GM Duran

My old profile: Duran Shadowfist

Hey everyone, it's GM Duran.

I spoke with the Illyriad Staff about updating these to make sure that all the players knew to a) Read the Code of Conduct post, which hasn’t changed. b) How moderating looks with me as your Community GM looks like.  Some things below have been policy forever, some things I’m reiterating for clarity.

Code of Conduct (updated) Forum Post

Code of Conduct

In order to create a positive and respectful environment for both the Illyriad players and staff, the following are strictly prohibited both in game (although there is some difference between AC or Private Chat and General Chat) and on the forums:
 

•     Players who are under 16 years of age
•     obscene, racist, homophobic or sexist language and imagery
•     posts of a sexually explicit, inflammatory or violently threatening nature
•     abuse, harassment and name-calling
•     posts with the intent to provoke or disrupt other players aka "trolling"
•     profanity is forbidden in game and strongly discouraged on the forums
•     impersonating fellow players or Illyriad staff
•     discussions and debates of a real world religious or political nature
•     spamming, for example: repeating information or posts of a nonsensical nature
•     posting personal information such as address, phone number, real name or other  
      identifying information
•     use of copyright protected material without express consent of the owner
•     discussion of illegal activities
•     violation of local, state, national or international laws or regulations
•     posting of advertisements
•     discussion of interactions between players and staff (ie: no sharing of private information)
•     Do not break these, or any, official rules.

1) When you sign up for the game you are agreeing to abide by our rules

There is no discussion about "free speech", as this is not a public square. In fact, Illyriad is a private party that has an open door policy, but we also reserve the right to kick out anyone who simply does not behave. That is our right above everything else. Of course, we do it rarely.  We pride ourselves on our award-winning community (SlideDB awards: Editor’s Choice, Best Online Community!) but it can happen if needed. If you go around starting fights with the guests at our party, you will be asked to leave or forced to be quiet.

2) A set of rules does not tie our hands

In other words, if a player behaves poorly but does not technically "break a rule", that does not mean we cannot act. We will consider context, intent, etc. A player can come in and use the word “strawberry” in the wrong way (e.g. spamming the word) and still face consequences.  If you play illy, you agree to abide by our rules - as we see them and as we implement them.

3) New words added to chat filter

There is no way that people are going to use certain words in a polite, constructive way, but there are still plenty of ways to argue or to discuss game mechanics without using them. If everything is working properly, certain words should fire off the auto-silence. I would list every one of them, but the list is long and I do not want people to think that they can get creative and get around the filter once they know the words. 

Whilst we are very much a multi-national game, a key note is that we are going by "commonly understood slang", so words like "fag" that mean cigarettes somewhere else will not fly here. 

4) Politics/religion 

This is a common issue. I only have to shut down conversations when someone brings up the harder edge of any of these topics. Typically they are not allowed because (for some reason) someone always takes it personally and it becomes a yelling match. Please do not bring up potentially controversial subjects like firearms rights or gender issues. Those specifically will not be tolerated as we are an all-inclusive environment where everyone should be welcomed. 

Here are some examples.

Allowed: 

Player 1 - "The government sets the taxes and uses those taxes for stuff." 

Player 2 - "Yeah, they also run the army and do stuff, blah blah."

Not allowed: 

Player 1 - "The government taxes us way too much! Down with them!"

Player 2 - "Yeah! They suck! Your country sucks! Let's talk about conspiracies!" 

The same thing always happens to religion, etc. In other words, talk about them all you want, but as soon as the conversations turn to.... bad stuff... the players who are having a polite conversation need to tell the offending player to stop it. If I tell you all to drop it, it's because I do not have time to weed out the nice players from the offending players.

5) Walls of text 

If you intentionally post a massive wall of text in order to prank or to ‘make a funny’ in chat, your account may be banned. Forever. And ever. The fact is that the team sees this as an attempt to literally shut down chat (and it does affect chat, we have measured it in real time) and will be treated as an attempt to break the game. Do not test this one.

6) Begging 

This happens a lot, any time we get new players, but just be aware that begging in chat is not allowed and has never been allowed. If you look at the link on this forum or on my profile, these rules have been in effect for years. 

