Game Staff Restructure: Tackling The Rules

This one obviously deserves a bit more explanation, so I'm going to go through a case by case scenario for rules, as well as expand on the advisory of punishments. I should warn ahead however:

• All punishments are advisory, but staff have the prerogative to moderate those punishments downwards if they believe that the player in question is capable of reforming, and has a clean record otherwise. Players should get used to not getting the same punishment for the same "crime", but overall, punishment weight should go down.
• Some crimes require more creative punishment than a mute, jail or ban, and in some cases the players will have to deal with that modus of reform. The general idea behind punishments is not to perpetuate a sadistic punishment culture, but to create a more flexible standard to teach players to behave if they misbehave.
• As a general rule of fist, all punishments that are issued are advisory, but all punishments double for repeat offenders, each time a repeat offence is made.

Here is an overview of the new rules, with some explanations and administration advisory attached to it. Keep in mind, these advisories for punishment standards are rough. We have an internal document that goes into more detail. I should also warn players ahead of time that I will strictly not tolerate someone trying to backseat moderate my staff on what punishments they should give out. I'm going to teach the process of eliminating factors for a lessened punishment to Game lead, and they will teach others, so objecting against this standard, is objecting against me.

General Player Rules

• Do not harass players or attempt to bully them off the server. A player saying something mean every now and then is not harassment, you as a player can use the /ignore add <username> feature to not have to listen to it. If the player continues to work around this ignore to bully you, then it becomes harassment. PVP callouts in PVP chat are not harassment.
  • Punishment advisory:
    • Divert the argument with distractions when it occurs in public first, pertaining to public name calling and arguments that get too heated between players.
    • If a player says "Xyz called me a retard" tell them "Use the /ignore add <username> feature if you don't like what the player has to say. If they circumvent this feature, then report them for harassment".
    • If a player circumvents server features to continue harassment (/money, sending messages through friends, killing players with weapon names, using /mail etc) then staff will step in with a ~1 hour mute. More severe cases can be scaled up to ~5 days.

A huge noticeable change here is that we want to empower the players to use the /ignore feature. Monica Lewinsky, the most character assassinated and e-bullied person in history, preaches the empowering use of an ignore feature to block toxicity out of your life. Players already have the means to block out people who aren't worth paying attention to, and should not bother staff to pick up the fight for them instead. This means Staff can focus on the true harassment cases where the player has already taken the necessary steps to stop the undesirable behavior from reaching them. Calling someone a bad PVP'er is not harassment. Saying something mean every now and then is not harassment. Someone making an inside joke to make fun of someone is not harassment. It only becomes harassment when they find ways to circumvent the /ignore feature.

• Do not engage in hate speech, racism, sexism, discrimination or other attacks on minorities in public channels, including PVP chat. PVP chat has a more relaxed moderation, but we will not tolerate intolerable behavior.
  • Punishment advisory:
    • Staff are able to determine whether a new player joining and immediately spamming racist slurs is ever going to be a good member of our community. If this is not the case, they may simply permanently ban this account.
    • If a player who is a member of our community suddenly starts using excessive racial slurs for example, needs ~a month ban.
    • If a player who is normally well behaving uses a racial slur in frustration or ill-placed black humor, they need ~a week ban.
    • Particularly for players who embarrass themselves and make a mistake, and don't have a history of being racist, punishments can be moderated down to ~a 3 day ban.

There is no ban on political/religious debate anymore, but Staff will force a subject change if an intelligent exchange of opinions turns to aggravated mud flinging.

• Do not misuse channels beyond their intended function. An occasional “funny comment” or “quip” in for example Trade chat is fine, but you are not to derail channels for a purpose they are not intended. Do not spill or create drama in public chats, or engage in excessive arguments that could be done in private message.
  • Punishment advisory:
    • Turn a blind eye to an occasional joke or added comment in a chat where it does not belong. Trade is for economy, recruitment is for faction recruitment, PVP is primarily for PVP related subjects, calls for PVP and PVP callouts/provocations.
    • Staff only step in when said occasional joke or side conversation about for example an auction turns into a conversation that is disruptive to the nature of the channel. This step in should be done through a "Hey guys, cut it out, this is a channel for trade and you're derailing the channel", or something to that effect.
    • If the players do not listen, warn them. If the players still do not listen, mute them for ~an hour.

