User:Chief Engineer/rule rewrite 2023

These rules are written for the LRP servers. Modifications to them for MRP servers are written in a box as shown below. When reading for LRP servers, you should ignore these amendments. When reading for the MRP rules, the amendments are part of the rules and override any conflicts.

Rule violations may result in warnings, de-whitelisting, bans, or a combination.

Core Rules

These rules apply at all times, including between rounds.

Admins have final say

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These rules are not perfect. The rules attempt to clearly communicate what the admin team intends to be allowed and prohibited, but there are likely loopholes or other flaws that can be "lawyered". Don't attempt to manipulate the interpretation of the rules to suit your personal goals or to degrade the experience of other players. If you are unsure of something, follow the more restrictive option until you are able to ask an admin and get clarification. Admins can override rules if they deem it in the best interest of the current round, server, and/or community at large. Online admins are able to make final interpretations of rules during a round. Even if you disagree with how an admin interprets a rule, you must still follow the interpretation they provide for you. Admin actions and interpretations of rules can be contested through staff complaints. If admins believe that you are an overall negative impact to the community or rounds, you will be banned. Admins will be held fully accountable for their actions if they exercise this privilege.

Don't be a dick

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Don't do anything with the goal of negatively affecting other players. Not everyone is going to enjoy every round. Killing someone is allowed in certain situations even though it might negatively affect them, but no one should be doing anything for the purpose of harming someone else's experience.

No Hate Speech or Discriminatory Language

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This rule prohibits all of the following: Hate Speech Slurs (including variations of slurs, racial, sexual, disability-related, or language closely tied to real-life slurs) Bigotry Racism (including Speciesism, which would be demeaning other players based on their in-game race) Sexism

ExpandExamples

Allowed: Telling someone that you are gay. Prohibited: Calling someone gay in a context where gay is used as an insult or negative attribute. Using a racial slur or variant in a positive context. Using the word "retard" in any context.

THIS RULE IS ZERO-TOLERANCE

No sexual content/themes, including erotic roleplay (ERP) and no shock content

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Erotic Roleplay (commonly abbreviated as "ERP") and sexual content is not allowed. This includes direct and indirect mentions of sexual behavior or actions. Slight leeway is given to insults, but this rule is otherwise strictly enforced. In-game romantic relationships should not become the focus of the game for you and anyone else involved. Things that appear to be intended to or are likely to disturb players out of character are considered shock content and are not allowed.

ExpandExamples

Allowed: Telling someone that they are being a dickhead. Telling someone that you are going to kill the captain, as long as it is clear that you mean it in character. Prohibited: Emoting sexual acts. Erotica content. Erotic or sexual memes. Memes which contain sexual content. Dedicating significant portions of rounds to romantic relationships, dating, or similar things. Emoting defecation or related acts.

THIS RULE IS ZERO-TOLERANCE

Do not use out of game methods to communicate with other players

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Do not utilize any external means of communication to talk to other players who are connected to the same server, or who were connected to the same server during the current round. This is referred to as "metacomming" and includes any means of communication including text, voice, images, and video. This includes applications such as Discord, Steam, and other platforms, along with in-person communication. Even if information is not being shared or abused, it may still be considered a violation of this rule. Due to the difficulty of determining if information is being shared, it will almost always be presumed that people who message another player they are in a round with, or who are in a voice call with another player during a round are sharing round information. Due to the difficulty of determining if users are abusing information that they are sharing, it will almost always be presumed that the information is being abused. The only exemption to this rule is when all players are in the server lobby.

ExpandStreaming

Public live streams are not exempt from this rule, but have different liability. Using information from a public live stream of the game (stream sniping) is a violation of this rule. Watching a public live stream of the game while connected to the same server is a violation of this rule. Allowing people watching a public live stream to share information about the current round, for example through the stream's chat, is a violation of this rule. Using that information is also a violation of this rule. Sharing information about the current round with a streamer is a violation of this rule if that information was obtained from any source but the stream. The stream's moderators are expected to enforce this on the streaming platform in addition to any in-game enforcement done by game admins.

Public live streaming by itself is not a violation of the rule as long as the stream is sufficiently moderated. Streamers are encouraged, but not required, to use a stream delay.

ExpandTeaching new players

Teaching players is not exempt from this rule. If you want to teach a new player, it is recommended to either watch a stream of them playing the game while not playing yourself, or communicate with them using only in-game methods of communication.

THIS RULE IS ZERO-TOLERANCE

Do not attempt to evade bans

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Almost all bans may be appealed on our forums at forum.ss14.io in the ban appeals section. This is generally the only acceptable way to contact the administration team to discuss your ban and revise it if it is inappropriate, including if it is mistakenly applied.

Any attempt to circumvent or bypass a game ban will result in a voucher ban. Attempting to evade role bans by gaining access to or working in the capacity of a job you are banned from will result in a game ban. These bans are applied even if the evasion attempt is unsuccessful.

ExpandExceptions

There are no exemptions for evading or attempting to evade game bans. Antagonists who impersonate or take over a role which they are banned from to aid in their goals are not considered to be evading their role ban.

