Player Rules of Conduct

Introduction

This document outlines the basic standards of good conduct expected of all players of the Ragnarök MUD game. These are included as part of the Terms and Conditions under which you are allowed access to Ragnarök. You are required to agree to follow these rules in order to use these resources in any way. If you do not abide by these rules (including the Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and—if you are a wizard—the Wizard Rules of Conduct), your rights to access and/or use these resources will be terminated.

Basic Rule

Although this is a fun environment where silliness abounds, in matters of player relations and personal behavior, we expect you to act as a responsible adult, and treat other players with respect and fairness.

Specific Rules

Do Not Attack Other Players

Player killing (PK) is not allowed. Anyone striking another player has committed one of Ragnarök's most serious offenses. Repeated offenses will result in banishment from the game. Other penalties, fines or imprisonment may be imposed based on the specific incident. The only exception to this rule is in case of a formally accepted challenge in the Combat Arena.

Let People Solve Their Own Puzzles

We encourage people to help one another, and even to assist each other in solving quests. By this we mean that everyone involved is working together to mutually solve the puzzles and fight the monsters. If a player has already solved a quest, he or she is not allowed to divulge the solution to other players—let them figure it out for themselves. It is likewise considered to be cheating to give a quest-credit object to a player who has not solved the quest.

High-level players and heroes who deliberately kill off all the monsters in an area with the intent to clear that area for another player to walk in and claim quest credit is considered to be helping that person to cheat. It is a fine line, and for the most part you are on your honour to play fairly. See the rules on questing (below) for more details.

Don't Cheat

If you are caught cheating, your punishment is up to one of the Elder wizards. The Gods are the ultimate court of appeals, but be warned! although they are just, they are not always merciful. Punishment can include banishment. You are encouraged to report bugs, but not to exploit them. Triggering a bug more than twice is usually considered exploiting.

Keep it Clean

Profanity is not allowed in mixed company; that is, with people who might be offended. If you don't know, you probably shouldn't. A shout or one of the "chat" lines is always considered mixed company, and a broadcast cuss word is usually a really good way to get to know a wizard real up-close and personal.

As a general rule, don't do or say anything which you'd be embarassed to see become public knowledge. This isn't specific to Ragnarök, it's just good advice for anyplace you go on the Internet. If what you're doing or saying is unlawful (either by Ragnarök's game rules or the established laws of the real world), don't be surprised if someone finds out about it and consequences result.

It is considered bad form to shout messages as a general form of comminication. Shout commands are reserved for emergencies. For normal chatting, use the "chat" channels provided for that purpose.

Wizard Relations

Wizards are not allowed to help or hinder players materially. They can give hints, especially about their own areas, but may not give coins, armor, or weapons or blatant give-away clues to quests. (This applies to any character run by a human who is a wizard here.) They are permitted (but not obligated) to make what they feel are fair adjustments in cases of obvious bugs, but may also defer to the creator of that area.

It is considered very bad form to foulmouth a wizard, and it can have unpredictable results.

Play One Character At a Time

It is considered cheating, and thus illegal, for any one player to be running (logged in as) more than one character (player or hero) at the same time.

Multiple characters may be run by one player, as long as they are not logged in to the game simultaneously, and are kept completely independent of one another (no transferring of goods or money between the characters).

The penalty for breaking this rule is the deletion of the higher level character.

Don't Use Client Automation

You are required to be in personal control of your character when he/she/it is doing anything in the game. If you have to step away from the keyboard, your character shoud just stand idle as well. Automating your character's actions to carry on as some sort of robot on its own, or making triggers which perform essential game functions automatically in response to game conditions without your direct action, are considered to be cheating.

What Happens If Your Connection is Broken?

Net dead/link dead players will potentially be carted off to a storage room after 30 minutes. Players may idle, connected, for up to 45 minutes before being visited by the lawyer. You will receive money for your goods, but only about 2/3 of what you'd get if you sold at the shop. It's to your advantage, then, to stash or sell off your things if you're going to be gone for longer than 30 minutes, and to try to get back in if your net connection dies.

We ask that you use the 'quit' command to log out of the game. Closing your program and going linkdead uses up resources that other players could be using. Also, it is illegal to use the the ability of linkdeath to gain an in-game advantage.

