Improve Presentation of Discovery's Rules

[Karlotta]

The forum posts and cargo items presenting DiscoveryGC's Rules, which every new player is required to read and understand, and which give players an important first impression of the mod and community, contain multiple problems that make Discovery look amateurishly run and raise unpleasant questions on the nature of the community. Some examples:

- rambling about fair play, "common sense", and loop holes in the beginning, laced with boasts and threats
- ordering that starts with aspects that are irrelevant for beginners / first readers, forcing them to read things that aren't actually useful for them first
- numbering and naming of subsections inconsistent with their content
- clumsy and useless repetitions of words and sentences
- long explanations about "permabans" that don't affect most players, which could go into clarifications instead of rules post
- rule clarifications are hard to find in a a convoluted thread and scattered all over the forum as "green text", poorly presented, and obsolete
- content and numbering of rules in cargo item and forum differ
- rules that make something sound like it's forbidden on first read, and then another rule 4 further down that say its allowed (related topics in separate places)

For those who aren't able to identify the problems with the cargo items and forum posts by themselves, here's a more detailed list in the spoilers below.

Starter cargo items:

Discovery RP 247 Server Rules

- It should simply be called “Server Rules”, because the long name isn’t required anymore without the existence of other servers.

- Excessive use of underlining, red text, and exclamation marks reduces their usefulness for emphasis (and also looks angry and amateurish). “If you break the rules, you will be punished” is the only thing that needs red text to catch the attention of people who are originally too lazy to read the whole thing.

- An additional way to focus and keep the reader’s attention is to remove every word that isn’t really conveying useful new information and just wastes time and patience. For example in the first paragraph: “Admin Note:, brief, Discovery Freelancer RP24/7 official, (November 2016 revision), on Discovery Freelancer 24/7”

- The numbering does not match the one on forum, making it more confusing than useful.

- Is from 2016 and obsolete with for example rule 13 in the infocard (4.3 on the forum). If the forum and ingame rules used the same text, it would be easier to keep them in sync when a rule update happens.

How To Get Started

- “should be viewed as out of roleplay information” self–evident and useless clutter sentence

- “wastness” should be spelled with v

- “This item takes only 1 unit of cargo and you may buy it from any base ingame. Feel free to carry it with you at all time” useless (and inaccurate) sentence. Things explained here are now in the Help System anyway, which can always be read without keeping it in cargo.

- the advertised “/restart BEGINNER” template does not exist.

- “Any ship has the capability to mine simple resources you can sell for profit” is misleading about the true nature of the mining system

- “once you launch to space, the helium field being planet Erie…” sends people to an isolated and boring grind. If you tell new people to mine, it’s better to send them to a busy place like the now existing premium scrap field in New York, where they can interact with experienced players instead of mostly other noobs.

- Important features like credit transfers and mining are now explained in the Help System. The cargo item should probably be removed and the green welcoming logon message should mention the Help System and where to find it

History of Sirius

It mixes story lines of all houses, including points that aren’t important in the grand scheme of things, and thereby provides little context for why the items are relevant and for who/what.

All the information in the starter items is made permanently avilable in the Help System, without getting lost from cargo upon player death.

Rules Post

- Players are made to read through 18 lines (259 words) before learning the first bit of information that actually reveals what they can or can’t do on the server (rule 1.1).

- They are first told that they should play fair (which is subjective and as much an encouragement to complain about other people’s unfairness as it is to play fair oneself, there being differing views on what “fair” means even for long term players), told that rules shouldn’t be weaponized (again just as much an encouragement to accuse others of doing it as it is to not do it oneself), told about the rule clarification thread (which is dreadful for reasons given below), told how Game Masters are to behave (rather self-evident and something directed more at game masters and less at new players), and then another paragraph, for a second time told how people should be fair, which also wishes those who look for loop holes “good luck” (which again gives a bad impression of staff and members).

