Hi All! The reason for this thread is to avoid having "unwritten rules" where possible. This would include rules that are in the tl;dr but not covered by the T&C, rules which are enforced because of precedent, but have never been written down, and rules which aren't stated, but really, really need to be. Can you think of any rules which need to either be added to the T&C or clarified so that people understand what the rule is referring to? Obviously, we can't make a rule for every single possible situation. That would just be unworkable and result in the T&C being so long that they were virtually unreadable. Also, not every individual case is clear-cut - there are times we have to use our discretion. However, if you think there are important omissions in the T&C, please do let us know on this thread, and we'll discuss what changes/clarifications might be needed. EDIT: Just to be clear, this discussion is intended to be primarily about the ingame rules. The forum rules still need to be completed and clarified.
-Outlining what is considered KSing/map stealing. - Explaining the rules around "losing" your map- such as if you afk for 5 minutes and someone else comes in, map changes hands to new owner. - "Camping" boss maps. If 1 person is handling two maps, actively killing the mobs and both characters are capable of killing the boss- are they forced to choose one channel if someone else comes in? Are both maps theirs? What about "HS" or "door" mules- priests or bishops that belong to the person camping the map, using them as a placeholder.
For general KSing, I think the ~mapowner command can handle all disputes. The command was built around normal map KSing and allocates a fair amount of time and activity into its decision making. If you're on a map actively killing mobs and someone else has used ~mapowner and tells you to leave, you leave or it's KSing. This is easy to enforce as someone can just take a screenshot of the map being owned by them and the other person continueing to attack on their map after being told to stop KSing. As an avid bosser, I'll try and list some situations and rules that I think can work well for bossing specific situations. -Holding a boss for someone to come leech it for you should not be allowed (ie. a 118 priest telling people it's their Bigfoot while the person leeching them is off somewhere else is not allowed) -If people are camping a map and all parties have the ability to kill the boss mentioned, the ~mapowner command will be used as the command has activity in mob killing involved. This means the afk person camping the map would either have to be there and kill mobs to retain ownership -If a boss has over 15% taken off from it, you must wait a minimum of 10 minutes before killing the mentioned boss. There's a high chance the other person may be turboing and is off leeching another boss before coming right back. They could also alternatively have just died (it happens to the best of us) and are walking back. Obviously if you wait 10 minutes and they're still not there, the person probably isn't coming back and you can then take the remaining health of the boss. -I think we should make it so mules of any kind cannot hold a map and that someone actively playing can only hold one boss map at a time. Your mule HAS NO OWNERSHIP. This means regardless of them being a SE mule, HS mule, SI mule, they cannot hold the map. If you're trying to spawn a boss on 2 maps, you should be allowed to do so, but if someone comes into the map with your mule killing mobs on it, the map/boss ownership will go to the other person instantly. Your mule is akin to a level 50 trying to spawn Bigfoot. If you spawn it and no one else has been around, sure go ahead and take it, but if someone else is there, it's their map. The only problem with this I feel is distinguishing whether something is a mule or not. (ie. A level 130 Marksman that you're not sure is owned by that NL on a different ch at Anego or a level 120 priest clearing mobs at the Manon spawn location with a DrK off killing a Manon in another ch) These are simply my suggestions. Take them all with a grain of salt.
