MAIN

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary of terms used in this document

AB = Amazon Basin.
ABCM = Amazon Basin Community Member.
ABGA = Amazon Basin Guild Administrator.
ABGM = Amazon Basin Guild Member.
ABM = Amazon Basin Member.
ABN = Amazon Basin Nation (new concept).
CM = Community Member.
COT = Completely Off Topic, normally referring to the forum of the same name.
IB = Invision Boards.
IPB = Invision Power Boards.
PM = Personal Message; see explanations below.

Questions and Answers

COMMUNITY RELATED QUESTIONS

1. What is The Amazon Basin?
The Amazon Basin is a community of people who share an interest in fair and respectful game play. The Amazon Basin arose around Diablo II and now consists of six independent guilds, each focusing on one game: Diablo II, Dark Age of Camelot, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Galaxies, Horizons and World of Warcraft. The community also has its General Forums that are not game-specific and can be found here.

The Basin is entirely non-profit-driven. No advertisement banners exist anywhere on the website, no fees are charged to participate in the community, and all of the people who keep the organization going do so as unpaid volunteers. Donations are welcome though, to pay for the server hosting among other fees.

To know more about The Amazon Basin visit this page, to know more about the story of our guild, check out this link.

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2. Where do I go from here?
You are currently browsing through the static pages of the Main Amazon Basin site, the game specific guilds can be found using the links in the bottom of this page or those provided with this answer. To access the Main Forums, click on "Our forums", you can read all posts on the public forums, but you will need to register in order to post your own.

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3. What do we do here? What is the purpose?
The Amazon Basin Main Forums is where basiners from all guilds can meet and share ideas about their real life or different games they have tried. This is also where new guilds are started and where administrators discuss important questions in private. Community Members are welcome here to post and stay around, but are appointed to the specific guilds if they play those games. The membership process of several guilds is also carried here by the members.

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4. Can I participate in the Amazon Basin without becoming a member?
Yes. You can read the Forums and find plenty of information on our website, even without registering as a user.

You will need to register in order to post in the Forums and to send private messages. But registering does not require any commitment from you, other than your willingness to observe our general guidelines for all community participation in the guild. "Membership" is neither required nor expected for people who want to be an active part of the Amazon Basin community.

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5. What do I need to know before participating in the Amazon Basin community?
You don't need to know anything to surf our website, read the documents, or check out the Forums. But before you start posting, or before you begin playing with other Basiners, you should know what everyone in the community expects of others in the way of rudimentary good conduct.
While we have very few "rules", we have a strong ethic of respect among people who participate in the Forums, the different game channels, and play with us. If that ethic were to be summarized in a few words they would probably read: "play nice and show some class." For more explicit guidelines, read the FAQ sections below regarding the Forums.

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6. Who is TPJ?
James R. Broome (TPJ or Teep as he is affectionately known) is the founder of the Amazon and a very involved leader. He administrates the Main Boards and keeps us all well informed. He is also the man behind the BasinWear store. As for what his name means, TPJ is the abbreviation for Thomas Penfield Jackson.

"Thomas Penfield Jackson, 62, federal judge, did what no one else has been able to do: make billionaire software executive Bill Gates squirm. In November, Jackson said Microsoft was indeed a monopoly. In his findings of fact handed down in the government's antitrust suit against Microsoft, Jackson said the software giant exercises monopoly control over PC operating systems and uses its power to the detriment of consumers. This was not Jackson's first high-profile case. He also presided over the trial of Washington mayor Marion S. Barry, Jr., who was tried on drug and perjury charges. In Nov. he appointed Richard Posner, a highly respected federal judge and law professor to mediate the case." -- http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781521.html

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7. What is the BasinWear store?
It's the place where you'll find products specifically for Amazon Basin folks - inside jokes, AB logo items, etc. As we currently have guilds for six different games, you'll likely see products for each guild soon. Right now, however, we've chosen to try to start small. Follow this link to visit the store.

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8. Are there mandatory events or minimum playing time requirements?
No. You are free to play as much as you want without further restrictions beyond playing fairly, cooperating, respecting others, and having fun.

