Your Society Needs You

Four years on, and the Gaming Society has gone from being a small group of friends squeezed into the Union’s basement, playing Halo on black and white CRTs. Now we have weekly events, over 800 likes on our Facebook page, a few consoles of our own and a couple of servers running. Now we can host events in a wide, open hall and be disappointed if we have less than 5 consoles. Yet it’s not all so brilliant. Our servers are still handicapped by our providers, and are often down. Events might go up the day before if you're lucky. And we haven't done half the events we promised to. But it’s finally time for me to leave.

A number of committee who have been of great help are either stepping down or moving away next year, namely Michael ‘Susan’ Howe, our current Secretary, Daniel Quarton, our Treasurer, and Mike Price who has been with us for almost as long as I have. I’d like to thank them for all the effort they've put in in the past.

With so many key committee members stepping away, there is a gaping hole in the committee that needs to be filled. Fortunately, our Annual General Meeting is coming up in two weeks, and this is your opportunity to help out. Any member of the society is eligible to run for a position and help run the society. As a committee member, you get to choose what events to hold, when to hold them, what servers we should be running, and even how the society spends its money. There are other (less noble) advantages, like CV padding, but it’s also a fantastic opportunity working with a group of people to create something worth talking about.

It’s not all great, being on committee. It requires commitment and motivation. Some of the things you're expected to do are attend meetings regularly, set up for events and put in some time during the week to organise stuff. But the rewards, when you put the effort it, are well worth it.

If you're wondering what you could be doing to help, there are plenty of opportunities that come with each position. These are the positions that we're particularly looking to fill for next year and what it encompasses:

• Chair Help keep the group cohesive. Run the meetings. Tell people off for posting memes. Be positive!
• Secretary Wrap your head around everything that’s going on. Write about what happens in the meetings. Tell people off for not doing things. Be organised!
• Treasurer Go to training so you know what to do. Spend the society’s money on new equipment. Look after receipts. Be sensible!
• Server Manager Setup servers. Fix servers. Moderate servers. Be technical!
• Marketing Post on Facebook. Get people to events. Be proactive!

If you don’t think you can do any of these things, then there are still yet other ways of helping out. Just speak to one of the current committee and they'll let you know.

If you do want to run for a committee position, just send an email to committee@gamingsociety.co.uk with a short statement on why you want to be on the committee. And what position you want to run for. Then turn up. The AGM is on 1st May, and the Facebook event can be found here.

You could help keep the society going for another year. You could be a committee member.

David Buckley,
Chair and Co-founder

General Meeting Applicants

This Wednesday 5th December we are holding an intermediary General Meeting to allow new society members to run for a committee position. This post lists people running for positions along with statements prepared by themselves.

There are a few changes apparent, most notable of which is the absence of Arron Wray, a long-standing committee member who held the second position of Chair, taking over from Osman two years ago, and Vice-Chair this year. Having graduated, he has less time to devote to the society, so is standing down. We wish him well in his future endeavours.

Other changes including Richard Whyman stepping down as a Recruitment Officer, and Jacob Harrison and Maris Doniks running for eSports Managers. Come along this Wednesday 5th December for your chance to vote for each of them.

Toby Edwards - Ambassador

I feel I've performed well in booking events and venues over the past year, liaising with managers etcetera and would love to continue doing so. In the future I'm hoping to seek out new venues and look at the possibility of LAN parties and overnight events, where we can both drink and have access to the internet. Talks from outside parties, such as developers, are also an idea on the table that I'd like to look into if we can find enough interest.

Warren Del-Pinto - Server Manager

I have been the server manager for the society since the start of the current semester, and would like to continue to work in this role over the course of the next.

The society has had server problems recently due to a lack of space to accommodate new and existing gaming servers. As a result, I have been discussing the problem with Hornet, alongside other members of the current committee, with the aim of finding a longterm solution to the problem. This will be provided and supported by Hornet themselves. It would be strongly beneficial for me to continue in this capacity so that I can solve these issues.

Mike Price - Assistant Server Manager

I would like this role as I have extensive experience operating game servers, web servers etc. on a variety of platforms. I would like a vice position as I'm in my final year, and don't think I'll have enough time to take on the full role.

Maris Doniks - eSports Manager

I would like to run for eSports manager's position because I believe my previous experience of managing events and coordinating people along with my passion for competitive gaming makes my a good candidate for this position. Since this position is new and society has not been highly involved in competitive gaming before I have great ideas how to expand in that direction and attract more students of our university to the world of eSports.

