Leadership Code of Conduct & Ethics Policy

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Leadership Code of Conduct & Ethics Policy
Organization-Wide Leadership Standards
This guide may be updated as GGU policies, procedures, platforms, and organizational needs change.

Public Transparency:
This policy is intentionally published for community transparency. The policy itself is public; credentials, recovery material, private personnel records, security-sensitive evidence, and other protected operational details remain restricted.

 

Purpose

GGU Leadership — including Moderator, Staff, Manager, Senior Manager, Operations Leader, Community Leader, and the Owner when acting in a Leadership capacity — is entrusted with authority, access, and community influence. This policy establishes minimum conduct standards for anyone holding Moderator or higher Leadership responsibilities.

 

Required Conduct

• Act in good faith for GGU and its community.
• Treat people respectfully.
• Use authority consistently and proportionately.
• Protect confidential information.
• Disclose conflicts of interest.
• Accept reasonable accountability for administrative actions.

 

Prohibited Conduct

• Retaliation against reporters or critics.
• Favoritism in enforcement or personnel decisions.
• Using administrative tools for personal disputes.
• Harassment or humiliation of members or Staff.
• Falsifying records or evidence.
• Accessing private information without a legitimate operational reason.

 

Enforcement

Violations may result in coaching, warning, access restriction, suspension, demotion, or removal depending on severity.

 

Scope

This policy applies to GGU members, Leadership, contributors, partners, or systems to the extent they participate in or affect the activity described by this policy.

 

Responsibilities

• Individuals are responsible for complying with the policy within their assigned access and duties.
• Managers are responsible for communicating expectations and correcting known violations within their area.
• Higher Leadership may interpret organization-wide questions, approve exceptions, or impose additional controls where risk requires it.

 

Exceptions

Exceptions should be limited, justified by a legitimate operational need, approved by the appropriate authority, and documented when they materially increase risk or depart from normal practice.

 

Violations

Violations may result in corrective instruction, removal of access, warning, suspension, demotion, removal from Leadership, removal from the community, or other action appropriate to the severity and circumstances.

 

Review & Maintenance

This policy should be reviewed when relevant systems, laws, platforms, organizational structure, or operational practices materially change.

 

Abuse of Authority

• Threatening punishment to settle personal disagreements.
• Using private information for embarrassment or leverage.
• Selective rule enforcement based on friendship or dislike.
• Retaliating against good-faith complaints.
• Using privileged access for curiosity rather than a legitimate GGU purpose.

 

Impairment

Do not perform sensitive administrative, moderation, disciplinary, or production actions while significantly impaired.

 

Definitions & Interpretation

Where a term is not specifically defined in this policy, it should be interpreted using its ordinary GGU operational meaning and related published guides. When two policies appear to conflict, the more specific policy should generally control for its subject matter unless higher Leadership directs otherwise.

 

Policy Ownership

Each policy should have an identifiable organizational owner responsible for periodic review, proposed updates, and resolving routine interpretation questions. Ownership of the policy does not grant unlimited authority to waive it.

 

Records & Evidence

• Keep records that are reasonably necessary to demonstrate approvals, access changes, disciplinary actions, incidents, or exceptions.
• Store sensitive records in appropriately restricted locations.
• Do not create unnecessary collections of personal information.
• Do not alter or delete records to conceal mistakes or avoid review.
• Where an action is logged automatically, preserve the relevant log rather than duplicating it manually without need.

 

Good-Faith Reporting

Members and Leaders should be able to report suspected policy violations in good faith without retaliation. Knowingly false reports, fabricated evidence, or malicious misuse of reporting processes may themselves be addressed as misconduct.

 

Policy Changes

Material policy changes should be communicated to affected people. Changes that alter access, enforcement, or Leadership obligations should include enough explanation for people to understand what changed and when the new expectation applies.

 

Professional Boundaries

Leaders may be friends with community members and other Staff. Personal relationships are normal, but Leadership actions must still be based on policy and evidence. Leaders should avoid using private access to monitor, embarrass, or gain leverage over people outside legitimate GGU needs.

 

Public Conduct

Leadership members are not expected to be formal at all times, but public conduct should not reasonably undermine trust in moderation, security, or organizational decision-making.

 

GGU Leadership Hierarchy

The general organization-wide Leadership hierarchy is:

• Community Leader — highest community leadership layer and organization-wide oversight.
• Operations Leader — day-to-day organization-wide operations and direct oversight of Senior Managers.
• Senior Manager — oversees Managers and broader operational areas.
• Manager — directly manages an individual Team or Department.
• Staff — game-server Leadership supporting Managers and Moderators.
• Moderator — routine game-server moderation and enforcement.

Escalation:
For organization-wide escalation, the normal path is Moderator → Staff → Manager → Senior Manager → Operations Leader → Community Leader. Not every issue must pass through every level.

 

Current Leadership Assignments

Current role holders are maintained on the GGU Ranks & Roster page. This policy governs the role regardless of who currently holds it.

 

Policy protects the community when expectations are clear before problems happen.