Rules

Note: This page is moderated and can be referenced in OOC issues, such as ban appeals, complaints, reports, etc. This may not apply to the pages this page links to.

Server Rules

0 Admin Discretion

Admins retain the authority to ignore the rules at their discretion when they feel it's in the best interest of the current round or playerbase at large. However, they will be fully accountable for their actions should they choose to exercise this privilege. If an admin says something is a rule, and you disagree, follow what they say and make a complaint on the forums after the round.

Just because you bend the wording of a rule into a pretzel and don't break the specific RAW (Rule As Written) does not mean you didn't break the RAI (Rule As Intended). Rules are subject to interpretation and if an admin believes you broke a rule as it is intended to function, you can expect the same consequences. Rules as intended always trump the rules as written, and "Toeing the line" is not permitted.

R0 Key Information
Admins can do whatever they feel is necessary, regardless of the rules. An admin's word is final. Always listen to them. Don't reopen a closed ticket. You can file a complaint about an admin on our forums. Rules-lawyering is not allowed. Praying makes you a target for admin abuse; be careful what you wish for!

1 You Must Roleplay

The goal of our server is to immerse players in a fictional universe, enabling them to roleplay with each other. More details can be found in the key information section below. Even if excused as valid roleplay, you are not immune to the consequences of your actions. If you declare independence or commit treason, expect to be executed by security or CentCom.

If you don't know how, or need some pointers, there's a guide to help out.

R1 Key Information

Play the character and role that you have been assigned. The Captain/Heads of Staff are expected to initially be loyal towards Nanotrasen. Regular crew initially want to keep their job. Non-crew roles should be aware of their starting prompt. In-round events and good roleplay may prompt these values to change. Insanity and mental illness may not be used as an excuse to break rules. Antagonists exist for the purpose of inciting conflict and roleplay, not for the purpose of greentexting. Antagonists with no objectives must act in ways suiting their nature. The goal of a Morph is to eat everything, the goal of a Nightmare is to snuff out all lights- and those who keep the station lit. Even Xenomorphs must act for their objective. Their primary goal is to breed and protect their hive. Know and understand Space Law and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Security members are expected to enforce Space Law. Heads of Staff are expected to enforce Standard Operating Procedure within their department and may issue warnings or demotions for violations. In-character reasoning can be used to justify violating SOP or Space Law (even for heads of staff and security), but may still have in-character consequences. Do not break the immersion for other players, your speech and actions should be in-character as this is a story-telling game. Do not mention out-of-character information such as discord, admins, tickets, rules, etc. Avoid referencing the fact that you are playing a game, or rounds being a time loop without an in-character reason to do so. Avoid references to information acquired outside of your character's scope of knowledge. Avoid netspeak (lol, wtf, brb, etc.) Use a lore-friendly name, and follow Naming Guidelines for your species. Do not use the names of famous people, well known characters, or heavy references. Clowns, mimes, and wizards are permitted to have meme/unusual names, but admin discretion still applies. Most shifts (aka "rounds" out-of-character) are "normal" for your character. Rounds are typically non-canon, and only the current shift is abnormal/crazy/etc. Pretend your shifts normally go smoothly and without major incidents, and that the current round/shift is an anomaly. Avoid purposely ignoring the responsibilities of your job to the detriment of the station. Heads of staff are expected to be competent in their department to the point where they are able to give orders and teach new players the basic functions of their job. Without an in-character reason, let other people do their job.

2 No Powergaming

Antagonists are exempt from this rule at all times. "Powergaming" is considered to be the act of prioritizing "winning" over creating an enjoyable and memorable experience for other players. Emphasis is placed on the effort of acquiring combat advantages.

R2 Key Information

Avoid obtaining anything solely advantageous for combat without an in-character reason. When you are aware about a threat against you, you may take proportional means to protect yourself. Red alert, or greater, is always grounds to believe that there is a threat against you. Non-security roles should not be seeking out combat with people that do not pose a threat to them without an in-character reason. You may non-lethally assault a coworker, defend yourself against an attacker, and assist your coworkers should you witness them be attacked (See Escalation Policy). Security are always permitted to charge into danger, but should not be carrying combat items outside of the scope of their job, the same as other crew. Heads of staff are permitted to defend their own department and subordinates, but should not be patrolling the station for threats unless there is no security.

3 Ticket Conduct

If you have had an issue within the current round that requires an admin's assistance to resolve, you may request such by using the "adminhelp" verb in your game window. When typing out your ticket, be as descriptive as possible and try to include character names, character jobs and a detailed description of whatever incident you need help with. Just as admins are expected to remain respectful during tickets, so are players - do not take out your frustrations on the admins and understand we can't always share full details of why something occurred as the round is going on. If an admin sends you a PM (BWOINK), you should respond as soon as you are capable of doing so and answer whatever questions they have to the best of your ability. If you are busy or in danger, try to send a short message such as "hang on" while you get somewhere else.

