02-16-2018, 04:56 AM
This OP is obsolete but kept as a reference. Please start reading here instead, because the entire rule rework is in 3 consecutive posts there.
The way something is presented matters not only when it comes to making it understandable, but can in many cases also demotivate people from reading it at all. Furthermore, it contributes to someone's overall impression when they decide whether Discovery is worth playing or not.
Currently the infocard and posts presenting DiscoveryGC Rules, which every new player is required to read, contain rambling about fairness in the beginning, have strange ordering and numbering, useless repetitions, long explanations about "permabans", and they differ when you compare server infocard and forum. This makes Discovery look rather amateurishly run, and gives a bad impression of the place.
If you still don't understand the necessity of clearing up the rules, please read this for a more detailed explanation.
In the following post(s) rules have been re-ordered, merged, and reworded to make them shorter and easier grasp, and thereby more convenient to read. They're now re-organized and compact enough to put identical versions on the forum and into 7 ingame infocards grouped by topic in the already existing ingame Help System.
Overview of changes:
Everyone is invited to suggest improvements or express concerns. Staff members are especially invited as individuals, it doesn't have to be a team statement.
Click the Info bar for explanations and examples.
1. COMMUNITY RULES
1.1 This is a Freelancer-based role play community. Character names and behavior must be realistic in the Discovery Freelancer universe (no player nationality tags, memes, pop-culture references, or direct imports from other universes like Star Wars). Realistic role-play also means that meta-gaming (characters using information they didn't receive in the game universe) is forbidden.
1.2 Don’t insult, harass, or threaten players outside of role-play. Don’t use racist, graphic, pornographic, obscene, or law-violating materials in or out of role-play. Don’t repeatedly target specific players or groups with the intention of ruining their game experience. Don’t mislead players about rules or pose as an admin or “admin friend” to gain an advantage.
1.3 Everything must be in understandable English. Some non-English words can enhance role-play, but the meanings should be kept understandable to English-only speakers.
2. SERVER GAMEPLAY
2.1 Out-Of-Character (OOC) chat should be avoided in local and system chat. Typing // in front of OOC messages is recommended.
2.2 A character/ship must use one single ID and follow the permissions and restrictions of ID, ship, and equipment infocards.
2.3 Players below level 30 may not be attacked unless they: attack first, fire cruise-disruptors, refuse to stop stalking, carry a codename weapon, or take active part in role-play.
2.4 All attacks must be a result of role play. Players must say more than one line and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Non-Nomads may always attack Nomads, but role play is still required. See rule 5.1 before attacking a Player Owned Base.
2.5 If you die in any way during a PvP (Player versus Player) interaction, you must leave the system the fight took place in and not re-enter it on any characters for one hour. You may not carry cargo, engage in player interactions, or be attacked while leaving. You also can’t attack the player(s) you died to on any of your characters for one hour.
2.6 The same as 2.5 applies if you dock within 15K of your enemy while in PvP, with the exceptions that you may re-enter the system to trade, keep your cargo, and players may attack you while you leave or re-enter the system.
2.7 Demands should be reasonable and only one monetary or cargo demand can be issued during each piracy interaction. Players that complied to the demand may not be attacked unless they provoke further.
2.8 Don’t disconnect in space to escape interaction. If you get disconnected, log back on immediately and apologize to the players you were interacting with. If you can’t apologize ingame, do so in the forum thread titled "DISCONNECTED". Don’t rejoin a fight without permission from your adversary after getting disconnected.
2.9 Connecticut is a system where players aren’t required to role-play and may only attack with the adversary’s consent. Bastille is a system that imprisons rule breakers until they agree to obey server rules.
3. HIRED GUNS & BOUNTIES
3.1 All contracts and bounties must be justified within roleplay and conform to IDs. A character may be hired ingame or on the forum by non-generic IDed (non Freelancer, Pirate, or Miner) players, for a minimum of 1 million credits per target. Targets must be informed of the contract/bounty originator before the attack and be able to verify the veracity of it. The reputations of employer and employee must be neutral or friendly to each other, and they must both be hostile to the target unless they're enforcing Official Faction Rights or the target has a generic ID.
3.2 Bounties enacted while the employer is offline, PvP-dead, or farther than one system away must be posted in the "Bounty Offices" sub-forum. The forum thread must specify the employer's name and affiliation, and also specify and verify the affiliation of those who may claim the bounty. A limited payout number, expiry date, or exclusivity to pre-registered bounty board members may be specified beforehand. Players may not hire exclusively their own characters.
