Charter: Membership

Recently I've been planning some new features for the website; but before putting too much new infrastructure in place I want to have some clear guidelines in place for the project's overall structure, and make sure the website corresponds to them. To that end, I'd like to get at least a draft version of the project charter down in writing. In the next couple articles I'll be drafting a section at a time and posting them, in case anyone has last minute input or comments. To start, I want to sum up what's been discussed so far about membership: how to become one, what the conditions and privileges are, and what different levels there will be.

Principles

The basic idea for membership is that it is based on making a contribution to the project, whether financial or otherwise, and allows a person to have a voice in the project's direction commensurate with the scope of their contribution.

Qualifications

A person can become a member in several different ways:

• Pledging and/or Donating: A pledge of at least 50 U.S. dollars will qualify a person for membership. Similarly, a donation of at least $50 will also qualify (see here for the difference between pledging and donating.) A combination of pledges and donations will also count towards membership, as long as the combined total is $50 or more.


The four types of membership.

• Subscription: A person can also qualify for membership by subscribing (that is, donating a set amount each month.) Subscribers can qualify for membership if the total annual value of their subscription is over $50. If the subscription is terminated before one year is up, (or before a total of $50 has been donated) the membership is cancelled; However, if the subscription continues beyond one year or exceeds $50 total donated, membership will continue even if the subscription is cancelled.
• Non-Financial Contributions: The project board may confer membership for other significant contributions to the project, such as volunteer work.

Levels

There will be four levels of membership in the project (the actual terms for these might change):

• Website Members: The most basic kind of membership, these are members who have registered on the website but not contributed otherwise.
• Pledge members: These are members who have pledged over $50, or whose total of pledges and donations exceeds $50.
• Shareholders: The highest level of membership, this consists of: People who have donated over $50; People who have been subscribers for at least one year, or whose donations by subscription total at least $50; Pledge Members who have confirmed their pledge (of at least $50) by providing payment information and giving permission to be billed directly when pledges are called in; or have a combined total of donations and confirmed pledges greater than $50.
• Special members: A special designation for people who have been awarded membership on the basis of a non-financial contribution.

Privileges

Each level of membership allows the member to participate in different parts of the project. Each level also includes the benefits of those below it (i.e. everyone can post to the website):

• Website Members can post on the site forums and contribute to discussions, but don't have any actual say in the project's direction.
• Pledge Members and Special Members can take part in deciding what the game will be like. They are able to vote on the game features forum and in general referendums.
• Shareholders, having made a concrete commitment to the project, are given the highest level of privileges. They are able to vote on game features, of course; But they are also allowed propose and vote on motions for referendum, and naturally vote in the referendums themselves. Shareholders also have a say in the selection of the project leadership: they may nominate and vote for board candidates in the Nomination forum, and vote in general board elections. Lastly, shareholders are the only members eligible to hold multiple shares, as described below.

Multiple Shares

A member who makes a large contribution can acquire multiple voting shares, allowing them to vote multiple times in things like elections and to have a greater allocation of votes for game features. To acquire multiple shares, a member has to be a shareholder; Pledge members can only hold one share regardless to the size of their pledge. The number of shares is determined by the total of confirmed pledges and donations, on a pattern like this (open to revision):

Terms (Time Limits)

Membership in the project is limited to a set period of time, which varies based on several factors:

• Registration on the website does not expire at all.
• Pledge membership expires at the point where the budget goal is reached and the pledges are called in (Members who honor their pledge become full Shareholders, those who don't have their membership cancelled and their prior votes invalidated.)
• Shareholder membership based on pledges or donations expires when the project is released (see Release Criteria.)
• Shareholder membership based on a subscription continues indefinitely until the subscription is cancelled. The subscription amount required to qualify may be reduced post-release.

Naturally, some of this will be subject to tweaking and adjustment as we start to have a larger membership. In fact there's still a few points that could use some more discussion, particularly:

• Membership for non-financial contributions is pretty vague right now, what are some specifics we could base that on? Also, should the privilege level for that type of membership be higher?
• Does the privilege level for non-confirmed pledges seem fair?
• Should the curve for buying multiple shares be more gradual, or even steeper? Any suggestions for an appropriate formula?
• Can anyone think of some catchier names for the different membership levels?

Leave your comments or suggestions below!