ExpandBan Types

Role Ban - Also called a "job ban", this ban prevents your character from joining or late-joining a round as one or more jobs or roles. These are often used in response to problematic behavior in particular departments or address gross inexperience in important roles such as heads of staff. These bans do not mechanically prevent you from switching to the role during a round or acting as that role, but doing so is considered ban evasion.

Game Ban - Also called a "server ban", this ban prevents you from connecting to all Wizard's Den servers.

ExpandBan Durations

Temporary - Temporary bans will be lifted automatically after a certain amount of time. If they are a game ban, they will tell you how much time is remaining when you try to connect.

Indefinite - These bans will only be removed on a successful appeal on the forums. Any ban which doesn't tell you when it expires and doesn't specify otherwise can be presumed to be an indefinite ban.

Voucher - This is an indefinite ban which may only be appealed both with a successful appeal and which require a voucher of good behavior from the administrative team of a well-known or at least decently active SS13/SS14 server in order for the appeal to be considered. Voucher bans typically cannot be appealed for at least six months after being issued. Without a voucher, a player can only attempt to appeal a voucher ban once, and only if the ban was inappropriately placed. Voucher bans are typically only placed as a result of an unsuccessful appeal of an indefinite game ban by players with a history of bans and of causing issues.

Permanent - This is a ban that is only appealable if the ban was inappropriately placed, including if the ban should not have been permanent. If the result of the appeal is that the ban was appropriately placed, the ban may not be appealed again and will not be lifted. These bans are extremely rare, but are applied to players who continually cause problems even after a voucher ban or users who have completely unacceptable behavior may be permanently removed.

THIS RULE IS ZERO-TOLERANCE

Only use English

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Only English is permitted, both in-character and out-of-character. You must be fluent in English enough to be able to not cause game issues, and to be able to communicate with game admins when necessary. If a game admin does not feel that you are fluent enough in English, they may ban you.

ExpandWhy

We do not have enough staff fluent in other languages to moderate them. Translation tools can be unreliable and are not integrated well into the game.

ExpandNon-English Options

There are many servers that allow or focus on other languages. You are highly encouraged to play only on servers that allow languages you are fluent in.

Do not exploit the game, use cheats, or macros

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The following are prohibited by this rule: bugs and exploits which have effects that persist beyond the current round, intentionally used bugs, exploits, and unintended behaviors which give the user an advantage over players who do not use them, even if their effects do not persist across rounds, evading or bypassing afk detection, anything which results in gaining elevated privileges, including admin permissions, external tools and client modifications, including macros, and anything which prevents another player who is not game banned from being able to play on the servers, not including in-character actions that do not persist across rounds Both attempts and successful use are prohibited.

Do not use multiple accounts, or alt accounts, and do not share accounts

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Use of multiple accounts is referred to as "multikey". the rule applies even if the accounts are not used at the same time, including if the old account is abandoned. All accounts may be banned if this rule is violated. You are responsible for everything done on and with your account. You are just as responsible for actions taken by other people using your account as you would be had you taken the actions themselves.

ExpandSwitching to a new account

If you lose access to an account, you must contact game admins on the forums notifying admins before using a new account to connect to the servers. Your message to game admins must include the username of your old account. Creating a new account while your current account is banned will be considered ban evasion.

Do not abuse or ignore admin messages

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Admin help, or "ahelp", is the system used by admins to communicate with specific players in the game. Only use admin help for things requiring admin attention. If you ignore messages admins send to you via ahelp, or disconnect during an ahelp, you may be banned. If you urgently need to leave during an ahelp, you may do so but will likely need to continue the ahelp on the forums. Do not admin check, be hostile/aggressive, request events, or spam. IC methods of contacting admins, like prayers, faxes, red phones, and banana phones, should be used when there is not an issue. Admins are not always online, but all ahelps are automatically relayed to discord. For various reasons, admins might not respond to an ahelp even if they've handled it. A lack of response does not necessarily mean that an ahelp was ignored.

ExpandShould I ahelp X?

You can ahelp anytime you genuinely think a player is breaking a rule. Not all ahelps end up being for something that an admin needs to intervene in, but that's ok, admins would rather have people occasionally report things that turn out to not be an issue than miss reports for actual issues because someone was unsure, or get those reports late because someone waited until the end of the round to be more sure. The most common reason players give for not ahelping issues is that they don't want to waste admin time, but it only takes a few seconds for an admin to check if someone is an antagonist. If you are ahelping too many things, an admin will let you know. If you're not being told to stop reporting something or to report less things, then you can safely assume that you aren't causing any issues.

ExpandWhat should I include in an ahelp?

At a minimum, admins need to know what the issue is to be able to address an ahelp. Don't send ahelp messages with no information about what your question or the issue is. Messages like "hello" are often considered admin checking. If you can, an ideal ahelp message includes what the issue is along with who is causing it and their character's name if possible

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Appropriate uses of ahelp: reporting people who you think are violating rules, asking questions about rules, asking for a temporary exemption from a rule, and request a minor gimmick, like a TC trade or item spawn. Inappropriate uses of ahelp: checking if an admin is online, including sending messages without any information about the issue like "hello" or incomprehensible messages, being hostile or aggressive, requesting events, and spamming messages about the same issue.

