Difference between revisions of "Rulebook"

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The Player Admin may decide that in addition to or instead of any other formal censure, a player who is subject to censure through the formal dispute procedure will also lose any gains made from the offense. This can include the loss of XP, wealth and in extreme cases forced retirement of the player character.  
 
The Player Admin may decide that in addition to or instead of any other formal censure, a player who is subject to censure through the formal dispute procedure will also lose any gains made from the offense. This can include the loss of XP, wealth and in extreme cases forced retirement of the player character.  
  
== <div class="tocSectionHead">6</div> Out-Of-Game Rules ==
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== Out-Of-Game Rules ==
 
This Chapter concerns out-of-game rules as decided by the Infra Admin. See Section 1.2 for definitions of in-game and out-of-game.
 
This Chapter concerns out-of-game rules as decided by the Infra Admin. See Section 1.2 for definitions of in-game and out-of-game.
  
=== <div class="tocSectionHead">6.1</div> Out-Of-Game Behavior ===
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=== Out-Of-Game Behavior ===
 
There will be no inflammatory remarks made OOC towards anyone in the ALFA community in a public forum. ALFA forums and chat are public. While you can speak freely, rude or aggressive language is not allowed. Admin or forum moderators decide what ‘inflammatory’ means. Examples include, but are not limited to, posting any type of pornographic pictures, text, or links, or inflammatory or graphically violent references to nationality, race, culture, gender, sexual preference or creed.
 
There will be no inflammatory remarks made OOC towards anyone in the ALFA community in a public forum. ALFA forums and chat are public. While you can speak freely, rude or aggressive language is not allowed. Admin or forum moderators decide what ‘inflammatory’ means. Examples include, but are not limited to, posting any type of pornographic pictures, text, or links, or inflammatory or graphically violent references to nationality, race, culture, gender, sexual preference or creed.
  
=== <div class="tocSectionHead">6.2</div> Intent to Harm ===
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=== Intent to Harm ===
 
Any member of the ALFA community who declares intent to cause physical, financial, or any other substantive harm to another ALFA member will be banned.
 
Any member of the ALFA community who declares intent to cause physical, financial, or any other substantive harm to another ALFA member will be banned.
  
=== <div class="tocSectionHead">6.3</div> Sexual Harassment ===
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=== Sexual Harassment ===
 
ALFA is a mature community and allows mature RP, but no member of ALFA shall be subject to sexual harassment. Victims of harassment should provide logs or screenshots to Admin. Such documents will remain confidential. Sexual harassment is punishable by a permanent ban.
 
ALFA is a mature community and allows mature RP, but no member of ALFA shall be subject to sexual harassment. Victims of harassment should provide logs or screenshots to Admin. Such documents will remain confidential. Sexual harassment is punishable by a permanent ban.
  
=== <div class="tocSectionHead">6.4</div> Improper Use ===
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=== Improper Use ===
 
Any other conduct that disrupts or negatively impacts the functioning of ALFA's out-of-game ressources will also be subject to censure. Examples include, but are not limited to, violations of privacy, spam, abuse of access privileges, computer-assisted attacks and failure to comply with moderation.
 
Any other conduct that disrupts or negatively impacts the functioning of ALFA's out-of-game ressources will also be subject to censure. Examples include, but are not limited to, violations of privacy, spam, abuse of access privileges, computer-assisted attacks and failure to comply with moderation.
  

Revision as of 18:05, 1 July 2014

In ALFA, rulemaking is divided between the 5 administrators that the community has elected. Lead Admin has oversight over the other Admin and may veto their decisions. The Player Admin handles in-game rules and applications, while the Infra Admin handles the website and our servers. The Tech Admin handles scripting and technical side of the game. Finally, the DM Admin handles DM Standards.

All censurable in-game and out-of-game rules can be found in the ALFA Rulebook. Any changes made to the rulebook will be made visible to you, so you are aware of them.

Introduction

In-Game Offenses And Out-Of-Game Offenses

An offense does not have to take place in-game to be considered an in-game offense. Metagaming (Section 2.1) is an in-game offense even if it is done through forums or chat. In the same way, not all offenses that occur in the game count as in-game. If you are flamed by a fellow member through in-game tells this is an out-of-game, “Infra” offense, and is to be handled by the Infra Admin. Complaints submitted with the Player Admin or ALFA Representatives that are determined to concern infra offenses will be forwarded to the Infra Admin.

Disposition

  • Chapter 2 lists in-game rules, as determined by the Player Admin.
  • Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5 describe how an in-game complaint is submitted and investigated.
  • Chapter 6 contains out-of-game rules, as determined by the Infra Admin.
  • Chapter 7 contains censure rules for both in-game and out-of-game offences.
  • Chapter 8 contains the DM code of conduct.
  • Chapter 9 contains rules for how the ALFA Rulebook may be changed.