Just how I think it would look nicer, using the [anchor] feature. Nothing was removed/changed, only relocated. Spoiler Terms and ConditionsTable of content 1 Overview 2 Registration 2.1 Acceptance of Agreement/Age Requirements 2.2 Registration Process/Information 2.3 Username/Password/Character Names3 Game Use & Restrictions 3.1 Rules 3.2 TL; DR version4 Forum rules 5 Useful links 1 Overview By registering an account with MapleRoyals you are agreeing to the terms and conditions stated below. We (The staff at MapleRoyals), reserve the right to (at any time): Change the Terms and Conditions of this agreement; Change the game, including terminating, eliminating, supplementing, modifying, adding to or discontinuing any content or data on or feature of the game or the hours that the game is available; Change the equipment, hardware or software required to use and access the game. Any changes we make will be effective immediately upon notice, which we may provide by any means including, without limitation, posting on the website or forum. Your continued use of the website or game after such notice will be deemed the acceptance of such changes. 2 Registration 2.1 Acceptance of Agreement/Age Requirements By signing up for an account and using the game, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 13 and have the right, authority and capacity to enter into this agreement. 2.2 Registration Process/Information To register an account, you are required to provide us with certain information about yourself, including, without limitation, your e-mail address and birth date. We may also collect your IP and MAC address for a variety of internal purposes, including without limitation to verify your rights to and maintain the account, to ensure that your account is unique and to deal with security, debugging, and technical support issues. You agree at all times to provide accurate, current and complete information about yourself and prompted by our registration form. And to maintain and update your information to keep it accurate, current and complete. You acknowledge that, if any information provided by you is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we reserve the right to terminate this agreement and your use of the game. 2.3 Username/Password/Character Names As part of the registration process, you will also be asked to select a username and password for your account which you will use each time you access the game. You will then need to create an in game character with a unique character name. We reserve the right to refuse to grant you or to terminate an account with a character name that falls into the following categories: Impersonates someone else, including, without limitation to, another user or game master; May be considered vulgar, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise offensive, including any character names which are sexual in nature; Includes any special characters and/or is otherwise inappropriate, regardless of our software's ability to disallow such usernames. You agree that you will not use misspellings or alternative spellings or take any other actions for the purpose of circumventing the foregoing restrictions. In addition to the foregoing restrictions, we reserve the right to change, remove, alter or delete any character at any time for any reason in our sole discretion. If you believe your current character name falls into the foregoing restrictions please contact a game master to get the issue resolved prior to possible action being taken against your account. You will be fully responsible for the confidentiality and use of your username and password and agree not to transfer your right to access the game via your username or password to any third person (Except if you are a parent or guardian of the user who is a considered a minor). If you have reason to believe that your account with us is no longer secure, you must promptly change your password by visiting our account control website. 3 Game Use & Restrictions 3.1 Rules Players agree that Game Masters and Administrators ("GMs") have ultimate discretion and authority in applying, construing, interpreting, acting or omitting of the Game Use & Restrictions ("Rules") based on the evidence obtained from any source. Furthermore, Game Masters possess and may exercise the additional and final discretion in modifying punishment for a violation of the Rules, based on the severity of the violation. The severity of a violation is determined on a discretionary basis by GMs, and the determination of any severity of a violation cannot be disputed by Players. Players agree that all decisions by GMs are final and binding, although they are entitled to one appeal of a banishment of a given violation, as long as the appeal is completed in full accordance with the rules and/or procedures which govern the appeal process. Players agree that the judgment rendered from an appeal are final and binding, and may not appeal the judgment further. While using the game, you agree to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to take any actions we deem necessary and appropriate to preserve the integrity of the game. We further reserve the right to determine what conduct is outside the "spirit" of the game. While using the game, you agree not to: Restrict or inhibit any other individual from using the game, including, without limitation, by means of "hacking" or defacing any portion of the game; Punishment: Permanent ban Institute an attack upon any server used in connection with the game or otherwise attempt to disrupt such servers; Punishment: Permanent ban Use the game for any unlawful purpose or in any manner not intended by MapleRoyals; Punishment: Permanent ban Exploit glitches or use of 3rd party programs with the intent to duplicate items or mesos including, but not limited to, knowingly possessing illegitimately obtained items or mesos not necessarily created by you. Punishment: Permanent ban Engage in rude, unlawful, harassing, vulgar, obscene, hateful, threatening, abusive or otherwise objectionable behavior, including, without limitation, looting, kill stealing, making sexual comments; Punishment: 1st offence - 3 day ban, 2nd offence - 7 day ban, 3rd offence - permanent ban Express or imply that any statements you make or actions you take are endorsed by us; Punishment: 1st offence - 7 day ban, 2nd offence - permanent ban Impersonate another person, indicate that you are a MapleRoyals staff member or attempt to mislead users by indicating