Step 1: The New Rules

[Viper3X 1056]

Greetings community of the Lord of the Craft,

Today I would like to announce a brand new rules page for LotC. For too long we have been meaning to overhaul our rules page and make it more concise, and that day has arrived. You will notice that it is by far a lot smaller, which is what we intended. No longer will new players (or old players alike) have to sift through paragraphs to pinpoint what exactly the rule is, or read through rules that are better labeled guidelines. In this new rules page, all "guidelines" are removed (anything that we didn't enforce), and each rule is now as short and concise as possible. For example, it's much easier to just say "Hacking" is against the rules, rather than list a bunch of hacks that we do not allow (we don't allow any!).

Some rules were grouped, some removed, and a few added. We have removed the forum rules and lore rules entirely, as they fall under our global and roleplay rules. We have also merged 50% of the building/destruction rules with our roleplay rules and removed the rest. The war rules have remained as they are, as they have not been in place long enough for us to warrant any major changes (and we have not received much [if any] negative feedback). Finally, a majority of our "common sense" rules were removed (i.e. spamming and impersonation). Many would argue that we cannot enforce rules that are not listed on our rules page, but I would argue that anyone who tries to spam or impersonate is only looking to cause trouble, and thus they would fall under our other rules (i.e. toxicity). In short, if you are here only to be a problem player, we are not going to keep you around. On a lighter note, you will be pleased to hear that this is our first step in my new vision titled "Project Overhaul". Many of our staff members have shared this vision for a long while now, and we have finally formed it into a project. This project's goal is to make LotC simpler, more fun, and easier for new players to get involved. This is merely step 1 of this new project, and more will be revealed in the coming week (hint: we are tackling server plugins next). Enjoy the revamped rules page; it's shorter and more concise than ever!

Edit: We have decided to remove the war rules from the server. We came to the conclusion that they were too complicated and especially difficult for newer players to understand. Raiding is currently not allowed, and OOC consent is still required to conquer a region. However, the price of war system has been removed entirely because it is simply too difficult to manage effectively. If you read through the war rules listed below, you will see that this changes little, other than the penalty for starting a war. We hope that this new system works for everyone, but if it introduces more problems than it is worth then we may consider introducing some restrictions (which is what we do not want to do).

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/page/info/rules
 

 

A list of acronyms used in the rules:

• RP - roleplay

• IC - in-character

• OOC - out-of-character

• IG - in-game

• PvP - player-versus-player, specifically meaning Minecraft combat

• LotC - Lord of the Craft

• RP’ly - in roleplay

 

1. Global Rules; we do not tolerate the following on any Lord of the Craft service:

 

• Discrimination and prejudice (unless IC)

 

• Pornographic content or cybering (sexual roleplay)

 

• Account sharing or using multiple accounts at once to interact with each other

 

• Harassment

 

• Hacking

 

• Intentionally causing trouble or being consistently toxic

 

2. Roleplay Rules; We do not tolerate the following on our server:

 

• Abusing glitches

 

• Metagaming and powergaming

 

• Trolling

 

• Breaking server lore

 

• Playing as anything other than one of the main races without approval

 

• Rape, intercourse with a character younger than 18, prostitution, bestiality, necrophilia, or pedophilia

 

• Using your soulstone to avoid/escape combat or roleplay; if you are imprisoned, you can only soulstone away if left for over 30 minutes without roleplay.

 

• Structures that defy the laws of physics, underground or automated farms, floating leaves and strip-mining

 

• Avoiding loss of all memory of your death and the roleplay leading up to it when you die, or returning to the location of your death before 30 minutes have passed (unless it was your home); if you died in battle, you must wait until the battle ends before beginning the 30 minute timer.

 

• Using roleplay to get into areas that are not accessible via Minecraft mechanics

 

Combat Rules:

 

• Both sides must agree on using either text-based combat or mechanics-based combat. If both sides disagree, then you must use the default which is mechanics-based combat. There must be sufficient roleplay leading up to any combat scenario.

 

• Once the choice of combat has been decided, it cannot be changed unless all parties involved agree to the change.

 

• A five second countdown must be given and both sides must state they are ready if the combat is mechanics-based.

