Last update: 05/13/2008

Please keep in mind that the mud policy takes precedence over the one displayed here. Though this will be updated when applicable the policy you read on the mud is the one to follow should you find any discrepancies.

• General Infractions and Usual Consequences
• Player Etiquette Violations
• Realms Character Name Policy
• General Realms Policies
• Law vs Chaos
• Pledging to Clans
• Sharing of Characters
• Forgotten Passwords
• Storage Characters
• Proxy Network Play
• New Additions to the Game

This policy is intended to make play for all players, new and old to Realms, have an enjoyable playing experience. It is in effect the "rules and regulations" for playing Realms. Please review it carefully, and if you have any questions, find a post office and mudmail (HELP MUDMAIL) a watcher. Please type HELP STAFF to see the various functions and ranks of the Realms Staff.

General Infractions and Usual Consequences

Following is a list of general things which we consider to be infractions and against the rules here, as well as usual punishment for each. You can see definitions of the various punishments by typing HELP PUNISHMENT.

1. Do not crash the game intentionally.

   Crashing the game ruins the game for everyone, can damage the database, and can cause loss of equipment or the experience points of other people. If you crash the game with malicious intent, your character has an extreme chance of being immediately deleted, as well as all of your other characters you may have.

   
   

2. Do not multi-log.

   Do not have more than one character logged in at a time. Usually this is impossible, but some might find a way to do it. This will usually result in a warning, but it could result in other punishments as well.

   
   

3. Do not do things to intentionally get other players killed by a monster.

   Although killing another player while they are fighting a monster is impossible here, people still may find a way to make other people die and lose experience. People who do this usually will either wind up dieing to a monter themselves, or they will receive jailtime. Multiple offenses of this nature make for worse punishment as a result. Note that this rule does not apply when someone gets an outlaw killed.

   
   

4. Do not "spam" other players.

   Although we have gag code (HELP GAG) which can be used to prevent this from happening, people might still find a way to do this. A verbal warning will be given to offenders, followed by a permanent warning on any additional offenses. Offenders might also be globally gagged to everyone else on for a time, or they'll be silenced in various ways.

   
   

5. Do not use robots to play automatically.

   Robots are characters made to run automatically with the aid of triggers using a mudclient such as Zmud. Robots are illegal because they are a shortcut to actual gameplay, upset game balance, and not everyone is able get or use a mudclient. A staff member which finds a suspected robot will probe to see if the player is acutally at their keyboard by various means. If they determine this to not be the case, that robot will be immediately outlawed for a time and degree specified by that staff member. Note that an idling player left on with triggers can sometimes be considered a robot, but usually will just be logged off.

   
   

6. Do not exploit advantageous bugs.

   If you find a bug, please report it to us immediately. If it is found you have exploited a bug without reporting it, you will be punished. The punishment will fully depend on the degree of the exploitation. For this purpose, a "bug" is not just a bug with the code in the game. It is also things like level 2 monsters worth 2,000 experience, which is obviously out of balance and should be reported. If anything is thought to be out of the ordinary or too easy, it needs to be reported to us immediately.

   
   

7. Do not sell or give away quest items.

   A quest item is any item which gives you experience when you pick it up. One or more is usually required to complete a specific quest. Giving these items away can upset the balance of the game. If you are found giving away quest items, the quest will be removed from you if you have it, and you will be warned. Repeat offenses of this bring worse punishment.

   
   

8. Do not commit "consented pkilling".

   When one pledged person (see pledging below) allows another pledged person to kill them, for the sole purpose of gaining experience, this is called "consented pkilling". This upsets game balance. If you are found doing this, both characters in question will receive jailtime.

   
   

9. Do not lie to Realms staff members when questioned.

   When we question you, do not lie to us. If we're in the process of questioning you, it's usually because we caught you at something. If you lie to us, you can forget about any warnings and start thinking about jailtime or being outlawed.

   
   

10. Do not log on and attack things and die continually.

    Doing this is just irritating. As this is usually just people using level one characters and dying over and over, a staff member will usually just delete the character. If it persists, a sitelock will be put in place.

    
    

11. Do not sexually harass other players.

    We will not tolerate sexual harassment in any form, and it will usually result in you being jailed for a long time. If it continues, you'll be deleted or a sitelock will be put in place. There's no room for that kind of thing here.

    
    

12. Abuse of the newbie channel (HELP NEWBIE) is expressly prohibited.

    This channel is for the use of new players to get help and to help one another. Using it in replacement for broadcasts by logging on a lower level character is illegal. A warning will first be issued. Following that, your highest level characters will be jailed.

    
    

13. Do not masquerade as a newbie.

    We protect new players for the express purpose of making this game more suitable to gain new players. If you pretend to be a newbie, you take our time away from helping somebody who really is, and you can also get others wrongfully in trouble. DO NOT DO THIS. If you are found to be doing this, every one of your characters that we know of will be outlawed or jailed for a very long time.

Player Etiquette Violations

Etiquette violations are things people do which make the game less enjoyable for other people who are playing. Punishments for these things vary depending on staff members.

1. Please keep all personal insults private.

   If you want to insult one another, please do not do it on any kind of public channel where more than one person can see it. This can be tedious to read and it messes up the game for some people.

   
   

2. Please do not broadcast for staff members.

   The staff of Realms is very busy. If you broadcast for us, you will most likely be ignored. Please contact a watcher instead.

   
   

3. Do not use excessive foul language in broadcast, except during certain late hours.

   A simple rule is this: If you wouldnt hear it on American television, do not broadcast it between the hours of 6am-12am Eastern Standard Time. This goes for any language. As most of our staff only speaks English, if we perceive a different language is profanity, whether it is or not, we might act on it. You will always first receive a verbal warning.

