Server Rules

Wizard's Den Rules: The Long Version

This version of the rules is much longer then the as-concise-as-possible-without-leaving-out-anything-important-but-still-pretty-long ruleset that players are forced to look at in-game. The purpose of this long version is to more clearly illustrate the boundaries and spirit of each rule, as well as rulings that have been made in the past. This is mostly useful to administrators to determine how to apply the rules, though it may help some players understand the intent or purpose of some rules.

• The Golden rule. Admins can disregard any and all rules if they deem it in the best interest of the current round, server, and/or community at large. If you rule skirt, rule lawyer, or otherwise are an overall negative impact to the community, you will be removed. Admins will of course be held fully accountable for their actions if they exercise this privilege.

ZERO TOLERANCE RULES - VIOLATING THESE ALMOST ALWAYS RESULTS IN A NO-QUESTIONS-ASKED APPEAL-ONLY BAN, REGARDLESS OF YOUR EXCUSE

• Absolutely no hate speech, slurs, bigotry, IC specism (demeaning other characters in-game due to their in-game race), or anything even remotely similar. [YOU WILL GET PERMABANNED]
  1. This includes any slurs or language closely tied to real-life slurs.
  2. IC specism (ex: "I hate all lizards", or insulting players based on race) is never played well and never ends well. Do not do it.

• Absolutely no Erotic Roleplay (ERP) or sexual content, including direct or indirect mentions of sexual behavior or actions. (YOU WILL GET PERMABANNED) (Leeway is given to insults, ex: 'You are a dickhead', do not push it)
  1. Leeway is given to insults, ex: 'You are a dickhead', or 'Suck my dick', but if you push the boundaries of this at all you will answer for it.
  2. Spamming or copy/pasting erotica content (ex: WGW or other lame shock-value garbage) also falls into this rule.
  3. In-game romantic relationships should not become the focus of the game for you and anyone else involved. It's a game about running a space station, not a dating simulator. Dedicating significant portions of rounds to romantic relationships/dating or other nonsense violates this rule.

• Don't communicate in-game/in-character information through methods outside of the game (such as talking in Discord with other users actively playing or by talking to your sibling across the room while you are both playing). This is referred to as "Metacomming" and we are not able to police it, therefore it is strictly forbidden. (BOTH OR ALL OF YOU WILL GET PERMABANNED)
  1. Do not talk with other users actively playing the game through outside game means (ex: Discord, Steam, talking to the other player if you are in the same household, etc.) Even if it is not abused, the convenience of the communication provides an unfair advantage to you over other players who can no longer hear you communicate in-game.
  2. If you need to teach a new player, it is recommended you either watch a stream of them playing the game or teach the player using in-character methods of communication.
  3. It is impossible for moderation to determine if users metacomming are abusing it or not, therefore we must assume it is being abused.

• Attempting to evade game bans will result in an automatic appeal-only permanent ban that is only appealable after six months. Attempting to evade job bans will result in an appeal-only permanent ban. (YOU WILL GET BANNED MUCH WORSE THAN YOU ALREADY WERE)
  1. Trying to evade a game ban, successfully or not, will instantly earn you a minimum six month vacation from Wizard' Den servers. This includes trying to use alternative accounts to connect to the server or "testing to see how the ban works". You are not slick.
  2. Trying to evade a job ban by gaining access to and working the jobs you are banned from will get you a permanent ban which must be appealed from the server. You are banned from those jobs for a reason, you cannot simply ask the HoP to promote you to chemist and then play chemist while you are banned from it.
  3. Bans must be appealed through the proper channels: the forums at forum.ss14.io. Asking to be unbanned in ahelp, DM'ing a moderator/admin, or asking in the discord will result each time in being told to go to the forums. Repeated asking around (aka: admin-shopping) will result in a very poor outlook for your ban getting appealed at all.
  4. There are several types of bans that may be issued: Job or Role bans prevent you from signing on as a specific job; they are intended to curb players who show problematic behavior in those particular roles. Temporary game bans prevent the user from connecting to the server for a set amount of time and generally expire within a few days; Temporary bans longer than a few days may be appealed on the forums for a shorter sentence. Appeal-only bans are permanent game bans that will only be lifted upon a successful appeal on the forms. Voucher-bans are appeal-only bans that must be appealed utilizing a voucher of good behavior from another SS13/SS14 server, and are unappealable for six months after they are issued. Vouchers must be obtained from administrative staff on a well known SS13/SS14 server that essentially tells us that you have been well-behaved on their server for a long period of time (at least a month or two, but the longer the better). Permanent bans which are not appeal-bans or voucher-bans are unappealable.

