Groups & Structure

Players and those who create a website account are considered members of the VG Community and are welcome to participate in any open public events, clubs, or activities here.  This is the Standard Member group for all new accounts, and allows forum posting and replying to content, private messenger, and access to the chatbox.  Standard Members may access personalized forum signature in profile settings after 30 days, with up to 2 images, lines and links.

Enlisted Members Group is for those who join an Official VG Club, and would like to become more than just a member in the game/club they enjoy here at VG.  We openly hand out this role to anyone who agrees to follow the rules, accepted by joining an Official VG Club, and this includes a Group Ribbon displayed next to forum posts and on the members profile.

The Jr. Officer Group is for our members who have actively participated on VG Servers for some time, and know the game and rules well.  They may be in-game admins in training, and are members of our intermediate Website Group and Club progression.  Some players want to take their gaming participation to a higher level, and help us make VG a fun place to hang out and game, and Jr. Officers are known regulars who like to help out either as in-game admins or helpful regular players that other players can look up to if they need support or direction.

Our Officers Group contains well known regular players and in-game Admins on our servers. This group is for our players who would like to hold more responsibility in our community and the server(s) they play on here at VG.  Officer Members know our rules well for the games they play, and can help others by answering questions about the rules or game server, and are trusted to conduct themselves honorably here at VG.  Not everyone is a good fit for the VG Clan, and not everyone wants to be part of an involved gaming Clan like VG, so we have this Officer Member group to recognize our appreciation for our long time regular players and in-game Admins who play with us year after year.  The Officer Group is also the final stepping stone for those do become VG Clan Members.

Some players just want to get into the game and action, but military games usually need a leader for the squad or flight.  2nd Lt. Wings for a given VG Club are awarded to those who enjoy taking on or learning the in-game leadership roles such as Squad Leader or Flight Leader.  Like all Club Rank 'Wings', this designation is just for fun and recognition of those we can look up to for leadership and guidance in our games and the specific club, and not 'rank' or privilege over our peers in-game.  Have fun with your game time and join the VG Club Leadership ranks for a military themed skill based progression and recognition within a VG Club!

The next level of a VG Club Rank 'Wings' progression is for those who have continued to enjoy taking on leadership roles in the game(s) of the specific club.  1st Lt. Wings for a given VG Club can help us recognize those with greater dedication to the in-game leadership roles, the VG Club itself, and those known as helpful members to new players or pilots.  These members know the game and its functions well and may be a good source for information & guidance for club members and 2nd Lt. Members within the VG Club Leadership ranks, participating in training events when able, as appropriate for the given club.

For long time well known and respected members of a given VG Club, we offer the Captain Wings as way of recognizing our most dedicated and/or knowledgeable members of our Club Leadership ranks.  Again, like all 'Wings' Club Ranks, this designation comes with no additional privileges beyond the trust and respect of those who look up to them to run the fun squads and flights we all enjoy in our games for that VG Club.  Captain Wings are awarded to those members who demonstrate proficiency with cooperation, communication, and teamwork as the friendly and capable leaders we can turn to for guidance and answers for the VG Club or game(s) of that club.

VG Clan Members are our long time friends and trusted regular members of the VG Community who have been voted in by a majority of active VG Clan Members with no considerable objections.  We are very selective and very slow to recruit members into the VG Clan, and the requirements for consideration include evaluations that can only be performed organically over time and through the members own participation and level of interaction with other VG Clan Members they play with on our servers.

VG Clan Members help grow our community by managing the servers we play on, setting a good example for other players, and directing activities and changes.  All Clan Administrators, Active Clan Members, Inactive Clan Members, and VG Alumni are listed in the general "VG Clan Members" groups and lists equally throughout VG and this website.  We are always watching out for friendly team players who enjoy cooperation and online gaming with our members at VG, and who are known well and spoken highly of by VG Clan Members on the games they play.

We extend access to all areas of VG to all active VG Clan Members, as well as access to VG Clan Membership votes and nominations.  This also includes access to Member and Systems Proposals for changes/additions to areas managed by Servers Team, Tech Team, or Clan Administrator members.  We all get busy with life, and many of us pop back after a time, so we have this single designation for all members who have remained active within the past few years.  Rather than remove members who have stopped playing, we may just move them to the "Inactive" group below.

The Inactive Clan Members Group is for our long time Clan Members at VG who have gotten busy with life and other things, but remain trusted friends and welcome members of the VG Clan. For safety and security, we add the members of this group to an "Inactive" group which does not have the default all-access to all areas of the VG website.  This is either done by request from a member going away for a time, or by website inactivity greater than a few years.  Clan Members in this group who return are absolutely welcomed back, and if just popping in to say hello, may remain in the "Inactive" group by their choosing, or return to our Active Clan Members group if they are active once again in our game servers and community.