   
   

4. Do not, by your actions, continually make this game miserable for new players.

   Thinking you are cool by doing it, or trying to make this game into "survival of the fittest", or "because I was picked on so I owe it to other newbies", or any other half cocked stupid reason you may come up with, NEVER will justify your making this game miserable for new players. This is not gangland. It is a GAME where we intend to protect our player base. Driving off new players will damage both the current and future player bases here. It therefore damages the game. We will act when we see this happening - first with formal warnings. Any persistant desires to ignore this rule after that, will result in your being made miserable by us in various ways - we are very creative, so I wouldn't suggest taking this lightly.

   You may ask "what is a newbie?". The definition is quite simple: a newbie is whomever we decide is a newbie. We will know. Don't take the chance. Do not ignore this rule. Ignoring it is to damaging the game for everyone.

   
   

These infractions are by all means not all inclusive. There are surely some things not listed here which will likely be considered by the staff as against the rules. Just because something isn't listed here, does not mean it will be ok for you to do it. Please use common sense. Staff members have final word here on what is and is not to be considered an infraction. If you have questions please mail a watcher.

Realms Character Name Policy

Realms is considered first and foremost a mud where fantasy roleplaying is encouraged above anything else. Having a non-fantasy roleplaying style names discourages this atmosphere, and sometimes makes the game not as fun for some people. Determination of whether a name or names is inappropriate for the roleplaying environment will be placed in the hands of all of the watchers (HELP WATCHERS). Should they decide your name is inappropriate, by vote amongst themselves, you will be required to pick a new name or a new one will be picked for you. At that point, a staff member will be contacted, and your name will be changed instantaneously to another name which is deemed appropriate. You may or may not be consulted until after the fact.

Of course, it is common sense that names with any kind of profanity will be immediately disallowed, regardless of what the watchers want.

General Realms Policy

Following are listed some general policies which the staff will always follow. Each rank of staff member, and their various functions, can be seen in HELP STAFF.

1. We will not help you with quests, hints or otherwise.

2. We will not tell you where to find things on the mud.

3. We will not change your character after you created it (except in cases such as the name policy, above).

4. We will not restore equipment or experience lost in a crash. Equipment lost due to bugs will not be restored.

5. Experience lost to deaths will never be restored, unless it is due to a repeatable bug, or it was accidentally caused by a staff member. In the case of an accidentally deleted character, your character will be restored from the latest backup we have.

6. You join all staff run quests at your own risk. If you die as a result, you chose to participate in the quest.

Law vs Chaos

Understand that if you choose to be chaotic at character creation, you are the one who made that choice, and no one is responsible but you for it. Chaotic players can be stolen from and killed at will by other chaotic players in the game. If you tire of this, you are always able to convert yourself to lawful by typing "convert" at the prompt and choosing "Y".

Pledging to Clans

The game has many clans which you may join. When you are a member of a clan, you may be killed and stolen from by members of the same or opposing clans. Note that if you die to someone of a rival clan, you will lose experience. If you ever kill someone of a rival clan, you will gain experience. The following classes are required to pledge in order to reach certain levels: fighter, assassin, thief, cleric, rogue, paladin, deathknight. In addition, paladins and deathknights are always able to attack one another, regardless of being lawful, and regardless of whether they are actually pledged. Please keep all this information in mind if you decide to pledge or play a class which is required to pledge. The choice is yours.

Sharing of Characters

Sharing of characters level 10+ is strictly an illegal act, punishable by jailing of the offending parties. If a character is under level 10, sharing of it is allowed, but any action due to behaviors of said characters will be applied to the character, regardless of whom is playing it.

There is an exception to note: In altercations regarding sharing of characters under level 10 when people are following the PROXY NETWORK PLAY guidelines below, or are using a network to share characters under level 10 at all, all of the players using that network or proxy will be considered liable for the actions of each character sharing the same network. Be careful whom you allow to use your network to play.

Forgotten Passwords

We are in no way obligated to give out information about passwords to anybody ever. 99.9% of the time when a person's character gets stolen, it's due to either sharing that character, or having a stupid password. We are not responsible for your passwords. Please write them down someplace so you do not forget them.

Storage Characters

Storage characters are illegal. If we find one we will most likely delete it without needing give anyone notice. Personal storage rooms can be bought in the game for this purpose. In addition, using player run shops to store items by charging outrageous prices so no one will buy things is very likely to get your shop deed revoked.

Proxy Network Play

All players who wish to play via a network at home need to inform any watcher (HELP WATCHERS) they see online. If there are not any online, mudmail one you know of. A watcher will contact a staff member to allow you to log in from the same location.

We do not have to allow proxy network play. We do this to be nice. If people abuse this (i.e cheat with it) we will turn it off.

New Additions to the Game

The world of Derlith, in addition to everything about the game mechanics and coding of this mud, will very much be in a constant dynamic state. We will change things as we see they need to be changed. These things should never be thought of as personal attacks by us on people. We have to do what we feel is right for the entire mud in general, and we will do so without hesitation.

As a general rule, if we ever open a new area, or if we release a new class, ability, or clan with abilities, or anything else similar and otherwise new as well, you need to consider it in a period of BETA testing for at least a period of 6 months. During that time we will always be evaluating it and tweaking things as we see fit to do so. This means if you play the class, use the item, hang out in the area, etc...it is likely to change sometimes. You should never consider anything on Realms to be static. Stagnation is death to muds, and we will not allow that to happen here.

This policy is subject to change at all times. A notification will usually be placed in the updates file (HELP UPDATES) every time this file is changed.