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9. Where do you guys meet?
Mostly in the forums and in the various in game chat channels. The Private Message option allows people to communicate with each other for the more personal questions. There are also special events where members meet in real life. Those Amazon Basin Conferences (abbreviated ABCONs) are held in different places in the United States of America where roughly 80% of the ABMs live. Here are a link to each guild's Meeting Place forum:

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FORUM RELATED QUESTIONS

10. How are the Forums organized?
The Amazon Basin Main Forums are grouped together in several categories. The Community Forums and Miscellaneous Games Forums are accessible to both Guests and Community Members. "Do you need help using the forums?" is also available to everyone with questions regarding the forums themselves, from the inner workings to bugs that are found. There are three Membership Process Forums and one of them is for members only. All Member's Forums are not viewable by Community Members or Guests. Finally there are Administrators only forums where the managing of the community takes place.

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11. How do I navigate this place? The layout is horribly confusing!
Originally we didn't plan to be so big. All these separate forums grew up by accident as we began to play more and more games. Every part of the guild has their own home page and set of forums. We keep trying to make it simpler, but it's not as easy as we would like. Here are the links to the other guild forums :

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12. Are the Forums moderated?
Yes. The moderators for the Main Boards are listed (with links to message them) in the Moderating Team page as well as under each forum list page.

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13. What are the general forum posting guidelines?
The Forums exist for people in the community to exchange information. The post at the start of a thread will be read by dozens (and even up to hundreds) of people. It invites their thoughts and response. So it should be reasonably coherent, as should each responsive post.

If you follow a few simple guidelines, you will find plenty of people ready to answer any questions you may post.

First, before you start a thread consider whether the answer to your question is already posted. Many questions arise all the time, and regular Forum-goers get tired of seeing the same subjects re-asked, when the poster could have found the answer with just a little research. So if your question is likely to be of general interest, check the documentation to see if any are right on point, look at recent threads in the Forum on your subject, and maybe even run a search of the threads in our archives.

Second, pick the right forum for your post. It's not the end of the world if you post in the wrong place (in fact, a moderator may move it to the right forum), but you'll get a better response if you start in the right place to begin with.

Third, pick a single subject for your post, so that the thread won't go off on a tangent and leave much of what you wanted to find out unanswered. Ideally, each thread should be on one topic (though it can include several different questions on that topic). Asking in a single thread about football results, if X computer will run X game, and showing a picture of your dog is not a good idea.

Finally, put enough thought into your post that readers see you care enough about it to justify their time reading it and crafting a response. Be coherent. Write in sentences. Remember that some of the most skilled folks in the community learned English as a second (or third, or fourth) language, and they shouldn't need a lingo-decoder to understand what you are saying.

But we aren't in the perfect grammar business, and most folks have better use of their time than writing letter-perfect posts that are suitable for publication in the London Times. Just use good sense. If you spend a few minutes reading posts on the Forums, you'll quickly get a feel for what works.

Those same guidelines apply to posts you make in reply to existing threads, too. Keep your replies "on topic." If you want to launch off onto something new, start a new thread.

In general, keep in mind that your posts tell the community something about who you are. We quickly learn to associate folks by the posts they make. So the more you put into yours, the greater the esteem people will hold you in.

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14. What forum posting practices are to be avoided?
Don't use our forums to put down other people. Racism, sexism, flame-wars, and other hateful comments are not tolerated.

Don't flame others.

Don't treat the Forums as if they were chat rooms. They aren't. Although a few of the Forums are for casual exchanges, the heavily used forums are for dialogue and debate.

Don't air personal disputes in the Forums. If a disagreement arises out of something done or said in a Basin game, or in the Basin channel, or if a post caused personal offense, then take it up in a personal message to whoever else is involved. If you want guidance or assistance, send a personal message to a moderator or a Basin administrator. But don't start a post over a private quarrel.

Don't post links to cheat/hack sites or instructions on how to exploit games.

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15. Why aren't posts about hacks and cheats allowed?
Posting a warning about a hack or a cheat is allowed, and can be helpful. What is not allowed is posting the URL of a site offering a hack, or embedding a link to such a site in a Basin post. Posts with technique on how to exploit a particular game are unwanted and will be deleted.

The software at these sites can be incredibly destructive. Some of it is malicious. A site created by a skilled hacker can install destructive software on your computer without your permission, and without your knowledge. Firewalls (if you have them) may or may not protect you.

If you want to take the risks of visiting such sites, that's your business. But the Basin doesn't want to be even a tacit participant in anyone being drawn into going there for any reason. We also don't want to be associated with those sites in any way. So posts on our forums that tell others where to go for hacks and cheats are forbidden.

