PlaneShift

Announcements => PlaneShift News and Rules => Topic started by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 12:57:49 am

Title: [MUST READ] Game Rules and Policies
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 12:57:49 am
Planeshift Game Rules and Policies Quick version


1) botting is not allowed ever NO exceptions
2) be courteous to others
3) do not exploit bugs, but report them here (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/flyspray/)
4) talk in Main channel is for in character conversations
5) have fun!

Planeshift Game Rules and Policies


Welcome to the new Game Rules and Policies section of Planeshift. In this section you will find all the relevant information regarding proper player behavior and policing procedures to make everyone's gaming experience a positive one. It is the players' responsibility to read and abide the following rules.

While these guidelines cover the most frequent issues in-game, not every potential problem is specified. In case something isn't covered in this section, bring it to the Game Masters' attention.

Firstly,

By playing on the role-play server you implicitly agree to:

    * be consistent and stay true to character. (1)
    * respect PlaneShift's unique game world and always keep character chat, action, and history consistent with the known PS universe.(2)
    * interact with other players and let the actions of other characters help shape and define who our character(s) become. (3)
    * use common sense. If we know an action will upset another player in real-life, we won't do it. This includes yelling at people because they are not playing the way we think they should, insulting others, trolling, or being rude. (4)
---
1. Playing your character consistently will make it easier to develop their personalty and will aid others in interacting with him/her/kra.
2. Make sure you know what exists in PlaneShift before making anything up. Cell phones, vampires, hobbits, etc. do not belong in this game. Much information can be found in-game through books, quests, and other players. Don't be afraid to ask what you don't know!
3. You don't have to be a great roleplayer to enjoy roleplaying. No one is perfect. Practice and experiment. Meet new people. Go on adventures. Be your character and join in the fun!
4. It is better to accept that others will not always play like you do, and have a large group of friends, than to expect perfection and play alone.

Index:

      [MUST READ] External Laws (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367012#msg367012)

      [MUST READ] Sanctions and Rule Enforcement (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367013#msg367013)

      [GAME POLICY 01] IC and OOC (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367014#msg367014)

      [GAME POLICY 02] Naming Policy (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367015#msg367015)

      [GAME POLICY 03] Privacy and Hacking (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367016#msg367016)

      [GAME POLICY 04] Kill-Stealing (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367017#msg367017)

      [GAME POLICY 05] Property and Item Theft (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367018#msg367018)

      [GAME POLICY 06] Harassment (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367020#msg367020)

      [GAME POLICY 07] RP Content and Language Control (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367021#msg367021)

      [GAME POLICY 08] Petition and /report Abuse (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367022#msg367022)

      [GAME POLICY 09] Filing an Official Complaint against a GM (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367023#msg367023)

      [GAME POLICY 10] Character Descriptions (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367024#msg367024)

      [GAME POLICY 11] Spoilers and Walkthroughs (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367027#msg367027)

      [GAME POLICY 12] Divorce Petitions (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg370960#msg370960)

      [GAME POLICY 13] Requesting Valid Name Changes (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg370962#msg370962)

      [GAME POLICY 14] In-Game Advisor System (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg376166#msg376166)
Title: [MUST READ] External Laws
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 12:58:50 am
PlaneShift's Forums, Client, Server, or IRC channels are NEVER to be used in violation of the laws that govern an individual user, we will cooperate fully with any law enforcement agency lawfully seeking information from us.
Title: [MUST READ] Sanctions and Rule Enforcement
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:03:02 am
Disciplinary actions are determined by the Game Masters evaluating each situation and overseen by the developers. The severity of the offense will determine the course of action yet it often escalates like this:


Other disciplinary actions GMs and Developers can take, depending on the situation at hand, are:
   

Other causes for sanction are:
   

Any issue not covered by the Game Rules posted in this section will be discussed by the GM Team and Developers in order to take the proper course of action.
Title: [GAME POLICY 01] IC and OOC
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:04:26 am
In Character (IC) means to act, speak and behave like your character will do, not as you as a player will do. Also known as role play. An example of IC speech is: "Hello traveler, did you hear any news about Hydlaa these days?"