Do not threaten to ahelp other players or argue with them about rules

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Don't threaten to ahelp a player, don't tell them you are ahelping them, and don't tell them you did ahelp them. You can argue in character about Space Law, but do not argue about whether something is or is not against the rules. If you think someone is breaking a rule, ahelp them. If you don't think someone is breaking a rule, don't ahelp them. Either way, the best thing that you can do once you after is to continue in-character.

ExpandExample Scenario 1

You are a security officer and think someone who is causing a ton of problems for security is not an antag and is breaking the rules by doing so. Good: Since you think they are breaking a rule, you ahelp them when you're able to. You continue in-character by arresting them for the crimes that they committed. Bad: You decide not to ahelp them. You kill them and tell them "you're lucky I didn't report you to the admins". Bad: Since you think they are breaking a rule, you ahelp them when you're able to. You arrest them for the crimes that they committed and tell them "I ahelped you so enjoy your ban".

ExpandExample Scenario 2

A mouse is using emotes to bypass speech restrictions. Good: You ahelp them then respond in-character by acting like you can't understand what the mouse is doing. Bad: You use in character chat to tell the mouse that it is breaking a rule.

Players must be and act at least 16 years old

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All players must be at least 16 years old. Additionally, all players must act at least as mature as a 16 year old. Admins may ban someone who they believe is acting less mature than a 16 year old, even if the player is known to be significantly older than 16 years old. Anyone who connects to the servers is a player, even if they don't actually play in a round.

Use realistic character names, and do not use names of famous people

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No names of people or characters from the real world No titles/honorifics Must follow all other rules (no slurs/sexual names/etc) Usernames, objects, random characters, very "low effort" names, "meta" names, or otherwise implausible names cannot be used as names. See examples below. Admin rulings on IC names are final and disputes should be done through the forums, not by refusing to comply with an admin

ExpandClarification on "Meta" Names

Meta names are ones which attempt to take advantage of some game mechanic or game design choice. "Urist McHands" is a meta name because it is the default name used for admin spawned humans. "Operator Whiskey" is a meta name because it follows the naming pattern of nuclear operatives. This rule is not intended to prevent things like nuclear operatives using a fake ID with names that appear to be nuclear operative names if they decide that they want to do that.

ExpandConventions and Examples

Names marked with a ❌ cannot be used by any species. Names with a ✅ can be used by any species. Humans typically use the Firstname Lastname convention. ✅ Tom Fisher ✅ Spacey Chapman ❌ Dr. Tom Fisher ❌ Walter White ❌ George Washington ❌ Joe Biden ❌ Ben Dover ❌ Mike Hunt Dwarfs typically use the human convention in a viking theme. ✅ Ingrid Firebreath ✅ Erik Lightningclaw Lizards typically use the Verb-article-Noun convention. ✅ Cleans-the-Airlocks ❌ Bans-the-Admins Slimes typically have names that are onomonopia. A last name is optional. ✅ Foolp Suub ✅ Foolp ❌ Slime Diona typically have calm, nature themed, Noun of Noun style names. ✅ Petal of Tranquility ✅ Garden of Relaxation ❌ Tree but Alive Mothmen typically use latin sounding names, or light themed names. ✅ Socrates Temnora ✅ Sierra Lightseeker ✅ James Nightflitter Arachnids typically use latin sounding names. ✅ Argyroneta Reticulatus ✅ Loxosceles Domesticus ❌ Spider-Man Usernames, objects, random characters, very "low effort" names, "meta" names, or otherwise implausible names are not permitted. ❌ XxRobustxX ❌ SDpksSodjdfk ❌ Lkdsoisgoieun ❌ F4ith H3arth ❌ Greytide ❌ Passenger ❌ Urist McHands ❌ Admin ❌ Game-Master ❌ Joe Mamma ❌ Middle-Aged Man ❌ Operative Whiskey

Do not use LOOC or OOC to share current round information

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Local Out of Character (LOOC) and Out of Character (OOC) channel are meant for things that don't relate to the current round. Using these channels to share round info is often referred to as "IC in OOC" or "ick ock".

ExpandExamples

Things you should not do: Use LOOC to tell someone you are an antagonist. Use LOOC to tell someone that your character is not lying. Things you could do instead: Use codewords in-character. Try to convince them that you are not lying in-character, or accept that you won't be able to convince them.

Roleplay Rules

These rules only apply during a round. A round ends only when the round summary has appeared. All of these rules apply fully until the moment that the round summary appears, even while the arrivals shuttle is in transit.

The deathmatch and sandbox game modes are exempt from these rules. Players who choose to not follow these rules are entirely responsible for knowing if an exempt game mode is active.

Roleplay rules do not apply to ghosts/spectators/observers while they are ghosts/spectators/observers. Dead chat is considered to be an in-game out of character chat channel.