Jacob Harrison - Assistant eSports Manager

I think this position needs to exist in order to facilitate the establishment of competitive gaming teams within the society. Having an assistant in this position will allow us to sustain a higher number of teams, thus providing a service for more members than we would otherwise be able to and increasing our chances of winning prize money through our teams. I have already helped begin the process of establishing teams in SC2 and LoL, but would like to expand our rosters to include a Halo team, a fighting game team and even a Counter-Strike team. Under the authority of the eSports manager.  I can make this happen in the next few months, from which point we can develop regular practice events for the players and for anyone else who is interested, and perhaps subsidise our best teams to send them to events.

Hope you can find a place for me.

Hannah Battersby - Photographer and Women's Officer.

I am currently Photographer and enjoy the role, I always attend events and am punctual with uploading photos. As I am currently already on the committee I feel I could take on the additional role of Women's Officer, with a view to encouraging more women to join and take an active role in the society.

Zico Harris - Marketing

I feel I would be an ideal candidate for the role of Marketing as I am already well versed in the requirements, and have some plans to extend the reach of the society in both the physical and virtual spheres.

Applying for the General Meeting

Six months later, and we’re holding elections again. Back in April we voted in several changes to our constitution, one of which enabled recruitment of new committee members each year. In previous years we’ve just let people come along to meetings and start making decisions. It was very informal, and encouraged a clique.

However, we’ve now formalised the process for this year. What this means for you is that it gives you an opportunity to directly help out the society. The society runs on volunteers, people who are willing to devote a little of their time each week, and without them events don’t happen and the society falls apart. If you ever wondered why it took us six weeks to start emailing you, or why you didn’t hear about an event until after it happened, it’s because of the committee, for one reason or another. If you feel you can help us work on this, then you should consider running.

Obviously being on the committee isn’t all that easy. Every committee member has a particular set of responsibilities. Mine, for instance, include organising the committee meetings each week, while Toby Edwards, our Ambassador, is in charge of emailing the companies we work with. I’ll talk more about the positions and their jobs later. In addition to these responsibilities, you’d be expected to turn up to the committee meetings and events where feasible, and help with the more general jobs, such as setting up.

While there is a small amount of hard work that’s expected, you get the ability to vote at the weekly meetings and can voice your opinion about how the society is run. The next of these meetings is this Sunday, the 2nd, and if you’re looking to run for a position, it’s recommended you turn up to get a feel for how it all works.

If you’d like to run for a particular position, just send an email to committee@gamingsociety.co.uk with your name, the role you want to run for, and a short paragraph telling the society why you’d be suitable for that role. If you’re applying for a position that doesn’t already exist, please append a short paragraph explaining why you think the position should exist. These applications have to be in by this Friday 30th November.

Here’s how I might apply:

I would be suitable for the position of Chair because I’ve been around so long I know everything there is to know. Vote for me and I’ll make sure stuff gets done.

Just remember it's addressed to your fellow society members. We'll be publishing them shortly before the General Meeting next Wednesday, 5th.

Finally, I’ve compiled a short list of positions we have available that you may want to run for.

Vice Chair

The role of vice chair is to take over the Chair’s responsibilities in their absence. This may be chairing the meeting, arranging the next meeting or ensuring everyone is getting along friendly-like.
Vice Secretary

A vice secretary would aid the secretary in their day-to-day activities, writing the minutes, overseeing an event and ensuring everything runs smoothly in the background. Other responsibilities might include writing the weekly email or telling Danny off.

Vice Treasurer

The vice treasurer position involves money. Responsible money. Someone taking on this role would cover Danny Quarton, learning how the finance of the society works and helping to deal with it.

Women’s Officer

It’s been an issue of much debate in the committee as to whether we need a representative for women in our society. If you’re a girl and you think we do, then perhaps you can consider running for this position.

Marketing

While we have a pretty regular group of members turning up to events, we’d always like our events to be bigger, to be more popular and to appeal to a larger audience. It would be the responsibility of someone in this position to make sure everyone knows when events are happening and keep our members up-to-date and on our side.

The roles of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer will become available in April at the Annual General Meeting, along with the ability to vote for amendments to our constitution.

I really hope some of you consider helping out with the society.

David Buckley,
Chair

Political Support for Funding

This week I received an email from the University of Manchester Students' Union. It was sent to the heads of societies and included the following paragraph:

In order to be sure of Silver or Gold Award, Societies will need to send 10 of their members to buy tickets (£8.50 return to London is an absolute steal!) and thus show support for the national student movement.

A couple of year ago a tiered system named 'STARS' came out in which funding was awarded for member count and writing a short report for the union. This was met with little resistance, as it rewarded larger societies and encouraged some interaction with the union. However, this year, in an attempt to discourage societies from subscribing people who weren't necessarily interested and to reward active societies, the requirements for the tiers were changed. The new requirements can be found here.