R3 Key Information

Ignoring an admin PM or quitting the game after receiving one may result in a ban. You can explain yourself on the forums afterwards. Give the admin a quick "Just a min" or something if you're unable to immediately respond to a bwoink. Do not harass or insult admins in a ticket. Do not spam tickets or attempt to get a different result from a different admin. Lying or being intentionally misleading in tickets may result in a ban.

4 Players Must Be 18 Years of Age or Older

This rule is for the benefit of and is meant to protect people who shouldn't be playing here due to the nature of the game and the community. While we do not require age-verification to join the community, persons found or believed to be under 18 will be banned from the game and community until they are old enough to rejoin. An admin may ask for a player's age for the purposes of verification under this rule. However, we will never ask for directly identifiable information (such as a picture of an ID) as per our Legal and Operations Policy.

R4 Key Information

If an admin suspects that a player is under 18, they may ban them accordingly. If asked about their age, players are permitted to decline to answer. This will not clear them of potential suspicion, however. Admitting to being under our minimum age threshold will result in an immediate ban. This includes making "jokes" that you are X-years old. A player may be banned if we receive confirmation that they are underaged from a trusted source Trusted sources are primarily limited to the player themselves or another trusted SS13 server that requires age verification Bans under this rule are not appealable.

5 No ERP or Pornographic content

While we are an 18+ server, pornographic content and 'ERP' as defined by this rule is still prohibited. ERP, or Erotic Roleplay, is defined as roleplay that has a strong erotic element intended to elicit a sexual response from the receiver(s). It may involve two or more people or be done in front of spectators. This includes reading stories about ERP but not participating directly (WGW), or posting links to adult websites and images. Both consensual and nonconsensual ERP will be met with a PERMABAN.

6 Be Excellent to Each Other

Do not try and intentionally ruin other people's fun. While dying is a normal part of the game and IC conflicts will arise, dickish behavior and harassment is not allowed toward other players outside of the scope of such IC conflicts. Be patient with other players who may not know what they're doing and assist them when you can; remember this is a newbie-friendly server before anything else and toxicity toward players for not understanding something will not be tolerated. In the spirit of this rule, no racial/homophobic slurs or generally intolerant behavior is permitted in or outside of the game. In-character speciesism between different species is permitted, but keep real-world slurs (including allusions to real slurs) and references out of it.

R6 Key Information

Content that is not explicitly erotic as defined under rule 5 but still makes people uncomfortable is prohibited. No bigotry, slurs, or general intolerance is permitted. See above for more details. Don’t damage the arrivals shuttle, and do not attack anyone until they have left the shuttle at least once. Do not spam call or recall the emergency shuttle. Don't be a dick. Use common sense. Don't spam. Copypastas are considered spam. Do not threaten other players with ahelps or admin involvement, including thinly veiled IC terms. Disconnected players (SSD players) may not be stripped of items or searched for evidence of being an antagonist; move them somewhere safe if possible. You can identify a player as disconnected by examining them; "They may snap out of it soon" means they are simply disconnected. "Any recovery is unlikely" means the player is gone for good and their body may be treated as if it were dead. Players disconnecting during an active arrest may still be searched. A disconnected player may be referred to as succumbing to SSD, or Space-Sleep Disorder Disconnected players should generally be moved to a cryosleep pod, as this opens their job slot for a new player to take their place. If the player does not reconnect while in cryosleep, their items will be stripped and "moved" to the nearby cryosleep console. You may then claim the player's items from there. No cheating: This includes any form of macros, exploits, modified clients or anything else that gives an unfair advantage over other users playing normally. English is the primary language of the server. You are expected to keep your communications within the server and the discord in English, so that other players may understand you.

7 Do Not Grief

Defined as the perceived intent of one player wanting to cause grief or annoyance to other players or to the server without any roleplay/IC reason. The emphasis is on "intent". If a member of staff believes that the player's intent is to grief then action will be taken. You can appeal these actions on the Ban Appeals forum. Any damage to the station or players caused by griefing can be repaired at an Admin's discretion.

R7 Key Information

Examples of Possible Griefing A security officer using their weapons to kill crew members for low level crimes A player attempting to damage or destroy station equipment without good IC reasoning (Gimping the engine for no reason, throwing away valuable weapons or materials, etc.) Assaulting security officers just for the sake of grabbing their attention. There is some leeway for clowns, but slipping security officers during Red/Delta Alert or during any dangerous situations will result in a ban. Blowing yourself up as a form of, "self-defense," unless you're an antagonist with a microbomb implant Creating or ordering an additional major source of power (Tesla, Singularity, Supermatter shard, etc.) outside of engineering will be considered griefing if the containment fails due to incompetence. "Roleplaying" insanity/psychopathy/etc as an excuse to murder people. Examples that are NOT Griefing Two crew members getting into a fight about something and throwing a few punches at each other. A clown slipping a security officer in a low danger situation (While the alert level is Green and there aren't any active antagonists, for example). Exercise moderation, this is NOT a pass to spam-slip or make it your goal to slip every single officer. Slipping security may still have IC consequences.