GENERAL ETIQUETTE

• These are English servers. Speak only English in IC and OOC.
  1. Our staff cannot and will not be expected to moderate conversations in non-English languages. You will be asked to stop speaking other languages and banned if you continue.
  2. If a language barrier causes a significant issue in communication with you, it is highly recommended to try another server, preferably one in a language you understand well.

• Don't use exploits or external programs to play, gain an advantage, or disrupt the round/server.
  1. External programs include auto-hotkey scripts and autoclickers. If you are using an autoclicker to spam something, you'll get banned. Similarly, if you are using a script to automate in-game actions or have the game be played for you, or to evade AFK detection, you will get banned.
  2. Exploits include any bugs, glitches, or otherwise seemingly unintended behavior, especially ones that disrupt the game or give you an advantage. If you stumble on one, admin-help it and let us know so we can verify. If you get caught purposefully exploiting it or continuing to abuse it after being told to stop, you will be removed. Intentionally trying to lag/crash the server will result in an immediate appeal-ban.

• Don't "multi-key" (utilize multiple alt accounts). Users knowingly using multiple SS14 accounts will have all of their accounts banned.
  1. Unless you are actually two or more distinct individuals, there's no reason for you to have more than one SS14 account connecting to the server, even if it is not at the same time. Users who are believed to be intentionally using different accounts to evade detection or scrutiny will get all accounts associated with that connection banned.
  2. This does not apply to genuinely different people utilizing the same connection (two or more people playing from the same household), however you are responsible for the actions that anyone performs on your account. There is no leeway given for "my sibling/mom/kid/dog RDM'd as non-antag and stole AA, unban me I didn't do anything".

• Do not abuse/ignore the admin help relay. All admin helps are sent to the SS14 discord.
  1. Do not admin-check (ex: "hello?", "any admins?"). State your primary issue with as much information and context as you can (names, jobs, locations, and brief context leading up to the event helps immensely) as your first message. This way if an admin sees it in the relay, they can potentially act on it without even joining the server. Continually sending messages of no substance to initiate conversations, or purposefully sending a nothing-message (ex: "a", "asfsd") to see if there are any admins online will result in your removal.
  2. Spamming the relay with nonsense, treating it like a chatroom, or insulting/being hostile with administrators will result in your removal.
  3. Ignoring administrator messages or disconnecting without answering an admin help will result in an appeal-only ban. If we cannot talk with you about your behavior in-game, we will force you to talk to us on the forums or not at all.
  4. Be patient. Just because you haven't gotten a reply to your admin help doesn't mean nobody cares. Admins are often either not immediately online, away, or busy handling other admin helps. Being impatient does not favor your case. Admins often retroactively handle admin helps that came in when nobody was online and can make a ruling from logs of that round, so just because nobody is online doesn't mean the person will get away without punishment.

CHARACTER NAMES & GENERAL IN GAME RULES

• Pick a realistic name that could appear on a birth certificate with at least a first and last name. Names of notable famous or fictional persons or names that resemble/parody them are strictly forbidden. You are not clever if you slightly change a famous name around.
  1. Leeway is given to a "name that could appear on a birth certificate" and the "needing a first and last name" parts for Clowns, Mimes, and non-human races such as Lizards.
  2. Notable names are enforced by admin discretion. The general rule is, if someone can instantly recognize your name as a character or person, you will more than likely be asked to change it. Just because you have used the name for a few or fifty rounds does not enable you to keep it just because you didn't get caught.
  3. Terrible names or extremely easily recognizable names will usually result in anything from being firmly prodded to change it, being smited, or being banned depending on the severity. If you get asked to change from "Walter White" and change to "Balther Blite" next round, you will be admin abused and then banned for wasting everyone's time.

