[STAFF]: WARNING

[EisenSeele]

Yeah just realize this isn't working, make explicit rules and actually use the rule clarification thread, ditch the awfully worded don't be a dick (whose idea was that? It makes YOU sound like dicks guys)

It's so hostile and unnecessarily complex to have an arbitrary system with lengthy precedents you need to look for in sanctions. It looks TERRIBLE when you issue community warnings instead of changing a rule or replying in rule clarification.

You guys are human, biased humans, and people have to look over their shoulder when they play the game now, always worried that admins will vote on a whim, driven by personal biases and dislikes. I am worried I will be screwed by factors outside of my control now when I play the game. And that factor is you - the staff and your arbitrary approach to sanctions and warnings.

You guys also tried to simplify the rules but have just made them much more complex instead I hope you realize with this precedent system that brings huge back and forths and essays without spelling what people can and can't do out.

It would be nice to have clearly and explicitly defined rulesets that cover everything you are and aren't allowed to do - but in a roleplaying environment where players are part of the game engine and imagination is the limit of what can be done, this is impractical at best. It would be difficult for us to list out a comprehensive list of even common and easily imagined scenarios that would end in powergaming and metagaming to the degree that you'd like. It would be impossible to make that list fit in a way that someone could realistically use, parse, and understand without getting into the weeds too much. It would also most certainly have 'loopholes' and serve as a reference for people who want to test boundaries, who would inevitably complain and try to rules lawyer when told to stop anyway. Both the solution space of things that are ok, and the problem space of what is not are infinite and limited only to the imagination - so the best we can do are guidelines which work for the vast majority of players, and Staff to step in when they don't.

We've had tests of what is and isn't acceptable speech and character names before, and people have asked what constitutes a racial slur or nazi imagery - and the problem is then as it is now - there is no sensible and comprehensive list of all words and symbols alone or in combination that are unacceptable, You can see a similar process with the discrimination between obscenity and protected speech in the US Supreme Court - thankfully, Discovery is an online game and not a country, so we're able to go by a less rigorous test. We've also found it easier to remove problematic players from the community rather than develop a unified theory (which would be to succeed where actual governments have failed) or to force people to genuinely reform their entire personality (which is something that very much out of our paygrade).

Trying to explain how something breaks the rules to players, and to try to get people to understand why something shouldn't be done - or at least, know enough to not do the bad thing, is the best we've got. If you or anyone else would like to write up more guides on what is and isn't acceptable for players to use, that is always welcome - but I doubt that there will ever be a realistic case where this game will get an official list of all possible bad things to not do.

If you take issue with the tone of the rules, maybe we can change 1.0 to - "Enjoy the game, and don't ruin the game for others," but it's all symantics.

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