8 Do Not Self-Antag

Do not behave like an antagonist if you are not an antagonist. As an employee of Nanotrasen you should want to keep your job, but are not required to be fanatically loyal towards them. Follow Escalation Policy in any altercations and ensure that your character's actions make sense when they may be detrimental to the station or other crew.

Roles which are hostile to the station according to escalation policy may ignore this rule entirely.

R8 Key Information

Knowingly and willfully assisting antagonists without an in-character reason to do so is considered self-antag. When you are being coerced or threatened into performing actions that may harm other players, your priority should be finding a way out of the situation rather than faithfully following orders. Only act if your character feels the threat is credible. Victimless assistance may be performed if it aligns with your character's motivations, such as taking a bribe to order supplies or providing medical care. You are still open to receiving in-character punishment such as prison time if you assist antagonists, even if they are valid under these rules. Knowingly performing high impact actions is self-antag, regardless of the threat placed against you. Actively seeking conversion or transformation into an antagonist is self-antag. This includes actions that are blatantly careless such as bolting your upload open as an AI in the hopes of being subverted, or wandering through maintenance for no reason when cult is confirmed. Granting mass sentience will be treated as self-antag if more creatures are given sentience than you can maintain reasonable command over. Direct disobedience to orders will still be at the fault of the sentient creature, but vague instructions such as "Do whatever you want" or "You're free" will be at the fault of the player in charge of issuing orders. Uploading or removing laws to silicons that make them significantly more dangerous to regular crew or jeopardize a silicon's well-being is self-antag. Clowns, Mimes, and Stage Magicians are expected to "entertain" the crew and have some allowance to bend this rule for the sake of performance and pranks, but crew are also given the same leeway when interacting with you. Annoy the crew at your own peril.

9 No Advertising/Recruiting

Do not post links to other servers with the intention of luring players to a different server. People are more than welcome to play elsewhere, you're just being rude. Obviously there are other servers out there and discussion may pop up now and then - advertising another server isn't the same as having a discussion about them. If you dislike it here and choose to stick around just to talk about how much better other servers are, we are likely to boot you back over to those other servers instead of allowing you to continue. If you attempt to poach/recruit our staff members, we reserve the right to laugh nervously while we tighten the leashes and silence your heresy.

R9 Key Information
You may discuss other servers, but do not try to lure players there or recruit players to it. That's just being rude. Do not try to recruit/poach our staffmembers.

10 No Multikeying

In order to correctly track players and ensure they are not cheating our notes and warning systems, choose one CKEY (byond account) to play on and stick with it. If your CKEY is offensive, you will be directed to create a new account and the old will be banned. If you are in a household with more than one person playing, it would be best to notify admins as soon as possible; if one of the accounts is banned, the other may be considered ban evasion if we don't already know about it ahead of time.

R10 Key Information
If you are found to be using an alternate account to ban evade, you will be permanently banned from the server. Existing permanent bans are far less likely to be considered for appeal if you have been caught evading. If you are found to have more than one account logged into the same round, all accounts will be banned permanently as this is considered cheating.

11 Head of Staff Conduct

Heads of Staff are held to higher standards than regular crewmembers. You are expected to be a competent person and competent at all the jobs that work under you. You will be expected to lead your department as a professional and to enforce Standard Operating Procedure upon your underlings. Heads of staff are liable to be jobbanned from all Head roles if they are found to be incompetent at the role. Heads of staff are not beginner-friendly roles on this server, nor roles to take just for cool gear.

R11 Key Information

Your underlings are much more expendable to NT than you are. Heads of Staff generally should not abandon their post unless there is a pressing need to do so. For example, the Captain should almost never be on Lavaland. Heads of Staff have jurisdiction over their department, but not others. They are encouraged to work together to achieve common goals. The Head of Personnel is responsible for managing access to the station, but is only directly in charge of service and supply jobs. The HoP has no authority over Security; the HoP may not act as a Security Officer. Access to a department should only be given after joint communication with the relevant department head, unless there is no head of staff present within it. The captain or acting captain has final say over every department head, and is responsible for every department that has not yet been assigned a head of staff. The Captain's goal is to ensure the safety of their crew and the success of the station as a whole, not to abuse your position and power-trip over the station. The captain is not required to be totally proficient at all departments, but they should have at least a surface understanding of how each department and role functions.