Out Of Character (OOC) is when you are speaking with a GM, or when you speak of any real life events/matters. An example can be: "GM, my client is acting strangely, is there a patch to fix it?"

Remember to act in-character as much as possible when talking to others! We are all working towards a role play atmosphere in PlaneShift. Out-Of-Character (OOC) should be used only in /tell with a GM, in the help channel or in petitions. All other communications are supposed to be used IC.
OOC text is to be designated with (  ), [   ] or {   } as regular text comes from the mouth of your character, who knows nothing about computers, video games, the internet, cheeseburgers, real life (RL) politics etc. . Read the setting for official information about the world your character belongs to – and while your character's race certainly comes from another “plane” outside of it, don’t do something outrageous like try to bring in “RP” guns. Keep with the medieval fantasy atmosphere as much as you can.
It is fine to make a short OOC comment in public in the way explained above, however if a longer OOC discussion is not avoidable either use /tell or else /group.

Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.

http://www.planeshift.it/Roleplay%20Guide
http://www.planeshift.it/Settings
Title: [GAME POLICY 02] Naming Policy
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:22:29 am
The Naming Policy applies to the following naming options in PlaneShift:
   
A valid name is: An original and unique name which when used and read by any player from any culture is going to refer to your character in the PlaneShift world and to nothing else, thus preserving your immersion into the virtual world and that of your fellow players.


Generic Terms and Conditions:
   
The following name types are not allowed:

1. Offensive or vulgar names or combinations of words that produce an offensive result. (Swearwords, insults, etc. e.g. Fartface)

2. Names that are swear words in other languages.

3. Vile, profane, rude, or racist names including common swear words, anatomical references, racial slurs, and homonyms of these words.

4. Names containing titles within them, such as, but not limited to: The, Lord, Lady, Master, King, Knight, Sir, Father and names that contain Adjectives or verbs. (Describing words, doing words)

5. Word combinations that may or may not result in making phrases or sentences, either in one name alone or first and last names combined (e.g. Evilmastermind, The Fortuneteller, Fatebender, Incre Dible).

6. Names of religious, occult, or significant historic origin or names from mythology. (e.g. Jesus, Allah, Satan, Asmodan, Bael, Stalin, Leviathan, Dragon).

7. Trademarked names of products, services, or concepts (e.g. , Linux, Sony, Ubuntu).

8. Fantasy or non-fantasy oriented names from popular media, books, other games or from the music industry. These names can be either fictional (e.g. Spiderman, Wolverine, Merlin, Gandalf, Lancelot) or non-fictional (e.g. George Bush, Silverster Stalone, Korn, Janis Joplin).

9. Common words and phrases that are not found in the environment or time setting of the game (e.g. Chainsaw, Killermachine, Cyborg, Laser, Dishwasher).

10. Names that represent objects of any kind, chemical substances, chemical elements, species or subspecies of animals, plants or insects, food products, anatomic parts, senses, feelings, physical and metaphysical concepts, etc. (e.g. Stick, Alcohol, Sulfur, Horse, Flower, Spider, Pie, Nose, Touch, Love, Solid, Fate).

11. Names representing real places, cities, or countries. (e.g. Forest, Mountain, Berlin, Albania)

12. Names chosen with the intent or possessed with the effect of harming the reputation of or used to impersonate a Game Master or a member of the Development team.

13. Any kind of names taken from slang, phonetics, obvious reversed words, internet culture or leet language. (e.g. Typo, Leet, Pwnzor, Pwner, Noob)

14. Any type of misspellings and alternative spellings that will result in the same pronunciation or translations in other languages for one of the aforementioned invalid names are also unacceptable. (e.g. Stewpid, Reetard, Leggolas, Rumbo, Phatcat)


Exceptions:

Surnames:
For surnames certain word combinations are allowed. However these must also respect the rules stated under Generic terms and conditions. Examples of allowed surnames: Stronghand, Daggerblade, Forgehammer.