- All of hte above is unloaded on first time readers before telling them what the rules even are, or them really being concerned by these topics yet at all, or knowing what is supposed to be considered fair or unfair, or what the rambling about loop holes and weaponization could be about. If it is really necessary to write about these things in the rules, it makes more sense to put it in a place where it is actually relevant, for example where rule violation reports are submitted, or at the end or in the spoiler to a rule where people already have some context to it, and not before they even know what the actual rules are (which is what they’re really starting to read the post for).

- The rule clarification thread is 9 pages long (90 posts), and still contains now obsolete posts about former rules, which make it utterly confusing and annoying to look through to see if something hasn’t already been clarified. A much easier-to-find and upkeep way of clarifying rules is to use spoilers underneath the corresponding rule.

- With 1.1 the rules start by listing the usual things that are forbidden on most public gaming servers. They probably need to be said near the beginning, but the most important information is that which explains how the game is to played: That it’s a role play game and in what kind of universe it’s set in.

- Rule 1.6 is the one for character naming, but the character name rules reference it as rule 2.3 which doesn't exist

- There is no mention of what is considered "appropriate" role play (in 3 and 1.6), metagaming, or powergaming (1.5) (there is just some information on what is not under 1. and 3.1)

- Placing the forum rules (2.) between community rules (1.) and server rules (3.) keeps them from having consistent numbering if they were to be identical and optimal on both server and forum. Most people will play on the server before using the forum, therefore ordering them as community rules (valid for server and forum) first, then server, and then later forum rules (after other things that are relevant for server gameplay like hired guns and bounties) will make it optimized for more people.

- Since pornographic anime is pornographic, and ponies and furries are imports, there is no real need to list them explicitly (it also gives a bad impression of the community if you do). It can be added in rule clarifications in spoilers for those who choose not to “get it”.

- Things like trial by forum and off topic are enforced but not written down as forum rules. If the server rules are listed after/separate from the other rules, it’s not a problem to make them a bit longer and more explicit

- Rule 3.1 under “server rules” is related to community rule 1.1 (the 2 are therefore best combined for better context in community rules) and is also enforced on the forum, but not mentioned in forum rules. It’s likely that the swearing and insulting is seen as less severe in role play stories about one’s own characters than in communications directed at other players’ characters. See above point about making forum rules more explicit.

- In Rule 3 writing out ROLEPLAYING and ROLEPLAY twice in all caps leaves the impression of an angry nerd yelling at someone who he considers an inferior being because they aren’t as deep into ROLEPLAY as he is. It also does nothing to explain what role play or "acceptable roleplay" is or how it can be turned into acceptable all caps ROLEPLAY.

- 3.4 doesn’t differentiate between sieging, intentional shield-fuel draining, and acceptable shooting to keep someone from docking, and should be turned into a real sentence mentioning the forums

- 3.7 recruit ID isn't used anymore because of restarts and should therefore be removed as "clutter"

- 3.9 belongs into faction rules

- 4. Use of the abbreviation "PvP" without explaining what it means. Also useless repetition of "discover freelancer server"

- Rules 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8 also concern pvp, but are not under "PvP rules"

- 3. and 4. repeat the lengthy name "Discovery Freelancer 24/7 RP" without real need for it, making headers harder to read and identify

- 4.2 is open to interpretation on whether this also applies to situations where one is not required to make a demand at all before initiating an attack, but makes a demand anyway for rp purposes. Furthermore the new IDs dont mention "demands" but "piracy" and "enforce laws".

- 4.4 is under "PvP rules" but is really about IDs and their restrictions, some of which have nothing to do with PvP.

- rules 4.4 + 4.5 can be made shorter by wording and by joining them.

- 4.5 bounty line should mention the existence of the bounty hunting rules section

- 4.6 The reworked IDs mention "piracy" and "combat ships" instead transports, so that specific distinction/nomenclature should probably me mentioned here

- The second to last paragraph is related to game master rules and sanctions (like some of what is said at the beginning), and is therefore easiest to understand when in context with that in a joined “rule violations and sanctions” subsection.