12 Antagonist Conduct

While antagonists are supposed to be the enemies of the station, above all you should seek to make the round more engaging and fun as the star of the show. Succeeding as an antagonist is not the "goal" of SS13, the goal is for all players to have fun. While there are no friendly antags, don't seek to intentionally ruin the round for others just because you're an antagonist, and always remember to be excellent to each other.

R12 Key Information

Antagonists are generally exempt from rules 2 and 8. If you are part of a team, you must work with your partners to complete any shared objectives. Antagonists are free to complete their objectives by any reasonable means available You may pre-emptively eliminate official, and acting, members of security. (See 3.3) You may pre-emptively eliminate crew who are members of the department in which your objective is permanently situated in. (See 3.3) Pre-emptive eliminations must be performed through low impact methods. Antagonists may perform high impact actions strictly when that action results in the immediate completion of an objective. High impact actions are any actions which: Put in additional, unreasonable, and unnecessary effort to make a victim impossible to recover. Intends to cause, or results in, the death of a large number of bystanders (3 or more non-targets). Victims who do not make an attempt at self-preservation do not count towards this (Crew who do not flee from obvious bomb-threats do not count). Results in damage to a department that is difficult to repair and causes the department to be unable to perform its normal duties. Eliminating non-target crew in a way that does not directly serve your objective is usually not permitted. (Also see 3.1 and 3.2) Witnesses who are actively reporting your actions or location may be eliminated through low-impact means without punishment, if you act immediately (See 4.4). Eliminating witnesses through low-impact means is allowed when the action being witnessed is in a low-traffic area. Survivors to a high-impact event may not be eliminated as a result of being a witness, unless killing them would otherwise be allowed by 4.1 or 4.5. Where allowed, the elimination of witnesses must be acted upon immediately. You may not hunt down a witness who previously escaped you, unless they return to the same location while you are performing the action which they reported you for. Acting in self-defence (See escalation policy) through low-impact is always allowed, even if you are performing antagonistic actions in a public space. The isolated killing of non-targets through low-collateral means in an attempt to pursue a gimmick is allowed. Some roles are granted an exception to this rule (See Species and Faction Escalation table)

13 Metagaming and Meta-communications

Players are not allowed to use information gained in any way other than from their living character's point of view during an ongoing round, except for information pertaining to their specific job found on the wiki. You may not use information gained through voice communications with other players, while dead as a ghost, or any information stated in any OOC chat. This is considered cheating and violations may result in a lengthy or permanent ban from the server or OOC. Note: If you wish to use meta-comms to help assist/teach new players, contact an admin first and we will likely allow it.

R13 Key Information

Revealing in-character information in out-of-character channels, such as OOC or Discord, is not allowed while rounds are ongoing (referred to as ICK OCK). Streaming is allowed, but you must have a minimum of 15-second delay for broadcasting. If you have a substantial following, feel free to reach out to server staff about special accommodations we may be able to offer or work around. You are also responsible for any meta-comms taking place in your chat feed - obviously you can't control your viewers, but acting on meta-knowledge from your feed will result in a ban. You cannot attack players over events that occurred in a previous life. This includes ghost respawns and new rounds. When you are revived, you cannot remember the circumstances (roughly 5 minutes) leading up to your death. Taking action against another player based on events your current character couldn't know about, or that occurred in a different round, is called meta-grudging and is against the rules as well.

14 Leaving the Game

If you wish to leave the game, please use the cryopods located in/near the dorms when possible. This will free up your character's job to be filled by a new player.

R14 Key Information

Heads of Staff, Antagonists and Ais that leave the game (Cryo or not) without notifying admins may find themselves banned from Command/Antagonist/AI roles. As these roles you may be playing an integral role in the round and shouldn't leave without notice, barring an emergency. It is encouraged to leave any unique items within your locker, when possible, before entering cryo. Committing suicide or logging off simply because you did not become an antagonist is not allowed. If you queue up for the round and then immediately leave the game you may be antag-banned. This also covers any attempts to maximize antagonist probability.

Index of Policies

Policies serve as extensions of the rules, and exist to prevent bloating the rules page. Ignorance of a policy is not an excuse to ignore/break it.

Admin Conduct

Conduct we expect from admins acting in an official capacity both in and out of the servers. If you have concerns with an admin violating any of this, make a complaint on the forums.

Escalation Policy

This policy lays out how conflicts are expected to be resolved, and any breaches of this policy will be classified as either over-escalation or self-antag depending on the severity of the breach.

Naming Guidelines

This page provides the naming conventions that are enforced as part of the rules.

Silicon Policy

Refer here for all your needs about silicons.

Standard Operating Procedure

How the crew should conduct themselves during different alert levels and situations. The guidelines on this page are part of our Server Rules.