Rules

Rules of Conduct

 * 1) Never threaten or harass another player in any way.  This means that even if you think something is all in good fun, if you're asked to stop a certain behavior toward another player, stop immediately.  Contact staff if you need clarification or moderation.  Do not try to find "loopholes" around this.  We will not tolerate it.
 * 2) Be polite and courteous to other players. Debates and arguments happen, but please don't let them get out of hand.  If asked to move an argument or debate to pages, do so.  Do not make any derogatory remarks based on gender, ethnic group, culture, country, belief system, sexuality, or lifestyle; do nothing that might be construed as bigotry or hate-speech. Respect the opinions of others. Do not spam or abuse ANSI.
 * 3) TinySex (TS) is a term derived from the name of our codebase, TinyMUX.  TS is, essentially, "cybersex."  We don't care if you have TinySex (TS).  We don't want to know if you're having TinySex.  Keep it in private rooms, and you should be fine.  Also, players are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure that any partner in such activity is not a minor.  Never try to push anyone into TS. Don't wear sexually explicit descriptions in public.  Don't create/apply for characters designed just for the sake of TS.  Finally, characters who are minors below the age of consent should NEVER engage in TS or related role-play.  This game should generally retain a PG-13 rating.
 * 4) Keep In Character and Out of Character separate.  An action against your character should not be taken as an action against you. OOC information such as that contained in +finger or similar is not IC knowledge unless it would be reasonable for your character to know such information.  If in doubt, ask the player first.
 * 5) Never plagiarize material from any source.  Any material found to be plagiarized will be removed from the game.  If a player is found to be guilty of multiple offenses of plagiarism, they may be asked to leave the game.

Complaints
If you have a complaint against another player for any reason, you should contact staff and explain the problem. Any time another player breaks the rules listed on this page might be grounds for a complaint.

All complaints of harassment must be backed up by logs. In addition, all complaints must be made by somebody who is a direct victim of the behavior concerned. A player may assist another player in filing a complaint if they are uncomfortable doing so, but the victim of the behavior must be directly involved in the complaint procedure.

This policy is being implemented to ensure that third parties do not go charging into player disputes, only possessing one side of the story and, thus, potentially make situations worse. If you wish to mediate a dispute, you may, but you must be extremely careful and if you are not absolutely sure you can do so without angering either party worse, then you should request another mediator, preferably a non-involved member of staff.

Complaints Against Staff Members
Our staff tries to be professional and courteous in all our dealings with players. If at any time you feel you are being treated poorly, follow the steps below:
 * Try to talk to the staffer in question in private. Often, conflict is merely a failure to communicate.  We have page and @mail here for a reason, and if you have a problem, it's encouraged that you speak to the staffer in question before taking things farther.
 * If the staffer is unavailable, please feel free to ask an On Duty staffer for their help. They should be able to direct you as to what to do next.  Most likely, another staff member will decide what must be done to resolve the issue.
 * We admit openly that barring some egregious violation of policy, it is unlikely that a staff member will be removed. However, a ruling that is deemed unfair may be changed, or a staff member may be made to avoid dealing with a specific player.  The purpose of this policy is to mediate and resolve conflict, not to punish anyone.

Privacy Policy
Whatever personal information that staff asks for or can see is entirely confidential. We require a valid email address of all players, but we do not give out, sell, or spam such email addresses. They are used only to track alts and to possibly contact players if the game is down. Please do not ask staff for somebody else's email address. Unless the player has chosen to make it public, it is against policy for us to give it out.

On the same note, it is also against policy for us to inform anyone of the site or IP from which a player is connecting or to divulge their alts. Staff can see this information, but we do not give it out.

Finally, we do not log private conversations or read your @mail, as has, sadly happened on other games. However, remember that anyone who sees your conversation may be logging it, and telnet connections are not secure. We are not responsible for anything that might happen as a result of securit being compromised.

Content Rating
Language in public areas is to be kept to a general rating of PG-13. This means that minor vulgarity and profanity is considered acceptable, e.g. the use of such words as one might see on prime time broadcast stations, in most television shows. This may be pushed a bit, but that should only be rarely. What, then, is not acceptable? Explicit racial slurs should be avoided, F-word level profanity, sexually charged or explicit material, and extreme graphic violence.

If you want to surpass these guidelines, then you must do so in a private scene, in which you must take reasonable steps to ensure that none of the players involved are "OOCly" minors. For information on sexual situations, please see the conduct section, above.

Also, please do not publicly discuss illegal activities, such as any illegal downloads, file sharing, or similar activity. This includes discussion on channels or in public rooms. We could potentially get into a certain amount of trouble if it appeared that the game was being used as a forum to obtain pirated material. So, please don't do it.

Terms of Service
The MUX is a consensual role-playing community. The players and the staff here work together to create a fun roleplaying environment and to tell the stories of the characters on this game. The Staff of the MUX function to provide a framework of guidelines to support the intent of the game, to facilitate the efforts of the players, and to assure the fair handling of all players and characters. To that end, the staff of institutes rules and policies to maintain a fair balance between the rights and freedoms of all players, so that one player's freedoms do not impinge upon the freedoms of others.

Any player found to be in violation of the rules and policies of the MUX will be officially notified by Staff and given the opportunity to defend his or her actions, and/or correct the condition. Repeated violations may result in more strict punitive actions, such as restricting access to the game, in whole or in part. While it is the most sincere wish of the Staff that such steps never be necessary, it should be made clear to all players that such actions can and will be taken to prevent players from impinging on the rights and freedoms of others within our community.


 * 1) If you want to play here, you have to follow the rules.  The rules are explained in the news files, which are accessible by typing 'NEWS'. The rules also include any policy post on the bulletin boards or any judgment made by a member of staff.
 * 2) We promise to do our best to be fair.  We're only human, and we admit that sometimes we, the staff, make mistakes.  We will do our best to uphold the rules and see that everone gets a fair shake.  Any staff decision may be appealed by sending @mail to *STAFF, so long as the appeal is communicated in a civil and reasonable manner.
 * 3) You are responsible for any actions taken via your connection.  Please protect your password, and do not allow others to log on to any of your alts.  All actions have consequences, especially if they break rules.
 * 4) Respect the staff, please.  We're here to do a job that we don't get paid for, and we really do try to make sure you have a good time.
 * 5) The policies in these files may be updated periodically.  This will generally be explained via posts to the MUX bulletin board.