- The last bit of the rules 1st post is irrelevant to 99.9% of players who don’t get permabanned and don't use shared ships and can therefore be hidden in a spoiler, because apart from being a waste of time for most players to read, mentioning permabans in the rules OP such detail also leaves a very bad impression of the community.

- The line "All IDs are allowed to escort transports of the same affiliation outside of their ZOI, except while flying cruisers and battleships." in the systems classifications is well hidden and contradicts/changes what is said before about defense of (all) ships of same affiliation

Player Owner Bases

- siege and construction rules repeated for every core makes it needlessly long
- repeating blueprint non transferability for every core makes it needlessly long
- repeating upgrade request link for every core makes it needlessly long

Bounty Hunting and Freelancer Hire

- Rule 1 and 5 contradict each other unless they are joined into one rule citing exceptions
- contains exceptions for sponsored blanket bounties that are never used anymore, which make rules needlessly long and complex

System and Ship classifications

- "yellow zones" sentence can be avoided by not using yellow
- uselessly long repetioins of "House Military, Police, and Intelligence factions" when it can be abreviated
- last paragraph is redundant with what is said before and in IDs

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, taking into account the problems listed in the spoilers above. 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 either so


or so



Overview of changes:

Format Changes

- Changed order of rules from most important for new people to know to least important, starting with 3 sections that must be known to everyone playing on the server, 3 more that need only be known for people who engage in that activity (hiring people, creating factions, building/sieging pobs), and 4 more that provide additional details and definitions
- Removed separation of "pvp rules" and "role play rules" in server rules because they are mixed and interdependent anyway
- Put all rules needed to play on the server using common sense into 10 numbered sets which fit into Help System infocards.
- Formatted the text so it can be easily copy-pasted into infocards without further editing
- 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.

This condenses the current
- Community, Server, and forum rules (currently 1425 words)
- Player Owned Base rules (559)
- Bounty hunting and Freelancer Hire (266)
- Official Faction Rights and Responsibilities (617)
- Ships and Systems Classifications (703)
- Faction Creation Rules (752)
- POB attack declaration rules (285)
- Definitions (233)

posts from a total of 4840 words to a total of 3285 words, separating them into those that are needed to know to play on the server without problems or forum-surprises (2329), and those needed to know to perform forum actions (856).

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.

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Content Changes that have NO rule change consequences

- Removed rule about guard systems because they don't exist anymore (Official Faction Rights) was silently adopted by admins/gms
- Removed rule about training ships because everyone now trains in Connecticut (Official Faction Rights) was silently adopted by admins/gms
- 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 was done in subsequent admin/gm bounty hunting rule revamp
- Added explanation of what Connecticut and Bastille are
- Added forum rules concerning "trial by forum", off topic, and closed communications in the forum rules, based on the way these things have been dealt with in the past.
- Wrote down rule about piracy/law enforcement demands to transports which was removed from IDs without being added to rules
- Removed remaining mentions of removed systems like Drake
- Removed redundant and contradictory lines in rules OP and system classifications



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.)Miner-Freelancer merge was done in subsequent ID revamp


- 4. Characters registered on a bounty board must be, at a minimum, neutral to their employer and hostile to the faction that is bountied. This requirement does not apply to individual bounties. Board owners are required to verify that hired characters have suitable reputations. seems to suggest that individual bounties could have an Outcast have an LPI killed by a Bounty Hunter because it's an "individual bounty", which doesnt seem to be the way its really meant to be played. So that "indivial bounty" exemption was removed.

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User was banned for: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...tid=200950
Time left: (Permanent)

[Karlotta]

Click the Info bar for explanations and examples.

1. COMMUNITY RULES

1.1 In order to enjoy basic gameplay on the server, you must know and follow the Community, Server Gamplay, and Cheating rules in sections 1-3. If you intend to hire other players ingame, create your own faction, or build or attack a player owned base, read the corresponding sections of 4-6. Sections 7-10 provide details on how rules are to be understood and enforced. In case of remaining questions, additional clarifications can be found by clicking on the Info-bar in the rules post of discoverygc.com, or ask us directly in the "help-and-support" channel on discord.