In-Game Offenses

Metagaming

Metagaming is gaming that transcends the game. It is taking advantage of the fact that NwN is a game, and doing things you could not do if you were actually in the game world.

Examples: (1) Telling another player where to find your body when you have died alone; (2) Telling another player out-of-character (OOC) where to find a static quest; (3) Taking defensive actions for no other reason than another player has toggled your player-character (PC) to hostile.

Cheating

Cheating involves a more severe form of metagaming. It is actively exploiting any bug or shortcoming in the game mechanics. Cheating is generally punished by a permanent ban and is not subject to the 90-day rule, as per Section 4.2.2 of the ALFA Charter.

Examples: (1) Logging in the middle of combat; (2) Muling gold or items from one of your PCs to another of your PCs (note that multiple PCs are not allowed in ALFA, whether they are used for muling or not).

Multiple PCs

ALFA has a One Live and One Alt-PC rule. Playing two pcs in alfa requires observance of additional rules, including that pcs may not be played on the same server. Multiple Live PCs are not allowed beyond these two pcs - this includes cross-server. All old PCs are considered to be retired and may not be played again.

Griefing

Griefing is defined as repeatedly targeting another member either IC or OOC in a way that has negative impact on that member, for OOC reasons. Extreme cases of griefing are punished by a permanent ban and are not subject to the 90- day rule, as per Section 4.2.2 of the ALFA Charter.

R-18 Rules of Consent

Rules of Consent exists in Our R-18 community for prevention of potential harassment. ALFA strictly forbids role-playing involving children in adult or sexual situations. As such, all PC's need to be of at least minimum age of maturity, and represented as such in game through RP. Instances of graphic play such as erotica, rape, torture need to have the compliance of all parties involved OOCly. When such instances occur, either by players, or DM, permission needs to be sought for such, and logged through screenshot or in the case of DMs also/or using forum permission. To engage in such activities without the permission of the involved constitutes griefing.

Player Killing

Player killing is the killing of another player’s character without legitimate IC motivation, or without following the character vs. character guidelines in the ALFA Player’s Manual. Extreme cases of player killing are punished by a permanent ban and are not subject to the 90-day rule, as per Section 4.2.2 of the ALFA Charter.

Powergaming

Powergaming is the pursuit of experience points (XP) or wealth (either in gold or in items) at the expense of roleplaying. Sometimes it is IC for your PC to choose the most gainful option available. Other times it is not; if you still choose the most gainful option in those cases, you are powergaming.

Examples: (1) A paladin who wears Zhent full plate solely for added AC; (2) A druid who hunts deer to gain XP and sell the furs. (Note: these examples are not all-inclusive. Even if your behaviour does not fall into one of these subcategories you could still be powergaming)

Powergaming Character Concepts

Creating a character that just happens to be extremely optimized to make XP or wealth does not excuse powergaming. You may be forced to retire your PC and create a new one if your character concept is too powergaming oriented.

Example: (1) Creating a "Min-maxed" character; that is a character with maxed combat abilities and minimized non-combat abilities, such taking two levels of Ranger to get dual wield or two levels of Paladin to get divine grace without any legitimate IC reason for the character to have levels of Ranger or Paladin.

Farming

Farming is repeatedly killing the same static spawns or going through the same static quests with no legitimate IC motivation. Note that a character that "hates orcs" does not have a legitimate excuse for farming orc spawn points.

Example: (1) A character who returns to the same spawn point every day to kill the mobs spawned there.

Twinking

Twinking is giving another player wealth without adequate IC motivation.

Example: (1) Giving your real-life buddy with a lower level PC a magical sword you do not need anymore, even though the PCs do not know each other IC.

Hacking

Hacking is an extreme form of cheating. It involves actively creating a loophole or a bug in the game and then exploiting it. Hacking is always punished by a permanent ban and is not subject to the 90-day rule, as per Section 4.2.2 of the ALFA charter.

Example: (1) Gaining access to the ALFA Vault and changing your PC’s BIC file.

Failure To Comply

Any member who purposefully fails to comply with a decision made by a DM or Admin may be censured. If the member wishes to protest against a decision, any objections must be sent to the DM Admin in the case of a DM decision, or Lead Admin in the case of an Admin decision, who will then review the decision. The player may not simply circumvent the decision by going to a different DM/Admin without informing them of the previous decision.

Examples: (1) traveling to another server to level after the DM on the first server refuses to allow another prestige class level due to a lack of roleplay; (2) Failure to arrange a remake of the player character after Admin has determined that the character concept is not allowed.

