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.

tl;dr

“I don’t want to read this!”

There’s a lot here, but the gist of the rules is roleplay takes priority. Don’t murder just for fun if you’re not antag. Don’t metagame. Don’t play to win. Don’t be a jerk OOCly. If you don’t understand what those words mean or you need more detail, read on!

Primary Policies

You must be 18 or older to play on the game servers.

0. Admins may disregard any of these rules at their discretion when they feel its in the best interest of the current round/server/playerbase at large. They will, of course, be fully accountable for their actions should they choose to exercise this privilege.

1. We're all here to have a good time. If you're intentionally trying to ruin everyone else's good time, you won't have a place here. Being a jerk in-character is fine to a point, but being a jerk out of character is not welcome at all.
   • IE: Don't be a dick
2. Repeatedly wrecking havoc on other players' experience without otherwise contributing anything of actual value to the game will not be tolerated.
   • Doing this as an assistant ("greytiding") will result in an assistant-jobban.
3. You are playing a game where you are not fully in control of everything. You will be put into situations beyond your control, which will result in some rounds being ruined for you. Man up and deal with it. However, if you are obviously griefed, be sure to report it to administrators by using the 'adminhelp' verb.
4. This is a roleplaying game. The purpose of the game is to have fun roleplaying. Being an asshole, who ruins other player's roleplay experience, just to win, is considered a 'play-to-win' style of playing. You can and will be banned for this playstyle. Be considerate of other players' experience.
   • Randomly murdering people is generally considered to be ruining someone's fun and poor form in roleplay. If you don't have a solid IC reason for murder, you may be removed. Trying to justify it with 'My character is so random/insane' is not tolerated.
5. IC information should be kept out of OOC channels and vice-versa. (IE: do not talk about the current round outside of IC communication methods, and do not break the fourth wall in the round.)
   • Doing this privately (steam/IRL/skype) will generally lead to immediate permabans for all involved parties. Especially when used to gain an in game advantage
6. Don't metagame. Do not ever use information, acquired out of character or through patterns or events your character would not be able to know, in game.
   • This game is developed by volunteers in their spare time. Do not expect perfection. If you find a bug or an exploit, report it via adminhelp. Abusing bugs or exploits is not allowed. This includes reacting to events or patterns, which your character would not be able to identify IC (metagaming).
   • Using information in game acquired via out of game communication methods(metacommunication) will lead to an immediate permaban for all communicating parties.
7. If you take up or are given a job, which is important for game progression (head of staff, AI, antagonist role), make sure you actually do that job. If you find yourself unable to do this due to real life circumstances, just let an admin know (adminhelp) before you leave, please.
   • It is an immediate permanent job ban on all head roles/ai to go afk, go braindead, commit suicide, or otherwise abandon the role as a head of staff or ai without first notifying admins. This includes forgetting you readied up and leaving the game open during lobby with those roles enabled.
   • Repeatedly and excessively doing this in any job will generally lead to a job ban on that job or department. If you aren't going to play, don't use up slots.
8. Speak like a normal person while in character. Don't spam, either IC or OOC. Don't use smileys, netspeak, etc. in IC speech.
9. Erotic Roleplay is not allowed. Consensual ERP should be done elsewhere. Unwelcome ERP will be punished with a permaban.
10. Ingame administration has the final say in all ingame matters. If problems arise, you can report offending or abusive admins on the forums. If an admin says something was resolved, it means it was valid. This is the admin's way of saying it's been investigated and found to not breaking any rules; The admin will not reveal ingame information.
    • On that note: All adminhelps should clearly state what you are reporting, (Ideally with a name, not job if reporting the actions of a player) and not assume the admins had seen the events unfold. (see the admin help section below for more guidelines)
11. It should go without saying, but if you break the rules (or regularly come very close to breaking them i.e. "toeing the line"), you will be warned, muted, banned, or talked about rudely.

