Code of Conduct

The Spirit of the Code

Love humanity equally: Here at [P1], we believe that a deep and honest empathy and care for each human person must be at the center of all we do. That's the spirit of [P1] in a nutshell. 

If you understand this one thing, everything else comes naturally.

Our Culture

A word is a promise: Here at [P1], we take words very seriously -- when you say you're going to do something, do it. Don't promise what you can't give. 

Gratefulness: In a world that overemphasizes challenges, we approach the gift of life from a perspective of gratefulness and humility. 

Hard work: This gratefulness manifests itself as a call to action to use the most prosperous time in human history to make the biggest possible impact on as many people as possible. 

Accessibility: Going the extra mile to make our products and services accessible to those with special needs is a passion of ours. We love people of all shapes and forms, including the differently-abled, and want to empower them to succeed.

The Code

A1) Productive Conversations

Principle: With every conversation you have, ask the question, how does this conversation help us solve problems? 

1.1 Gossip: If you have an issue with someone, talk to them directly.

• For example, if you have issues with Fred or Fred's work, don't tell John and Ed.
• If, let's say, Bob is talking disparagingly about Fred in your presence:
  • Stop the conversation 
  • Invite Bob to meet Fred to work things out.
• You can also talk to Bob's manager about the behavior.

1.2 Deprecation: Never undermine someone's personality, ethics, or work in the presence of others. If you need to discuss a pertinent idea, highlight the efforts put in and the positives before explaining the issues with that work to avoid drama.

1.3 Sabotage: Never publicly undermine a team leader. Instead, if you have an issue with a leader, talk to them or the person managing them.  

• Members of a democratic committee can meet to discuss replacing leadership, focusing on debating the leader's abilities for the productive purpose of finding someone more effective. This applies only in democratic teams.

1.4 Problem-solving over emotion: As long as you participate in [P1], you choose to focus on solving problems rather than publicly dealing with emotions. 

1.5 Contacting banned members: If someone's disciplined or removed from the community, don't contact them during their penalty. If they're banned completely, avoid contact fully for 45 days. 

A2) Humility, Ideas, Mentors, Self-Reliance

2.1 Realism: Advertisers, YouTubers, and other content creators often underestimate the time it takes to build functioning games and virtual worlds. Advertisers have an incentive to sell courses, while YouTubers sometimes prefer infotainment that omits the details. This leads to a widespread industry underestimation of the difficulty involved in game development and virtual world creation. The complexity of this industry allows for dissertations on topics like how a character's foot falls within a virtual world. Considering the shape of the foot, the sound created by different sole types interacting with terrain, and more, the complexity is mind-boggling.

Understanding and humbling yourself to this complexity is essential for success.

• If you lack commercial experience in a particular field, always qualify your assertions with a disclaimer noting you're not an expert in that field.
• Being pushy about ideas is generally frowned upon; instead, you should be compromising and yielding to your team.

2.2 Productive debate: Ideas presented should be backed up by tangible, measurable, and observable facts rather than personal opinions, feelings, or biases.

• Teamwork: The best ideas come from a long process of iteration by a whole team, not just one person's genius. Being willing to give way on ideas and positions regularly is critical to great design. Let go of your passions and prioritize the team's needs and wisdom over your personal objectives.

2.3 Mentors: Mentors often come sacrificially to serve our communities, and you should have the utmost respect and deference in your conversations with them.

2.4 Self-reliance: It's tough to tackle issues on your own, but it's really important to give it a shot before passing those issues on to someone else. For every question or favor you ask, you should first spend at least 10 minutes trying to solve the problem and conducting related research.

A3) Effecting Change

3.1 Policy reform: If you feel a policy or system should be improved, first try to understand the reasons behind its current state by speaking with the person who created it before attempting to reform it. 

• If the system or policy falls under your team's purview, feel free to act after basic inquiry. However, if it involves the organization of the community or something at a higher level, bring it up privately to the relevant high-level parties.

A4) Managing Responsibility 

4.1 Privacy: If you encounter others' private information or receive such information during your work, use it solely for the intended purpose and promptly delete it from your personal computer or effects.

• 4.1.2. If someone asks you "can we talk about this privately" or directs you to 1-1 threads or messages don't continue that conversation publicly. 

4.2 Powers: If you are given specific powers, like muting or moving members, tagging people, or other uncommon Discord permissions—even without a formal ceremony but through certain actions—you must use these powers cautiously and caringly. Never use them in unintended or abusive ways.

A5) Professionalism

5.1 Principle: In all you do, embody the highest level of professionalism and integrity. 

• 5.1.1 Communicate clearly and often. If something comes up before Aug 3rd, don't wait till Aug 2nd to let people know. Keep people constantly updated. 
• 5.1.2 Show up on time & ready.
• 5.1.3 Only deliver exceptional work.

B1) Standard Ethical Guidelines 

Avoid the following: 

1.1 Suicide jokes

1.2 Nagging, excessive complaining, begging

1.3 Name calling

1.4 Excessive self-promotion

1.5 NSFW content

1.6 Impersonation

1.7 Shouting in anger

1.8 Making threats

1.9 Disruptive or off-topic comments in a serious discussion 

B2) Specific Ethical Guidelines 

2.1 Exposing personal information: Never expose personal or private information to anyone it was not immediately intended for.

2.2 Respect boundaries: Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you” should be obeyed. 

2.3 Appropriate usernames: Names should not contain anything offensive whatsoever. This includes things that are violent sexual or in any other way offensive. 

2.4 Direct messages: Direct messages are intended to be private. As a general rule, avoid revealing them unless the involved party wouldn't mind.

2.5 Counseling: Community members may confront depression or other struggles. Addressing these online doesn't offer a full context, as you only hear their perspective without understanding their physical life context. This could dangerously reinforce negative ideas or beliefs that might not be grounded in reality. Therefore, counseling is best done in person by professionals. 

B3) Legal & Copyright 

3.1 Legal: Limit legal discussions to actual lawyers. If you have legal queries, ask during a legal mentorship session and restrict them to that time. Don't discuss legal issues publicly or dispense legal advice. If you need to discuss legal matters specific to your team, do it as privately as you can. 

3.2 Copyright: When contributing to the community, it's expected to be your original work. If not, credit the original or disclose the open-source.

3.3 Finance: [P1] is not a place to discuss investment schemes, potentially valuable crypto tokens, or any other financial matter publicly. Generally speaking, you should avoid responding to strangers who are offering free financial advice and report them immediately. Moreover, if you have questions about the finances of our organization, community members, community mentors or anyone else you see on our platform, you should bring them up privately and directly rather than publicly.

C1) Complicity

1.1 Complicity: Assisting or encouraging anyone as they break this code is disallowed. 

1.2 Reporting: If you see someone breaking this code of conduct, you have an obligation to immediately report it.

Final Note

One part of the greater series of communities that makes up [P1] is dedicated to creating freedom in Virtual Civilization. This does not mean that we allow every form of speech in our workplaces. This is because you need to have a level of coherence in any workspace in order to successfully work together on projects. Rather, [P1] VCI seeks to achieve this freedom by creating a variety of options through siloed virtual communities with their own rulesets.