1.2 Discovery is a Freelancer-based role-playing community. Character, ship, and station 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 wouldn't receive in the game universe) is forbidden.

Info

Character name should not contain:
- swear words
- indication of player origin or language
- tags of factions that you're not a member of
- excessive or random symbols, capital letters, numbers, leet speak, emoticons
- references to real-life atrocities
- memes

Examples of forbidden character types:
- Little Ponies, Furries, Care Bears, Ewoks, Luke Skywalkers, Jean Luc Piccards, Starship Enterprise

Examples of forbidden meta-gaming:
- Using Outcast characters to identify cardamine smugglers for law enforcement
- Using information from a communication channel that a character has no access to
- Using a cloaked Nomad ship to acquire information for enemies of Nomads

1.3 Don’t insult, harass, or threaten players outside of role-play. Don’t use racist, (real life) political or commercial advertizing, 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 a Game Master or “friend of a Game Master” to gain an advantage.

Info

You may insult and degrade role play characters, but not real people. Your character can insult another character, but you can't insult another player as for example "you stupid lolwhut", "go kill yourself", "people of X nationality/ethnicity/religion are sub-human")

Don't use Discovery as a platform to promote political views or historic/scientific revisionism.

No pornographic role play or links to sites that feature pornography or propaganda. Keep in mind that there are people of all ages playing here.

No systematic attacking or public smearing of certain player(s) with the intention of removing them as players from the community or from what you consider "your turf".

You may remind players of rules and point it out if they are violating them. However, be careful not to misrepresent them, because intentionally misrepresenting them to threaten with sanctions will get you sanctioned.

1.4 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.

Info

Allowed: "Hola, victim! Give me two million credits, or you shall die!"
Not allowed: "¡Dame dos millones de créditos o muere!"

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.

Info

Try to restrict non role-play chat to PM or group chat. If people in your group ask you to role play in the group, stop OOC.

2.2 A player character must follow the permissions and restrictions of a single used ID, as well as of ship and equipment infocards.

Humans characters may:
- attack Nomads and Wild, claim bounties (if made eligible by the employer, see section 4.), and defend allied ships within their own Zone of Influence (ZoI)
- attack Nomads and Wild to defend allied or neutral ships, or to defend ships of same affiliation (including oneself), in and outside their ZoI.

See rule 6.1 before attacking a Player Owned Base (bases with health bar).

Info

You may travel and engage in role play only if you have one, and only one, ID on your ship. You may buy additional IDS for other players to help them set up their characters, but this should not interfere with in-role play activities.

Permissions/restrictions written in ID and ship/equipment infocards override server rules in case of contradiction.

The docking restrictions mentioned in ID and equipment infocards also apply to Player Owned Bases (POBs).

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.

Info

This rule is there so people don't target new players who have no way of defending themselves and little understanding of the rules and game mechanics. It shouldn't be abused by using low level or recruit ID in order to bother others. A new player intuitively playing the game like an arcade shooter without regards to rules cane be annoying, but the recommended approach is to try to communicate and politely inform the player of the nature of this server instead of just killing him.

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.

Info

The intent of this rule is that people don't just go around shooting everyone out of the blue. The minimum required RP before attacking is 2 lines, and at least 10 seconds must have passed between your first line and the onset of your attack.

In group fights, not everyone has to say something before shooting or be talked to before being shot at, as long as people are recognizable as group members and one or more members of the group have provided sufficient role play before that attack. Onlookers should be aware that they can be mistaken for enemy group members in the heat of battle.

Firing a cruise disruptor without talking first is permitted, and does not count as an attack. Please take into account that players may intuitively understand being shot by a CD as an attack, and that intentionally baiting people into rule violations by firing CDs at them will not be tolerated.

2.5 If you die in any way during a PvP (Player versus Player) fight, you must leave the system(s) 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 character for one hour.

Info

Without this rule, battles would be endless and pointless, so please obey it. There are many other places to find something fun to do in Sirius when you're "PvP dead" in one system.