Guild names:
For guild names, the paragraphs 4, 5, 9 do not apply, but certain moderation should be considered. For example guild names like Knights, Warrior knights, Defenders, Protectors, Angels of Chaos, Demonic Warriors, Felines, etc.

Pet names:
The rules for naming your pets are the same as those for your character, with two exceptions:

Some titles are allowed. (for example, "Sir Beaky," "Lord Goldfeather"). Some adjectives or verbs are allowed. (for example, "Little Destroyer," "Flight Fear").

There is also more leniency towards silly names such as "Fluffy" or "Cutie," but pet names should not: Form OOC phrases or have non-medieval fantasy references. Be used as signs. Be used as objects.

Under any circumstance, a pet name may not use the name of an existing PlaneShift character, guild or NPC!


Other Considerations:

Remember that during char creation you can randomly generate your name. You can also find some useful fantasy name generators here:

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

http://rinkworks.com/namegen/

Be aware that you must check a generated name against the guidelines as they are not perfect and can not be considered automatically acceptable.

The Game Master (GM) Team reserves the right to change any name that could be considered unsuitable but doesn’t violate any of the aforementioned terms. Final arbitration of the fine points of interpretation of the aforementioned terms will rest with the GM team, in the interest of stable settings, consistent naming, and fair treatment of players.

We also decided to have characters coming from old PlaneShift releases compliant with these policies. Please contact us if your char was created before this policy and we will find a solution.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 03] Privacy and Hacking
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:34:26 am
Cheating

The word "Cheating" identifies, in computer games, a number of actions that a player can take to make the game easier for himself. Cheating is usually targeted at solving quests faster, gaining more money/resources/items faster, becoming invulnerable, etc. While cheating, the player uses workaround or tools that the game designer didn't create for him, basically spoiling the original creation of the designers and therefore it is not allowed.


Hacking

You may not enter into gameplay practices that cause disruption of gameplay for other players, or adversely affect game performance.

You will not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running Planeshift.

You may not create nor use "bots" or automation programs or scripts with the purpose of profiteering or advancing progress in any way.

You may not be AFK (away from keyboard) and leave your character doing an action over and over by itself (e.g. fighting).

Players with coding knowledge who wish to test the game for bugs and other mods should keep the following in mind (taken from the PS Main Site (http://www.planeshift.it/cheating.html)):

Quote
You should never test hacks on an official server. Download the CVS version of the PlaneShift server and test your hacks or mods locally, on your private server. Then report to us your findings, you will be rewarded if you find any good hack and a solution to it.

Modifications to the client content (graphics, sounds, ...) are not allowed by PS License. In particular we will not tolerate players using mods to connect to an official server if those allow cheating, or modify the visual aspects of the game or its design. If you want to add levels or graphics to PlaneShift you are more then welcome to participate in our development.


Bug Exploits

You will not exploit any bug in Planeshift and you will not communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug (bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits) either directly or through public posting, to any other user of Planeshift.

In-Game, bugs should be promptly reported to Game Masters using /tell or posting a /petition with detailed information on the bug.

Off-Game, bugs should be reported using the Bug Tracker.


Privacy

You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account.

Use of the account is strictly personal. The account should not, even temporarily be shared with or otherwise extended to another person, nor may it be used in any way that is extraneous to the proper normal use of the game. All users are fully responsible for the use of their access account, and for the use made of their account by their underage child or by any other person who has access to it.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 04] Kill-Stealing
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:35:42 am
Nobody owns an NPC spawn point, and nobody owns any attackable NPC unless they have already engaged it in combat!

Taking an NPC from someone when they have already started any form of combat is considered kill-stealing and will be punishable by GMs through warnings, and then further actions if the player continues.

Competing for an NPC is not against the rules but doing so with the intention of causing grief to others can constitute a form of harassment and, if such intention is proven true, subject to sanction.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 05] Property and Item Theft
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:36:56 am
If you need to drop items for roleplay, clean up after yourself - and don't expect the items to remain if you don't.