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16. What are the language restrictions for posts?
There are no restrictions on which language you use, but in the interest of promoting understanding by as many people as possible, we highly recommend posting in English. This site is frequently visited by people from a wide variety of geographical, ethnic, and ideological backgrounds, including many children, so we ask that all forum-goers do their best to moderate use of 'foul language'. Some of the individual guilds have more stringent prohibitions against curse words in game and on the forums.

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17. Can I post political/religious/moral/ethical topics?
Yes, but be warned that it will get locked or deleted if it turns into a flame war.

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18. What's a PM?
A PM is a Personal Message: it is like an email in some respects. You can send PMs from your Control Panel: the recipient of the message is notified of a new message the next time he or she views any forum page. Normally the software will generate a pop-up window with the notification, but any user can disable that feature, and some browsers will disable pop-up windows automatically. There is a limit to the number of PMs that can be stored at once (both sent and received PMs are stored), which varies depending on which board you're visiting and your member group. You can also bcc (blind carbon copy) any number of people with the PM, to send it to multiple people - however, your 'Sent Messages' folder doesn't keep track of anyone other than the person in the 'To' field. You can also 'Track' PM's, so you know when they are read. Un-read 'tracked' messages can be "un-sent" (deleted) if need be, but un-tracked messages cannot be deleted once sent.

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19. What do I need to do to be able to send messages on the Basin's Personal Message system?
Just register. By registering you get a Basin account, which automatically comes with a profile template and access to our private message software. Links for messaging other Basin community members are automatically embedded in their posts, so they are easily found. Your Basin account comes with an address book for maintaining addresses of other community members with whom you correspond. You must register on any board on which you wish to participate in.

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20. I got banned. Who do I contact for an apology/retraction?
Each guild handles the banning of their members individually but it carries to all AB guilds (which means that if you get banned on one board you loose access to all of them). If you have serious reasons to think that you have been banned for no fair reason, you must contact an administrator and ask for an unban. You must keep in mind that you only have one chance to request an unban. If you are upset, wait until you are calmer. Remember that unbans are rarely granted, so write the most effective request that you can the first time.

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21. Why can't I post pictures in my signature?
We don't allow pictures in signatures because we believe it detracts from the forum experience and opens the door to too many abuses. You can use your creativity to find great text or links for yours instead.

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22. What does IB/IPB means?
It stands for Invision Power Boards, the software used by the Amazon Basin forum community. Refer to the Glossary at the top of this document for other abbreviations.

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23. How can I post pictures? How can I make my text bold, underlined or italic?
Refer to this handy guide.

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24. What's an Avatar?
Avatars are pictures you can choose that represent you in a sense, see the question below for more information on how to get one.

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25. How do I get those cool animated gifs below my name?
Those are called avatars, to change (or simply have) your avatar, go into your control panel and click on the avatar settings. Type the link of a hosted picture, if you don't have one, you will need to find someone who wants to host your picture on his web server. A few sites are ready to provide such services for free. The images can be jpegs, gifs or ping (portable networks graphics); in order to have animation they must be gifs though. Try to keep the size of your avatars under 20K, having to load large pictures or gifs that get scaled down doesn't increase the definition and puts a lot of strain on the web servers and dial-up users.

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26. What does a title mean?
A 'title' is the short text that appears under your username and avatar when you post or send a personal message. You cannot edit your own title: titles are bestowed at the whim of the Title Fairies�, and they are known to be frivolous and unpredictable. Generally, titles are only bestowed upon Amazon Basin Guild Members, though exceptions do exist.

Some guilds such as Star Wars: Galaxies use the title slot to list the member's primary in game name.

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27. How can I change my account name?
If you wish to change your forum account name, do not try to register under a new name or start a new account. Instead, send a pm to any administrator of the board where you would like to change your name (admin listing for the Main Board), telling them that you want to change your account name and what you want it to become. They will gladly take care of it.

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MEMBERSHIP RELATED QUESTIONS

28. Do you have ranks?
No, we don't have 'ranks', but we do divide our users into three broad 'groups':

Community Members, who are participants in our community;
Amazon Basin Guild Members, who are responsible for representing our community;
Banned users, who are not welcome in our community.

Within the group of AB Guild Member, some members have 'jobs' - the two most visible being the Administrators (who take care of the day-to-day job of running the site and making broad decisions) and the Moderators (who manage individual forums). Each individual guild also has similar (and sometimes additional) job functions fulfilled by its members.