that you represent MapleRoyals; Punishment: 1st offence - 7 day ban, 2nd offence - permanent ban Transmit any content that is unlawful, harassing, vulgar, obscene, hateful, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, sexually explicit, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable, or that could be deemed to be stalking or constitute an invasion of a right of privacy of another person; Punishment: 1st offence - 3 day ban, 2nd offence - 7 day ban, 3rd offence - permanent ban Transmit any content that infringes our or any third party's intellectual property or other rights, or that you otherwise do not have permission to transmit; Punishment: Permanent ban Transmit any software or other materials that contain any viruses, worms, trojan horses, defects, date bombs, time bombs or other items of a destructive nature; Punishment: Permanent ban Transmit any material, non-public information about companies without the authorization to do so; Punishment: Permanent ban Transmit any trade secret of any third party; Punishment: Permanent ban Transmit any advertisements, solicitations, chain letters, pyramid schemes, investment opportunities or other unsolicited commercial communication (except as otherwise expressly permitted by us); Punishment: 1st offence 7 day ban, 2nd offence - permanent ban Engage in spamming or flooding; Punishment: 1st offence - 3 day ban, 2nd offence - 7 day ban, 3rd offence - permanent ban Link to any page of or content on the Site other than the URL located at http://www.royals.ms/; Punishment: 1st offence - 3 day ban, 2nd offence - 7 day ban, 3rd offence - permanent ban Provide a link to any web sites that promote any product or any service; Punishment: 1st offence 7 day ban, 2nd offence - permanent ban Harvest or collect information about the game, visitors to the website or users of the game without their express consent; Punishment: 1st offence 7 day ban, 2nd offence - permanent ban Sell, advertise, or post information on hacks for the Software and/or advertising, posting information on or selling hacks for any other software or web sites; Punishment: Permanent ban Exploit the Software, Cash Items or the game for any commercial purpose, including the provision of "power leveling" services; Punishment: Permanent ban Exploit errors in design, features which are not documented and/or bugs to gain access that would otherwise not be available or to obtain any competitive advantage (Always contact a game master if you are unsure); Punishment: 1st offence - 3 day ban, 2nd offence - 7 day ban, 3rd offence - permanent ban Modify the game data-files, including, without limitation, creating cheats and/or hacks or using third-party software to access files in the game; Punishment: Permanent ban Use tools which hack or alter the game or that allow you to connect to the games' private binary interface or utilize user or other interfaces other than those provided by us to you; Punishment: Permanent ban Engage in robot play (i.e. "botting") or any other behavior that allows you (or any character you are controlling) to automatically function or effect any action in a game with or without your presence; Punishment: 1st offence - 7 day ban, 2nd offence - permanent ban Use "packet sniffing," scripting and/or macroing software for any purpose whatsoever, or otherwise monitor the game; Punishment: Permanent ban Attempt to obtain a password or other private account information from any other person or user of the game; Punishment: Permanent ban Sharing account information so that an individual, other than the owner of the account, may use the account. Including the act of logging into or using an account owned by another person, with or without permission. Punishment: Permanent ban Attempting to and/or bypassing the restriction of not voting more than once every 24 hours per person; Punishment: 1st offense - 7 day ban, 2nd offense - 14 day ban, 3rd offense - permanent Ban Making a believable claim to have broken any of the other rules in the T&C, including but not limited to posing as another player who has broken these rules. Punishment: The same punishment as the proclaimed offense or offender Partying with someone who is breaking any form of rule to gain a competitive advantage makes you guilty by association. (When found in this situation, leave the party, leave the map, and report the situation in-game or via the forums. Be very cautious about this!) Punishment: The same punishment as the original offender Transmitting Smegas in a language other than English. Punishment: 3 day ban. Knowingly using outdated game files more than 14 days after a game patch is posted. Punishment: Ban until files are updated. 7 day ban if false claim of updated files are made Note: Circumventing a ban in any way will cause the length of the original ban to be doubled. 3.2 TL; DR version The TL; DR version of the Game Use and Restrictions does not nor is intended to accurately reflect the Rules in it's entirety and it's applicable language. TL; DR is not meant to be written as, in lieu of or in addition to the Rules; or to be construed or applied as the actual Rules (procured in 3.1). Players are subject to the actual Rules only, and not TL; DR. Players cannot be held liable for a violation of TL; DR, if it's not included in the Rules, nor can players use information contained in TL; DR, or lack thereof, as an affirmative defense to a violation of the Rules. Don't hack or abuse bugs/glitches. Don't abuse voting for NX. Don't pretend to be a member of staff. Don't smega in languages other than English. Don't post ban appeals or other support threads/guides/etc on the forum in languages other than English. Don't scam other players. Don't harrass other players. Don't use summoning bags in the FM. Don't spam. Don't use racial or homophobic slurs in all chat or smegas. Don't advertise or recruit for other servers. Don't share your account. Don't (accept) dupe(d) items. And last, but not least, as Will Wheaton says: "Don't be a dick!". 4 Forum rules The forum rules can be found here. 5 Useful links What's considered a racial or homophobic slur. Information about voting and abuse of voting. Forum rules link. A guide to MapleRoyals.
@Gi - Hmmm, might use that design, as it does look a lot better and easier to read (although I'll give the pink text a miss, thanks, lol!) =) Own thoughts on clarifications - it might be good to define certain things more clearly, for example: Not everyone understands what this actually means.