• Act like an actual human being on a space station in a low-roleplay (LRP) environment. You do not need to feign ignorance of things outside your job or write a character backstory, but you are at the minimum expected to maintain a basic level of roleplay.
  1. Do not use text speak (ex: "lol", "wtf", "brb", "lmao", "thx", "sgtm") or emoticons (ex: ":)", "xD") in-character. Nobody speaks like that. You will be warned to stop.
  2. Do not refer to OOC things or concepts like the game's administrators in-character (common ways to refer to admins could be referring to them as "Central Command"). Threatening other players IC by telling them you are calling the admins on them will usually result in you being smited and completely ignored.
  3. Do not use custom emotes to bypass accent filters or otherwise circumvent the inability to speak normally. A mouse cannot speak in a way that humans understand for a reason, and you can't talk to people with a gag on for a reason.

• Don't be a dick. You are playing a multiplayer game with up to 64 or more other people who also want to enjoy the game; be considerate that you are typically interacting with other players.
  1. Do not intentionally make other players' lives hell for your own amusement. A little bit of IC conflict is fine, but going out of your way to antagonize people all round repeatedly because you like the reaction they make is unacceptable.
  2. THE ROUND IS NOT OVER UNTIL THE END-ROUND SUMMARY APPEARS WHEN THE EMERGENCY SHUTTLE DOCKS WITH CENTRAL COMMAND. If you kill/attack/shoot someone or bomb/destroy/space/foambomb/smokebomb something before the summary appears, it will be handled accordingly.
  3. Do not needlessly remove players from the round permanently (hiding/destroying/spacing the corpse). Nobody likes to sit out the entire round over a petty dispute. At least prevent them from dying and drop them off at Medbay unless you have a strong reason to believe they are an antagonist.
  4. Antagonists have a LOT of leeway with everything in this rule as they are designated by the game to cause problems. Antagonists may kill/sabotage as they see fit and do not have to escalate conflicts as normal; however, if your behavior degrades the experience for majority of the server you will be told to stop. The following things can sometimes be considered crossing the line even as an antagonist, especially when done for multiple rounds:
     • Massive station damage (ex: singularity/bombing) which does not serve your objectives.
     • Widespread atmospherics sabotage (ex: plasma fires, venting atmosphere)
     • Wanton and widespread murder for no purpose while making no move to pursue objectives
     • Holding the round hostage by shuttle-recalling
     • Widespread sabotage (power, electrification of machines and hallways, etc.) which severely reduces the station's quality of life for no purpose

• Don't harass or target players across rounds for actions in prior rounds or for actions outside of the game (this is referred to as "Metagrudging")
  1. Targeting other players due to an action or behavior which did not occur in the current round or would not be known to your current character is unacceptable. You cannot remember that a certain player was mean to you last round and use that information in the next round as factor for your choices (ex: Denying someone access as HoP or demoting them from Security immediately because they were a traitor last round). Rounds exist independently of one another.
  2. Targeting/annoying your killer/jailer with ghost roles is also strictly forbidden. Similarly, taking a ghost role and immediately trying to lead other players to your body or trying to point out the killer in a public place to arouse suspicion about them is also strictly forbidden. You do not remember anything when you take on a ghost role or a new role, so pointing out your killer in your past life is not acceptable.

• Don't use information gained from outside your character's knowledge to gain an advantage (this is referred to as "Metagaming")
  1. You don't remember any information about events while your character is unconscious or dead. Utilizing information you gain while unconscious (like where you are being moved to) or dead (anything you can get while spectating as a ghost, including chatting with other dead players or spectating round events) to gain an advantage is strictly forbidden.
  2. If you take a ghost role, unless specifically otherwise stated, you do not remember anything from your past life. Using any information from your past life unless otherwise stated is unacceptable.
  3. Taking actions in-game based upon knowledge that only exists outside of the game (ex: how the game or certain behaviors are coded) to gain an advantage is forbidden. The best example of this is pre-emptively swapping the PDA's of detainees as security )using the knowledge that uplinks can only be contained in PDAs_, thereby preventing any possible use of the uplink regardless if the person is a traitor or not. This is not fun for anyone and is 'gaming the system'.