In-Game Complaint Process

Before filing a complaint it is worth contacting the HDM of the server most closely related to the incident that gave rise to the complaint. Often an informal solution can be reached if the complaint does not concern any blatant violations of the rules in Chapter 2. The ALFA Representatives can also serve as mediators to help negotiate such an informal solution, but note that if no request for informal mediation is made they will treat every case as a formal complaint, and the rules in Chapter 4 will be followed. To submit a complaint, the complainant must make a request directly to the Player Admin or one of the ALFA Representatives. Note that public posts do not constitute complaints: the request must be made directly and privately.

Submitting A Complaint

Any player or DM who believes that another player has violated the rules of ALFA may submit a complaint against an ALFA player. DMs may only be the target of a complaint if the complaint concerns actions involving the DM's player character. General DM discipline falls under the DM Admin's domain, and thus such complaints should be submitted with the DM Admin. ALFA players cannot be punished for their actions on non-ALFA servers.

Who May Submit A Complaint

Any member or non-member may submit a complaint against an ALFA player. The Player Admin may also initiate investigations without a complaint being submitted.

The 90-day Rule

Complaints must be submitted within 90 days of the behavior or incident upon which the complaint is based. Accordingly, investigations will generally only be allowed to look at behavior that occurred within 90 days of the date the complaint was submitted. The 90 days are counted backwards from the day when the complaint is submitted. The length of the investigation is thus unimportant, since prescription will always be counted from the day they complaint was submitted, not from the day when the investigation was finished. Some offenses are exempt from the 90-day rule, and indeed from any other rules in this document, if the majority of Admin vote for such a decision. These offenses are listed in Section 4.2.2 of the ALFA charter.

In-Game Investigation Procedures

This Chapter contains procedural rules for the investigation of complaints submitted to the Player Admin or the ALFA representatives.

Investigators

The Player Admin may elect to investigate complaints himself, or assign one or more ALFA Representatives to the case.

Confidentiality

Investigations are discussed on a private forum. All investigations are to be considered confidential unless the Player Admin states otherwise. Any person who directly or indirectly divulges information from an investigation is subject to punishment by the Infra Admin.

Confidentiality And The Accused

The accused party has no automatic right to be informed of any ongoing investigation. However, the Player Admin should make every effort to inform the accused of the investigation at most 14 days after the complaint was submitted, if the complaint is still being considered at that point.

Investigation Dismissal Or Dispute

The Player Admin may dismiss a complaint at any point in the investigation. No other party may dismiss complaints. If the Player Admin determines that the investigation has provided sufficient evidence, they may initiate a formal dispute proceeding, or resolve the complaint through an informal dispute resolution.

Duty To Cooperate

All members of ALFA have a duty to cooperate with investigations conducted by the Player Admin. Persistent refusal to do so may lead to censure.

In-Game Dispute Procedures

This Chapter contains rules for the formal dispute proceedings that take place to assess the culpability of the accused.

Initiating a Dispute

When an investigation moves to a formal dispute, the Player Admin will post a new thread in the Dispute Forum, summing up the main evidence found in the investigation.

Access to a Dispute

ALFA DMs enjoy read-only access to the Dispute Forum. The complainant and the accused enjoy posting access, which may be substituted for read-only access if the Player Admin or Infra Admin determines that this access is being abused. Admin and ALFA Representatives may also post.

Dispute Time Limits

From the time when the thread is made in the Dispute Forum and the complainant and the accused have been given posting access, the dispute must remain open for 7 days. After that time the Player Admin may determine when the dispute proceedings are over and a verdict can be reached. The Player Admin will make every effort to ensure that all parties get to plead their case.

Exception From Time Limit

In cases where the evidence is overwhelming or where the accused has confessed, the Player Admin may announce a verdict immediately, without waiting 7 days. This measure is reserved for exceptional circumstances. If the Player Admin does not announce the verdict immediately the thread must always run for 7 days.

Dispute Verdict

At any point after the initial 7 days the Player Admin may lock the thread and declare the verdict. The verdict is effective immediately, unless stated otherwise.

Appeals

Only verdicts that find wrongdoing may be appealed against. Such appeals must be made to the Lead Admin within 30 days of the verdict, as per Section 3.6 of the ALFA Charter.

Informal Dispute Resolution

Informal dispute resolutions rely on the consent of the accused, the complainant, and the Player Admin. If any of these parties disagree with the informal dispute resolution, the case must proceed to formal dispute procedures.

Removal Of Illegal Gains

The Player Admin may decide that in addition to or instead of any other formal censure, a player who is subject to censure through the formal dispute procedure will also lose any gains made from the offense. This can include the loss of XP, wealth and in extreme cases forced retirement of the player character.

Out-Of-Game Rules

This Chapter concerns out-of-game rules as decided by the Infra Admin. See Section 1.2 for definitions of in-game and out-of-game.