Instead of taking revenge by re-engaging with the same or another character before two hours are up, you have much better options available:
- Place an IRP bounty on who ever killed you.
- Play on another character in another corner of Sirius.
- Go to Connecticut and train your combat skills.

Don't let your anger make you break the rules. You'll only end up harming yourself and giving your opponent the occasion to gloat when you get sanctioned. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

2.6 You are also "PvP dead", and same as 2.5 applies, if you dock within 15K of your enemy while in PvP. If you are flying a transport, you may keep your cargo while leaving the system, the enemy may still attack you, and you may re-enter the system for the sole purpose of trading.

Info

If you dock while in PvP and you are flying any ship (fighter, miner, or transport), you are permitted to leave the system keeping your cargo. However, players are permitted to attack you again, for example for piracy, while you leave. You will also not be allowed to engage players in the system you died even for the purpose of defending an allied ship. You may only re-enter the system in a transport or freighter, and the only thing you'll be allowed to do is trade (no following people around and no initiating role play with anyone). These restrictions last for two hours after the moment you docked during PvP.

2.7 Piracy and Law Enforcement against transports require reasonable demands (which for example, don't exceed the maximum value of the cargo, and are not impossible due to game mechanics). Only one monetary and/or cargo demand can be issued during each interaction. Players who complied to it may not be attacked in the same encounter, unless they provoke further. Quasi-lawful and unlawful transports that have equipment mounted in the CD slot are considered combat ships, and do not require reasonable demands prior to engaging them.

Info

An unreasonable demand is a demand that only serves as an excuse to destroy the other player because no player (or character) would realistically obey it. An example would be asking for credits that exceed the total value of a transport's cargo. Another example for an unreasonable IRP demand is for the transport to reply "Just kill me so I can re-spawn where I bought my cargo and resume trading." A better alternative to the later is to die in a fight.

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.

Info

When a ship loses connection, people within its radar range will see a green message that says it's trying to disconnect. It will drop its shield and stay in space for a certain amount of time, often long enough for it to be destroyed by an enemy. No matter the circumstances, the safest way to avoid a sanction for disconnecting during interaction is to apologize for disconnection ingame or on the forum.

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.

Info

Players may also train combat as a "simulation" in the role play universe, where they won't be considered "PvP dead" upon defeat. This may only be done if all involved parties agree to it and it's not abused to circumvent PvP rules against others.

3. 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:

3.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation, using third-party tools, or abusing glitches/bugs in order to gain advantages over other players.

3.2 Running the game with framerates above 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.

3.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.

3.4 Intentionally ramming a capital ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.

3.5 Suicide trading and intentionally self/team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin battles in order to prevent the opponent from scoring points.

3.6 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.

3.7 Storing POB crew on a ship in order to reduce consumption.


4. HIRED GUNS & BOUNTIES

4.1 All contracts and bounties must be justified within roleplay and have a minimum value of 1 million credits. The reputations of employer and employee must be neutral or friendly to each other, and they must both be neutral or hostile to the target. Targets must be informed of the contract/bounty before an attack, and must be able to verify the existence on the server or forums.

Info

"Justified within roleplay" means that Bounties should result as a logical consequence from actual ingame interaction between the person placing the bounty and the target. They shouldn't be purely motivated by OORP player relations or abused to be able to blow up transports without demand.

4.2 Players using Freelancer or Bounty Hunter Guild IDs may be hired ingame by non-Freelancer and non-Pirate characters. Bounties that are open to other IDs and/or active while the employer is offline must be posted in the "Bounty Offices" sub-forum. Bounty threads must specify the employer's name and affiliation, as well as 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.

Info

Role play motivating a bounty may be posted anywhere, but every bounty must be documented in the Bounty Board forum section.

If someone is hired to attack someone ingame, the attack may only be initiated if the employer is still online. If the employer is offline, PvP dead, or more than one jump hole/gate away while hiring, the contract must be documented with a forum bounty post. An already started engagement may continue if the employer dies during the engagement.