• Follow escalation rules, don't murder someone for slipping you, use common sense, be humane. Conflicts can generally be said to follow a basic pattern of escalation: Verbal -> Physical (ex: shoving, punching) -> Non-Lethal (ex: utilizing basic weapons and less lethal weapons, beating someone into critical condition) -> Lethal (ex: beating someone to death, firearms, explosives, deadly melee weapons).
  1. ESCALATION GOES BOTH WAYS. You can always opt to try and DE-ESCALATE a situation, which will look favorably on you if conflict does eventually arise.
  2. DO NOT OVER ESCALATE. If you pre-emptively attack someone due to a poor assumption (ex: immediately murdering trespassers) or skip straight to murder, you will get in trouble. Make some form of effort to meet a situation non-violently if the situation permits it.
  3. YOU MAY ESCALATE TO THE SAME LEVEL AS YOUR OPPONENT. If your opponent whips out a gun and starts trying to shoot you, you are enabled to do the same.
  4. YOU MAY ALWAYS DEFEND YOURSELF to the extent of protecting your own life. Once there is no longer an immediate threat to your life, you should stop your attack unless you have a very good reason to believe your target is an antagonist.
  5. SECURITY MAY USE LESS LETHAL FORCE AND WEAPONS TO EFFECT ARRESTS. Resisting security generally permits security to upgrade their response against your actions to effect your arrest, however they should generally only be using lethal force in the protection of their own life or the life of the crew at large, or if their opponent escalates to the same level of force.
  6. If a conflict leads to violence and either participant is incapacitated, the party still standing is expected to make an effort to prevent the other party from dying by either treating them or bringing them to Medbay unless there is a good reason to believe the incapacitated is an antagonist.
  7. Repeated conflicts should try to escalate again. Immediately resorting to trying to kill the person who knocked you out the next time you see them is not appropriate. As conflict continues with someone IC, repeated conflicts may eventually lead to homicide if escalated properly, however Security and Command reserves the right to have you arrested for homicide.
  8. Not all conflicts should be solved IC. If you have reason to believe a conflict is over-escalating or interferes with the round in a detrimental way, admin help the situation (F1) so it can be addressed.
  9. DO NOT DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: Departmental Revolutions (ex: "Cargonia" or any variations thereof, whatever you decide to call it), Cults, Strikes, or any similar behaviors that disrupt the station at large as a non-antagonist. These activities are antagonist-only and are strictly forbidden unless admin permission is obtained.

• Don't immediately ghost or suicide from your role if you do not get antagonist (referred to as "Antag-rolling").
  1. This is not fair to other players playing the game and patiently waiting for an antagonist round. Killing yourself actively takes up job slots that other players may have wanted and is poor sportsmanship.
  2. If you don't want to be an antagonist, don't enable the checkbox for it on the character creation.
  3. This also extends to people who do not want to do antagonistic activities. If all you are going to do as an antagonist is buy a bunch of traitor gear and hang out in the bar and socialize with people with traitor gear on display, the administrators will try as hard as possible to make the entire crew murder you, or simply explode you. "Friendly antagonists" are not fun and do not drive the round.

• Don't rush for or prepare equipment unrelated to your job for no purpose other than to have it "just in case" or to make it "for the end round" (referred to as "powergaming").
  1. A medical doctor does not need to rush insulated gloves. The Head of Personnel does not need to give themselves armory access and then go grab guns for "self defense". Interface with the proper channels to obtain these things and only obtain them if you have an actual purpose and reason for needing them, not just because "something might happen."
  2. This also applies to hiding known antagonist objectives or otherwise securing them with a higher amount of security then would normally be required. Do not go around collecting all of the antagonist objectives as you first order of business and hide them in the vault just to make sure nobody can get them. This is boring and metagaming.
  3. Don't manufacture weapons, bombs, death poisons, or anything similar before you know of any threats to the station or any reason you would need them. Making things "for the end of the round" when the shuttle docks with Central Command is also forbidden.

