These rules are addressed to you, a member of the Mortal Online community. The rules are here to keep the IRC channels and forums friendly, mature, and helpful. While some rules may seem superficial, silly, or pointless, they are necessary for the community to be a positive experience for everyone, not just those actively participating but also the ones that stumble and read, or "lurk".

While the rules may seem like they allow one thing, or another, it's entirely up to the moderators to determine if something breaches the rules, or what kind of behaviour falls under what rule. If you have a dispute with a moderator, please contact Talwin.

Section 1
Behavior Guidelines & Expectations

1(a). Do not insult anyone. This includes personal attacks and flaming. No level of insulting will be tolerated, whether it is profanity filled or a kiddy insult. Please remember that tone of voice and jokes do not always translate through text and moderators will not take "joking" as an excuse. There is never an excuse for breaking this rule and moderators will not tolerate it.

1(b). Do not act or speak offensively, whether on purpose or not. Think before you talk, and consider what others besides yourself might think of what you say. If you are not sure if something might be offensive, don't say it.

1(c). Trolling or harassment of any kind is not tolerated. A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, with the primary intent of provoking an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal discussion.

1(d). No racism or hate speech. Hate speech includes all groups, whether by region, ethnics, and so on.

1(e). Ranting, spamming, and flooding is not allowed. Ranting includes raging, whining, complaining, and just plain being unconstructively negative. Posting links to something often without permission, or only posting advertisements, will be considered spamming. Flooding is sending multiple lines of chat at once or very close together. This could be four or more large paragraphs at once, or five or more small lines or sentances. Please try to use full sentances and type full thoughts. There is no reason you should be hitting the Enter key between every three to four words.

1(f). We expect maturity from everyone in our official IRC channels and forums. Please remember this game is rated 18+, and we expect everyone to act at least that age. Be kind and courteous to your fellow community members, help new players, answer questions, and be friendly.

1(g). We expect the community to be constructive when discussing the game. Non-constructive discussions, baseless bashing and the spread of misinformation will be terminated by a moderator. This includes denying or arguing against what Developers or volunteer staff say about the game.

1(h). Quoting any Starvault staff out of context is prohibited. Make sure the information you are quoting is correct, and is not used in an attempt to slander. The term “staff” is used as a blanket statement to cover all Moderators, Game Masters, and Game Developers.


Section 2
Discussions & Topics

2(a). No discussing bans, kicks, warnings, or the actions of staff. This goes for forum, IRC, and game bans, kicks, and warnings. If you need to discuss something, contact the appropriate staff member through the forums or IRC. A longer explanation of who to contact for certain situations and how to do so can be found here.

2(b). No guessing of volunteer staff identities. This includes implying it or hinting at it, as well as linking to a webpage that breaks this rule itself.

2(c). Adult topics are allowed but must be discussed with maturity. Offensive conversation will not be tolerated, nor will topics that might be seen as offensive to others.

2(d). Do not discuss or advocate warez/cracked/illegal software, hard drugs, or other illegal actions. This includes linking to websites like Pirate Bay, QuickSilverScreen, torrent websites, etc. where illegal downloads are available.

2(e). Do not link content or discuss content which breaks the Mortal Online EULA. This includes data-mined information, "how to" guides on cheating/hacking/exploiting, hacking software, and so on.

2(f). Do not link or discuss pornography. Pornography for the state of these rules is defined as any bit of nudity of a person(s) "private places". Visible nipples of females, or genitalia of any kind, is not allowed. Ingame nudity is allowed with a NSFW warning before hand, and on the forums the use of spoiler tags is required.

2(g). Do not link, share, or discuss real life information or pictures of other players. Whether or not this player is yourself, or you have permission to spread the information, does not matter. If you want to share something with a player or a group of players do so privately. Keep real life out of the IRC channels and forums.

2(h). Do not accuse other players of exploiting, cheating, or hacking in any way.This includes the discussion of the above, implying it, or linking to a picture, video, or webpage of any kind that also breaks this rule. To report exploiters, cheaters, and hackers, contact Discord.

2(i). False information is not tolerated. This will only be enforced on out-of-game and non-political posts or messages. For example, saying that SV is selling MO, or that the server is being wiped, would not be allowed. However, saying that your enemy's guild leader is planning on attacking an ally, or claiming that the oghmium book costs 20g, is allowed.

2(j). Use English when speaking in the official MO channels and forums.



Section 3
Nicknames & Impersonation

3(a). Do not impersonate Star Vault staff. Staff includes both employees and volunteers.

3(b). Do not impersonate other players.

3(c). Do not use nicknames that are offensive in any language.

Section4
Advertising

4(a). Do not advertise guilds or ingame groups/organizations in the channel. If you have an organization you would like to advertise, contact the Community Manager.