3.3 Forum-Bounties on factions instead of named individuals (blanket bounties) may only be issued (or sponsored within roleplay) by official factions and governments. These may also be compensated through flat rate payments of at least 30 million credits per month to individuals or factions. Non-generic IDed unofficial factions may sponsor internal blanket bounties for members of their player or NPC faction only.
3.4 Attacking someone for non-existing contracts or non-claimable bounties, as well as not visibly claiming payment within 7 days of an alleged forum-bounty kill, will result in sanction. Payments must be made within two weeks of a legitimate claim.
4. FACTIONS
4.1 Players may create a faction for any publicly available ID they want, if the faction uses a single ID, IFF, and tag. Every faction must have one leader and at least one second-in-command who speak for it. It’s recommended but optional for unofficial factions to post descriptions in the Unofficial Factions and Groups sub-forum, explaining their background, diplomacy, goals, and to ask for community feedback. It’s also recommended to create roleplay message logs on the forum.
4.2 Official status is awarded following the "Achieving Official Faction Status" post on the forum. Official Factions (OFs) must have a public feedback thread they answer to on the forum. They have the following Official Faction Rights (OFRs). All instances of OFR use must be documented by forum roleplay.
- OFR 1: OF leaders ranked first or second in command have in-roleplay authority over characters of the same NPC affiliation, regarding diplomacy and strategic/tactical direction. They may not require anyone to follow non-canon or unreasonable roleplay. Disobeying legitimate orders may result in roleplay consequences such as ingame arrest, court-martial, and in extreme cases ingame force.
- OFR 2: OFs who planned an event with at least 24 hours notice on the forum can restrict the participation of others in that event. It shouldn't severely limit another faction’s activities in their own ZoI or provide unfair protection from logical roleplay consequences.
- OFR 3: OFs may request that the reputation of a player's ship be set hostile towards their NPC faction, by posting in the appropriate Violation Reports sub-forum. They must provide evidence of forum roleplay and interaction between the OF and the character. Ships subjected to OFR3 may treat ships of the issuing faction (except transports) as hostile targets.
- OFR 4: OFs may bounty or attack a player who uses their affiliation's technology without the faction ID nor official permission, regardless of their diplomacy with the user's faction. Permissions may only be given by an OF affiliated with the manufacturer of the technology, and must be documented in roleplay on the forum.
5. PLAYER OWNED BASES
5.1 Dealing more damage to a Player Owned Base (POB) than is needed to prevent a ship from taking refuge inside or behind the base must be preceded by forum roleplay and a post in the Attack Declaration Thread at least 8 hours (core 1 bases) or 24 hours (core 2 and higher) prior to the attack. Attack declarations are valid for 2 weeks.
5.2 No roleplay is required prior to building a Core 1 base, but it must make sense in roleplay. Name, location and IFF of bases are permanent and can’t be changed after construction. Bases within 15k distance of mining fields may not advance beyond Core 2. Core upgrades have requirements listed in the "Player Owned Base Upgrades" forum thread.
5.3 POBs are destructible when unprotected, so it's recommended you inform yourself about House laws and fees and local diplomacy in order to build in a well protected location. POBs in systems bordering House space may not be engaged by House forces for lack of payment of fees, but can still fall prey to other factions.
6. CHEATING
In addition to players reporting cheaters, the Discovery 24/7 RP Server automatically detects most of them. Cheating will result in automated or admin-administered bans. The following cheats and exploits are forbidden:
6.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation, using third-party tools, or abusing glitches/bugs in order to gain advantages over other players.
6.2 Running the game with framerates above 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.
6.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.
6.4 Intentionally ramming a capital ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.
6.5 Suicide trading and intentionally self/team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin battles in order to prevent the opponent from scoring points.
6.6 Connecting to the server with more than one character at a time (Multiboxing). Players sharing a network connection may not engage in trading/mining at the same time.
6.7 Storing POB crew on a ship in order to reduce consumption.
7. SANCTIONS
7.1 Game Masters will impose sanctions on players who violate rules or harm server gameplay. Game Masters are obliged to:
- Safeguard the community, server, and forums
- Be fair and treat all players equally
- Not mix server roleplaying with server administration in any way
- Not ignore reported rule violations
7.2 Depending on severity and amount of rule violations, sanctions can range from a warning, credit fine, loss of equipment, probation periods with removal of certain privileges, and bans of varying duration. Sanctions will appear in forum threads detailing the offenses and punishments.