You may claim bounties that your character placed using another one of your characters, as long as the Bounty can also be claimed by other characters than your own and is publicly placed and claimed on the forum.

4.3 Forum-Bounties on factions instead of named individuals may only be issued by official factions. All non-generic IDed factions may sponsor internal blanket bounties that are only open to members of their player or NPC faction.

Info

Sponsoring a bounty means that the payments are guaranteed to be made by the sponsor.

Every official faction may only sponsor one unofficial faction bounty.

4.4 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. Employer payments must be made within two weeks of a legitimate claim.

Info

If several employers placed bounties on the same target, it's permitted but not required to claim payment with more than one of them.

5. FACTIONS

5.1 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.

Info

All ships in the same faction must follow common diplomacy.

Having faction ships that don’t use an IFF or tag is acceptable.

5.2 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.

Info

In cases where affiliated OF leaders disagree on exercising any OFR, server administrators will decide the course of action, for example by making OF leaders vote.

Irresponsible use of OFRs may result in warnings or sanctions, including removal of official status.

6. PLAYER OWNED BASES

6.1 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.

6.2 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.

6.3 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.


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

Info

- No teleporting players to give them an IRP advantage

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.

Info

A "permaban'' is a sanction where the punished player and all his assets are removed from the community for an indefinite amount of time. Permanent bans will only be lifted if a ban appeal is submitted and positively voted on by the administration team. If the vote fails, the player may not submit another appeal for another six months.

When players are "permabanned", their ingame assets are frozen. Shared characters are included in the freeze to avoid situations where shared banks and expensive ships are saved/bumped by a third party Member. The only ships not hit by the freeze are shared Faction ships that have a been shiplocked. Requests to unban them will be viewed on case-by-case basis.

Please only share access to your accounts with people you trust, as losing these accounts is within your own responsibility.

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.

Info

Fair play, a level head, and consideration for others are paramount. The rules are not a sword or shield to be used for or against someone, but are there to ensure that the server environment has structure and allows everyone to have fun. If you make a mistake apologize. Attempts to intentionally bait someone into violating rules or attempts to exploit loop holes will not be tolerated.

8. SYSTEM AND ZOI CLASSES

8.1 HOUSE SPACE

"House Space" in ID lines refers to the class of "Sovereign House space". House Military, Police, and Intelligence Factions (MPIFs) may do the following in the ZoI classes mentioned below:

- Sovereign Space: House Military, Police, and Intelligence Factions (MPIFs) may enforce roleplay consequences on players, factions and POBs found breaking House Laws here.

- Controlled Space: MPIFs may enforce roleplay consequences on players, factions, and POBs found breaking House Laws, only if they personally witnessed the legal infraction while uncloaked.

- Outer Region: Like Controlled Space, except that MPIFs may not enforce roleplay consequences on non-hostile POBs, whether they break House Laws or not.

- Hard Border: Systems only adjacent to hard borders are not included when determining their inclusion in "Systems directly bordering..." ZOI clauses.

*House Capital

Liberty
- Sovereign Space: New York*, Alaska, California, Colorado, Ontario, Texas, Virginia.
- Controlled Space: Pennsylvania
- Outer Region: Kansas

Bretonia
- Sovereign Space: New London*, Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle
- Controlled Space: Dublin, Leeds, Omega-3, Omega-49, Poole
- Outer Region: -
- Hard Border: Omega-3

Rheinland
- Sovereign Space: New Berlin*, Hamburg, Stuttgart
- Controlled Space: Frankfurt, Munich, Omega-7, Sigma-15
- Outer Region: Cologne, Dresden, Thuringia
- Hard Border: Omega-7, Sigma-15

Kusari
- Sovereign Space: New Tokyo*, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku
- Controlled Space: Nagano, Tau-29, Tau-53, Tohoku
- Outer Region: Chugoku, Tottori
- Hard Border: Tau-29, Tau-53

Gallia
- Sovereign Space: Ile-de-France*, Burgundy, Champagne, Dauphine, Languedoc, Loraine, Orleanais, Picardy
- Controlled Space: Provence, Tau-23, Tau-53, Zurich
- Outer Region: -
- Hard Border: Tau-29, Tau-53

8.2 INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS

Some Independent Systems are also controlled by House forces (see above).

