Discovery Gaming Community

I posit that, as currently implemented, the rules and sanction process is insufficient to adequately inform players as to what is expected from them. Namely, the clarifications that would actually tell a player what he or she did wrong are buried so remotely as to be useless to the average player, and what's worse is that they are never brought up in a sanction. Let me give an example.

Player_Newb is intercepted in space by [Vet]OldSkool. [Vet]OldSkool lets loose with a single Cruise Disruptor, stopping Player_Newb in his tracks so that he can be talked to. Player_Newb hears *INCOMING MISSILE* through his speakers and determines that he is being attacked, and opens up on [Vet]OldSkool. [Vet]OldSkool is surprised, as to him a CD is merely a means of getting Player_Newb to stick around for whatever RP would have followed. [Vet]OldSkool takes the screens and reports Player_Newb for violating Rule 3.6 due to no RP combat. Player_Newb later finds himself in Bastille with a sanction notice, and upon reading that finds the following sanction.

Player_Newb has been Sanctioned for violating Rule 3.6: Wrote:

The Rules Wrote:3.6 Attacking without Roleplay. Players must be given reasonable time to react to hostilities.

Player_Newb will be released once he has indicated that he has read and understood the rules.

Player_Newb reads the rule as presented, says that he understands, but that he was attacked first. [A]dmin says okay, you're free, and we hope this doesn't happen again.

The problem? Player_Newb doesn't actually understand that being hit by a CD is not an attack, and the next time it happens he will think that he is still perfectly justified in shooting because he heard *INCOMING MISSILE* blare at him over his speakers; right up until he gets sanctioned again.

Clearly this is not the fault of Player_Newb, but he wasn't given the proper information, and it's unlikely that he (or anyone else) would bother to hunt through six pages of clarifications to find a post that tells him what the sanction, nay the rules proper, should have told him in the first place.

I propose the following adjustment. Keep the clarification thread for asking questions, but once an answer has been given then update the rules with the clarification; and be sure to include these clarifications in the sanction notice. Let's use Rule 3.6 for example.

The Rules Wrote:3.6 Attacking without Roleplay. Players must be given reasonable time to react to hostilities.

Rule Clarification: Time to Respond

Give them enough time to respond. If you drop a RP line at them, please wait for them to respond before shooting. A good rule of thumb is 10 seconds+ from when you sent the first RP message to when you shoot.

Rule Clarification: Attack Definition

Did you fire at him with intent to drain shields/do hull damage? Attack. CD'ing someone to get them to stop isn't an attack. Firing at them intentially and hitting them is attack. No more of this "50% shields" stuff. Roleplay before you start firing at someone.

Rule Clarification: Nomad Engagement

Rules-wise, as long as there is roleplay interaction made, you may engage another player if your ID allows for it.

Rule Clarification: Uncloaking Behind and Shooting

Uncloaking behind another player and engaging is allowed by the server rules as long as 3.6 is met. Dropping 3 lines and instantly uncloaking would be against the server rules. Interacting with the player over a reasonable amount of time while getting within range of them - would be allowed.

And done. Now all relevant clarifications are in one spot and when a sanction notice is given the player can easily look through and go, "Oh, that's what I did wrong." And when he says that he understands the rules we can assume that he has actually read and understood what is expected of him.

Can we implement this please?

I already suggested using the spoiler function for rule clarification here. My goal is to have rules that are quick and easy to read and oversee ingame and on the forum (identical versions), and details and clarification easily accessible on the forum with spoilers. But instead of asking admins to do it, it would be best if every contributed by writing such "spoilers" here and moderate the thread yourself, so they can just check the result and accept it once its food enough. I'd be willing to moderate it too after the ingame help system is put in the game.