7.3 If someone shows disregard for the rules even after being informed of rules and violations, players can file a rule violation report in the appropriate sub-forum. Playing Discovery Freelancer as a community is less anonymous than other games, and therefore things are often taken more personal. Don’t attempt to use violation reports for personal revenge. If you’re angry, take time to gather and present the evidence properly and make sure you’re not mistaken when you’re calm.
The way something is presented matters not only when it comes to making it understandable, but can in many cases also demotivate people from reading it at all. Furthermore, it contributes to someone's overall impression when they decide whether Discovery is worth playing or not.
Currently the infocard and posts presenting DiscoveryGC Rules, which every new player is required to read, contain rambling about fairness in the beginning, have strange ordering and numbering, useless repetitions, long explanations about "permabans", and they differ when you compare server infocard and forum. This makes Discovery look rather amateurishly run, and gives a bad impression of the place.
If you still don't understand the necessity of clearing up the rules, please read this for a more detailed explanation.
In the following post(s) rules have been re-ordered, merged, and reworded to make them shorter and easier grasp, and thereby more convenient to read. They're now re-organized and compact enough to put identical versions on the forum and into 7 ingame infocards grouped by topic in the already existing ingame Help System.
Overview of changes:
Format Changes
- Changed order of rules from most important for new people to know to least important
- Removed separation of "pvp rules" and "role play rules" in server rules because they are mixed and interpendant anyway
- Put all rules needed to play on the server using common sense into 7 numbered sets which fit into Help System infocards on the topics of Rules, Gameplay, Bounties, Faction, Bases, Cheating, and Sanctions.
- Put things necessary to restrain someone who isn't using common sense (intentionally or unintentionally) into spoilers which are under each rule on the forum.
- Put rules needed to know only by people who perform forum actions into separate Forum Rules.
- Changed wording of most things so the smallest number or words necessary is used. Rules that need to be known to play on the server were reduced from 2644 to 1587 words. Together with forum rules, they were reduced from 4510 to 2528 words.
Content Changes that have NO rule change consequences
- Removed rule about guard systems because they don't exist anymore (Official Faction Rights)
- Removed rule about training ships because everyone now trains in Connecticut (Official Faction Rights)
- Removed things that give a bad impression of the community (threats, boasting, loophole exploitation, permabanning), and put some of them in the spoilers
- Removed rule about anonymous bounties because no one ever uses it, and it seems useless now that everyone has alt accounts anyway
- Added explanation of what Bastille is to 2.9
- Wrote out rule about "trial by forum", off topic, and closed communications in the forum rules.
Content Changes that HAVE rule change consequences (suggested)
- Pirate and Miner IDs can be hired in 3.1, because forbidding it has no RP justification and was introduced to spread players out among IDs, which has lost its usefulness now. (Also Freelancer should get the mining bonus of Miner ID, and Miner ID should be removed.)
- Allowed players to hire others ingame to kill targets up to 1 system jump away in 3.1, because that's how people generally use the "hire to assist in combat" anyway
- Employer and Employee both have to be hostile to the targets now except when enforcing Official Faction Rights and when the target has a generic ID
- Changed order of rules from most important for new people to know to least important
- Removed separation of "pvp rules" and "role play rules" in server rules because they are mixed and interpendant anyway
- Put all rules needed to play on the server using common sense into 7 numbered sets which fit into Help System infocards on the topics of Rules, Gameplay, Bounties, Faction, Bases, Cheating, and Sanctions.
- Put things necessary to restrain someone who isn't using common sense (intentionally or unintentionally) into spoilers which are under each rule on the forum.
- Put rules needed to know only by people who perform forum actions into separate Forum Rules.
- Changed wording of most things so the smallest number or words necessary is used. Rules that need to be known to play on the server were reduced from 2644 to 1587 words. Together with forum rules, they were reduced from 4510 to 2528 words.
Content Changes that have NO rule change consequences
- Removed rule about guard systems because they don't exist anymore (Official Faction Rights)
- Removed rule about training ships because everyone now trains in Connecticut (Official Faction Rights)
- Removed things that give a bad impression of the community (threats, boasting, loophole exploitation, permabanning), and put some of them in the spoilers
- Removed rule about anonymous bounties because no one ever uses it, and it seems useless now that everyone has alt accounts anyway
- Added explanation of what Bastille is to 2.9
- Wrote out rule about "trial by forum", off topic, and closed communications in the forum rules.