Drop items for short time decorations at your own risk. GMs cannot get items back for you, as once something is on the ground and away from your guard range, you lose ownership rights.

Be warned that lost items and money due to server failures or lag will not be replaced by GMs. Please avoid posting petitions regarding these issues because exceptions are not made unless directed by the developers in specific situations.
Title: [GAME POLICY 06] Harassment
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:51:01 am
An act of harassment is understood as such with which a player may defraud, threaten, or cause distress and/or unwanted attention to other players.


Intention to Cause Grief:

The term “Intention to Cause Grief” refers to doing something with the objective of ruining the gaming experience of a player or a group of players.

This starts by ignoring the victim’s request to stop. If a player wishes to be left alone, other players have to respect their request. If they do not, the player being harassed has cause to file a report. GMs can determine the intention to cause grief by witnessing the act or reviewing report logs.


Actions that may Constitute Harassment:

When Intention to Cause Grief has been proven, the following are considered actions of harassment:


Reporting Harassment:
   
Note that not getting along with someone in-game doesn’t mean we are being harassed. If you experience such a situation and you fear it might escalate into something more unpleasant, contact a GM.

To report harassment you must use the /report command and file a /petition. Do keep in mind that player logs that have not been stored using the /report command are not admissible as proof of harassment.

Once a GM gets involved, parties are not allowed to discuss the subject with anyone else or have any contact between them about the matter at hand until a ruling has been issued.

The GM team considers harassment a very serious matter and these issues are dealt with considering all the evidence, which can often take time. A ruling is not issued immediately. Do not expect to have the case be closed an hour or two after calling a GM. And while a GM has the authority to give the rulings in cases of harassment, they only do so after having discussed the issue with the GM Team, which guarantees transparency and fairness.

In cases of harassment that go beyond the boundaries of the game and constitute a real life problem, contact the GMs immediately and if you suspect any criminal intention, contact your local authorities as well.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 07] RP Content and Language Control
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:57:58 am
Language and Content:

You may not use in Planeshift, post or link on the official website, any offensive or sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, unlawful, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive language, offensive imagery or content.

You may not organize nor be a member of any pledges or groups within Planeshift that are based on or espouse any racist, sexist, anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-gay, or other hatemongering philosophies.


Dialogues:

IC dialogues should be used at all times, except when dealing with GMs in direct /tell.

The language is English. You may use other languages in private messages like /tell, or in guild chat. The use of in-game race specific language is acceptable - however, players should avoid using such languages for an extended period of time (e.g. having a character that only speaks "Enkidukai" and never using English is not going to work).

Example: posting urls of web sites, speaking of USA politics, asking about cool games to play.


Spamming:

When communicating in Planeshift using the Chat, you may not spam, flood, or make duplicate messages.


RP Content:

Players have absolute freedom to RP any subject they want that fits within PS Settings. However, all content in public dialogue tabs in Planeshift must be PG Rated (Parental Guidance Suggested).

In other words: no profanity, no explicit sexual content, no RL drug use.

At the same time, parents of younger children are advised to guide their kids as they play the game, in order for them to learn the differences between what constitutes Roleplay and real life.


What to do if Someone's RP Offends you?

The best thing is to call for help. Contact a GM through /tell or post a /petition asking for a GM to observe the RP you find offensive. If the way the player is roleplaying is not suitable for a PG audience we will ask them to correct that immediately. That means changing the way they are making their entries in the public tabs.

Where's the line then?

And we're back to IC and OOC. Usually, when done right, what a character says should be IC. That means that it's stated from the perspective of the character, for example: a warrior from a medieval fantasy world who is a heavy drinker, has a mild clacker phobia and likes to chew on lake mushrooms after dinner as opposed to the female college student who hates toga parties and has a hidden crush on David Hasselhoff. The way he reacts to what others say and the situations he is exposed to should be within his personality not hers. If we don't keep it IC we will be in conflict when we face situations we, in real life, would find immoral whereas the character, in the game, would not (and vice-versa). How to know how to tell the difference? By asking yourself this question:

Is this something the character is saying/doing as part of the roleplay/fantasy
         
or
         
are these the real opinions/intentions of the player behind it?