Out-Of-Game Behavior

There will be no inflammatory remarks made OOC towards anyone in the ALFA community in a public forum. ALFA forums and chat are public. While you can speak freely, rude or aggressive language is not allowed. Admin or forum moderators decide what ‘inflammatory’ means. Examples include, but are not limited to, posting any type of pornographic pictures, text, or links, or inflammatory or graphically violent references to nationality, race, culture, gender, sexual preference or creed.

Intent to Harm

Any member of the ALFA community who declares intent to cause physical, financial, or any other substantive harm to another ALFA member will be banned.

Sexual Harassment

ALFA is a mature community and allows mature RP, but no member of ALFA shall be subject to sexual harassment. Victims of harassment should provide logs or screenshots to Admin. Such documents will remain confidential. Sexual harassment is punishable by a permanent ban.

Improper Use

Any other conduct that disrupts or negatively impacts the functioning of ALFA's out-of-game ressources will also be subject to censure. Examples include, but are not limited to, violations of privacy, spam, abuse of access privileges, computer-assisted attacks and failure to comply with moderation.

Censure

Informal Censure

If an investigation ends with an informal dispute resolution Admin may impose whatever censure the parties agreed upon. Such censure may include but is not limited to counseling or mandatory attendance of RP 101. No informal censure is mandatory.

Temporary Server Ban

Any HDM can issue a temporary ban from their server for up to 30 days. Such a ban does not necessarily have to be based on the offenses listed in Chapter 2. The Player Admin must be informed immediately of any server bans. If the HDM wants to extend the ban beyond 30 days the Player Admin will initiate an investigation on the player. The Player Admin may decide that the ban should remain during the course of the investigation. Note that a temporary server ban does not count as formal censure in itself. Alternatively, HDMs may instruct their DMs not to include the player in DM sessions on the server for the 30 day time period.

Formal Censure

Formal censure is issued by the Player Admin after a formal dispute, or by the Infra Admin. In cases where the Admin responsible (ie. Player or Infra Admin) is directly involved in the matter, or other clear conflicts of interest exist, the Lead Admin will step in to over see the dispute. In cases where the Lead Admin is also involved, a third Admin will step in as necessary. There are three levels of censure. Admin determines which level of censure will be imposed in the individual case.

First Formal Censure

This serves as an official censure and may be given along with AR counseling or other punishment that the responsible Admin deems fit.

Second Formal Censure

The member is banned from all of ALFA (servers as well as forums and chat) for 7 days. At this point the member is no longer considered to be in good standing, and may thus no longer run for Admin, as per Section 3.1 in the ALFA charter.

Third Formal Censure

The member is permanently banned from all of ALFA (servers as well as forums and chat).

Censure Record

Each formal censure is added to the player's censure record. Censures will be recorded against both the player and their CDKey. With a first-level censure in the player's history a second-level offense may thus lead to a permanent ban, or vice versa. It is also possible for a player to get banned permanently after committing 3 consecutive first-level offenses. Out-of-game censure levels are cleared after 6 months of good behavior except in the case of a permanent ban, while in-game censure levels are always permanent.

DM Code of Conduct

DMs are to be held to a higher standard, as they are community leaders by virtue of the position of authority that they hold. DMs will strive to be polite to other members on the forums or IRC channel. In-game infractions by those with DM status will not be tolerated whether DMing or playing a PC. Sanction is entirely at the judgement of the DM Admin, who may choose anything from counseling for isolated indiscretions to immediate and permanent removal from DM status for substantive or repeated misbehavior.

DMs and PCs

A member who is a DM may also have a PC, but that PC may not visit any server on which they DM, except to cross it in order to reach another server. A DM who retires from a server must wait for a period of thirty days before their PC may visit that server.

DMs and CvC

No ALFA DM shall aid any Character versus Character activity beyond the minimum intervention required to maintain IC plot. This proscription shall include the creation or possession of NPCs to actively impact the course of a CvC incident. DMs are permitted to resolve skill-based attempts by PCs seeking to find another player, with hidden rolls preferred.

DMA Annoucements

All DMA Rule Announcements posted to the DMA Announcements sticky shall have the force of a Rule under Section 8 of these Rules. Excluded from such are informational postings.

Changes To The ALFA Rulebook

Chapters 2 to 5 of the ALFA Rulebook may be changed by the Player Admin, Chapter 6 by the Infra Admin, and Chapter 8 by the DM Admin. Chapter 7 may be changed by a joint decision by the Infra Admin and the Player Admin. Chapters 1 and 9 may only be changed by a joint decision by the DM Admin, Infra Admin and Player Admin. The members should be notified immediately of any changes to the ALFA Rulebook.

Rule Conflicts

In the event that a rule in the ALFA Rulebook violates provisions in the ALFA Charter the rule in the ALFA Rulebook is void.

Retroactive Application Of Rules

No rule in the ALFA Rulebook may be applied to events that transpired before the rule in question was created. If a rule is altered, the wording that was in effect when the event took place is to be used.