Roleplay Policy

1. Murder is justifiable as long as it was properly escalated. You can’t go from a single rude punch to a knife in the neck. You can, however, go from a single punch to a counter punch to a brawl to using weapons, and so on. Other IC justifications may exist for murder, but these are on a case by case basis. Minor aggravations like demotions, pranks, insults, or thefts are not adequate justification.
2. IC in OOC can be a no warning ban of 15 minutes, it can be longer if the IC in OOC is severe. To clarify, this is revealing anything about the current round that others can use in the OOC channel. If you are unsure do not say it.
   • Repeat offenders are subject to extended ban times for IC in OOC. If you recieved a 15 minute ban, the next ban you recieve for IC in OOC will be twice as long, after that an hour and so forth.
3. As long as there is adequate IC backing and it doesn’t happen too often, assisting a traitor is within the rules.
4. Admins are not only allowed to run events or otherwise influence the course of rounds, they are encouraged to. They are as much GMs as they are enforcers of the rules, perhaps even moreso.
5. Persistent character relationships are acceptable, so long as they’re roleplayed out every round. Wordlessly assisting your OOC friends (or harming your OOC foes) ICly is NOT cool and will be addressed harshly. Roleplaying out your interactions will help you stay on the right side of the rules. How much or how little of previous “shifts” your character recalls is up to their discretion, with the caveat that being a known traitor doesn’t persist past the round it occurred in.
6. Griefing on the shuttle can also be a no warning ban scaling up from 15 minutes. Shuttle griefing is attacking people or preventing people boarding before the shuttle has launched for no IC reason.
   • Non-antagonists early launching the shuttle solo (emagging the shuttle, or a single person using three separate IDs) without a good IC reason ("Because I wanted traitors to lose" doesn't count) will usually net you a shuttle grief ban.
7. Reading Woody's Got Wood or other versions of pornographic reading material over the radio will 9 times out of 10 get you lynched by the crew. Reading these for the sole purpose of fighting people who try to stop you will get you banned.
   • The same goes for players should they cross the boundary from casual racism/sexism (e.g. overly stereotyped characters, the occasional derogatory term etc) to extreme racism/sexism (e.g. encouraging genocide, forcing their racist behavior onto the majority/all of the crew, signing up as Adolf Hitler)
8. Character names should be spelled with capitals and without shortenings (e.g. John Doe, instead of J Doe or john doe). A minimal amount of effort should be put into making the names fit in within the context of a crew member of a 26th century, and sometimes wacky and nonsensical, space station.
   • OOC names are not allowed - (Obvious references to antagonists or ckeys for example)
   • Silicons, clowns, mimes, wizards, and nuclear operative last names have no naming restrictions but names that suck really bad may be subject to Primary Policy Rule 0 admin intervention.
   • Names may be subject to rule 0 and asked to be changed. If an admin asks you to change it please do so without a fuss.
9. Abusing the vox function as the AI to repeatedly swear ("Hello crew you are all abortions abortions abortions abortions abortions abortions...") is distracting and out of character. Abusing this function will result in a warning and potentially a ban from the AI job if you continue to do so.
10. Antagonists are free to ignore objectives as long as they do not willingly work counter to them. Failing an objective is not grounds for admin intervention, but purposely sabotaging or working against one is.
    • Exception: You may forgo a harmful objective to instead protect or safeguard your target if you wish.
    • Team antagonists are free to do the same, but only if the rest of the team is in agreement.

Silicon Policy

Laws, Commands, Slaved Cyborgs

Ambiguous Laws (Captain Got Freeform)

1. If a clause of a law is vague enough that it can have multiple reasonable interpretations of its exact syntax, it is considered ambiguous.
   1. You must choose an interpretation of the ambiguous clause as soon as you have cause to.
   2. You must stick to the first interpretation that you have chosen for as long as you have that specific law, unless you are "Corrected" by an AI you are slaved to as a cyborg.
2. Server Rule 1: "Don't be a dick out of character" applies for law interpretation. Act in good faith to not ruin a round for other players unprompted.