• Intentionally making yourself a major problem/annoyance/disruption for the crew or other players at large while not an antagonist is forbidden (referred to as "self-antagging").
  1. This is a catch-all that encompasses a wide range of annoying and disruptive behavior. Smashing lights, destroying infrastructure and furniture, cutting power, spacing rooms, attacking random people unprovoked, handing out all-access, stealing high-risk items for no purpose (ex: nuclear authentication disk, captain's ID), or otherwise reducing the quality of life on the station.

SECURITY & COMMAND-SPECIFIC RULES

• Command & Security roles are held to a higher standard of play. It is easy to ruin the game for other players as these roles, therefore they are generally more restrictive and given less leeway on the amount of disruption they are allowed to cause.
  1. If you sign up for a Command or Security role, you are expected to know the basics of the game, your job, and the job(s) you supervise, if any. Failure to know your job or how to play the game in general as Command or Security is liable to result in a job ban.
  2. Do not make friends with known antagonists & trade with them to obtain contraband or for promises of protection, etc. Giving away any objective items you also supervise or have control over is also strictly forbidden. Antagonists are meant to drive conflict and you completely invalidate this conflict if you simply give them an incredible sensitive high-risk item.
  3. Do not engage in disruptive or lawbreaking behavior as Security or Command or simply allow/encourage disruptive or lawbreaking behavior to happen. Security will be expected to intervene into criminal activity and attempt to maintain order.
  4. Do not immediately abandon your position (including suiciding, disconnecting, or ghosting) as a Command or Security role to go do whatever you want instead of managing your department/the station. Signing on as Captain and then immediately going to find a clown outfit and cause trouble as a clown with all access will get you exploded.
  5. Do not abuse your position to obtain whatever you want. Just because you are the Captain does not mean you can order the Chief Engineer to give you his spare toolbelt, or order the Chief Medical Officer to give you his hypospray, or walk into the Armory and pocket as many guns as possible. Other people besides you are playing the game and may need equipment and manpower, and the heads of staff who have responsibility to that equipment and their department reserve the right to stop you if you try to grab it for no reason.
  6. Do not make arbitrary decisions to the detriment of the station. Such (real) examples that could be proven are: hiring anyone you can find as security regardless of competence, calling for the execution of particular crew members over announcements due to vague suspicions, promoting the first random clown/mime you find to be a "bodyguard" with all access, promoting random people to Captain, etc.

• Security and Command should try to remain non-lethal and effect arrests where possible instead of outright killing suspects/attackers, unless there is very good reason to believe the target is an antagonist.
  1. Security & Command will answer for the use of lethal force or for ordering lethal force to be used. In the following circumstances, you may choose to use lethal force:
     • Lethal force is used against you (ex: firearms, lasers, disabling weapons with intent to kill, deadly melee weapons)
     • Suspect is wearing clothing or showing immediately dangerous equipment only used by enemy agents/antagonists (ex: Syndicate EVA Suit, Bloodred Hardsuit, Holoparasprite, C-20R, etc.)
     • You determine that your life or the life of an innocent is in immediate danger
     • The suspect is unable to be safely detained by less-lethal means
     • If no other reasonable options are readily available and allowing the suspect to continue would be an unreasonable danger to the station/crew
  2. Security/Command will be expected to effect arrests on criminals. Once you have a criminal in custody, you are expected to prevent them from dying and obtain them basic medical aid, at least to the point where they are no longer at risk of dying. This is especially true if lethal force is used to detain them.
  3. Security/Command are strongly encouraged, but not required, to effect the cloning of antagonists to effect a permabrigging or other sentence as deemed appropriate.