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29. What does "Community Member" mean?
Community Members (CMs) are registered members who participate in the guild activities either on the forums or in game.

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30. What is expected of me as a Community Member?
As a CM, you are expected to follow the basic rules of this community and in the games you play with us. Nothing more, nothing less.

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31. What is the difference between a Community Member and an Amazon Basin Member?
�Community Members are those people who have found us and registered for our forums. Anyone who isn�t an Amazon Basin Member is a Community Member. Since we�ve got semi-private �guild� stuff to take care of behind the scenes, we can�t just give everyone full access. That being said, the difference is mostly that some CMs who�ve become regular contributors to our community as well as exhibited the traits we value have been voted into the guild �officially� and now carry the ABM title.� -TPJ (Amazon Basin Founder)

A simple analogy explains this concept very clearly :

"The AB is like a great big several-story open house party. All the neighbors and anyone who stops by are welcome (Community Members), but there are some people who actually live in the house (AB Members). In addition, someone pays the mortgage and owns the place (TPJ). But it's a big house, and one guy at the top doing all the work would get frazzled, so Teep (as he is affectionately known) has lots of helpers - kind of like floor wardens (the guild leaders & administrators).

These in turn have other helpers - one guy's in charge of drinks, one gal's in charge of paper plates, and yet another person has the keys to the broom closet where we keep the mop and the rags for spills. There are also a lot of people who live in the house whose primary activity is just hanging out and looking cool. Others do behind-the-scenes things like setting up the stereo system (the server), booking the band, and mowing the lawn.

Occasionally, we get party fouls and troublemakers who need to be shown the door (Banned people), and we have bouncers to take care of that (moderators of various flavors). But all the time, the big party is going on. And there's plenty of food and music for everyone.

Every so often, we invite someone to come live in the house with us (a Community Member becomes an AB Member)." - Flick (Diablo II Guild Administrator)

Also CMs are responsible for their behavior in game as much as full members, but ABMs have to show the example. If an ABM is caught violating the rules of any guild, he could be banned from all of them, just like any CM. Members have access to member-only forums where they discuss the functioning of the guild.

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32. What's the job of an ABM?
Amazon Basin Members have no real job per se, but they have responsibilities non-the less. If a Basiner violates our standards they will be banned. This is always very sad, and we don't like doing it. So don't cheat, don't be rude, and show some class. It doesn't matter whether you're an Amazon Basin Member or a Community Member, breaking the rules means you get banned. Amazon Basin Members are supposed to do what made them members in the first place. Be friendly. Have a good time playing, and help other people have a good time.

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33. Can members cease their role and be CMs again?
Yes they can at any time if they so please, there is no obligation to remain an ABM indefinitely; if someone chooses to leave, we'll gladly welcome them back when they return (it's the policy of the Main Boards, it may vary depending on the guild).

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34. What are those weird �ABGM Project G� groups about?
It stands for Amazon Basin Guild Member Project G. �Essentially, when a 'job' needs to be done, a group is formed to discuss the pros/cons, etc. People step forward who are interested in tackling the problem and are then assigned a 'group'. What you see are the different groups who work on individual projects around here.� -TPJ

There's a way to give individual members access to certain hidden forums (like the Project Forums) without having to make special groups. It's been put to use on the D2 boards for example. This technique being obsolete, those groups are going to be phased out in the future.

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35. Do I have to apply for membership twice if I (for example) play Diablo II and Star Wars: Galaxies?
Membership from one guild is carried to the majority of the others as long as prerequisites are met. This new policy applies in the Main Boards, Star Wars: Galaxies, Neverwinter Nights, Horizons, World of Warcraft and all new forthcoming guilds. But you must apply separately if it concerns any of the older guilds (in Diablo II you can't "ask" for membership -- see question #37). Member side discussions often involve game specific decisions that mean nothing to non-adepts.

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36. Do I have to apply for membership in the AB as well as the guild for the game I'm playing in?
Membership carries from the guilds to the Main Boards, and most of the time the other way also. See question above to know in which cases it applies.

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37. What do I do to become member?
There are several systems in place and they are all likely to change at any moment. Currently there are two main systems ruling the membership process (there are individual variations of those two, but they won't be discussed further here).

In Diablo II you cannot ask for membership. Applicants are never aware that they are being examined. The system is not flawless but with the amount of members that this guild has it's the most convenient. To know more about the Diablo II system, consult this link.