Get rid of the instant warning culture. Players shouldn't be punished for trying to be funny or accrue dozens of chat warnings for negligible offenses. As long as these channels are still usable 90% to their function, this is acceptable.

• Do not “Doxx” players, or reveal private information on the server. Doxxing players is the intentional revelation of their real-life name, home address, or information that could reasonably lead to their real-life identity being revealed. Revealing information that is already known in the community, or easily google-able is not Doxxing.
  • Punishment advisory:
    • The principal standard here is to demand from the player to know where they got the information from. If the information source was easily attainable (Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype, Discord, Twitter, Youtube etc.) then this falls under "Player's own security faux-pas". We should not punish players for other players being careless with their information.
    • If the information did not take a reasonably simple process to discover, the player should be banned ~1 month. If Staff are "on the scene" faster and are able to prevent spreading of the information and the player cooperates to halting, the punishment can be moderated downwards.
    • The publication of home addresses, street addresses, PO boxes, or any such written addresses that could reasonably result in someone standing on the players front door however, is a no-no in any and all situations. A player offending should be banned for ~3 months.

We think internet security is an important matter, but ultimately, the player's own responsibility also. If they make it excessively easy to find personal information about themselves on the internet, they should expect that this information will eventually reach Massive, and that people who speed up the process ought not to be punished for that. This remains a fairly flexible point however, so Staff discretion is used a lot.

• Do not steal, copy, modify or re-use skins (or other content) belonging to other players without their consent. Also, do not use skins or builds that are clearly meant to evoke an erotic or racist sentiment.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Approach the player in PM and try to get them to pull the content. If they resist, forcibly pull the content where possible and ban them for ~5 days.
• Respect the space and place of other roleplayers without forcing yourself into it. Ask before forcing yourself into a scene, and do not engage in OOC actions on the sidelines that make concentrating on the roleplay harder.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Defer to Lore Staff, usually a ~15 minute jail. Do NOT teleport the player to Regalia spawn without a warning or some form of PM discussion about what they are doing wrong.
• Do not engage in inappropriate roleplay in public or with minors. Do not engage in excessively disgusting roleplay, excessively vulgar roleplay, meta-roleplay, god-roleplay, or any other such mechanics of fail-roleplay. Stick to our lore when roleplaying.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Have a sit down in PM with the minor explaining them that what they are doing can come back to haunt them in the future and that this kind of conduct is not acceptable.
    • Generally however, there is no legal basis for us to act, and people who engage in public ERP get told to take it to PM or take it Discord instead.
    • Nobody gets banned in the process, but there are a few exceptions. Scat-rp, Rape-rp, Creepy/Rapey-rp, Birthing-rp, Excessive-gore-rp, Excessive-vulgarity-rp usually result in a ~5 day ban, with the disgusting factor allowing it to be scaled up to ~1 month.
    • People who are obviously on Massivecraft to use Massivecraft as a means to get into contact with minors and then engage in inappropriate actions that constitute statutory rape, will be permanently banned from the server.
• Do not use cheats, glitches, hacks, or modified clients to your advantage (including player radar!). Some mods are allowed, always double-check with staff before using one. This rule also covers misusing gameplay features, like staircase glitching or pearl glitching.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • For simple staircase glitching/enderpearl glitching, jail the player for ~1 hour. If the player engaged in PVP kills while doing this, and got away, start refunding the players they killed with their lost items. If these items cannot be retrieved, start taking god gear/weapons from the PVP'er.
    • For more serious PVP related hacking, defer to the Cheat Panel for treatment.
• The use of Autoclickers or Macros is not allowed, including Keyboard/Mouse features that are meant to give an edge during PVP are not allowed. The use of hacks or clients that give an edge during PVP are also not allowed. This rule also covers using afk-grinders for MCMMO.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Defer to the Cheat Review Panel for punishments.
    • For AFK-Grinding, reset the stat of the offending grind to 0 and ban the player for ~1 week.
• Anything that is seen to cause lag on the server is not allowed, and will be removed by staff (this may also involve redstone machines). If you are unsure whether something causes lag, consult with staff. This also involves using flowing water to create mob grinders, auto-farms, afk-farms, or any other form of automation that is either unfair, or harmful to server performance. You should also keep passive mobs to 50 or less per chunk.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Delete or disable whatever is causing the lag, and /pm or /mail the player what you did and why. Try to get the player to understand that certain machines do cause performance loss for the server, but don't just delete or destroy any redstone machine unless you know for sure that it causes issues.
    • Mob grinders are not allowed period, and should be disabled, with the player informed as to why. If the player rebuilds either the grinder or redstone engine that was deemed to cause issues, destroy it again and give them up to ~5 days ban.
    • If you can, allow the player to disable the machine and take the resources. Don't just worldedit it to stone or air, removing one or two critical redstone pieces to disable an engine is not hard.
• We do not force you to respect our staff, but we ask that you are patient and cordial with our Staff. If a Staff member mistreats you, make a complaint on the forum. Do not impersonate staff, waste their time, or backseat moderate.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Players who are hostile to staff can be denied service. At that point players mistreating them becomes harder to punish, as staff will not be picking up any tickets or reports from these offending players. Respect works both ways, players can give the staff a basic decency in terms of patience and kindness, and the staff will be willing to help the players. Staff are allowed to /ignore a player. Staff are allowed to block a player from receiving help if they are being hostile to staff.