Figured you would. I do suggest a light color though, so it's easy to keep reading the rules, and not get too distracted by the punishment. Quick thoughts on the rules (by corresponding number): 1: Does this mean Staff can't ban a player? 11 + 12: Isn't this basically the same thing? 14: Spamming the Free Market Entrance to sell items is something that's allowed though? 15: Remove this completely I guess, people link to pages all the time. If it would break this rule, it will probably also break an other rule, most likely rule 16 or 18. 19: Personally I agree with this a bit. I don't think Cash items serve the correct term here. 20: "Always contact a game master if you are unsure", you won't ban me right? 26: I think this rule should be explicitly stated when creating an account, as from the moment you create the account this is something that can traced back from a far period. 27: This thread should be cleaned as some of the replies deal with old rules. Also the punishments are based on severity, rather than the tier system. (Or more likely a combination of the two, something worth noting in my opinion). 28: Just wondering why this rule is there... It's too much grey area for my personal taste, and screams for problems with Staff knowing players personally. (There is already the Staff discrestion that can be used, assuming this rule was added for claims of DDoS'ing the server, which by rule 2 result in permanent bans.) Therefor this rule shouldn't be able to be enforced by one Staff member and should always be used as the result of a discussion by Staff. 29: This might lead to harsh bans where people with little knowledge of the game get banned. Not sure how to improve this though. 30: 3 days ban for this, instantly? That's a bit harsh, I'd suggest one week of being blocked from using megaphones, or a 1 day ban. 31: I don't see why this should be a rule as using outdated files should only make you more prone to crashing and have less game content. But ok. Late edit: I totally agree with this quote (from this thread). And wanted to bump the post into this discussion.
The reason that the non-English smega ban length is the way it is stems from an incident we had in the past where some extremely offensive things were said in a foreign language and somebody was highly offended by them. We on staff cannot know every language, so we need to have a punishment acceptable to cover harassment over smegas in order to ensure nobody uses smegas in other languages in an attempt to harass someone and get off easy for it.
If this is the only reason for the 3 day ban penalty, I would like to introduce you to Google Translate and it's option to recognize the language used. Clearly in offensive cases rule 8 should be enforced. This fits with your given example, as wel as my suggestion to lower the penalty on transmitting SMEGAs in other languages than English. Don't bring the argument of this adding extra work for the Staff, as you do know applying for Staff will in fact give you extra tasks. This is not a huge task, and one that will be done rarely.
I'd like to bring to your attention that slang often is not recognized by Google Translate, and some innocent direct translations are often far from innocent.
@Annamaria not only does it not recognize slangs but it's also only used to translate words and not sentences. It's bad at translating sentences. Of course if you ever got a case of suspecting a swedish guy of swearing you know who to look for. Hint: Spoiler His name starts with D and ends with E.
This is not true. Google Translate uses statistical models to to analyse books and texts available in more than one language, thereby finding likely progressions of words and sentences and such.
Really? Because many sentences are translated the wrong way. Happens to me all the time. Especially in less common languages.
OK, let's take this one topic at a time: KS-ing. I agree with Exalon on this point that the ~mapowner command should be used to settle any disputes as to whose map it is. Gi designed the ~mapowner command precisely for this purpose, and it's a useful, impartial tool. If the situation is a very complicated one, players can always call on a GM to help decide, either ingame or in Report Abuse on the forum. I'd like to think that most players at least understand what KS-ing is and that it shouldn't have to be clarified - at least not in the rules. Boss-Map Camping. This is a very tricky one, especially in cases where people "pre-kill" bosses. I like Exalon's suggestion that a mule should not be able to hold a map. On the subject of pre-killing, I think Gi's second suggestion here is a good one: Further discussion of this matter by both players and staff would be very much welcomed. Making the T&C easier to read. I'm very much in favour of implementing Gi's suggested formatting for the T&C (minus the pink text!) as it presents the information in a much clearer and easier-to-follow format. The anchor tag is invaluable for guides and rules. [Not mentioned in discussion above] Privacy Policy. Needs to be added. Ban Evasion. Because of the number of people who wrongly assume that a ban only works for an individual account, I think that it would be a good idea to elaborate a little on this: My suggestion would be: Points raised by Gi. 1. The T&C have been created by the staff for players to read and follow. Although the staff are also bound by most of the rules, there are obvious exceptions. For example, yes, we can ban a player, and we are also able to make changes to the game - for everybody to use, not for own personal usage (except while testing out a new feature), I might add. 11 & 12. Rule 11 is specifically about companies; 12 is about any third party. 