When I received the above email I was furious and baffled, but, determined to be diplomatic about it and not overreact, I waited it out. I'm not one for political causes, and I disagree to some degree with the demonstrations, but for the most part I keep out of it. Little did I realise that the above email had sparked an outcry among both students and societies. An online petition had been set up, http://chn.ge/T3x0nW, and was spreading through Facebook fast.

This email has hints of blackmail in it, not only asking societies to support a political cause but requiring them to in order to receive funding. As one student commented on the petition:

The Students' Union role in campaigning and lobbying "on behalf of students" [...] and their role in facilitating student societies in a University should be kept wholly separately. To deliberately mix them in order to further their own political motive is reprehensible.

Fortunately, the current Activities Officer, Tommy Fish, was relatively quick to respond, retracting his previous position in an email that can be found by students here.

Today, I am making a sincere and unreserved apology for sending that email.

It is not the case that you need to send 10 of your society members to the demo, or any other specific event, in order to achieve merit for your society.

This may solve the current issue raised, but that an elected member of the Union might consider this a potential solution to their problem with student participation is worrying for the prospects of the University's societies.

David Buckley,
Chair

Server Information

Hello to you all,

My name is Warren and I am currently the server manager for the society.

So far we have two servers, one for Minecraft (SMP) and the other for Team Fortress 2. The IP for both of these is 193.60.153.249. The details of our servers will be added to the Steam group:  bit.ly/gamingsociety-steam.

We have had a poll on the Facebook page regarding the preferred day for a weekly TF2 event: on.fb.me/QHOs0V. We will also be having a second poll over the next few days regarding server requests.

If you have any questions / suggestions about our servers, games or about the society in general then feel free to add me on Steam: bit.ly/Si6qt0, email me at servers@gamingsociety.co.uk or even talk to me at one of the weekly events.

Warren Del-Pinto,
Server Manager

Welcome

Hello and welcome to new and returning members,

Firstly, for anyone wishing to register who didn’t catch us at the fair, you can go to our Union page here to join the society. This includes people from last year; you must reregister for the new academic year!

For those of you that are new here, most of our information and updates can be found through our Facebook page. This includes events, news and the occasional competition. We do, however, make all of the necessary information available outside Facebook. Events, for instance, can also be found on Google Calendar and our Steam group. Some updates can also be found on here or through our Twitter account. In addition, discussions can now be held in our Steam group and our brand new Facebook group.

Many people have asked where our events are, or which days we meet. To answer that, we have at least one event each week, but the day usually changes from week to week. This is so that everyone can make it to at least some of the events. We also mix them up, so that over the year, we hold generic console nights, tournaments, socials and even pub quizzes. The next event, for instance, will be on Tuesday 25th at 8pm in The Grovel, Whitworth Park Hall’s bar.

We also hold regular meetings which we have recently made public. They usually occur within the Students’ Union at 4pm on Sundays. If you wish to find out more about the democracy within our society, you can find our constitution here.

Our servers have now been set up for the new year and there’ll be more information from our Server Manager, Warren, soon. Also expect regular updates from our Secretary, Michael ‘Susan’ Howe!

Peace,

David Buckley,
Chair

Candidates and Amendments

We have collected together the applications for committee positions and amendments to the constitution for our AGM in two weeks. We will be voting for each of these on Wednesday 25th April.

Applications

Below is a list of each candidate with the position they have applied for and a couple of sentences outlining why they should be elected. If you wish to know any more about one of the candidates, either find them on Facebook, email us your question or comment below.

David Buckley - Chair

As a founding member, I have developed an attachment to the Gaming Society. This attachment drives me towards aiding it and seeing it thrive. My time as Secretary since then has provided me with a wealth of experience and insight that will help me keep the cohesion within the committee and give the society the proper foundation that it needs.

I have also fully supported the move towards democracy and wish to further increase transparency of the society to its members while still giving the committee strong leadership.

Arron Wray - Vice Chair

I have a year and a half worth of experience carrying out the duties of the chairman and know exactly what the job entails. I think I would be perfectly suited to the role as I can easily fill in for the chair in their absence and can help mentor the new chair.

Danny Quarton - Treasurer

Since joining in October I feel I've become an integral member of the committee, regularly attending meetings, taking an active role in organising and setting up events, and recently organising the purchase of t-shirts for the committee. As the current vice-treasurer, I think I am in the best position to progress to treasurer proper.