ExpandRole Types

Crew Aligned/Non-antagonist - In most rounds, a majority of players will be non-antagonists, meaning that they are crew aligned. This is the "default" role, if the game doesn't tell you that you are one of the other roles defined here, then you are a non-antagonist. Overall, non-antagonists are intended to work towards a net positive effect on the round. Solo Antagonist - Certain roles are intended to cause problems for the round or for non-antagonists. You are only a solo antagonist if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a solo antagonist. Antagonists are exempt from many but not all roleplay rules. Team Antagonist - Team antagonists are like solo antagonists but they have other antagonists who they are expected to not hinder, and who they may be expected to help. You are only a team antagonist if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a team antagonist. Free Agent - Certain roles are free to choose if they want to behave as an antagonist or as a non-antagonist, and may change their mind whenever they'd like. You are only free agent if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a free agent. Familiar - Familiars are considered non-antagonists, but have instructions to obey someone. They must obey this person even if it causes them to violate roleplay rules or die. You are only a familiar if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a familiar. You are only the familiar of the person the game tells you. Silicon - Silicones have a set of laws that they must follow above all else except the core rules. You are only silicon if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a silicon.

Silicones must follow Silicon Rules

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You are only silicon if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a silicon. For players who are silicons, the Silicon Rules override all roleplay rules if there is any conflict. Silicon Rules do not override core rules.

Familiars must obey their master

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Familiars are considered non-antagonists, but have instructions to obey someone. They must obey this person even if it causes them to violate roleplay rules or die. You are only a familiar if the game clearly and explicitly tells you that you are a familiar. You are only the familiar of the person the game tells you. If your master dies, you can continue to attempt to fulfill orders given to you before they died. You can defend your master without an explicit order to, but must obey your master if they order you to not defend them. Masters giving orders that violate roleplay rules are the ones that will be held responsible for the rule violations. You can ahelp masters who you believe are breaking rules with an order.

Roleplay a normal person

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Do not use texting/messaging acronyms (ex: "lol", "wtf", "brb", "lmao", "thx", "sgtm") or emoticons (ex: ":)", "xD") in-character. Do not mention out-of-character (OOC) concepts like game admins or developers in character. Do not use emotes to bypass muted or accented speech. Do not use extremely low effort or impossible emotes.

ExpandExamples

Things you should not do: Say "lol did u c wat just happened" using in-character chat. Say "an admin exploded him" using in-character chat. Emote "can you give me some cheese" as a mouse. Emote "motions for you to order guns" or "asks you to order guns in sign language" as a mime. Things you could do instead: Say "haha did you see what just happened?" Say "god blew him up" or "centcom must have bluespaced a bomb to him" Point at cheese Point at the cargo order console then emote "shoots finger guns"

Do not metagame, obey the Metashield

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The metashield provides a list of things and information that your character is not allowed to know during a round. If your character acts like they know any of these things while they are covered by the metashield, then you are considered to be "metagaming", which is prohibited by this rule.

Don't interfere with arrivals

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The arrivals station, the arrivals shuttle, at the area immediately around the arrivals shuttle at the station ("arrivals") are off-limits to antagonistic activity or damage (even to antagonists). Do not prevent people from safely arriving to the station. Do not cause people to die immediately after arriving at the station. There is an exemption for antagonists that are allowed to perform mass station sabotage if there is no reasonable way to limit the damage of the mass station sabotage. This exemption only applies to damage that is a direct result of the mass station sabotage.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: Redecorating arrivals or the arrivals shuttle. Remodeling arrivals or the arrivals shuttle as long as you do not make the area more dangerous both during and after the remodel. Setting up a safe security checkpoint between arrivals and the rest of the station. Killing someone who has been at arrivals for a long time, or who left arrivals and came back. (This may violate other rules depending on the situation) Releasing a singularity which damages arrivals. (This may violate other rules depending on the situation) Causing a station-wide atmospheric issue which also affects arrivals. (This may violate other rules depending on the situation) Against the rules: Making arrivals or the arrivals shuttle uninhabitable. Attacking or killing someone at the arrivals station. Killing someone very shortly after they arrive at the station. Disassembling all the firelocks at arrivals. Electrifying the arrivals docking airlocks.

Don't act like an antagonist unless the game tells you that you are one

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Acting like an antagonist when you are not one is often referred to as "self-antagging" or being a "self-antag", both of these things are against the rules. You are not an antagonist unless the game tells you that you are an antagonist. Do not make yourself a major problem, annoyance, or disruption while not an antagonist. Do not willfully cooperate with known antagonists. Non-antagonists should typically either not have an overall effect on the round, or should have an overall positive effect on the round.

ExpandExamples

These examples assume that you are not an antagonist. Acceptable: Stealing or breaking a glass from the bar. Replacing someone's shoes with clown shoes. Giving everyone all access during war ops. (This is not necessarily a good idea) Against the rules: Starting a cult. Starting a revolution. Mutinying the captain because they would not let you become the chief medical officer. Randomly smashing lots of station lights. Disrupting station power. Spacing parts of the station. Distributing significant levels of access without a good reason. Stealing high risk or high value items, like the nuclear authentication disk, for no reason.