14. Spamming the Free Market Entrance in order to sell items is not bannable, but is usually un-necessary and often annoying to other players. I would like to propse a 2-hour mute for players who carry on spamming un-necessarily after being asked at least five times to stop, be it by other players or by a GM or a mixture of the two. [By "spamming" I mean rapid-fire incessant spam rather than people who wait a few seconds before repeating their message.] Feedback from all would be welcome. While not specifically mentioned by Gi here, there is a new type of spamming that occasionally needs to be dealt with: repeatedly spamming the ~mapowner command, especially on a map without monsters, such as the FM. Should this type of spamming receive the same type of penalty as - for example - smega spamming? 15. I see absolutely no point in keeping rule 15: This rule is about linking only to our homepage, and I can see absolutely no reason why someone shouldn't post a link to - for example - the download page or the forums. Indeed, if someone brings up a question on our facebook page, it makes a great deal of sense to link them to the relevant update notice or support forum. I propose that we remove this rule. Thoughts? 19. I'm not sure why "Cash Items" are mentioned separately here, and do wonder if they originally referred to things such as Nexon Game Cards. I don't know if it's of sufficient importance that it needs to be removed or clarified though. The message is clear enough: don't sell our source or ingame items/accounts/services for real money. 20. If someone is reporting an exploitable glitch, they will obviously have encountered and maybe tested out the glitch to make sure that it is a glitch and to see what causes/triggers it before reporting it. I can't see any reason for banning the person reporting the glitch unless they have deliberately (and usually repeatedly) exploited it for their own gain. Do other staff members feel the same way? 26. I personally feel that "I agree not to share my account or account information with other players, including friends and family" and a check box that must be ticked would be a very worthwhile addition to the registration form. I know another member of admin disagrees with me on this, on the grounds that all rules are equally important. However, given that account-sharing carries such a heavy penalty and that a lot of, if not most people did it and got away with it in GMS/EMS etc, I feel that it would save a lot of trouble later on if this rule was made crystal clear on registration. Either that or we could implement a quiz about the rules that would need to be completed before registration or that could take the form of a compulsary quest from an ingame NPC. [Idea: if the quiz took the form of a quest, we could implement a quest check on all the gachapons so that people would not be able to use them until they had completed the quest.] 27. Yes, the thread on vote abuse could do with being cleaned up, although I think the best way of doing that would be to clear out all replies if and when a new rule change is due. I agree that it needs to be made clear that heavy vote abuse will always result in a permanent ban. 28. The reason for this rule is to deter people from wasting staff time by falsely claiming to have committed an offence or by trying to avoid the punishment for an actual offence by claiming that it was "just a joke". The word believable needs to be in there so that it is clear that we do not ban people without good reason to do so. Yes, this involves staff discretion, and if there is doubt as to whether or not something is believable, we do generally try to consult. However, we can't consult on everything all of the time, and it is perfectly acceptable for a staff member to make their own judgment. If other members of staff feel this judgment was in error, then it can be re-investigated and overturned. 29. I'm not entirely comfortable with the guilty-by-association thing and would rather we dealt with these cases on an individual basis where possible. Other members of staff may well feel differently, and I would welcome their opinions. 30. I feel that a 1-day ban would be preferable for Smegas in a language other than English, with the exceptions of offensive Smegas and Smega-spam. (There are pleny of internet resources on how to swear in almost any given language!) The people who are the most likely to break the rule about only Smega-ing in English are typically also the least likely to fully understand the rules. 31. The reason for this rule is partly to prevent people from repeatedly having to ask for GM help because they've ended up stuck/dcing somewhere, and partly to prevent people from deliberately using old files to gain some kind of advantage. Late Edit. The word "gay" was used as an insult in the case linked. ~~~ Feedback from both staff and players would be much welcomed in response to this massively long reply!
I'll go through and reply one by one in a few, kat! I did read through it all and agree on several points, but have a few comments to make as well. Currently headache-y though, so bear with me a bit until then. <3
Isn't any company a third party? And isn't any trade secret non public information? I do know atleast one case where the 'being re-investigated and overturned'-part was not done because of "It's been done". "It's been done" referring to the fact that an other member of Staff had already replied and closed the thread. I just get the feeling Staff can never be wrong, and never be doubted. I don't see how you get advantages in game because of old .wz files. I still don't think you can be sure about that Kat. There's no context whatsoever, but I'd like to bump this about it. Overall the replies are nice, and I hope things will get changed. Change is often feared, and you'll have some nice chats about it with
@Katsuruka, also I believe rule 31 serves its purpose of not allowing players to use wz files from another server that could once again give them competitive advantage.
Once again I don't see a possible way of competitive advantage because you use other server's .wz files. But I do agree that it's worth noting that one should use .wz (and other) files provided by MapleRoyals (otherwise you're technically modifying the files, which is banable already). You should only be playing this server in the first place though
One example is that some servers use modified Skill.wz files which can affect damage dealt in the game.