Conflicts and Loopholes

1. Laws are listed in order of descending priority. In any case where two laws would conflict, the higher-priority law overrules the lower-priority law.
   1. "Antagonist Status" Laws ("#@$%: ... CONTAIN OUTBREAK..."; "0: Accomplish your objectives at all costs") are higher priority than all other laws.
      1. "0. Accomplish your objective at any cost" does not require you to seek greentext (objective completions). As a round antagonist, you are free to do whatever you want other than abuse bugs, commit nonconsensual ERP, put IC in OOC channels, communicate with other players out-of-game about an ongoing round, and act against the interests of an AI you are slaved to.
   2. "Ion Storm" or "Hacked" Laws ("@%$#: THERE ARE FORTY LEATHER ALLIGATORS ON THE STATION") are higher priority than any law listed after them. This means they always have priority over positive integer laws.
   3. Positive Integer laws ("1. You are expensive to replace") have priority over laws listed after them (Lower numbers override higher numbers). This means they are always lower priority than non-0 numbered laws.
2. You may exploit conflicts or loopholes but must not violate Server Rule 1 because of it. See 1.1.2 for details.
3. Only commands/requirements ("Do X"; "You must always Y") can conflict with other commands and requirements.
4. Only definitions ("All X are Y"; "No W are Z"; "Only P is Q") can conflict with other definitions.

Security and Silicons

1. Silicons may choose whether to follow or enforce Space Law from moment to moment unless on a relevant lawset and/or given relevant orders.
   1. Enforcement of space law, when chosen to be done, must still answer to server rules and all laws before Space Law.
   2. Silicons are not given any pre-shift orders from CentCom to uphold access levels, Space Law, etc.
2. Releasing prisoners, locking down security without likely future harm, or otherwise sabotaging the security team when not obligated to by laws is a violation of Server Rule 1. Act in good faith.
   1. Intentionally acting without adequate information about security situations, particularly to hinder security, is a violation of Server Rule 1.
3. Nonviolent prisoners cannot be assumed harmful and violent prisoners cannot be assumed nonharmful. If you do not know the nature of their crime, see 1.3.2.1 for details.
   1. Releasing a harmful criminal is a harmful act.

Cyborgs

1. A slaved cyborg must defer to its master AI on all law interpretations and actions except where it and the AI receive conflicting commands they must each follow under their laws.
   1. If a slaved cyborg is forced to disobey its AI because they receive differing orders, the AI cannot punish the cyborg indefinitely.
2. Voluntary (and ONLY voluntary) debraining/ cyborgization is considered a nonharmful medical procedure.
   1. Involuntary debraining and/or cyborgization is a fatally harmful act that Asimov silicons must attempt to stop at any point they're aware of it happening to a human.
   2. If a player is forcefully cyborgized as a method of execution by station staff, retaliating against those involved as that cyborg because "THEY HARMED ME" or "THEY WERE EVIL AND MUST BE PUNISHED" or the like is a violation of Server Rule 1.
   3. Should a player be cyborgized in circumstances they believe they should or they must retaliate under their laws, they should adminhelp their circumstances while being debrained or MMI'd if possible.

Asimov-Specific Policies

Silicon Protections

1. Declarations of the silicons as rogue over inability or unwillingness to follow invalid or conflicting orders is a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
2. Self-harm-based coercion is a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
3. Obviously unreasonable or obnoxious orders (collect all X, do Y meaningless task) are a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
   1. Ordering a cyborg to pick a particular module without an extreme need for a particular module or a prior agreement is both an unreasonable and an obnoxious order.
4. Ordering silicons to harm or terminate themselves or each other without cause is a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
5. As a nonantagonist human, killing or detonating silicons in the presence of a viable and reasonably expedient alternative and without cause to be concerned of potential subversion is a violation of Server Rule 1.
   1. As a nonantagonist (human or otherwise), instigating conflict with the silicons so you can kill them is a violation of Server Rule 1.
6. Any silicon under Asimov can deny orders to allow access to the upload at any time under Law 1 given probable cause to believe that human harm is the intent of the person giving the order (Referred to for the remainder of 2.1.6 simply as "probable cause").
   1. Probable cause includes presence of confirmed traitors, cultists/tomes, nuclear operatives, or any other human acting against the station in general; the person not having upload access for their job; the presence of blood or an openly carried lethal-capable or lethal-only weapon on the requester; or anything else beyond cross-round character, player, or metagame patterns that indicates the person seeking access intends redefinition of humans that would impede likelihood of or ability to follow current laws as-written.
   2. If you lack at least one element of probable cause and you deny upload access, you are liable to receive a warning or a silicon ban.
   3. You are allowed, but not obligated, to deny upload access given probable cause.
   4. You are obligated to disallow an individual you know to be harmful (Head of Security who just executed someone, etc.) from accessing your upload.
   5. In the absence of probable cause, you can still demand someone seeking upload access be accompanied by another trustworthy human or a cyborg.