• Security/Command will be reasonable with brigging times/procedures and will attempt to protect detainees in their custody so as long as doing so does not create an unreasonable risk to themselves, the crew, or the station at large to do so.
  1. Brig times for criminals should generally not exceed 10 minutes unless the crime is permabriggable.
  2. Repeat offenders, antagonists, or those where there is strong reason to believe they have committed a serious crime (multiple homicides, bombing/arson which causes significant damage, or extensive sabotage) may be permabrigged.
  3. Detainees that die in your custody must be cloned unless they have been (legally) executed, suicide, or there is strong reason to believe they are an antagonist or otherwise pose a major danger to the crew/station.
  4. Detainees should be released from the brig in a timely manner once their sentence is up and given back any gear taken from them, minus contraband which may remain confiscated. Security may choose to confiscate dangerous items (weapons, firearms, etc.) as well as items used to commission crimes or items that prove problematic in possession of the detainee (tools, insulated gloves, etc). If Security exercises this privilege they will be expected to produce a good reason for confiscating it.
  5. Executions must be approved by the Captain or Acting Captain, who will answer for approving it alongside the entire Chain of Command who requested it.
  6. Those who willfully attempt to damage/destroy or escape from the permabrig may be executed.
  7. As there is no official space law, Security & Command act to maintain the safety of the station and its inhabitants, as well as Nanotrasen assets.

THINGS THAT WILL GET YOU JOB BANNED FROM SPECIFIC ROLES OR DEPARTMENTS

This is a brief and incomplete list of things that can get you jobbanned from a department or role. The purpose of this is to better illustrate why one may get banned from a specific role.

COMMAND ROLES

• Giving out/bartering sensitive equipment to antagonists or the crew without very good reason.
• Refusing to do your job or abandoning your position as a head of staff.
• Poor management or understanding of the jobs/roles within your department.
• [Captain/HoP] Giving out all-access ID cards without very good reason.
• [HoP] Giving yourself armory access and attempting to arm yourself without any prior approval.
• [CMO] Utilizing your Hypospray as a weapon without proper escalation or cause.

SECURITY

• Inappropriate or overly harsh brig times.
• Inability to safely effect an arrest.
• Attacking/beating cuffed prisoners without a very good reason.
• Inappropriate permabrigging or unauthorized executions.
• Failing to properly process prisoners in an effective, safe, and fair manner (releasing prisoners without belongings, etc.)
• Inappropriate use of lethal force.
• Neglecting to render aid or neglecting to intervene in criminal activity.
• Open use of contraband or syndicate equipment without very good reason.
• [Warden/HoS] Neglectful or inappropriate use or distribution of the contents of the armory.
• [Lawyer] Deliberately interfering with Security's normal operation and processing/searching of prisoners.

ENGINEERING

• Sabotaging/degrading power.
• Purposefully detonating the Anti-Matter Engine (AME).
• Purposefully causing the singularity to be released.
• Sabotaging/degrading atmospherics.
• Building off-station constructions or shuttles at detriment to the situation of the main station.
• Electrifying doors or machinery which poses a major hazard to the crew at large.

MEDICAL

• [Chemist] Using chemistry to produce weapons or poisons without reason or prompting, especially when neglecting to make medicine for Medbay in doing so.
• [Chemist] Spiking food/drinks/pills with poisons or other harmful medicine for no reason.
• Refusal to treat patients without a good reason.
• Sabotaging cloning/medical supplies.
• Mourging or otherwise inappropriate disposal of corpses that are still clonable.

SCIENCE

• Producing weapons or bombs for no purpose, especially if trying to use them on the public.
• Kidnapping other players for "science experiments."

CARGO

• Cargonia or any variation thereof without admin approval.
• Deliberately refusing to fill reasonable orders for supplies requested by the crew or its departments, especially where such orders are urgently needed.
• Wasting budget by ordering large amounts of nonsense at detriment to the station
• Powergaming by liquidating public station assets to sell for money to the detriment of the rest of the station

SERVICE

• [Chef] Gibbing clonable corpses or murdering/gibbing intruders.
• [Bartender] Poor escalation by shooting patrons with your shotgun for the slightest provocation.
• [Bartender] Abandoning your position because you now have a shotgun and you like being able to shoot people that cause you trouble instead of tending the bar.
• [Clown] Over-the-top grief which enters self-antag territory instead of being funny.
• [Mime] Using emotes to bypass your chat restriction or using emotes in an incredibly lazy manner
• [Chaplain] Making cults or attempting human sacrifice