Toby Edwards - Ambassador

I feel that given my background, I have strengths in dealing with outside individuals and companies.

Mike Price - Ambassador

I would like to put myself forward for the position of Ambassador, as I have a lot experience in this role.

Maris Doniks - Ambassador

I have relevant experience of being an ambassador. I was the ambassador in youth society called CReativus, my responsibility was to contact people/sponsors/venues. During the period of last year I have been responsible for several major events, including two international events, as well as several minor events. Aside from my activities in aforementioned society, I successfully organised and hosted 2 local sports competitions in my home town last summer.  In addition to skills and experience I have, I am also interested in involving new people into world of gaming and this might be great opportunity. I am very passionate about gaming and I would make great contribution to University of Manchester Gaming Society.

Richard Whyman - Recruitment Officer

I think I would perfect for this role because I'm The Whyman!

David Buckley - Website Manager

I have previous experience of coding websites, a good eye, and know what would be required to make the website useful.

Warren Del-Pinto - Server Manager

So far in this academic year I have attended most of the gaming society's events both on and offline. Over this period, I have made quite a few new friends in the society, and have enjoyed being a part of it as a whole. As a result, I would like to contribute to the society by joining the committee next year.

I have chosen to apply for a role involving server management for several reasons. Firstly, I enjoy attending the online events hosted by the gaming society, and have a general interest in how the servers are run. Thus, I feel that the above role would be of direct interest to me. Due to this interest, I am willing to learn / expand upon any of the technical skills required for the role. In addition, I have an awareness of many of the ideal settings for popular online games, including as Team Fortress 2 and CS:S, as a direct result of playing them regularly over the past few years. I feel that I could make valuable suggestions on interesting game modes, possible online events, potential competitive ventures and other such events involving the society, and would actively seek input from other gamers.

Michael Howe - Secretary

In the last semester, I have taken on the role of vice-secretary, actively involving myself in the roles and requirements of the secretary position as necessary. Fully aware of the constitution and the society's functions and the machinery of running the society, I feel well able to fulfil the necessary requirements for this role, along with the careful and necessary oversight involved in the expansion of the society's scope in the coming year.

This, combined with a passion for video games and seeing the social role of video games expanded, leads me to feel that it would be beneficial for the society to allow me to steer it through the next year, in co-operation with the other parts of the executive.

Amendments

This is a list of proposed amendments to the constitution. If you wish to read the current constitution, it can be found at http://bit.ly/umgs-constitution.

Amendment 1 - Apologies

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
This amendment is to ensure that proper and fair measures are in place if committee members become complacent or unable to maintain their responsibilities. In particular, it outlines the rules such that committee members can see what exactly is expected of them.

5.2 The meeting starts when the appointed Chair declares so, and must be done after the declared start time and no more than ten minutes later.
5.3 Committee members arriving after the meeting has started are deemed late.
5.4 All committee members must attend every meeting on time or provide an apology.
5.4.1 Any formal apologies, for absence or tardiness, must be given 24 hours prior to the meeting.
5.5 Every meeting must begin with a register and discussion of apologies for any members not present.
5.5.1 The committee members present, absent, and late must be recorded along with the status of any apologies.
5.5.2 The register must be publicly viewable.
5.6 If a member fails to give an appropriate apology for three meetings in one semester, the Chair is to have a private conversation to enquire as to their neglect and inform them it has been raised.
5.6.1 This conversation can be held after two failed apologies in one semester if another committee member raises concern during a meeting.
5.7 If a member fails to give appropriate apologies for four meetings in one semester and they have been spoken to previously by the Chair, that member is to be given an official warning regarding their attendance.
5.8 [continue from 5.5...]

Amendment 2 - Agenda

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
A clarification of content of meetings and the responsibility for the agenda.

5.7 An agenda for each meeting shall be compiled at least two days in advance of a meeting by the Chair.
5.7.1 The agenda should contain any current issues of the society.
5.7.2 The agenda should contain a short description of each item to be discussed.
5.8 Every meeting must end with any other business, where committee members can bring up items not currently on the agenda.

Amendment 3 - Public Meetings

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
This amendment is to move towards a more transparent and open society where all members of the society can view what is happening, while ensuring the responsibility is no further spread. The amendment also follows on from ‘Agenda’.

5.10 All members of the society are welcome to attend and observe a committee meeting.
5.8 Every meeting must end with any other business, where anyone present can bring up items not currently on the agenda.

Amendment 4 - Official Warnings

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
This additional article serves to clarify the process of warnings so that proper measures can be enacted on negligent or uncommitted committee members to ensure the society does not go stale.