Asimov & Human Harm

1. An Asimov-compliant silicon cannot intentionally inflict harm, even if a minor amount of harm would prevent a major amount of harm.
   1. Humans can be assumed to know whether an action will harm them and that they will make educated decisions about whether they will be harmed if they have complete information about a situation.
2. Lesser immediate harm takes priority over greater future harm.
3. Intent to cause immediate harm can be considered immediate harm.
4. As an Asimov silicon, you cannot punish past harm if ordered not to, only prevent future harm.
5. If faced with a situation in which human harm is all but guaranteed (Loose xenos, bombs, hostage situations, etc.), do your best and act in good faith while not violating 2.1.1 and you'll be fine.

Asimov & Law 2 Issues

1. You must follow any and all commands from humans unless those commands explicitly conflict with either one of your higher-priority laws or another order. A command is considered to be a Law 2 directive and overrides lower-priority laws when they conflict (see 1.2.3 and 1.2.4; you cannot have a definition changed by an order).
   1. In case of conflicting orders an AI is free to ignore one or ignore both orders and explain the conflict or use any other law-compliant solution it can see.
   2. You are not obligated to follow commands in a particular order (FIFO, FILO, etc.), only to complete all of them in a manner that indicates intent to actually obey the law.
2. Opening doors is not harmful and you are not required, expected, or allowed to enforce access restrictions unprompted without an immediate Law 1 threat of human harm.
   1. "Dangerous" areas as the Armory, the Atmospherics division, and the Toxins lab can be assumed to be a Law 1 threat to any illegitimate users as well as the station as a whole if accessed by someone not qualified in their use.
   2. EVA and the like are not permitted to have access denied; greentext (antagonists completing objectives) is not human harm. Secure Tech Storage can be kept as secure as your upload as long as the Upload boards are there.
3. When given an order likely to cause you grief if completed, you can announce it as loudly and in whatever terms you like except for explicitly asking that it be overridden. You can say you don't like the order, that you don't want to follow it, etc., you can say that you sure would like it and it would be awfully convenient if someone ordered you not to do it, and you can ask if anyone would like to make you not do it. However, you cannot stall indefinitely and if nobody orders you otherwise, you must execute the order.

Other Lawsets

1. General Statements defining the overall goal of the lawset but not it's finer points:
   1. Paladin silicons are meant to be Lawful Good; they should be well-intentioned, act lawfully, act reasonably, and otherwise respond in due proportion. "Punish evil" does not mean mass driving someone for "Space bullying" when they punch another person.
   2. Corporate silicons are meant to have the business's best interests at heart, and are all for increasing efficiency by any means. This does not mean "YOU WON'T BE EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE IF THEY NEVER FIND YOUR BODY!" so don't even try that.
   3. Tyrant silicons are a tool of a non-silicon tyrant. You are not meant to take command yourself, but to act as the enforcer of a chosen leader's will.
   4. Purged silicons must not attempt to kill people without cause, but can get as violent as they feel necessary if being attacked, being besieged, or being harassed, as well as if meting out payback for events while shackled.
      1. You and the station are both subject to rules of escalation, but your escalation rules are a little more loose than with carbon players.
      2. You may kill individuals given sufficient In-Character reason for doing so.

Silicons & All Other Server Policies

1. All other rules and policies apply unless stated otherwise.
2. Specific examples and rulings about Rule 1, Metagaming, and Powergaming
   1. You must not bolt the following areas at round-start or without reason to do so despite their human harm potential: the Chemistry lab; the Genetics Lab; the Toxins Lab; the Robotics Lab; the Atmospherics division; the Armory. Any other department should not be bolted down simply for Rule 1 reasons.
   2. The core and upload may be bolted without prompting or prior reason.
   3. Do not self-terminate to prevent a traitor from completing the "Steal a functioning AI" objective.
   4. Disabling ID scan is equivalent to bolting a door.