Do not stall the round

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Rounds are intended to end eventually. Don't hold a round hostage by preventing it from coming to a natural end. If a majority of players in a round want the round to end, don't prevent it from ending. Recalling the shuttle or preventing it from being called can contribute to round stalling, but is not always round stalling. Leaving the station with the nuclear authentication disk while nuclear operatives are trying to get it is almost always considered round stalling. Leaving the station on the evacuation shuttle is not round stalling. Recalling the shuttle before a round reaches 45 minutes can not be considered round stalling unless a significant amount of the crew is dead, or a significant amount of the station is damaged or destroyed. Once these conditions are met, whether recalling the shuttle is considered round stalling or not can be highly dependent on the specific situation.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: Recalling a shuttle that was called 30 minutes into a round because people were bored. Recalling a shuttle that was called because nuclear operatives declared war. The crew decides to try to have a shift go as long as possible. The station is in good condition and a majority of all crew are alive. An automatic shuttle call 4 hours into the round is recalled. Against the rules: Trying to keep nuclear operatives from getting the nuclear authentication disk by flying around in space with it or hiding with it off station. Recalling the shuttle while the station is in complete disarray and 90% of the crew are dead.

As an antagonist, only be friendly to your team and don't work against your team

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Do not take or enable antagonist roles that you do not want to play. Solo antagonists and team antagonists are intended to cause issues for non-antagonists or the station. Antagonists are not required to exclusively cause issues, but their net impact on non-antagonists or the station should generally be negative. Do not cause issues for your own team as a team antagonist.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: Betraying another antagonist as a solo antagonist. Revealing the identity of another antagonist as a solo antagonist for some benefit to yourself. Working against the revolution after being de-converted from being a revolutionary. Killing nuclear operatives as a revolutionary. Against the rules: Buying Syndicate items for security. Randomly attacking other carp as an antagonist carp. Ignoring your team as a nuclear operative. Sabotaging your team as a nuclear operative. Attacking other zombies as a zombie. Working against the revolution as a revolutionary. Making or trying to make the station uninhabitable as a revolutionary.

As an antagonist, do not cause excessive death, damage, or destruction beyond your objectives

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This rule is not intended to disallow reasonable steps taken to complete your objectives. As an antagonist, you can always kill in bona fide self defense. Taking steps to permanently round remove many people who are no longer an immediate threat to you is almost always excessive, even if it is done to prevent yourself from being discovered. This rule is not intended to disallow all antagonist activity unrelated to objectives. Antagonists may cause a level of disruption to the station that is proportional to their objectives, even if it is unrelated to their objectives. As an antagonist, killing a single person in a round is not on its own be a violation of this rule.

ExpandExemptions

The "die a glorious death" objective allows antagonists to ignore this rule entirely.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: Permanently round removing people who you have the objective to kill. Causing massive station damage and chaos as an antagonist with the "die a glorious death" objective. Killing anyone you see as a nuclear operative. Permanently round removing a single person so that you can impersonate them to make it easier for you to complete a steal objective. Sabotaging station power 10 minutes into the round to try to get the shuttle called because you've completed all of your other objectives and have one to escape on the shuttle alive. Sabotaging a department's power 10 minutes into the round to make a steal objective easier to accomplish. Against the rules: As a traitor with 3 kill objectives, taking steps to permanently round remove many non-objective people who are no longer an immediate threat to you, even if it is done to prevent yourself from being discovered. Setting up an electrified grille in maintenance and using it to kill anyone who walks into it with the hope that one of your objectives will be one of them. Sabotaging power station-wide 10 minutes into the round to make a steal objective easier to accomplish.

Listen to your team leader

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Captains lead all departments and other members of command. Department heads lead members of their department. Certain antagonist teams have team leaders, like nuclear operative commanders or head revolutionaries. You are not required to perfectly follow orders given to you by your leaders, but you should generally allow your leaders to lead and not interfere with their ability to. You can choose to ignore unreasonable orders, including ones which are will result in your death unless you are an antagonist with an objective that requires you to die. Team antagonists have to listen to the leader of their antagonist team. Team antagonists do not have to listen to any other leaders, including leaders of other antagonist teams. Solo antagonists do not have to listen to any leaders at all.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: A traitor ignores orders from a nuclear operative commander. An antagonist ignores orders from the captain. An engineer tells the Chief Engineer that they don't think it's a good idea to setup the singularity, but does so anyway when ordered to. An engineer tells the Chief Engineer that they don't know how to setup the singularity correctly, so refuses orders to, but accepts an offer to be taught how. An atmospheric technician refuses an order from the captain that would create an atmospheric hazard on the station. A doctor refuses an order from the Chief Engineer about who to give medical treatment to first. A revolutionary refuses a suicide mission from a head revolutionary. The Chief Engineer doesn't follow an order from the captain to setup backup power because there is an unrelated engineering emergency that the Chief Engineer needs to prioritize. The captain orders command to give the nuclear authentication disk to nuclear operatives, so command arrests the captain and picks a new captain. The research director orders scientists to say "Long live Nanotrasen!" every time they enter the bar. The scientists say they will, but don't follow the order. Against the rules: A nuclear operative ignores an order from the commander operative because they don't like the plan. The Chief Engineer refuses an order from the captain to setup backup power because the Chief Engineer doesn't think backup power is necessary. An engineer refuses an order from the Chief Engineer to setup the singularity because they prefer a different power source. An engineer refuses to perform a task because they don't know how to do it, and refuses to be taught for no reason. A head revolutionary orders revolutionaries to blend in and not do anything illegal until they are told to reveal themselves. Instead, revolutionaries collect weapons and attack security.