Stay Informed

Check the board in the Adventurer's Guild frequently. Not only do other players post interesting messages there, but the wizards will sometimes post hints, suggestions, or warnings there. The newspaper in the pub is also updated regularly.

Penalties

Law enforcement is handled by the hierarchy of wizards. The first line of contact are the town Sheriffs. They are there to deal with player disputes and complaints, and have the power to fine or imprison a character who has been caught violating one of the rules. They may also choose to refer the case to a higher authority—an Archwizard or a God.

If you wish to appeal a verdict or punishment, you are free to do so, by contacting someone higher on the legal hierarchy (deputy, sheriff, archwizard, god).

The Gods (level 1,000) are the highest appeal possible. Their decision is final, and in severe cases may result in temporary or permanent banishment. It is not generally in your best interest to try to appeal to the Gods first. Work through the lower levels first, where you may likely find an easier time presenting your case. It is unusual for the Gods to overturn the decision of the Archwizards.

Penalties for offenses may include a fine, removed from your supply of gold, time served in prison, reduction in level, loss of experience points, and/or temporary or permanent banishment.

Rules for Questing

Questing. That noble endeavour which tests the strength, courage, wit, and ingenuity of those most worthy players who choose to match their skills against the challenge of a wizard's realm. Here are a few guidelines to follow when questing.

Always be sure to read the hint file that goes with a quest. It will contain helpful information and may tell you exactly how much help you can obtain. The Creator of a quest is the final authority on just what you can and cannot do on a quest, and any rules the Creator sets supercede those outlined below.

Synopsis

• Starting: Finding it is half the fun!
• Cooperation: Allowed, with exceptions.
• Tanking: Not Allowed.
• Healing: Allowed outside quest area only.
• Material Help: Allowed outside quest area only.
• Quest Information: Not allowed.

Starting

Embarking on a quest isn't always easy, but sometimes finding out where to start is the first puzzle. For some clues, examine the quest description closely. It may give directions or list some monsters or landmarks which will help you navigate. Also, check out the realm kiosk, located in the Adventurer's Guild. If you 'view all realms' you may just see a reference to your quest. Another handy guide is THE guide-The Hitch Hiker's Guide to Ragnarök, that is. There is a section on quests in the guide which often gives a hint that is somewhat different from the one listed in the main quest list.

And remember! Always set your questing flag! You can do this by typing 'questing on'. This will display a list of unsolved quests. Then enter 'questing #' (where # is the quest number) to show that you are solving this quest. Setting your questing flag prevents many misunderstandings.

Cooperation

Unless otherwise noted, it is fine for 2 or more players to work simultaneously on the same quest IF they each have not solved it before. If one of them has solved it before (even with another character) and is giving hints or nudges in the right direction, this is blatant quest cheating.

You may join a person who is already questing, but you must reach the same point in the quest on your own before you begin working on the quest together.

Most quests give credit to only one player at a time. If players have gone through the quest together, they may go through the quest again to get credit for the other players. However, no new players may join in the questing. Also, these 'joint' quests should all be solved within a relatively short period of time; the same day if possible.

Tanking

Having another non-questing player fight with you to kill monsters in a quest is not allowed. Players who are questing together may fight together. (see Cooperation above)

Healing and Material Help

Healing a player is never cheating (unless you are a wizard) unless you venture into a quest area to heal someone who is working on that particular quest. You may meet a Quester outside of the quest area in order for you to heal them. Venturing into the area to heal him would not be acceptable.

Bringing a player any material substance, whether it be healing, equipment, etc, is strictly prohibited. This includes teleporting or transporting the goods by magical or any other means. Providing a questing player with such equipment while they are not in the quest area (for example, the house or shop) is permissable.

Giving another player quest items so they can complete the quest is never allowed.

Quest Information

Please be aware that talking about quests is not allowed. Players often express their questing frustration on chatlines, but going beyond saying 'Argh! This quest is really hard' can easily cause you to say more than you may intend to. Also, since players cannot give you quest information, it only aggravates everyone else. They may sympathize with your plight, but cannot help you.

