born out of a desire to do something a bit different to celebrate obtaining a Quest Cape - basically an online 'pub crawl'. The original event back in April 2007 was a great success, and various people suggested getting together to do something similar on a regular basis. Life being what it is, it was almost a year before this happened. The first real Caped Carousers event was held in April 2008, with a grand total of four people attending.

Growth
The Carousers gradually accumulated more members from among friends and from chance encounters in the game, as well as from the forums. From the outset, the aim was to have a simple structure that discouraged internal politics.

Although it was never intended to have a 'homeworld', the fact that the founders shared one, and initially invited friends from there to join, led to 124 becoming the unofficial base. This remained the case (with a brief interlude when PvP worlds were introduced) until May 2009, when 124 was definitively turned into a Bounty World, scattering members across many servers.

As the group developed, it started to do other things too, from training to just having fun. This continues today, with occasional events as well as regular minigames. Members started to take responsibility for some of these, as well as making videos of our events, and this has been a key factor in continuing growth. By 2009 the Carousers were holding 18 events per week... Thrice-yearly membership sweeps (known affectionately as 'purges') serve to remove inactive members, and provide focus. The group's chat channel, originally intended just for organising Cape events, quickly became the centre of everything - serving sometimes as a venue for intellectual conversation, sometimes as a place to kick back and relax, sometimes as somewhere to get good advice and ideas, and sometimes it just offers some companionable silence.

Maturity
The discovery of an abandoned pub in East Ardougne by the Caped Carousers - quickly dubbed the 'Mary Celeste' by members - was brought to Jagex's (and specifically Mod Emilee's) attention in March 2009. This directly triggered a series of events culminating in the May 6th Guaranteed Content Poll for a pub name, and RSB forum threads to decide on the decoration, NPC's etc. It's now called the Poison Arrow.

In Spring 2009, the Caped Carousers placed 7th out of the 84 clans participating in the Jagex Skilling Cup, with a team led by Crolla. On September 19th 2009 one of their events was featured, with screen shots, on the official RuneScape Facebook page, courtesy of Mods Poppy & SteveW.

On December 22nd 2009 the Carousers were featured on the first Clan Submission Page in the Developer Blogs area of the main RS website, in a searching interview by Mod Timbo. On the same day, a new page about clans appeared in the Game Guide (Home &gt; Customer Support &gt; Other &gt; Clans), where the Carousers were mentioned again. Clearly, the Carousers had become a fixture in the community!

As of January 2010, the Caped Carousers had over 150 members.

Membership requirements

 * The Caped Carousers are open to P2P players who possess (and can wear) a Quest Cape.
 * The group is open to members of all ages. Members should however have a mature attitude to having fun (!), and be friendly and helpful to others at all times. Those who insult others, mock those less able or experienced than themselves, or enjoy arguing for the sake of argument, are not welcome.
 * Members may belong to other clans, societies, guilds, associations, unions, fraternities/sororities, clubs and/or social groups without any restriction whatsoever – but any disagreements arising from such memberships should be left at the door. Events are not to be used as a venue for pursuing clan vendettas or rivalries.
 * Members shall be called Carousers, and will be expected to maintain their Quest Capes. There will always time between the release of a new quest and Cape events to allow members time to regain their capes.
 * Members shall be expected to monitor the RSB forum threads for news and information!
 * Some members may be assigned special roles within the group, and given titles accordingly. In particular, members who regularly organise our keystone Cape events shall be named Reprobates.
 * Carousers who (for whatever reason) are unable to maintain their capes within a reasonable time of a new quest being released will be designated Revellers.
 * Members shall be accepted provisionally in the first instance. Two weeks after the release of the first quest following acceptance, a decision will be made by the Gaffer as to whether the player is well suited to the group and should remain a member.
 * The Gaffer reserves the right to refuse membership applications without providing reasons.
 * Failure to accept a rejection will be seen as confirming unsuitability for the group.

Events

 * Cape events (with compulsory dress code) will be arranged by the Gaffer or Reprobates only and announced on the front page of this thread. Any members may suggest events for inclusion. We aim to have Reprobates in timezones convenient to members in Europe, the Americas and Australasia.
 * Members are expected to know about events.
 * If they attend a Cape event, members MUST adhere to the dress code provided (which will ALWAYS include a Quest Cape) and join the cc during events! If you can’t dress for the occasion, please don’t come.
 * Informal Minigame and Training events may be run by any member, once approved by the Gaffer, as long as there are no scheduling clashes.
 * At events, members must remain polite to all other players at all times! We don’t wish to give drinkers a bad name…
 * If you are not taking part in a pre-announced event, please do not interrupt the chat channel with off topic chatter while it is taking place.
 * Members do not need to be present for every event.

General standards

 * Members may NOT promote the real life consumption of alcohol under any circumstances. In real life alcohol is dangerous, and should be approached responsibly.
 * NO QUEST SPOILERS! You may give hints to those desperate for help, but not direct instructions for completing a quest. Private chat options exist for a reason…
 * Respect other users and their feelings: no spamming, flaming, deliberate provocation or intentionally annoying behaviour!
 * Remember that a degree of maturity is expected in the chat channel; please try to avoid childishness.
 * Avoid incorrect abbreviations like 'k k', 'wuu2', 'pl0x' etc., and the excessive use of potentially offensive ones (wtf, ffs etc.), as a refusal may cause civil war to break out!
 * Listen to warnings from the Reprobates or Gaffer.
 * Act with honour at all times.

Conduct on the RuneScape forums

 * Members must not flame others on the threads, nor respond to flames or spam by non-members. The theme around which this group is based is a controversial one, and it is ESSENTIAL that this rule is followed.
 * The forum threads should not be bumped, they are both quite capable of looking after themselves!

Misc.

 * Clan chat ranks will be assigned as follows:

Corporal - provisional member of the Carousers Sergeant - not used Lieutenant - Reveller (former Carouser who has lost their cape) Captain - Caped Carouser General - Reprobate or higher rank
 * Recruit - designated friend of the Carousers


 * For security reasons, any member changing their display name MUST post a notice to this effect on the Recruitment thread. Failure to do so will result in instant removal.