Here's a tip if you are interested:

"Be yourself first and foremost! Membership is something mysterious and comes when you least expect it (for most). There is nowhere to "apply" to become a member [in the Diablo II guild]. Once you sign up on the red boards here is the day that you are made applicable to become a member. So be yourself, play some games and have fun." - Babybunny

The system used in the Main Boards is also used by several guilds, but only the newest have their process carried here. Those guilds are Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft, Horizons and Star Wars: Galaxies. To know more about that system visit this link.

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38. What if I want to join more than one guild?
You can join as many guilds as you want as long as you respect the established rules. You can be a CM on all guilds and not even posses the game, while it's different for membership. You need to have played the game with the Basin in order to be an ABM of that guild. It is necessary to have the same name on all guilds also, when the project of Amazon Basin Nation will begin, the technical team will need to have every accounts match, or unwanted deletions will unfortunately happen. This applies to passwords and email addresses also.

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39. What is that Amazon Basin Nation project you were referring to at the previous question?
Currently all guilds possess their own separate sets of forums. The newer guilds have redirecting forums linking to the Main Boards, such as Completely Off Topic and Picture Pages. Older guilds, like Diablo II for example, do not have redirecting links and have their own non-game-specific forums. The idea is to meld all the forums together and have common subscriptions. This would spread traffic among the guilds and let people see new faces as well as ease the managing of newer guilds.

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GUILD SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

40. Diablo II specific: Can I post trading questions?
The Amazon Basin wants to promote a cheat-free environment. Traders, while normally harmless, could eventually bring spam, hacked items, and lead to other abusive behaviors we do not want to see. This is why we restrict it. Don't worry Basiners are usually generous enough to help you if you lack decent gear, you won't need to rely on selling once you discover generosity!

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41. Diablo II specific: Can I give out the WeaselTech password?
No, not for any reason. Not even if another basiner asks you for it. Tell them to go see the WeaselTech� page instead. This is for security reasons, to prevent those not members or our guild to come and possibly harm players or steal their items. The password is a bit like a door to our games if you will.

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42. Diablo II specific: Is there a standalone program that I can use (like an IRC client for example) to hang out in the "op theamazonbasin" chat room?
There are standalone Battle.net programs that let you simply be in the chat, but B.net prevents them from joining private channels, and "op theamazonbasin" is a private channel. For other questions related to the Diablo II channels pay a visit to their FAQ page!

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43. Diablo II specific: What's the chat gem in Diablo II?
The Diablo II chat gem is an intricate feature in the Battle.net chat interface. When you click on it a message appears saying : "Chat gem activated" and when you do it again it says : "Chat gem deactivated".

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44. Star Wars: Galaxies specific: Where is Basinia?
Basinia was originally built by the Star Wars: Galaxies guild and is their primary gathering point .It is located on the Chilastra server (where the Basin guild is located) on the planet Naboo. It's closest to the NPC city of Theed, roughly 2000m from it. Basinia is a Metropolis, which is the largest level a Player City can reach. It's also located on the map and has a shuttle port so you can travel there from any other city on Naboo. For other questions regarding Star Wars: Galaxies visit their site.

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45. How do I get to meet you in game?
It's fairly simple, all you need to do is follow the instructions from each guild. The links below lead to explanations on how to play with the Basin online with some of our guilds.

Play with the Amazon Basin in Dark Age of Camelot.

Play with the Amazon Basin in Diablo II.

Play with the Amazon Basin in Neverwinter Nights.

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46. Do we PK? PVP? PKK?
Without exception, non-consentual actions are forbidden in the Amazon Basin. Nobody should ever deprive the other participant of their freedom to choose. Each guild has their own rules of engagement for consentual PVP play.

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Credits

All the members of the Amazon Basin community especially: AllWeasel, babybunny, Bowa, Cathan, Dale, Deadroot, dirtyharry2, DoomHaven, evap, FEF, Flick, Frigidwoman, Grimborn, imbtf, Khirsah6, Leah_heartsword, Malaclypse, Mephista, NatNit, NeedleHawk, Nightlyraider, Nvts, Ophidian, pmak, Reegan, sair, Shadguy, Snowdog, spatten, Strolan, TaMeOlta, taq, Tarasque, thenix88, Torrilin, TPJ, Trexim, WeeScot and Wim-sama. Author: Drake.

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