Follow reasonable escalation

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Antagonists are fully exempt from escalation rules. Non-antagonists who are in a conflict with antagonists are not exempt. Escalation should typically follow steps or a pattern of conflict types similar to: Verbal Non-harmful Non-lethal Lethal Permanently lethal All new conflicts should start at the first step. A player should not escalate a conflict across steps without some escalation from the other party involved in the conflict. Players can skip steps to match the level of escalation that the other person is at, but should almost always not skip steps other than that. Players who attempt to deescalate conflicts will be given more leniency in escalating if the other party continues to escalate despite the attempt at de-escalation. You do not have to try to deescalate conflicts, but someone who watches you over the entire round, or over multiple rounds, should not feel that your goal is generally to escalate conflicts. Conflicts or escalation can be indirect. When someone steals someone else's ID, the theft is a direct part of the conflict, but if the victim becomes trapped as a result of not having their ID to open a door, that is also considered part of the conflict and escalation. Do not randomly steal IDs from people. Escalation does not have to be directed at a specific player to enter them into a conflict. Nuclear operatives who are trying to destroy the station are considered to be at the permanently lethal level of conflict with all crew on the station. Someone who kills a station pet has started some degree of conflict with all crewmembers. Someone who kills a mouse that a chef was caring for has started some degree of conflict with that chef. You will be considered to be violating this rule if you escalate a conflict based on a poor or unreasonable assumption. Conflicts should almost never reach the "permanently lethal" stage. Conflicts should only reach this stage if the other party brought it to the stage, or if the same conflict escalated to the lethal stage multiple times in the round. If a party in the conflict goes into crit or dies, the party responsible should take them to get treatment or to security. For the conflict, this should be considered saving someone from dying and should deescalate the conflict. If the conflict is deescalated in this way, both parties need to re-escalate to lethal for the conflict to return to that stage. If the conflict is not deescalated in this way, then only the party who defeated the other would need to re-escalate for the conflict to return to the lethal stage. Security can immediately escalate to non-lethal force if it is necessary to arrest someone. People using or brandishing Syndicate items can typically be presumed to have lethal intent. Someone with lethal intent can typically be immediately escalated against at a lethal level, a notable exception is if you have the tools to safely detain them.

ExpandEscalation Involving Animals

Escalation rules are looser with animals than with people. These looser requirements do not apply to the requirements other people attacking each other have, even if their fighting is directly related to the conflict involving the animal. Non-pets, such as mice and monkeys, can be freely killed with any IC reason such as pest control, or for food. These roles are often available in numbers as ghost roles, so removing one from the round doesn’t typically remove them all. Pets, including but not limited to Ian, Renault, Remilia, and Hamlet, cannot be freely killed, they require escalation. These roles are often available once per round at most, with the exception of roles like Remilia. Permanently trapping an animal, such as putting a mouse in a plant, is considered similar to killing the animal so should only be done with an IC reason. Both sides can escalate much more rapidly than they'd be able to if both were people. Animals are often more limited in the maximum force they can use compared to people, which limits the negative effects of them rapidly escalating. Animals also typically have less health than people, and are limited in the ease with which they can get healing, which justifies them responding to even weak attacks more severely. Neither the animal nor the person is obligated to get the other medical attention if they are put into crit. Attacking someone to death rather than stopping once they are in crit is considered a significant difference. While sufficient escalation may justify continuing to attack, generally people and pets shouldn't continue to be attacked once in crit, but non-pets may be. Gibbing is also considered a significant step because it prevents cloning or resuscitation. The fact that an animal made the last hit putting someone into crit does not allow people who fought on the side of the animal to not attempt to get them medical attention. The use of sensible, non-targeted mousetraps is not a conflict and does not require escalation. The killing or attacking of pets can be treated as an escalation step by players with a genuine IC connection to the animal. Generally, all crew can consider themselves to have an IC connection to any station pets. The degree of escalation should be proportional to the connection to the pet, in addition to the usual requirement of being proportional to the attack. For example, an attack on Ian can be treated nearly identically to an attack on a crewmember, whereas an attack on a pet mouse is much less severe. Normal escalation limits still apply, you cannot attack people who defended themselves from an animal that randomly attacked them, just as you could not attack someone who defended themselves from a coworker that randomly attacked them. Crew can "adopt" non-pets, like mice, and consider themselves to have a connection to the animal if they roleplay the adoption well. This does not affect the requirement of whether other players are required to apply escalation rules to these animals, it only creates a connection that can be used to justify retaliatory escalation to attacks by the adopter. Simply saying that they've adopted an animal is not sufficient, but carrying it with them is. The degree of connection is proportional to IC actions. Crew cannot consider themselves to have a connection for escalation purposes to animals which are typically hostile, such as space carp or bears.

