This is a translated version of the official rules. These are not the effective rules, if there is a disparency between this and the original version.
The name of the Association is Revolutionary Games Studio ry, and its domicile is Oulu.
The purpose of the Association is support video games as a hobby and doing activities together. The Association develops and distributes the Thrive game. Thrive is a game about the evolution of life in which the player controls a species from a unicellular level of life to the space age. The source code of the game will be distributed under an open-source code license for the platforms that allow the source code used by applications to be distributed following the terms and conditions of the license. The graphics, music, templates and other resources included in the game (other content than the source code), will also be distributed under a free license, which is similar, in terms of its philosophy, as open-source code licenses.
In order to achieve its purpose, the Association shall collect funds and use them to promote the development of Thrive as well as to carry out activities that support development and distribution. For the purpose of collecting funds, the Association can sell access to individuals outside the development team, to new game versions in advance, offer exclusive messages on the development of the game, offer alternative downloads to premade packages of Thrive or offer Thrive on platforms, which cannot provide the game in the form of a source code. The Board of the Association can also decide to sell similar services and products, which are not directly included in the aforementioned list. The Board of the Association can also choose to collect funds in the form of donations.
An individual who accepts the purpose of the Association can be accepted as a permanent member of the Association. A private individual or community with legal capacity, who wishes to support the purpose and activities of the Association, can be accepted as a supporting member. Actual members and supporting members are approved upon application by the Association's Board. Upon the Board’s proposal, an individual who has significantly promoted and supported the activities of the Association can be invited as Honorary President or honorary member at the Association's meeting.
Suppose a member of the Association has caused significant damages to the Association, and it is apparent that the damages are continuing. In that case, the Association's Board can vote for the said member to be dismissed. In other cases, the dismissal of a member is reviewed at the Association's meeting. If the Board has dismissed a member, the said member can request that the dismissal is reviewed again at the Association's next meeting. The request must be made within three months of the dismissal. After the request has been received it has to be handled in the next Association's meeting so that handling the request takes a maximum of 13 months.
The amount of the accession fee and annual membership fee for permanent members and supporting members shall be decided individually for each member group by the General Meeting. The Honorary President and honorary members are liable to pay membership fees. If a member has not paid the membership fee within six months following the due date, the Board of the Association can decide on the dismissal of the said member based on non-payment of the membership fee.
The matters of the Association are handled by the Board that includes the President and 2-8 other permanent members as well as 0-8 deputy members who are elected at the General Meeting. The term of office of the Board is the period between General Meetings. The Board selects from amongst its members a Vice President and the Board also appoints a Secretary, Treasurer as well as other necessary personnel from amongst its members or from outside the Board. The Board convenes at the invitation of the President or, if the President is unavailable, the Vice President, when they deem it necessary or when at least half of the members of the Board demand it. The Board constitutes a quorum when half of the members of the Board, as well as the President or Vice President, are present. For the Board to have decision-making power, the President or Vice President must be present. Votes are decided by absolute majority. If the votes are tied, the President will cast the deciding vote, except in elections where tied votes are decided by drawing lots.
The Board’s President may independently sign on behalf of the Association, the Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer may sign on behalf of the Association, two together.
The accounting period of the Association is the calendar year.
The meetings of the association can also be participated in remotely upon the decision of the Board or the meeting of the Association. The meetings of the Association shall be held in English unless all the participants of the meeting speak another common language. The General Meeting of the Association shall be held annually on a date defined by the Board in May-August. At meetings of the Association each permanent member, the Honorary President and honorary member have one vote. The current and former members of the Board of the Association, if they are still members of the Association, have two votes in each voting. Supporting members have the right to presence and the right to speak. The decision of the meeting of the Association is unless otherwise stipulated in the rules, the opinion that received over half of the votes that were cast. If the votes are tied, the chairperson of the meeting will cast the deciding vote, except in elections where tied votes are decided by drawing lots.
In elections, the voting is carried out by placing the candidates in order of preference. An acceptable vote must include at least a primary candidate. The counting of votes is carried out in such a way that the candidate marked first receives the number of votes held by the voter, the next candidate receives half of the voter’s votes, and the third receives a third and so on. The elected candidates are determined in accordance with the number of votes.
The Board must convene the meetings of the Association at least seven days before the meeting by email or post.
The following matters are handled at the General Meeting of the Association:
- opening of the meeting
- selecting the chairperson, secretary, two examiners for the minutes and, if necessary, two vote counters
- establishing the legality and quorum of the meeting
- approving the agenda for the meeting
- presenting the financial statement, annual report and statement from the performance auditors/financial auditors
- deciding on the confirmation of the financial statement and granting the Board and other responsible persons the freedom from liability
- confirming the operating plan, ingoing and outgoing estimate as well as the amounts of the accession and membership fees
- selecting the President and the other members of the Board
- selecting one or two performance auditors and deputy performance auditors, or one or two financial auditors and deputy financial auditors
- handling the other matters mentioned in the meeting invitation.
If a member of the Association wants to include some specific matter in the agenda of the Association’s General Meeting, they must notify the Board of this in writing sufficiently in advance so that the issue can be included in the meeting invitation.
The decision on changing the rules and dissolving the Association must be made in a meeting of the Association by a majority of at least three quarters (3/4) of the votes given. The meeting invitation must mention that meeting will include a motion to change the rules or dissolve the Association. If the Association is dissolved, its funds will be used to advance the purpose of the Association in the manner specified by the meeting that decided to dissolve the Association. If the Association is abolished, its funds will be used for the same purpose.