Factions Specific Rules

• Treat other players fairly in factions. Do not invite them just to kick and steal from them. Do not engage in scamming, and do not use the Factions plugin to ridicule or make them feel miserable.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Return stolen items as appropriately as possible. If you cannot, start taking god gear/weapons from the offending party. If you cannot, start taking resources from the faction storage/faction wallet or offending party's wallet. Whatever is done, the victim should be compensated for more than was lost, but the offending party should not be punished beyond having stuff taken from them to compensate the victim.
• Do not build server-theme unfriendly bases, flying builds are allowed as long as they look good and theme-appropriate, buildings should be built with a medieval or high-fantasy style to fit our server-theme. We ask players put some creativity into their builds besides just making a cobblestone box.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Compromise with the faction owner. Try to help them where possible with worldedit to make their base not look nasty or rule breaking, don't just tear the whole thing down. Consult with World Staff with pictures in Staff Discord to see what could be done with inexpensive materials to make a base look decent. Contact the server owner in extreme cases.
• Do not use Alternate accounts to artificially increase mob spawns in your area, spy on other factions and steal items, own multiple shops in /tp market, or use them to mass-farm quest rewards or other server-time rewards.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Ban the Alts permanently but take no action against the offending main account. If the offending main account is clearly repeatedly doing the same thing, ban them for ~a week. If alts are used to for example have a new market stall, just empty and un-rent the stall and do not compensate the offender. Confiscate quest rewards if possible, if not, start taking money out of the player's account.
• When a Faction makes peace with another faction, there is a 10 day truce. If both sides accept that peace, this truce is enforced by staff. Factions cannot be forced into a peace either way, but player should be flexible and compromise, even in warfare. If your enemy stops logging on, you can’t extract tribute from them anymore.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Any faction breaking the truce will need to compensate the faction that they are attacking in violation of the truce. If the faction refuses to give acceptable compensation, start taking their god gear/weapons and giving it to the victim.
• Do not destroy other people’s builds, even if it is not claimed by a faction. You may “break and enter” by destroying a few blocks, but not take down whole sections. You may steal from unlocked chests, but not rip out materials from structures.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Try to compensate the victim from the griefer's storage. If you manage to retrieve items, use creative to help rebuild the player's damaged property. Players who are victims of griefing should not have to deal with additional strain from rebuilding the thing they already lost.
• Within faction, Faction Owners are lord and master over buildings. They are allowed to destroy any buildings in their faction. That being said, owners should be kind towards their faction members.
• Do not grief the surroundings of another faction by building ugly structures. You may use dirt pillars to help you raid, but only if you will clean them up immediately afterwards. You may also not build offensive structures either outside of a faction or anywhere on the map.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • If a player has made an area ugly (including but not limited to dirt pillars, ugly pixel art or floating trees), teleport the player to the location and tell them they cannot leave until they clean it up. If they act hostile or refuse to cooperate, ban them for ~5 days.
• Do not create Faction land or portal traps that a player cannot escape from, or use portals to create traps that a player cannot see.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • If the traps managed to kill someone, compensate the victim from the killer's pocket. If items cannot be retrieved, take god gear/weapons/regals and so forth. Destroy whatever trap caused the problem by adding a layer of sand or stone over it, do not destroy the whole structure. Repeat offenders will be banned for ~5 days for making such traps.
• It is illegal to sell or buy Alts for faction power padding, and excessive use of alts to give large land claim is also illegal. Staff will allow some alt usage to add extra land claim as long as it does not become excessive. Confer with staff what is excessive or not.
  • Punishment Advisory:
    • Ban excessive alts but do not take any action against the main account. Forcibly unclaim chunks going from the outside inwards if a faction has used excessive amounts of bots. The general advisory for "excessive" is going above 7 alts to 3 players in a faction.
• Alt factions are allowed, but need to have the letters AF at the end of their name or in the faction description at all times. They may be composed entirely of Alts. Daughter factions of bigger Empire factions are not Alt factions, as long as they have an active non-Alt member base.