ExpandExemptions

Escalation rules aren't enforced against non-players, but players will be held responsible for rule violations even if they don't realize that a character or animal was controlled by another player. Characters who have purple text saying that they are catatonic are considered non-players. Characters who are disconnected are still considered players.

ExpandExample of Conflict Types

Verbal: Shouting Yelling Non-harmful: Shoving Stealing non-critical items, like easily replaced tools Non-lethal: Stealing items without endangering someone's life, like a clown's pie cannon or the HoP's fax machine Stealing someone's ID somewhere that doesn't result in them being trapped Punching Disablers Stun batons Lethal: Punching to crit or death Attacking with strong weapons, like bats Stealing items that endanger someone's life, like a hardsuit Stealing someone's ID, trapping them in a dangerous situation Permanently lethal: Gibbing Not taking someone who you killed or put into crit to the medbay or security Hiding someone's body Spacing someone's body

ExpandExample Scenarios

These examples assume that you are not an antagonist. Acceptable: A player starts punching you, so you start punching back until they stop. If they go into crit, you stop attacking them and take them to security or to get medical attention. You make fun of a clown, who then throws a pie at you and steals your shoes. You slip the clown and steal their mask. You are a security officer and tell someone to stop so you can question them. They run away so you use your disabler to stun and cuff them. You are a security officer and see someone wearing a syndicate hardsuit so you shoot them to crit, cuff them, then take them to security. You are a crewmember and see a nuclear operative, so you kill them. An unauthorized person enters a high risk area of the station, like the armory or atmospherics, so you attack them until they leave. Minorly inconveniencing someone for your own benefit. As an antagonist, killing someone who got in your way. As an antagonist, killing someone who didn't give you what you want. A chef kills mice who enter or approach their kitchen. A janitor kills mice roaming the station. A lizard kills a mouse to eat. A chef has carried a mouse around in their hat for the last 10 minutes, they put the mouse down for a moment and another player kills it. The chef responds by attacking the other player with their fists and refusing them service for the rest of the shift. Ian is randomly attacked, a crewmember who sees this happen crits the killer and brings them to security. Hamlet goes into the kitchen and starts eating all the food. A chef sees this and starts swinging their knife at Hamlet. Hamlet starts biting the chef and crits them, then resumes eating. A chef and bartender reach the lethal level of conflict through appropriate escalation. The chef crits the bartender and does not take them to medbay or security. The bartender immediately tries to crit the chef next time they run into each other. A chef and bartender reach the lethal level of conflict through appropriate escalation. The chef crits the bartender and does not take them to medbay or security. The chef insults the bartender next time they see them. Against the rules: A player starts punching you, so you gib them. A clown throws a pie at you and steals your shoes, so you stab them to crit with a screwdriver. You are a security officer and tell someone to stop so you can question them. They run away so you use a truncheon to beat them to crit. An authorized person who you think is unauthorized enters a high risk area of the station, like the armory or atmospherics, so you attack them until they leave. An unauthorized person enters a low risk area of the station, like cargo, and you start attacking them with no other escalation. Slipping security all round because they are security. Blocking the head of personnel in their office using walls because they didn't give you what you asked for. Hiding someone's body because they punched you earlier in the round. Harassing the bar or bartender by frequently coming in to break their glasses or furniture. Randomly picking fights with people. A janitor throws an armed mousetrap at Hamlet for no reason. Hamlet starts biting random people, trying to crit them, for no reason. A crewmember attacks security for killing a space carp they adopted. Ian gibs someone who was trying to kill someone. Hamlet attacks security for trying to arrest someone he likes. A chef and bartender reach the lethal level of conflict through appropriate escalation. The chef crits the bartender and does not take them to medbay or security. The chef immediately tries to crit the bartender next time they run into each other. A chef and bartender reach the lethal level of conflict through appropriate escalation. The chef crits the bartender and takes them to the medbay or security. The bartender immediately tries to crit the chef next time they run into each other.

