Citizenship

Citizenship and Citizens are perhaps the most unique feature of TWC. Other forums may have 'Premium Members', people who pay to be apart of the site, or 'Senior Members', people who have been a member of the site for a certain period of time, usually months or even years - in almost all cases members who have additional benefits over normal members. On TWC we call these members 'Citizens', and you certainly don't have to pay to be one! A Citizen is simply someone who has been recognised for contributing to TWC in some way, whether that be through modding or writing, being friendly or helpful, or anything in between.

Any member who has made fifty posts and been registered for at least 2 months can apply to become a Citizen - which is done by finding a 'Patron', a member who is already a Citizen, to post an application on your behalf and a small paragraph on why they think you would be a good Citizen. It isn't difficult to find a Patron, and asking around, for example by speaking to Citizens you may have seen or spoken with around the site, will often result in you finding a Patron in no time! When your application is posted the other Citizens will discuss it and will judge whether or not you should join their ranks. That sounds far more daunting than it actually is, Citizens are an inclusive bunch who want new people to be awarded - and often only a small number of contributions are needed. If that doesn't comfort you, bear in mind that the success rate for Citizenship these days are extraordinary high, and you are very likely to pass if you can show you've been a good member on TWC.

So why do we have Citizenship? There is a long history behind it, steeped in tradition I imagine most people reading this aren't interested in. Essentially it is a way of recognising and awarding members of TWC who go that bit further to contribute to the forums in some way, and to also encourage new members to perhaps get involved more than they were maybe planning as there is the prospect of the awards and benefits that come with Citizenship. These benefits include:

• A red Username to mark you out as a Citizen to other members
• The ability to customize your Usertitle (the text underneath your Avatar)
• Posting rights in the Curia, where you can propose and discuss ideas to change and improve the site
• Posting rights in the Symposivm, a Citizens-only forum where the rules are more relaxed
• The ability to stand for election in a variety of roles, for example Magistrates who help decide if the rules were correctly applied by Moderators or not
• And of course three distinctive badges to chose from that are displayed by your posts:
  
• Plus access to new site features before other members, for example the new Blog feature!

As you can see above there are three different badges that can be displayed to identify you as a Citizen, they are 'Citizen', 'Civitate' and 'Artifex'. No matter which you chose to display they all have the same benefits, so they are mainly used to show the general area of contribution you've made to the site so people can associate you with one area or another. 'Civitate' was traditionally used to show that the Citizen was a debater and active in the Discussion & Debate forums, although it now encompasses writing as well as debating - the more wordy Citizens if you like. 'Artifex' is used to show that that Citizen is a modder and gained their Citizenship due to their modding contributions to the site, not just for Total War games but any form of modding. The standard 'Citizen' badge is generally used to show other areas of contributions, or by people who would prefer not to associate with a specific area or indeed to associate with both.

The Latin names can be a bit confusing, but bear in mind it doesn't matter which badge you chose to display - you are still a Citizen and the only real difference is the badge itself, everything else is identical. When you make your application it has become tradition to say which of the three 'groups' you plan to identify yourself as, hence why you may hear people referring to an 'Artifex application' or a 'Citizenship application' as different things, for example. Regardless of which you chose the process is identical with the same chance of success, so it isn't anything to stress over. Furthermore you are not bound by which badge you first applied for, and once you are a Citizen they are completely interchangeable without having to reapply or anything like that, so if you change your mind you can always change your badge.

If you have any questions about Citizenship please feel free to post in this thread or PM the Consul. Details of the current Consul can be found on this list.