Knowing the difference is very important. We don't censor the topics, just the form in which they are addressed. Parental guidance is advised and young children should not play the game unsupervised.

Keep in mind that we can't force other players to avoid topics we don't like. They have as much right to enjoy the game as we do and as long as they do it right (PG) they can. So, our reaction to anything stated IC should be IC as well and only take it personal and act on it when we are exposed to the player's OOC actions or its consequences (like insults, explicit sexual content, harassment, threats, discriminatory remarks against your gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.).

Asking a GM to ban a player because of something they did IC will not find an instant answer. We need to determine if, indeed, there was more than roleplay there. This means discussing the case, reviewing logs and talking to the involved parties. It is something we deal with immediately and never lightly. It requires time and a cold head. We don't want to hurt anyone's reputation or their experience in the game and above all we don't need irrational censorship and witchhunts.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 08] Petition and /report Abuse
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 01:59:29 am
Petitions

Petitions are created to help players get in contact with GMs when they need help. For the most part, everything works out fine. However, when players abuse petitions, it can cause problems. Petition abuse is defined as writing one or more petitions that are not intended to request constructive help from a GM.

Examples of petition abuse:

"Hey GMs!"

"Can you give me tria?"

"I R TEH 1337 H4xx0rz"


Proper use of the /report Command

The /report command has been designed to store player chat logs so that they can be reviewed by Game Masters and Developers when problems arise. This feature provides us with accurate, unedited information that is 100% reliable and is considered the only admissible piece of evidence to rule in Player-Player issues.

Do not use the /report command lightly or to see if it works. All reports are read very carefully to spot the reported problem, and if there is none and we've just spent 5 minutes weeding through a lengthy but otherwise meaningless exchange of /tells, that's time that we could better spend elsewhere, dealing with real problems. The command does work - the last 50 tell, say, shout and auction messages are stored to every character's chat history. This includes what the character says and also what the character hears. The /report command writes the chat history of the reporter (you who wants to make the report) to the log file and then keeps logging for next 5 minutes. Thus if someone says something highly inappropriate, you don't have to worry about them getting away with it - the command is retroactive.

When to Use /report:











Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 09] Filing an Official Complaint against a GM
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 02:01:10 am
The job of a GM is to enhance the gaming experience of the players. If you think a GM is not doing their job right, has not been fair to you or has dealt with a situation in an unprofessional way you can contact the GM team leader Kerol and file an official complaint.

For real-time discussion: You can join the #planeshift-gmtalk channel on IRC (server irc.freenode.net) and speak directly with the GM Team Leader. This requires an IRC client; if you do not have one, download mIRC (http://www.mirc.com/) for instance.

When speaking with the GM Team Leader, or any other GM or even developer about the problem, give as much information as possible. If Kerol cannot be found in the IRC channel, or you prefer another method of communication, you can send him a PM on this forum and he will get back to you as soon as he can.

PLEASE NOTE:
Complaints need to be supported with admissible evidence. In other words, if you think a GM is treating you unfairly, use the /report command to store the logs. Player logs are NOT ADMISSIBLE AS EVIDENCE so make sure you do this.

You may NOT POST  threads or replies on this forum or discuss publicly in IRC with the intent of arguing over GM decisions, rules or activities. These are NOT VALID TOPICs of discussion for ANY PUBLIC area. You MUST discuss the matter in PRIVATE with the GM(s) involved and/or administrators ONLY.  Moderators have the right to DELETE or EDIT ANY POST or THREAD discussing GM issues.


Disciplinary actions against GMs can be:
    
Title: [GAME POLICY 10] Character Descriptions
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 02:03:36 am
Character descriptions are considered a public channel. Therefore, they are required to comply with [GAME POLICY 07] (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367021#msg367021) regarding content and language control and must be IC.