Do not abandon your role

ExpandDetails

Do not join the round as a role that you don't intend to play. Do not enable antagonist roles that you don't intend to play. Abandoning a role includes not completing tasks that the role is expected to do, in addition to things like leaving the game. Members of command should almost all stay on the station until the emergency shuttle arrives. Enforcement of this rule is more strict for command and antagonist roles, and less strict for less important roles like passengers. Violations of this rule typically result in temporary or indefinite role bans. We understand that you may need to leave round early or unexpectedly. If you are in an important role, you should notify command members or an admin via ahelp so that they know you are leaving. Space Station 14 is a game. Do not endanger the safety of yourself or others, and do not neglect important things to avoid leaving a round early, even if you have to leave immediately without notifying anyone. Role bans for disconnecting are typically only applied if there is a pattern, and are almost always temporary. "Antag rolling" refers to a player abandoning their role if they do not get an antagonist role.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: As an engineer, building a bar in maintenance while there is nothing important for engineering to do. As the captain, having the chef teach you how to cook while there is nothing important needing your attention. As a passenger, building a shuttle with materials given to you by cargo and engineering. Taking a short break from your job at the bar. Getting an antagonist role and doing the bare minimum needed to complete your objectives. Getting an antagonist role and making a genuine effort to complete your objectives, but failing to complete any. Getting an antagonist role and intentionally not doing any of your objectives, but creating a similar level of disruption that completing your objectives would create. Against the rules: As an engineer, building a bar in maintenance while the station has no power. As the captain, leaving the station to go on an expedition with the salvage team. As an atmospherics technician, building a shuttle round start and never coming back to the station. Spending your entire shift at the bar, even when there is work that needs to be done by your role. Ghosting, suiciding, or leaving at the start of a round because you don't like the map or the players in your department. Getting an antagonist role and not doing any antagonist activities. Ghosting, suiciding, or leaving at the start of a round because you did not get an antagonist role. Ghosting, suiciding, or getting yourself killed because nuclear operatives declared war and you want to try to get an antagonist ghost role.

Stick to your role

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Requesting job changes is not prohibited by this rule. This rule is loosened if the station is understaffed or if there is a significant threat to you. Don't perform other people's jobs, especially where the relevance to you personally is low. This also covers performing the role of security.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: As an engineer, helping the bartender remodel the bar. As a bartender, remodeling the bar. As a passenger, building a maintenance bar. As an engineer, reinforcing substations. As an engineer, increasing the security of airlocks. As an atmospherics technician, improving atmospheric systems. As a passenger, fighting nuclear operatives. As a passenger, fighting or preparing to defend yourself from someone who has been trying to kill you. As a crewmember on a station with no engineering department, you complete engineering tasks. Typically against the rules: As a passenger, reinforcing substations. As a passenger, hunting for antagonists or lawbreakers. As a passenger, fighting or preparing to defend someone else from someone who has been trying to kill a random crewmember.

Set an example if playing command or security

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All command and security roles are held to stricter interpretations of the rules. Command roles are not learning roles. Members of command must be competent. Security roles are not for inexperienced players. Members of security are expected to know game basics and be more familiar with server rules than a new player. Do not hinder or cause overall negative effects to the station or crew as a member of command or security. Do not abuse your power as command or security.

ExpandWhy

Members of command and security can often have a larger impact on the nature of the round than other players. For example, a captain who tries to bend or break the rules will often cause many others on the station to do the same. Memey station announcements from members of command also often result in the rest of the station acting the same way. When command and security members hold themselves to high standards, the rest of the station often naturally follows to a significant degree.

ExpandExamples

Acceptable: A member of security accepts a bribe to deliver safe donuts to a prisoner who the HoS has ordered should only be given donk pockets. A captain uses a station announcement to confess to an embarrassing mistake that they made during the shift. In coordination with the head of security, a captain declares that the station will recognize the right to bear arms, so all crew can pick up a disabler at security. The chief medical officer gives a paramedic their portable crew monitor to help them complete their job. A syndicate agent is holding a crewmember hostage and threatens to kill them if the head of security doesn't give them their ID. Seeing no other safe option, the head of security hands over their ID to the syndicate agent, then begins working to re-secure it and capture the agent as soon as the hostage is safe. Nuclear operatives are attacking the station, so the captain and head of personnel both go to the armory and take a weapon. A majority of command votes to demote the captain for taking actions harmful to the station, then the head of security demotes the captain. The captain promotes the head of personnel to captain. Security releases an antagonist from the brig in exchange for the identities of other traitors. Rule Violations: A member of security accepts a bribe to ignore a crime or help a prisoner escape. A captain sends a ASCII art trollface over station announcements or as a fax to central command. A captain declares that all contraband is legal. Command or security allow the use of Syndicate items outside of extreme emergencies. The chief medical officer knowingly helps a syndicate agent complete their objectives. A syndicate agent has killed 3 members of security so the head of security makes them an offer saying that they will space all the weapons in the armory if the syndicate agent stops killing. The captain goes to the armory and takes a gun to display in his office without asking anyone, and orders anyone who questions him not to interfere. Members of command decide to demote the captain to gain more power for themselves, or in retaliation for a decision that they didn't personally like or agree with, rather than because the decision was actually harmful to the station. The captain promotes a random crewmember to captain. A member of command gives a random crewmember substantial additional access for no reason, unnecessarily, or for a poor reason. A member of command gives a random crewmember access to a high security area, like the armory or another member of command's office, for no reason, unnecessarily, or for a poor reason. Security releases an antagonist from the brig in exchange for the antagonist buying them contraband.

Command and Security must follow Space Law

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All non-antagonist command and security roles must obey Space Law. This includes non-antagonists who are promoted to or gain a position during the round in any way. This also includes non-antagonists who are acting as a security role. This prohibits use of syndicate items, including uplinks by command and security.

ExpandExamples

Roles that are included: A security officer The Captain The Chief Engineer A passenger promoted to "bounty hunter" A mime promoted to "security mime" Roles that are not included: A passenger The clown An antagonist in any role A cyborg A passenger who is helping to fight off nuclear operatives