What IS begging? While it's hard for me to give an exact definition (also, players would use the time given as a way to skirt the rules) you will know when people warn you. Don't pop in every few minutes and beg for goods. Ask your alliance first, if you have one.  The good folk in GC will usually shower newer players with goods, without you even having to ask.

7) Children in chat

Due to the recent issues we have had with children talking in chat - and talking as children should not - we would remind all players that the minimum age for playing Illyriad is 16.

8) Drugs chat in GC

While we understand that some things are legal wherever you may live, we’d prefer that harder drugs were not spoken of in Global Chat. Any mention of them in chat will land you a silence. 

Multiple offenders will be looked at for further actions. Clearly we have beer as a unit used in the game, we aren’t going to stop you from discussing your favorite cocktail by any means. 

9) ‘Death By GM’.  

GM Stormcrow has asked me to make a specific point regarding this.  If your war is going badly, suddenly opening a petition about something your opponent said or did X years ago in a transparent attempt to get them disciplined or banned to assist your alliance… annoys the dev team more than literally anything.  

Play the game, but don’t save up a long list of faux outrage about minor infractions spanning many years, only to dump this list on us all at once because you’ve fallen out with the other player.  If a player’s behaviour is against the ToS, report it at the time it happens, and we will deal with it, if necessary.

Summary

I think that covers most of the recent changes/updates. Because this is in the rules section and will be linked on my profile, saying "I didn't know it was against the rules" does not count. You agree to these rules when you sign up. I am simply reiterating them.

I hate to write this stuff because it seems like things are bad out there, but they have never been better. The game is going great, and the community is even cooler than before. I just wanted to update these common issues before they get out of hand. 

Thanks! And now I'll see you on the battlefield!! *prepares mammoths*

___________________________________________________________

As GM Luna said it best, I intend to stick with the same policies.  - GM Duran

First, I'd like to say that overall our global chat is a shining example of an online community. I see on a regular basis new players come in and comment on how nice and helpful everyone is and how unusual that is to see in an online game. I do not take credit for that. That compliment belongs squarely with our amazing community members that have literally made Illyriad one of the best gaming communities of its type. You have my sincere thanks for that. And I want nothing more than for this to continue to be the case and for players of all types to feel welcome and comfortable in our game and global chat.

And with that, on with the rules clarifications. (Bold for important point emphasis.)

There are 2 types of chat silencing. The first is a one hour silence for profanity and spamming that happens automatically via a chat filter. The second are GM initiated silences that can last over 12 hours.

Mistyping words in order to get around the automatic chat filter is not acceptable and can earn you a GM chat silence.

After having been silenced, coming back on an alt or newly created character in order to complain about having been silenced is unacceptable behavior and will earn a chat silence for the second account. If you have two accounts and create a third for this purpose (or any purpose) you are in violation of multi-accounting rules and are subject to having accounts permanently suspended.

If you are silenced by me, I may send you an in-game mail with an explanation of why that you can reply to with any questions. If I am away and you are silenced by another member of the GM staff you will not get such a courtesy because you are taking away from their valuable development time, as their primary function is development not chat moderation. 

No one on the GM staff will discuss publicly, or with individuals in private, the reasons for moderation, silencing or the status of suspended or permabanned accounts with anyone other than the account holder themselves. Do not have your friend come to me and ask why you were silenced. It will get the same response and ultimately waste everyone’s time.

"But I was silenced for X and I saw someone else do X that is also against the rules." 

This is a common response, and while slightly understandable it is important to focus on taking responsibility for your own actions instead of trying to deflect onto others. It will not work to get you out of trouble or have a moderation decision against you changed. Also, as mentioned above, chat moderation decisions are discussed in private with the person involved only. Just because you didn't see anything does not mean another person didn't receive a warning or silence for their actions. Also, if you are genuinely concerned about something someone else said, and that I may have not seen it, please open a petition under the "rules" category with as much information as possible and I will look into it.

This is an incredibly important point. It is absolutely not appropriate to goad me (or the rest of the GM staff) into silencing you for whatever reason. Do not attempt to test if I am watching chat at that moment by calling out my name and requesting to be banned or saying something intentionally against the rules. I have a zero tolerance policy against this behavior and it can absolutely get you permanently suspended from the game for harassing Illyriad staff.