Alter Aeon Rules of Conduct

Rules Section 1 - Social Interaction and Conduct

Rule  1.1  - Introduction


This rules section deals with the more common scenarios where players
interact with each other on a grand scale, but perhaps not in an
overly malicious and persistent manner.  For incidents that involve
a directed, persistent attack on a single individual, see the section
regarding 'harassment'.

Rule  1.2  - Informational - censorship


It is important to realize that this mud is a private forum, owned by
real people.  You have no intrinsic right to be here, and you have no
intrinsic right to speak.  You can technically be censored at any time
for any reason, and you have absolutely no recourse.

However, the administration of this mud believe that the right to speak
should exist, and as such we have given players the ability to talk to
each other in an unrestricted fashion.  Additionally, we have given
players the ability to create their own forums and channels, which they
can moderate or censor as they see fit.  One side effect of privately
owned channels is that the channel owners can ban you at any time, for
any reason they want.

The more public god-owned channels such as gossip and newbie may be
heavily regulated.  It often doesn't take much to get banned from one
of these types of channels.

If you don't like the restrictions placed on any particular channel,
feel free to create your own with lighter restrictions.  Even if you're
banned from everywhere else, you can always talk on your own channel -
and if you have something worthwhile to say, people will listen.

Rule  1.3  - Thou shall follow the rules of private and public channels


Private and public channels typically have moderators and owners who set
standards of conduct for their channels.  You should try to abide by
those standards when using someone else's channel.  If you don't like
the rules by which a channel is moderated, you may create your own
channel (see 'help channel create' for details.)

Rule  1.4  - Thou shalt not spam


Generally spamming on public channels or via tell is taken care of by
hard limits in the game, but it's still impolite.

When spamming on public or private channels, you will probably be banned
from that channel.

When spamming someone with tells, you will probably be ignored.  If you
persist in trying to spam someone even after you've been ignored, it's
considered harassment, which you can be deleted for.

When spamming some local area such as a recall, you can be frozen or
silenced.

Rule  1.5  - Thou shalt not share passwords or characters


We've had a lot of problems with people sharing passwords and character
theft as a result.  We can't actually prevent this from happening, but
really you should NOT share passwords, even between very close family
members.  (Actually, family members is where we've had the most trouble,
so especially not between family members.)

If you do share passwords and someone takes your character, you're
pretty much screwed.  You have very little, if any, recourse.  Keep
that in mind.

Rule  1.6  - Thou shalt not steal passwords or run scams


Password stealing is when someone tries to talk you into telling them your
password, or tries to hack your character by guessing at the password
repeatedly.  It is important that you do not give out your password to
anyone!  If they know your password, they can take your character.

A 'password check' is when a player pretends to be an admin and tries to
get you to expose your password.  Here is an example of a player trying
to scam people with a very stupid 'password check':

------------ EXAMPLE ------------
Devstore gossips, 'ok guys, we are doing a pwd check'
Devstore gossips, 'please type 'gossip echo pwd check your login name and pwd.'
Devstore gossips, 'please note if you dont type echo, your pwd will be passed everyone to gossip'
Devstore gossips, 'so be syure to type 'gossip echo''
---------- END EXAMPLE ----------

This is illegal and you can be deleted for doing this.  It is like
yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater.  It is not funny or even remotely
amusing.

Rule  1.7  - Thou shalt not phish or grossly defraud other players


This one is just common sense.  If you cheat other players out of stuff
in obvious and/or blatant ways, the admin reserves the right to do
horrible things to your characters (any and all of them, even if they
aren't directly involved.)

This category includes all kinds of offenses.  A couple of obvious
examples might be:

1) "hey man, gimmie the password to your character so I can check out
    the stats on your character"

2) "can I see your bag for a minute?  I just want to see what's in it"

This includes things like guessing or stealing passwords or looting a
character that doesn't belong to you.

Rule  1.8  - Thou shalt not be gullible


This is the opposite of the above rule against phishing and fraud.  You
really should be paying enough attention to things that fraud isn't a
problem.  If you actually get scammed out of something serious, it's at
least partially your fault.

When dealing with fraud and other similar situations, the admin usually
rules in favor of the victim.  There are cases however, when the victim
did something so impossibly brain-damaged that the only suitable
response is to allow the transaction to stand.

In short:  Caveat Emptor.

Rule  1.9  - Thou shalt not be a dumbass when dealing with gods


Gods are here to improve the game, help players, and keep things running
halfway smoothly.  They are not here to be your friend, they are not
here to chitchat, and they are not here to help you level.

It's not strictly a crime to irritate gods.  However, it's much more
impolite than irritating a player, because gods have better things to
do than deal with crap (like build new areas, for example.)

Rule  1.10 - Thou shalt not impersonate or misrepresent gods


If you're not a god, don't claim to be one.  Claiming you're a god to
get special favors is a good way to have the gods themselves hunt you
down.

The corollary to this is not to believe a mortal player who tells you
he's really a god.  Only believe what comes directly from gods, not
from second sources.

Rule  1.11 - Thou shalt not use real life names in the MUD


Never use real life names on the mud unless you are explicitly asked
to do so by the person in question.  This holds especially true for old
and high level players, as well as gods.  For older, well established
players, their reputation is attached to their characters and using
their real life name may be considered a fantastic insult.