Additionally, descriptions cannot contain:



Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 11] Spoilers and Walkthroughs
Post by: Dajoji on March 20, 2008, 02:05:23 am
Posting walkthroughs and spoilers in password-free sites or forum threads is against the rules. Players should keep in mind that if they wish to share information they have gathered they should do so in-game and only through private channels or password protected sites.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 12] Divorce Petitions
Post by: Dajoji on April 20, 2008, 06:08:36 pm
If you wish to get your character divorced You do not need to file a /petition or contact a GM.

If your character is married, you may divorce your in-game spouse with the command:

Code: [Select]
/marriage divorce
However, this only works if both married people are online and agree to the divorce.

If one cannot be online anymore for whatever reason GMs may help you, but only if the time of absence is longer than 60 days for one party.

GMs are also allowed to divorce earlier than that in exceptional cases. In such situations the team will discuss and decide case by case.

If one of both of the spouses gets a name change, a GM will have to divorce them so they can get married again and have the same last name again.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 13] Requesting Valid Name Changes
Post by: Dajoji on April 20, 2008, 06:29:26 pm
Name changes are only done when the names in question are violating the Naming Policy, [GAME POLICY 02] (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg367015#msg367015). Players cannot request a name change for their characters if they already have a valid name. This is to prevent harassment and identity theft exploits.

Exceptions:



Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: [GAME POLICY 14] In-Game Advisor System
Post by: Dajoji on June 08, 2008, 10:45:14 pm
The right-most tab in your PlaneShift chat window is used to access the in-game advisor system.  It's a player-based help network, in which more experienced players may answer questions from newbies.  It is highly encouraged that this system be taken advantage of, from both sides.


Advisee:
To ask a question, simply click on the help tab and type into the chat box.  Please be clear and concise; don't just say "help", ask a complete question.  If there are advisors on at the moment, you will get a response shortly.  Note that the help channel is there to guide you on your way, not tell you how to play.  Don't ask where a specific thing is and expect to get more than a hint.  Advisors often are not GMs, they're players, so please do not ask them to do things for you.


Advisor:
If you've played enough to know your way around, please consider becoming an advisor from time to time.  All that is needed, is to use the command /advisor on to enable the system. You will see others' help requests in the help tab (and will not be able to make your own, until turning it off again).  If there is a question that you think you can answer, use the command /advice [player's name] [message] to respond.  If this message may be long, you can just specify the name to claim the advisee and respond momentarily with a full response.  Do not claim a session if you are not going to answer it, or if you're busy with another session.  Claiming exists only to prevent stepping on others' toes.  Please answer all questions to the best of your knowledge, without giving any spoilers. For the tutorial this rule doesn't apply, you can walkthrough a player in the tutorial giving any hint needed. In any case there is full info for the players here  Tutorial Walkthrough (http://planeshift.top-ix.org/pswiki/index.php?title=Tutorial_Walk_Through), and the Tutorial FAQ (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=32332.0).

For example, if someone asks where the next trainer in a skill is, tell them to check the other town but not exactly who the NPC is. You can direct players to this forum for more information, particularly to the Guides and Tutorials Board (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?board=53.0).

We do keep track of who answers how many questions, and abuse of the system will have consequences.  We will know who the good advisors are, even though the system is anonymous to the public.  The advisor ratings are also used to judge potential new GMs, so if you aspire to become one, becoming a good advisor is a good idea.


Not following any of these rules is liable to official actions stated in the Game Sanctions.
Title: Re: [MUST READ] Game Rules and Policies
Post by: Sarko on April 14, 2014, 11:30:35 am
Hi,
   Due to the new training system and to the number of players being caught in the act of botting, in the last past days, we have chosen to show no mercy to botters. Though we have reduced the actual ban time length, we have decided skill reduction is the harsher penalty as this is the exact reason for botting behaviour.

   Any players caught botting or AFK training their alts by the GMs will have those botted or AFK trained skills reduced by -30 and be banned for 3 days for the first offense. A second offense will result in greater skill reductions and ban length. A third offense will result in skills and stats reset.