For our oldest friends in VG who were members greater than five years, and who had been inactive for more than a few years following that, we may award them an honored inactive designation among our VG Alumni group.  These members may choose to return as active VG Clan Members if they become regularly active on our game servers again, and may also choose to remain in the VG Alumni group.  We value our play time and our long time friendships at VG, and we are proud to offer this role to those members who may be more busy with their lives but will always be welcome in their home at VG.

For those beloved VG Clan Members who have passed.  We honor our friends and cherish our memories with them.  They will live on forever in our hearts, and in our Clan Immemorium at VG.                                   

The VG Clan is a Round Table and we are all equals in this community as full members, but within the VG Clan, we do have many roles and hats to wear.  To help better recognize our appreciation for those members who volunteer time working with our members, and our servers or tech, we have established some military themed names for a few of our Management Teams.

These are the roles that include a little more work than fun, and sometimes a lot more work and dedication day after day.  VG Clan Members who want to step up and help grow and manage current VG Servers are welcome to do so simply by asking, or using the Systems Proposal form where we can discuss new ideas and what is or is not possible, or form a plan to make it possible.

VG Clan Administrators cannot do everything, and so the Servers Team comprises members who have technical experience and have founded servers or work directly with any of our current servers to create, update, or directly manage them, their config files, and the admins and members who play on them.  When a VG Clan Member wants to take charge of a server that needs managers, or found a new server as a project, if approved they are given the access and tools needed and some training to help manage or make a new server come to life at VG, including choosing or helping to choose who can change their config files or how a server operates.
 

Servers Team members are considered extremely trustworthy and careful individuals who work with the nuts and bolts of the servers we all use, where one extra ";" or a missing "," in the wrong place can send us all offline for a day or more until fixed.  We expect anyone who is willing and able to take on these volunteer positions to follow certain SOP's depending on the server(s) they work with, and to keep up to date with any new changes to these procedures.  Members of the Servers Team are strongly encouraged take their own online security more seriously, using secure passwords and 2-Factor authorizations where able for the many other websites and places they go online, as well as at VG.

Server Captains are members who have been appointed by VG Clan Administrators or a VG Server Founder to directly manage the in-game activities and personnel of a given server.  They may also have direct file access in order to appoint new in-game Admins, when applicable to a game, and have the ability to nominate or appoint Server Lieutenants to assist in server management and decisions that direct the server.  They work with the Server Founder(s) and/or VG Clan Administrators to make sure the server is running as best as it can, as it was originally intended, and that players are content & rules are being followed.

Working directly with Server Lieutenants to manage the players and Server Officers, the Server Captains are expected to be available to do that extra work and put in the extra time to discuss server matters and keep things running well day after day.  They will help make sure players who have been banned have a swift route to resolution on the forums, for games where this applies, taking care of contacting the banning Admin or identifying issues through logs and sharing them (or outright closing a request when unban is clearly not an option).  Like all of these teams, the names are military themed for fun, and we never have a need to 'pull rank' over each other, but only to help recognize those who have stepped up to do the work we need done so we can all keep playing our games.

Server Lieutenants are members who have volunteered for, or have been appointed to, a Server Management position. They assist the Server Captain and Server Founder or VG Clan Administrators in making decisions which effect all players on the server, help manage player Unban Requests when able, and to help make sure these Unbanned players are Unbanned if appropriate (and as applicable to the server/game).  As part of the Server Management Team, these members are also entrusted with deeper levels of access to VG Clan technical resources, sometimes including direct file access on a case by case basis.

Server Officers are members of the Officer Group who are regular in-game Admins (in games which allow in-game Admins), and/or help to manage a server with Start/Stop/Restart access. When able, they have access to server player logs or chat logs for game Admin purposes, or may request them if needed for an incident on the server.  Like all roles, this is a volunteer group for those who don't mind helping to manage the server as well as play on it, and a designation used to show our appreciation for their help.  This is a direct path to a role as a Server Lieutenant, which is only very rarely given to non-VG Clan Members.

The VG Tech Team includes members with an IT, programming, or tech background outside VG who brought that into every technical area of VG during the early years, from the hardware that runs all our game servers to the droplet servers that host our unsinkable website.  The Tech Team is composed of only VG Clan Administrators dedicated to VG and the COOP gaming vision of our leader BLuDKLoT - members who formed together many years ago, and spent more time in the VG TeamSpeak hanging out than in games - working very well together while discussing technology, potential improvements, technical tests and server trials (...and also gaming together).

Some members may have moved on, but are still considered a permanent part of the team that formed the systems we all use, and occasionally return to assist in major updates and upgrades for systems they designed.  These are the members to contact when things are not working, and they are usually never more than a few hours away by message (if not online already).  From the OS on the dedicated game servers to databases like this VG Wiki and the Unban Request forms, the VG Tech Team set up all of the systems and procedures we still use to make sure VG remains running day after day. These members spent (and still spend) considerable time outside games tinkering and coding to establish core systems with love for VG and its members so that other people can freely develop their own systems within them including webpages, new servers or new server features, Admin tools like the PR Admin Dashboard, or developing projects like the PR COOP Insurgency Gamemode, and VG Discord Bot(s).