Notice a big change in punishment guidelines for a lot of these things: Compensation and restitution. Generally speaking, it is more creative and more flexible to compensate the victim of an offense with material goods, than it is to just punish the offending player with a ban. The victim still wont get their items back, and the ban only provides temporary catharsis for justice. Only when the damage is undone, is justice done, so that should be the first step to engage in. Beyond that point, reverting a crime is usually sufficient, and the offending party does not need an additional ban or mute or jail unless they start becoming hostile. Players should be taught by material loss that mistreating players is not a good idea, since it will simply make them poorer in the process, instead of richer, rather than getting a period ban.

This replaces practically all rules. They will soon be updated on the necessary threads, websites and informationals, while Staff are slowly gearing into these rules from today onwards. I've instructed Game Staff to mostly disregard warnings and punishments players received in the past, and those who think they have a better chance at being unbanned are allowed to submit another ban appeal. We don't really do permanent bans anymore, permanent bans are reserved for people who really just want to attack the server and the player base overall. Please be patient with Staff while they adapt to the new rule and enforcement set, and please do not try to test and taunt staff over the rule changes. Provocative behavior to Staff will be counted as unprovoked hostility to staff, which carries a ~5 day ban on it for cases of people who just refuse to stop.

I am attempting to lax the rules to make massive a place where you can hang out and have fun without getting rained on by warnings and mutes. Please do not make my work harder now by going ape-shit on the Staff. and please lets be optimistic that these rule changes can seriously loosen the tension between players, as well as between players and staff. I believe that if we get rid of that sadistic punishment culture, that the players mindset will follow soon after and become more positive, which results in less critical behavior towards staff, which results in less staff lash backs and so forth, all in all making Massive a more positive place. We will aim to teach and reform, not punish and lash the players.

 

As long as dislike does not venture into making their work harder, and can be shut off with an /ignore, it's fine. Staff won't do anything.

 

The wording was awkward. Let me try to explain:

Raider -> Walks over halfslab portal that they didn't see -> gets pulled into no-escape trap -> guess ill die
Raider -> Walks through a portal they did see -> gets pulled into no escape trap -> guess ill die
Raider -> Walks over gravel that falls in cobwebs -> Half an hour of slowfalling -> guess ill die
Raider -> Jumps down a pit with an open roof -> Too deep to pearl out of -> guess ill die
Raider -> Jumps into a corridor -> TNT trap that annihlates them -> guess ill die
Raider -> Sees gates, walks in anyway -> gates shut and no escape -> guess ill die

The logic underpinning:

• Can the player elytra away? Not an illegal trap, regardless if they have one on them.
• Can the player enderpearl out? Not an illegal trap, regardless if they have one on them.
• Can the player teleport away? Not an illegal trap, regardless if someone keeps hitting them to stop them from tp'ing.
• Can the player make a valued risk assessment of entering a building with a gateway or a portal frame that they don't know where it leads to? That is not an illegal trap, because the player made the valued risk assessment.

What is not allowed:

• Portal traps that aren't visible (some fuckery with half slabs), if its like an invisible block-fall trap its fine, but it it's using unintentional minecraft mechanics that come about due to bad coding or plugin implementation it is not allowed.
• A portal that is just not fun like falling for 10 million years, or being hit every 5 seconds by low damage to stop you from escaping from a cobble box are not allowed.
• A trap where a cobweb roof is built to deny enderpearl or elytra exit, while also hitting them so they cannot tp out and cannot reasonably defend themselves.

Ground rule:

• A trap should kill. Not torture by keeping the player in the trap for half an hour, and make them feel stupid for walking into your hallway/pit/portal, instead of just abusing game mechanics to trap them.