 

• If you run away from a fight that you are involved in with little to no roleplay, then the other player(s) can attack you via mechanics-based combat. If you emote running, roleplay it fully, and give them time to react in roleplay, they cannot opt straight for mechanics combat.

 

• You aren’t allowed to log out during combat or escape combat by running into a combat-restricted region.

 

Even if you don’t technically break any of our listed rules -- either from walking the fine line between breaking the rules and not or from consistently jumping through loopholes -- it is a moderator’s right to warn or ban you if they deem such an action necessary.

[Lima 774]

Thankyou! Any chance you could put a definitive reminder PVP is default, not majority default? Because some people still try and pull  that.

Also the breaking of the fourth wall?

[pfmvaz1996 379]

I do expect for the rules to be enforced, and not to be arbitrarily chosen which to follow, and which to ignore...

[Silent™ 552]

Very straightforward and to the point. Well done Viper and staff!

[Lita 677]

Finally. 

[_pr0fit 3084]

Was consistent toxicity added last minute due to a recent questionable event?

[TeaLulu 1783]

Please note that refusing to say you agree to or are ready for mechanics-based combat is also breaking a rule; I see a loophole in requiring individuals to say they are ready for pvp.

[_Jandy_ 3519]

Can we have a good definition fro constant toxicity, and can we make a player report against people we find consistently toxic?

[Lyuin 65]

Nice cleaning. I was always fearing that some rules would be outdated or the like. (I came in hoping for the rule of majority combat to return but still this is good :D) 

 

 

Now I'm interested about the rest of the steps...

[Viper3X 1056]

Thankyou! Any chance you could put a definitive reminder PVP is default, not majority default? Because some people still try and pull  that.

Also the breaking of the fourth wall?

It is in the combat rules, under:

 

• Both sides must agree on using either text-based combat or mechanics-based combat. If both sides disagree, then you must use the default which is mechanics-based combat. There must be sufficient roleplay leading up to any combat scenario.

 

Was consistent toxicity added last minute due to a recent questionable event?

Negative, it is a reworded rule we had before.

 

• Consistently depriving another player (or players) of their fun for your own personal gain or amusement, even after receiving appropriate warnings, is punishable if deemed necessary by the moderation teams. This may also be considered harassment. Essentially, don't be a troublesome player that only plays to annoy others or be a nuisance.

 

Please note that refusing to say you agree to or are ready for mechanics-based combat is also breaking a rule; I see a loophole in requiring individuals to say they are ready for pvp.

This isn't a new rule, so has it been abused in the past? If someone never says they are ready and they log out, they are avoiding combat (combat logging). If they walk away, they are avoiding combat and thus can be attacked.

 

Can we have a good definition fro constant toxicity, and can we make a player report against people we find consistently toxic?

Definition shown above. Yes, theoretically you can, but you would have to have a decent amount of evidence to back up your accusation (that is, if you want a decent length to the ban).

[Zezimus 1523]

Glad to see the rules have finally been updated, though I do still feel raiding should be allowed to some extent. Wars are very stagnant otherwise, particularly with the drawn out time it now takes to attack a region. Why can't nation leaders decide if they wish to allow their settlements to be raided or not?

[Travista 1361]

http://media.giphy.com/media/RVtju3cMTKOE8/giphy.gif

Goooooooooood

[Viper3X 1056]

Glad to see the rules have finally been updated, though I do still feel raiding should be allowed to some extent. Wars are very stagnant otherwise, particularly with the drawn out time it now takes to attack a region. Why can't nation leaders decide if they wish to allow their settlements to be raided or not?

 

They are currently disallowed until we can set up a system that is both not too restrictive and not too complicated. We'll see how things work out.

Trolling has been added to the list of roleplay rules.

[Jistuma 1996]

• Playing a main race unless permited to play a creature or animal is not stated in the rules.
• Always being IC is not stated in the rules
• Talking a lot in LOOC being not permited is not stated in the rules (note, this is not spamming the chat, just using the chat for the wrong reasons)

 

Also, does this mean there will be no more lore rules?

[AGP 3169]

I believe the problem mentioned with the "wait until everyone says they're ready" is that it allows someone to stall and wait for an opportunity to either escape or for their friends to come help them.