Outer Regions: Bering, Coronado, Galileo, Kepler, Laptev, Magellan, Inverness, Puerto Rico, Unknown, Vespucci
Taus: Baffin, Edinburgh, Leeds, Orkney, Roussillion, Tau-23, Tau-29, Tau-31, Tau-37, Tau-44, Tau-53
Omegas: Omega-2, Omega-3, Omega-5, Omega-7, Omega-41, Omega-47, Omega-49, Omega-52, Omega-54, Omega-55, Omega-58
Sigmas: Okinawa, Sigma-13, Sigma-15, Sigma-17, Sigma-19, Sigma-21, Sigma-59, Tohoku
Omicrons: Omicron Alpha, Omicron Beta, Omicron Gamma, Omicron Delta, Omicron Epsilon, Omicron Theta, Omicron Iota, Omicron Kappa, Omicron Mu, Omicron Nu, Omicron Xi, Omicron Rho, Omicron Chi, Omicron Psi
Uncharted Space: Uncharted I, Uncharted II, Uncharted Liberty, Uncharted Bretonia, Uncharted Rheinland, Uncharted Kusari, Uncharted Gallia, Uncharted Tau, Uncharted Omega, Uncharted Sigma, Uncharted Omicron

Factions with zone of influence in systems bordering an uncharted system have their zone of influence extended for the duration of the connection


9. SHIP CLASSES

- Fighters/Snubs: Light Fighters, Heavy Fighters, Very Heavy Fighters, Super Heavy Fighters and Bombers

- Freighters: Trader ships with cargo holds smaller than 650 units

- Transports: Trader ships with cargo holds larger than 650 units, including Liners

- Cruisers: Destroyers, Cruisers and Battlecruisers

- Battleships: Battleships, Dreadnoughts, Juggernauts and Carriers

- Capital Ships: Gunboats, all Cruisers and all Battleships


10. DEFINITIONS

"Alien(s)" - AI, Nomad, Vagrant, or Wild

"Allies" - Ships of the same non-Generic affiliation or ID; Ships defined as your ID's allies on the in-game faction rep sheet; Ships working under a valid escort contract; or Ships you are currently flying in group with.

"Combat Ship" - Fighters, Bustards, Capital Ships; Freighters or Transports carrying equipment in a Cruise Disruptor slot and using an ID or affiliation that is considered hostile by your ID. danger); or Bounty Services (being paid to attack a target or assist in a fight).

"Contract" - Agreements for services with payment of credits or cargo.

"Generic ID" - Freelancer and Pirate IDs, used by characters who are otherwise not affiliated with each other.

"Hostile" - Ships defined as your ID's enemies on the in-game faction rep sheet or Ships or factions that have been subject to Faction Right 5 and set hostile to your faction.

"Nomad" - Nomad, Vagrant, or Wild

"Nomad Equipment" - Nomad faction guns, equipment, or consumable items (ammunition); Wild faction guns or equipment.

"Nomad Materials" - Artifacts, Sorted Artifacts, Xeno Artifacts, Liquid Cardamine, Nomad Power Cells, Nomad Remains, and Azurite Gas.

"Piracy" - A demand issued to another ship, which can be attacked if it fails to comply. Piracy can include requests for credits and cargo or a roleplay requirement, such as following a reasonable instruction or answering a question.

"Trade Ship" - Freighters and transports except as described under Combat Ships.

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Forum Rules

1. The Community Rules apply to server, forum, and Skype/Discord/Teamspeak channels required for official community activities. Posting things on the forum that have the intent of swinging community opinion against named community members (a.k.a "Trial by Forum") is considered harassing, and is therefore forbidden. If you feel the need to criticize the behavior of certain people, try to do it constructively and not in a personal way. If they violated rules, report them to the admins and not to the community.

