Alter Aeon Rules of Conduct

Rules Section 2 - Harassment

Rule  2.1  - Introduction


Harassment is a serious issue and unfortunately must be dealt with
seriously for a multitude of reasons.  That the topic has its own
section, however small, should indicate that harassment is taken
seriously and can result in severe punishment.

Harassment on the mud is defined as a persistent and directed attack
against an individual that goes beyond the bounds of in-game play and
bypasses the in-game controls designed to combat harassment.  This
is described in some detail below.

Rule  2.2  - What is harassment?


A good example of what would be considered harassment follows:

Player A and B get in a fight, for whatever reason.  Heated words are
exchanged, and A ignores B.

B doesn't like this, and uses a multi to continue to harass A.  A
finally ignores the multi too.

B is now really pissed off.  He starts sending obscene tells to A via
the email bot, who can't be ignored.

This is harassment.  B will be thwacked.

Rule  2.3  - What is not harassment?


A good example of what would not be considered harassment follows:

Player C, for whatever reason, has made a large number of enemies in
the game, and his actions are commonly discussed on both public and
private channels alike.  C is banned from one of the larger private
channels where his antics are discussed and laughed at.  This is not
harassment.

A group of players commandeers a public board in a public area and
begins posting logs of conversations with C.  C finds it offensive and
claims it's out of context, when it clearly isn't.  This is not
harassment.

Rule  2.4  - Thou shalt not distribute real-life information about people


Giving out the private, personal details of anyone on the game without
their permission will result in immediate action.  Giving out such
information against their express wishes will likely result in
immediate account suspension.

Rule  2.5  - Thou shalt not threaten real-life harm to anyone


Threatening harm in any halfway believable fashion to anyone in real
life will result in immediate and harsh punishment.

Remember, it's the perception of the victim that gates how serious
this issue can be.  You might think it's a joke, but if the other party
doesn't, you could lose all of your accounts and access to the game.

Rule  2.6  - Thou shalt respect ignore


If you are ignored by someone, you should in general not attempt to
bypass that ignore.  This includes logging in other characters which
are not ignored, and using in-game loopholes not covered by ignore to
contact the person.

Persistently attempting to bypass ignore is considered harassment.
You can be deleted or banned from the game for being a pain in the ass.

Keep in mind that ignore is the last line of defense that a victim has
against a harassing entity.  If ignore does not work, the administration
will get involved, and they will be pissed, because they will have to
deal with a stupid situation involving at least one stupid person.

Rule  2.7  - Harassment - the victim has obligations too!


Due to the subjective nature of harassment, administrative intervention
will not occur until a minimum effort has been made by the victim to
discourage the attacker or attackers.  The game has several built-in
tools to help victims fend off attackers.

Some of these tools, in increasing order of strength, are as follows:

1) channel ban

On player controlled channels, other players may be permanently banned
from using the channel, or may have other restrictions placed on them
by the channel owner.  If the harassment occurs on a channel owned by
the victim, the victim MUST ban the harassing entity.

2) notell

The 'notell' command can be used to reject tells from a particular
player if desired.

3) ignore

The 'ignore' command is a VERY strong discouraging command used to
prevent both the attacker and victim from interacting.  This is the
recommended mechanism for dealing with a persistent attacker.

The victim MUST use ignore before harassment complaints will be taken
seriously.  If harassment continues even with ignore in place, action
will be taken.

Rule  2.8  - Exceptions for player killing


Due to the nature of the game when player killing is in progress, it may
not be possible for ignore to be as strongly enforced as desired.  This
is a multiplayer game and when player killing is enabled that multiplayer
interaction is an intrinsic part of the game.

Player killing also can bring out much more heated arguments and scenarios
than would normally occur.  Accordingly, the standard for harassment when
player killing is involved is much higher.  Having your character
repeatedly slaughtered in pk is not considered harassment, even if
everyone is out to get you and only you.