4(b). Do not advertise other games or web pages unrelated to MO, as this could result in an instant ban.

4(c). Do not advertise the selling of accounts or other MO related material for real-life currency without written consent from the Community Manager.

4(d). Do not advertise other IRC channels without permission from the Community Manager. Do not advertise other IRC networks under any circumstances. This includes talking about the channel or linking it in any way. The exceptions to this rule are for the following channels.
#mortalonline
#mortalonline-help
#mortalmarketplace

By joining #mortalonline, #mortalmarketplace, and #mortalonline-help, you agree to the Stratics IRC Network Terms of Service. All Stratics channels fall under these rules as well as the rules listed above. If you have a problem with someone in PM, contact a Stratics operator or admin. SV mods are not capable of handling private message problems, or any problems outside of the official MO channels listed above.

Section 5
Links and Images

5(a). You may not link, or post material such as images, that break the rules in this thread, the sub-forum's specific rules, the Stratics IRC ToS, or the Mortal Online EULA.

5(b). Do not post links to unofficial mirrors of the game client - all links to mirrors posted on the forum must be verified and approved by Star Vault first. To get a link approved (such as when an external mirror of a patch might help some community members), contact the Community Manager.

Section 6
Reputation

6(a). When giving reputation, you must follow all forum rules in the comment box. A comment box is considered a post in regards to how the rules work.

6(b). Do not abuse the system to "rep farm", trade rep, rep bomb, etc. People abusing the system will be found and infracted. If you think you have been the victim of reputation abuse, contact Talwin

6(c). Do not use the system backwards, or as a way to say "I generally do not like this person". Constantly +repping for useless or bad posts, or -repping for good posts, will not be tolerated and will be dealt with depending on the situation.

6(d). Reputation given to a post that is not actually helpful or useful in any way may be removed. We want to keep this system as a way to see useful and helpful posters who make a difference in the community. The moderators themselves will also praticipate in the rep system by giving positive reputation to helpfull posts, and negative to posts that are found to be lacking.

Moderators reserve the right to remove reputation at any time, without warning and without reason.

Section 7
Accounts

7(a). IRC and Forum accounts are linked in regards to bans. If a forum account is banned, the IRC account will be banned for the same amount of time so that when the forum account becomes unbanned, the IRC account will as well. If the IRC name is banned, the forum account will be given one or more infractions as well as a temporary ban to match the time. You will never be able to be banned from one and have access to the other.

7(b). You may not use multiple accounts to break the rules or evade bans. If you are found to be using an alt account during your ban, that account and all other alternative accounts found during the investigation will be permanently banned, and your original account will recieve an infraction. Multiple accounts are only allowed when you have more than one game account linked, or when given permission by Talwin or Black Opal. Recieving warnings and infractions will get your account investigated for possible multiple accounts.

Section 8
Sub-Rules

Some sections have sub-rules, additional rules or modifications to the rules that only exist in that category or section. A complete list of sub rules is below.

Guilds Looking for Players
Guild Politics and Discussion
Video, Screenshots, and Art
Buying
Selling
Trading
Price Check
Services
Feedback & Suggestions


The IRC ban progression is as follows: Kick Warning -> Week Ban -> Permanent Ban

Using the Mortal Online IRC channels and forums is a privilege, not a right. You may be removed at any time, temporary or permanent, with or without any reason.

There is no excuse to break any rule. It does not matter who started a fight, or who insulted first. "Joking" is not an excuse to break any rule.


_________________________________________________
Adult Content

Mortal Online contains adult content including animated violence and nudity.

We must keep the forums safe for work however and have made a distinction between game related nudity and violence and real world depictions.

Subsequently, you are permitted to post in-game pictures and clearly related fan art. We do ask that any nude or potentially not safe for work pictures are contained with the spoiler tag:

Spoiler for Live Nudes:


Signatures & Avatars

All signatures and avatars must follow the above rules.

In order to keep the focus on the content of the forums rather than our individual signatures, we a have a few simple rules to follow and the forum is configured to help you with the signature rules:

_________________________________________________
Appealing a Temporary Ban

Temporary bans can be appealed. To appeal a temporary ban, contact Talwin and explain why you should not have been banned. If you do not have anything to defend yourself with,you will not be unbanned, as we do not unban people simply because they asked.

Appealing a Permanent Ban

If you wish to appeal a permanent ban, you need to contact Talwin, stating why you think you should not have been banned. You may do this after one month of not breaking any rules.

If your appeal to a permanent ban goes through, you will be placed on an indefinite probationary period. Any further breaches of the rules regardless of severity will result in a permanent ban with no chance for an appeal.

These rules may change at any time.