Giving any information on a quest is generally considered cheating. This includes giving information both inside and outside the mud. Giving a general hint as to the starting point of a quest is really the only acceptable quest hint, and even that has conditions.

For instance, saying the Smurfy quest might start in an area where you find gasp smurfs would be an acceptable hint. This information is rather general and is already given in the quest hint. However, with some quests, finding the starting point is part of the quest, and you should be very vague when giving hints of this manner. It is better to simply tell the player to study the quest hint again.

If a player plagues you with queries such as:

I cannot figure out how to find the Great Seer of Mirtal.
Can you help?

You should answer with something encouraging, but of no real help, such as:

Do not despair, I am sure you will find him.

Likewise, a question such as:

How do I get this lever to work?

should be answered like this:

Think about things you could do with a lever.

An answer like: “Maybe you should pull it” is not acceptable for two reasons. First, it may give away the answer; Second, the questing player really needs to learn to think on his own, and anything more than extremely vague hints would hinder this. Also remember that the Quest Creator and the Law decide how vague a hint really is, not you. It is better to stick with simple encouragement.

If a player continues to plead for help, just tell him that giving hints is not allowed, but you are sure he will figure it out, if he only takes the time to think about it.

If all else fails, tell him to mail the Creator of the quest and cc to the current Quest Master (currently Derr). The Creator of the quest always has the final say in quest matters.

Character Purging

Characters in Ragnarök will be erased automatically if a certain number of days (detailed below) elapse between logins to the game. In other words, you must log in at least once every so many days to retain your character here.

The time to purge depends on your character's current level:

LEVEL	DAYS
1	14
2–19	90
20	N/A
21–29	120
30+	Exempt*

*but status reviewed, manual purging possible in some cases.

If you know you'll be gone longer than this, you can arrange to have your character's body placed into cryogenic deep-freeze so that it will last longer and will not be purged for a longer period.

Do this by going to the storage locker rental shop, and after disposing of your possessions, type "cryo" for storage up to 180 days, or "cryo long" for storage up to 365 days. Type 'help cryo' in the locker room for details.

Player Complaints

Complaints about the behavior of other players or wizards, as well as problems with the game system that you believe incorrectly cost you gold, experience or hit points, should be directed first to a Sheriff.

Sheriffs are the first point of contact for players wishing to resolve such grievances. They have the power to look at wizards' source files to determine whether a bug was in fact responsible for your losses, and to reimburse you whatever amount they deem fair, if any. They may also seal off an entire realm if it is proven to be too bug-laden to remain open until it's repaired.

They are also empowered to arbitrate player disputes, and their decisions are binding upon all parties involved (but may be appealed). They must defer judgments involving anyone higher level than themselves to an authority of greater level than all parties involved.

If a Sheriff catches a player cheating, player killing, or breaking any of the other rules, they may pass judgment and exact a penalty, which may be in gold and/or time served in prison. If the incident was severe enough to warrant banishment from the game, this decision must be made by the Gods.

Depending upon the severity of the offense, other possible penalties might include reduction of experience points, quest points, and/or levels, reduction of ability stats, and/or the death penalty (reducing your number of remaining lives). In some cases, the player may be barred from advancing to superhero and/or wizard levels.

The next level of appeal above Sheriffs would the be the Order of Archwizards. The Archwizards are the leaders of the other Orders of Wizards in the world, and have all the powers and abilities listed for Sheriffs. A decision by an Archwizard is final unless successfully appealed to a God.

The Gods are the final appeal in the game. Once a God has rendered a final decision about a matter, nothing short of the whim of a God can reverse it. Only a God may banish a player from the game.

Changes to These Rules

We may change these Rules at any time and at our sole discretion, to remain in accordance with applicable law or which will, in our judgement, foster a more playable, stable, and safer playing environment for all our Players and Wizards.

While we generally try to announce these changes in game announcements or on the website, it is your responsibility to check them whenever you access Ragnarök to be sure you are aware of the current revisions to them. Your continuing access of our services indicates your agreement with, and acceptance of, these rules as amended at that time.

Contact Information

The game administrators may be reached by posting a note in the MUD game's central post office, addressed to “#admin”, or by regular e-mail to the address “admin@rag.com”.

Effective 26 April 2010