Content Changes that HAVE rule change consequences (suggested)
- Pirate and Miner IDs can be hired in 3.1, because forbidding it has no RP justification and was introduced to spread players out among IDs, which has lost its usefulness now. (Also Freelancer should get the mining bonus of Miner ID, and Miner ID should be removed.)
- Allowed players to hire others ingame to kill targets up to 1 system jump away in 3.1, because that's how people generally use the "hire to assist in combat" anyway
- Employer and Employee both have to be hostile to the targets now except when enforcing Official Faction Rights and when the target has a generic ID
Everyone is invited to suggest improvements or express concerns. Staff members are especially invited as individuals, it doesn't have to be a team statement.
Click the Info bar for explanations and examples.
1. COMMUNITY RULES
1.1 This is a Freelancer-based role play community. Character names and behavior must be realistic in the Discovery Freelancer universe (no player nationality tags, memes, pop-culture references, or direct imports from other universes like Star Wars). Realistic role-play also means that meta-gaming (characters using information they didn't receive in the game universe) is forbidden.
1.2 Don’t insult, harass, or threaten players outside of role-play. Don’t use racist, graphic, pornographic, obscene, or law-violating materials in or out of role-play. Don’t repeatedly target specific players or groups with the intention of ruining their game experience. Don’t mislead players about rules or pose as an admin or “admin friend” to gain an advantage.
![[+]](/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Info1.3 Everything must be in understandable English. Some non-English words can enhance role-play, but the meanings should be kept understandable to English-only speakers.
2. SERVER GAMEPLAY
2.1 Out-Of-Character (OOC) chat should be avoided in local and system chat. Typing // in front of OOC messages is recommended.
2.2 A character/ship must use one single ID and follow the permissions and restrictions of ID, ship, and equipment infocards.
2.3 Players below level 30 may not be attacked unless they: attack first, fire cruise-disruptors, refuse to stop stalking, carry a codename weapon, or take active part in role-play.
2.4 All attacks must be a result of role play. Players must say more than one line and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Non-Nomads may always attack Nomads, but role play is still required. See rule 5.1 before attacking a Player Owned Base.
2.5 If you die in any way during a PvP (Player versus Player) interaction, you must leave the system the fight took place in and not re-enter it on any characters for one hour. You may not carry cargo, engage in player interactions, or be attacked while leaving. You also can’t attack the player(s) you died to on any of your characters for one hour.
2.6 The same as 2.5 applies if you dock within 15K of your enemy while in PvP, with the exceptions that you may re-enter the system to trade, keep your cargo, and players may attack you while you leave or re-enter the system.
2.7 Demands should be reasonable and only one monetary or cargo demand can be issued during each piracy interaction. Players that complied to the demand may not be attacked unless they provoke further.
2.8 Don’t disconnect in space to escape interaction. If you get disconnected, log back on immediately and apologize to the players you were interacting with. If you can’t apologize ingame, do so in the forum thread titled "DISCONNECTED". Don’t rejoin a fight without permission from your adversary after getting disconnected.
2.9 Connecticut is a system where players aren’t required to role-play and may only attack with the adversary’s consent. Bastille is a system that imprisons rule breakers until they agree to obey server rules.
3. HIRED GUNS & BOUNTIES
3.1 All contracts and bounties must be justified within roleplay and conform to IDs. A character may be hired ingame or on the forum by non-generic IDed (non Freelancer, Pirate, or Miner) players, for a minimum of 1 million credits per target. Targets must be informed of the contract/bounty originator before the attack and be able to verify the veracity of it. The reputations of employer and employee must be neutral or friendly to each other, and they must both be hostile to the target unless they're enforcing Official Faction Rights or the target has a generic ID.
3.2 Bounties enacted while the employer is offline, PvP-dead, or farther than one system away must be posted in the "Bounty Offices" sub-forum. The forum thread must specify the employer's name and affiliation, and also specify and verify the affiliation of those who may claim the bounty. A limited payout number, expiry date, or exclusivity to pre-registered bounty board members may be specified beforehand. Players may not hire exclusively their own characters.
3.3 Forum-Bounties on factions instead of named individuals (blanket bounties) may only be issued (or sponsored within roleplay) by official factions and governments. These may also be compensated through flat rate payments of at least 30 million credits per month to individuals or factions. Non-generic IDed unofficial factions may sponsor internal blanket bounties for members of their player or NPC faction only.