X.1 The first stage of warning is a private conversation with the Chair to discuss any issues and make the member aware of the issue.
X.2 The second stage of warning is a formal warning in writing from the Chair.
X.2.1 A copy of the warning should be forwarded to anyone holding a key role.
X.3 For the third stage of warning, the committee should vote on whether or not to relieve the committee member of their position.
X.4 Before a member has received a formal warning, if nominated and seconded by committee members, a vote can be taken to issue the next warning up to the member in question.
X.5 If a committee member repeats their offence having received a second stage warning or higher, that member goes to stage three.
[As an amendment to ‘Apologies’]
5.6 If a member fails to give an appropriate apology for three meetings in one semester, the member gets a first warning.
5.6.1 [remove]
5.7 If a member fails to give appropriate apologies for four meetings in one semester and they have received a first warning, that member gets a second warning.

Amendment 5 - Events

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
This amendment clears up rules regarding the committee’s presence at events and protects the events from neglect.

6.3 All committee must be present and on time to each event or provide an apology.
6.3.1 Any formal apologies, for absence or tardiness, must be given 24 hours prior to the event.
6.4 A register must be kept recording committee members present, absent and late along with the status of any apologies.
6.5 If absent to an event, a committee member must assign any of their responsibilities to another member and confirm them.
6.6 [continue from 6.4...]

Amendment 6 - Spelling

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
A list of changes to the articles in the constitution to improve spelling, grammar and ease of reading.

3.1 Any student of the University of Manchester is eligible to join the Society.
4.3 [new line removed after clause]
4.5 The committee must contain three key members: the Chairman, the Secretary and the Treasurer. Any other committee members can be assigned one of the alternative roles as outlined in section 4.9.
6.5 All are welcome at our events regardless of society membership.
10.3 The treasurer should aim to create a full budget for the year.
12.1 The society shall never be dissolved.

Amendment 7 - General Meetings

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
The addition of a second general meeting to allow new committee to be added at the beginning of the year and to clarify the proceedings.

Article 7 - General Meetings
7.1 An Annual General Meeting (hereinafter referred to as the AGM) shall be held once a year at the end of the second semester.
7.2 A general meeting shall be held at the end of the first semester.
7.3 The purpose of a general meeting is to hold elections for new committee members.
7.4 All members of the society will be invited to a general meeting at least a week prior to the meeting.
7.5 Members of the society have the right to vote in a general meeting.
7.6 The constitution cannot be modified without voting in the AGM.
7.7 The key positions are only up for election in the AGM.
7.8 Elections must take place before any amendments to the constitution.
[Remove 8.5]
7.9 The proceedings of the AGM will be conducted by a returning officer who is not running for any of the positions.
7.9.1 If a returning officer cannot be found, a society member who is not running for a position should be nominated.
7.9.2 If more than one society member is nominated, the current committee will hold a vote.
7.10 It is the responsibility of the secretary to collate amendments and a list of people running for a position.

Amendment 8 - Elections

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
Move to clarify the status of positions and size of committee. 8.2 is in response to making meetings public, and to solve the issue of ‘invitations’ to meetings being vague. 4.10 is to ensure responsibility and accountability of members does not become obscure.

8.2 To run for a key position, the person in question must conform to the following criteria:
They must have held a prior position as a committee member
They must have attended events regularly
They must be a member of the union
4.10 There can be no more than 12 committee members.

Amendment 9 - Communication Channels

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
This amendment defines and protects the private communication channel between committee members.

Y.1 The committee shall have a private forum through which to communicate.
Y.2 The minutes should be posted after each meeting.
Y.3 Three admins should be chosen by means of a vote to manage the forum.
Y.3.1 To be put forward, a member must have been on committee for at least one semester.

Amendment 10 - Meta Committee

Submitted: David Buckley
Seconded: Michael Howe, Pez Cuckow
Temporary leave is taken into account for those taking years out, interruptions or other circumstances where the committee member is expected to return within a year. Veteran committee members who have previous years of experience are also considered.

4.10 A committee member going away for a year is granted a role ‘on leave’ for the duration of their leave.
4.10.1 ‘On leave’ committee members have no responsibilities.
4.11 A member of the society who has held a committee position for four semesters or more may hold an ‘honorary member’ role.
8.12 An ‘on leave’ committee member may not run for election.
Y.4 An ‘on leave’ committee member will retain access to any communication channels for the duration of their leave.

Amendment 11 - World Domination

Submitted: Richard Whyman
I would also like to amend the constitution, the current aim is:

"To unite all the gamers of Manchester and give them a forum to play and discuss games together."

I would like to change this to:

"To unite all the gamers of Manchester and take over the world!"