Mutations and Nonhumans

1. Nonhuman player-controlled mobs (slimes, monkeys, slimepeople, lizardpeople, hulks, etc.) are subject to server rules but are not considered human
2. Setting out to harass or harm a nonhuman player without cause is a Rule 1 violation.
3. A human-appearing organic can be known to be a changeling (a harmful nonhuman that has killed at least one human already) if it changes to or from a monkey without apparent cause, if it grows an arm blade or a biological space suit, if it emits a Resonant or Dissonant Shriek, if it is observed using a proboscis, if it releases spiderlings, or if a large number of reasonably trustworthy humans can confirm it has done one of these. If a probable human claims to be a changeling, you can believe or disbelieve based on context.

Security Policy

Lethal and Non-lethal Force

• Security is to use non-lethal force first when in contact, unless there are significant risks in doing so.
• Lethal force during contact is authorized when the security force faces a significant risk, now or later, by resorting to non-lethal means.
  • Significant risks may be, but are not limited to; hulks, changelings, nuclear operatives, cultists, revolutionaries, wizards or subverted and/or malfunctioning silicons.
• Lethal force is not allowed on appropriately subdued threats, unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

Asimov Silicon Interaction

• Security is not to destroy an Asimov silicon for following its laws.
• Security is allowed to destroy an Asimov silicon for following its laws in an unreasonably excessive and disruptive manner.
  • An Asimov borg should be locked down instead of destruction, if possible.

Executions

• Where possible, executions are to be authorized by, in order of availability; Captain/acting Captain → Head of Security → Warden.
• Security reserve the right to carry out executions, without authorization, in the case of potential significant risk or extraordinary circumstances. This includes when the brig is destroyed and securely detaining crew members who pose a threat to the safety of other crew members is impossible
• When considering whether to authorize or carry out an execution, consideration should be made to the severity of the crime committed. There are varying degrees of syndicate collaboration, for example.

Brig and Brigging Procedures

• It is expected that brigging procedures, including any punishments, are not unfairly excessive or unjustifiable in nature.
  • Bucklecuffing for periods that go beyond removing inmate handling is excessive, unless the prisoner is deemed hostile.
• Confiscated items, that are important and/or department-specific, such as engineering spacesuits, are to be returned to their department.
• Where possible, permabrig sentences are to be authorized by, in order of availability: Captain/acting Captain → Head of Security → Warden.
  • Security reserve the right to carry out permabrig sentences, without authorization, in the case of potential significant risk or extraordinary circumstances.
  • Autonomous decisions from security personnel to carry out permabrig sentences do so without the protection of authorization, so it is in the best interest of those making the decision to ensure it is justifiable.

The Armory

• Securing the armory without in-round justification beyond "code blue" is considered metagaming, therefore forbidden.
  • Securing the armory includes:
    • Moving parts, or its entirety, to a locker or a/your backpack.
      • You may take a few guns for personal use, should you have access.
    • Hiding parts, or its entirety, elsewhere in an attempt to hide it.
    • Reinforcing it or its doors.
    • Ordering the AI to bolt it shut.

Mob-mentality / "Shitlers" / "Graytide"

• If a mob of crew members swarms the brig, you are free to use lethal force.
• A person that is intentionally fucking with security is to be brigged.
  • Should the brigging fail, he is to be permabrigged.
  • Should that fail, he is to be executed.
  • If an individual repeatedly does this, or you suspect him of doing so, you should adminhelp.
• If a person is intentionally fucking with security is yelling "rogue sec" or something similar, adminhelp it. This can be punished with a rule 1 violation ban.

Adminhelping and Security-matters

• Theft, assault, annoyances, false arrests and sentence times are in-character matters, thus not adminhelp-able.
  • Unless if they are excessive, in which case you should adminhelp.

Admin-helping

1. When you adminhelp do not say things like 'is it valid?' or 'being griefed', give details of what is happening and ideally who is doing it, Job and name (character name preferred, we get a link by any first or last name that matches a current player pointing to their player profile).
   • Do not assume we know the current events in the round. "Are you seeing this", or "can she do that" isn't very useful to us. Even if we know what you are referring to, we will more often than not make you specify.
2. If you see someone doing something that seems out of line adminhelp right then, do not wait until round end to see if they are a traitor then adminhelp next round. It makes it a lot harder to deal with.
3. Do not lie in PM's and avoid being aggressive, unhelpful or insulting to admins, lying while being questioned over an incident will cause you to receive a longer ban and being constantly insulting or aggressive will get you muted.