2. When replying to a roleplay post or using the contained information in roleplay, be sure your character has access to it (check for receivers/participants and message encryption). Don't mix roleplay and non-roleplay when posting.

3. When participating in an out-of-roleplay discussion, please read the original post carefully and make sure you understand it properly and are on topic when you answer. Stay polite and try to avoid logical fallacies (straw-man, ad-hominems, appeals to authority, false equivalences), as well as non constructive spam posts.

4. Embedded pictures can't be wider than 700px. Signatures can't be larger than 700*250px and 1mb.


Achieving Official Faction Status

1. After a player faction has three or more active members and posted a faction description, ID status, RP story, member list, and diplomatic relations with relevant factions, it can request to become official in the Faction Creation Requests sub-forum. The request may be discussed by other players and administrators, but only administrators can approve or reject official status.

2. To start the approval process, the faction has to provide the admin team with 500 million credits. The amount will only be refunded if the faction gains official status. Once the process starts, the faction tag will be added to the faction activity tracker. Tag-less ships and ships in Connecticut don’t contribute tracker time.

3. The request will remain open for discussion for two months, during which faction performance on both server and forums will be reviewed. The status request will then undergo an admin vote and the result will be posted in the request thread. If rejected, the reasons will be explained and you may still be given a chance to improve and get approved.

4. Upon approval, the faction will receive its own sub-forum in the official factions section, and a free CAU 8 upgrade. Moderation requests for faction sub-forums should be posted here, by the faction leader or a second in command, preferably using the faction forum account. At this point you must also create a faction feedback thread.

5. Once the faction has gained officialdom, it’s required to fill out a Faction Status Report once a month in the Faction Activity sub-forum. It must shed light on the faction's goals, roleplay efforts, and in-game activity.

6. Official factions may request their own ID based on the one of their NPC faction, to allow for specialized roleplay or remove certain restrictions. The faction ID can be requested from the admins if the faction's roleplay, or that of a sub-group in the faction, can't be fulfilled within the original ID. If restrictions are lifted for only a sub-group, it will be specified in the ID.

7. If an official player faction’s activity sinks below the required threshold, its status is changed to “suspended”. It will have 4 weeks to either rebuild activity or lose officialdom and associated rights.


Player Owned Base Core Upgrades

POBs built in House space are subject to House laws and fees.

Core upgrades can only be done after fulfilling requirements depending on core level and by then requesting the necessary blueprints. Requests must be posted in the appropriate subforum, and are invisible to non-admins. The blueprints given upon successful request are non-transferable. Abuse will result in loss of the base.

Ugrade requirements:

Core 2: Post the name, IFF, system, and purpose of the base.

Core 3: Provide more detailed roleplay and demonstrate responsible behavior for at least one month as Core 2. Base may not be within 15k of a mining field.

Core 4: Provide proof of responsible and productive roleplay for at least two months as Core 3.

Core 5: The base must be owned by an official faction for at least three months as Core 4. Only one Core 5 base per official faction is permitted. Wear & tear damage is disabled at Core 5, and food/water/oxygen consumption can be disabled through a special roleplay request.


Player Owned Base Attack Declarations

This is a dedicated thread for players/factions to state their intent to attack POBs.

The attacking Player/Faction must provide role play on the forums stating in some fashion their intent to attack POBs above Core 1. This can be in any RP section of the forum, Message Dump, Communications Channel, etc.

When posting here they must follow the template below and post at least 8 hours (Core 1 bases) or 24 hours (Core 2 or higher) prior to attacking the base.

Code:

Name of player(s)/faction(s): [color=#32CD32][b]Name[/b][/color]
Name of Player Owned Base: [color=#32CD32][b]Name[/b][/color]
Link to RP showing intent to attack: <Link>

An Attack Declaration is valid for 2 weeks after posting, and will be removed from this thread 2 weeks after posting.

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[Karlotta]

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User was banned for: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...tid=200950
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[Karlotta]

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