3.4 Attacking someone for non-existing contracts or non-claimable bounties, as well as not visibly claiming payment within 7 days of an alleged forum-bounty kill, will result in sanction. Payments must be made within two weeks of a legitimate claim.
4. FACTIONS
4.1 Players may create a faction for any publicly available ID they want, if the faction uses a single ID, IFF, and tag. Every faction must have one leader and at least one second-in-command who speak for it. It’s recommended but optional for unofficial factions to post descriptions in the Unofficial Factions and Groups sub-forum, explaining their background, diplomacy, goals, and to ask for community feedback. It’s also recommended to create roleplay message logs on the forum.
4.2 Official status is awarded following the "Achieving Official Faction Status" post on the forum. Official Factions (OFs) must have a public feedback thread they answer to on the forum. They have the following Official Faction Rights (OFRs). All instances of OFR use must be documented by forum roleplay.
- OFR 1: OF leaders ranked first or second in command have in-roleplay authority over characters of the same NPC affiliation, regarding diplomacy and strategic/tactical direction. They may not require anyone to follow non-canon or unreasonable roleplay. Disobeying legitimate orders may result in roleplay consequences such as ingame arrest, court-martial, and in extreme cases ingame force.
- OFR 2: OFs who planned an event with at least 24 hours notice on the forum can restrict the participation of others in that event. It shouldn't severely limit another faction’s activities in their own ZoI or provide unfair protection from logical roleplay consequences.
- OFR 3: OFs may request that the reputation of a player's ship be set hostile towards their NPC faction, by posting in the appropriate Violation Reports sub-forum. They must provide evidence of forum roleplay and interaction between the OF and the character. Ships subjected to OFR3 may treat ships of the issuing faction (except transports) as hostile targets.
- OFR 4: OFs may bounty or attack a player who uses their affiliation's technology without the faction ID nor official permission, regardless of their diplomacy with the user's faction. Permissions may only be given by an OF affiliated with the manufacturer of the technology, and must be documented in roleplay on the forum.
5. PLAYER OWNED BASES
5.1 Dealing more damage to a Player Owned Base (POB) than is needed to prevent a ship from taking refuge inside or behind the base must be preceded by forum roleplay and a post in the Attack Declaration Thread at least 8 hours (core 1 bases) or 24 hours (core 2 and higher) prior to the attack. Attack declarations are valid for 2 weeks.
5.2 No roleplay is required prior to building a Core 1 base, but it must make sense in roleplay. Name, location and IFF of bases are permanent and can’t be changed after construction. Bases within 15k distance of mining fields may not advance beyond Core 2. Core upgrades have requirements listed in the "Player Owned Base Upgrades" forum thread.
5.3 POBs are destructible when unprotected, so it's recommended you inform yourself about House laws and fees and local diplomacy in order to build in a well protected location. POBs in systems bordering House space may not be engaged by House forces for lack of payment of fees, but can still fall prey to other factions.
6. CHEATING
In addition to players reporting cheaters, the Discovery 24/7 RP Server automatically detects most of them. Cheating will result in automated or admin-administered bans. The following cheats and exploits are forbidden:
6.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation, using third-party tools, or abusing glitches/bugs in order to gain advantages over other players.
6.2 Running the game with framerates above 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.
6.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.
6.4 Intentionally ramming a capital ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.
6.5 Suicide trading and intentionally self/team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin battles in order to prevent the opponent from scoring points.
6.6 Connecting to the server with more than one character at a time (Multiboxing). Players sharing a network connection may not engage in trading/mining at the same time.
6.7 Storing POB crew on a ship in order to reduce consumption.
7. SANCTIONS
7.1 Game Masters will impose sanctions on players who violate rules or harm server gameplay. Game Masters are obliged to:
- Safeguard the community, server, and forums
- Be fair and treat all players equally
- Not mix server roleplaying with server administration in any way
- Not ignore reported rule violations
7.2 Depending on severity and amount of rule violations, sanctions can range from a warning, credit fine, loss of equipment, probation periods with removal of certain privileges, and bans of varying duration. Sanctions will appear in forum threads detailing the offenses and punishments.
7.3 If someone shows disregard for the rules even after being informed of rules and violations, players can file a rule violation report in the appropriate sub-forum. Playing Discovery Freelancer as a community is less anonymous than other games, and therefore things are often taken more personal. Don’t attempt to use violation reports for personal revenge. If you’re angry, take time to gather and present the evidence properly and make sure you’re not mistaken when you’re calm.