Rules and Policies

    A note on policies:

    Policies will almost always be posted on the board or MOTD before they make it to this web page. Policies that are on the board and/or on this page are in effect. If a policy is removed from the board and never makes it to this page or any other help file it can be assumed that the policy is outdated and no longer applies. Keep in mind that every little issue cannot be predecided (see etc section below). If you have ANY questions, mail an immortal BEFORE you put yourself in a situation that could get you into trouble. The above is especially true of situations that involve pkilling or any way of gaining exp, eq etc that isnt "exactly" legal. Just because it is not spelled out here does not mean it is ok to do.

    S1 Communication Channels

    1.1 Gossip

    • Gossip is for non-game related communication. There is to be no game talk between players. examples: "Can I get a heal abv fnt?", "Is Harry online?" "I can't reply Harry because your invisible!", "Can someone come get my corpse?" "Woohoo I got a 30 str!" etc, all these are illegal.

    • Do not swear, complain about lag, spam, use offensive language or insult someone over gossip.

    • If it is just you and another person conversing on gossip, take it to tells.

    • Do not gossip anything that is not in English (Spanish, French, etc)

    • Punishment for breaking these rules will be at the discretion of the immortals. Warnings will generally be provided for minor infractions but serious or repeated offenses will result in the lost of ALL global communication channels either temporarily or permanently, at immortal discretion.

    • Read the rules on gossip, ignorance is not an excuse (HELP GOSSIP).

    1.2 Auction

    • Most of the Gossip rules also apply to Auction, except it is only for offering eq for auction.

    • Do not say something that would be considered a gossip on auction.

    • When auctioning something state the name and minimum bid of the item, nothing more. (Humming Gauntlets 50k min)

    • Do not give out ANY statistics on the item over auction, if you so desire to give information, using tells is allowed.

    • Do not say whether an item is enchanted or not over auction.

    • Do not ask for equipment over auction (eg: "wtb amulet")

    • No silent bids, no auctioning for others, no fake bids. If you bid you are obliged to purchase at the winning price, unless the seller agrees to cancel the sale. If you auction an item and someone places a legal bid on that item - you ARE obliged to sell that item (unless the buyer agrees to cancel the sale).

    • Three minutes without a bid is the minimum time before you may withdraw an item from auction.

    • Only one item is to be auctioned at a time.

    • You may place a minimum value on an item ("a rapier, min bid 500k")

    • You may not purchase/bid with one PC and collect the item with another.

    • Punishment for breaking these rules will be at the discretion of the immortals. Warnings will generally be provided for minor infractions but serious or repeated offenses will result in the lost of ALL global communication channels either temporarily or permanently, at immortal discretion.

    • Read the rules on auction, ignorance is not an excuse (HELP AUCTION).

    1.3 Shout

    • Do not swear/abuse/insult/use offensive language with shout.

    • You must shout (three times only) if you plan to cast an area effect spell. eg "Area spell in barnyard". This is to let other PCs in the area know you are casting a spell that could affect them.

    • No spamming of shouts.

    • You may shout for spells/equipment/groups.

    • Punishment for breaking these rules will be at the discretion of the immortals. Warnings will generally be provided for minor infractions but serious or repeated offenses will result in the lost of SHOUT either temporarily or permanently, at immortal discretion.

    • Read the rules on shout, ignorance is not an excuse (HELP SHOUT).

    1.4 Says/emotes/socials

    • No spamming.

    • No abusive/insulting language towards other players

    • No harrassment/unwanted sexual advances towards other players

    • Punishment for breaking these rules will be at the discretion of the immortals. Warnings will generally be provided for minor infractions but serious or repeated offenses will result in the lost of the ability to communicate on the mud either temporarily or permanently, at immortal discretion.

    S2 Playing the Game

    2.1 Arenas

    • Do not EVER ask for an arena.

    • Do not use charmed mobs in an arena.

    • Do not steal from people in an arena.

    • Do not group with people in an arena (ganging up is fine, but forming a group, following one another is out).

    • Do not teleport opponents out of the arena.

    • Do not summon others who are in an arena, whether you are in it or not.

    • Breaking of these rules will result in an imm-specified punishment.

    2.2 Pkilling

    • Do not attempt to pkill anyone who is not chosen, any intent to kill another player who is not chosen will be dealt with very severely.

    • Do not ever cast area spells in Midgaard.

    • Do not attack a newbie, under level 20, at any cost, this is strictly enforced. Even accidental attacks will be punished.

    • Do not summon and leave aggressive, high level mobs in newbie areas (or anywhere for that matter). If the mob kills someone you are going to be held responsible and it is considered a P-Kill.

    • There is a grace period of 24hrs before you may attempt to pkill someone after pkilling them a first time. (If you initiated combat. Which includes failing a pkill attempt, then killing them when they intiate an attack in retribution). eg: If you attack Fred, and Fred flees, then Fred comes back and attacks you (within 24hrs) and you kill him you may not attack Fred for another 24hrs. There is no excuse for a double pkill, restraint is required. This is a very serious offense.

    2.3 Charmed Mobs

    • Do not attack another player's charmed mobs.

    • Do not order your pet to attack another player.

    • Do not give any eq or weapons to a mob unless they are YOUR charmed pet.

    • Do not take charmed mobs into peaceful rooms (includes most rent rooms and the underground tavern) Mobs found in these rooms will be purged without exception.

    2.4 Other players

    • Do not ever recall another player without their permission. If a player is harassing you, talk to an immortal.

    • Do not harass other players. This includes spending your time following them around and doing nothing other than harassing them. Harassment is defined by the victim and all claims will be investigated.

    • Never loot another player's kill.

    • Never steal another player's kill. (start fighting a mob they're fighting).

    • Do not cast spells on a mob that a player is fighting without permission.

    • Do not summon aggressive mobs to Midgaard (summon at least 12 rooms away from the city's gates).

    2.5 Respect

    • Never use foul language, or insult another player.

    • Any one found harassing/insulting/indecently addressing another player may be deleted and site-banned. We will not tolerate unwanted and anti-social conduct towards other players. Threats of physical violence towards a player (especially on a 'real world' level) will be dealt with EXTREMELY harshly, normally deletion of character on first offense, then account and finally a site-ban.

    2.6 Multiplay

    • Multiplay is the situation where one of your characters does something that affects another one, usually benefitting one or more of your characters. An example is using your high level character to beat up a bunch of mobs until they're almost dead, then bringing out your new low-level character to finish them off easily for easy XP. ANY interaction between characters on the same account is illegal.

    • The one exception is so-called 'eq swapping' you may drop an item on the ground and pick it up with another character. You may not enlist a friend's help to swap eq (they may not hold it for you, or stop other people from picking it up.) Any eq on the ground is considered 'fair game'.

    • Anyone can pick up eq from the ground. It will not be considered as stealing, whether the eq has been dropped on purpose or accidently.

    • Do not use one character to retrieve the corpse of another.

    • Do not cast spells on another player with one character, then group with that player using a different character.

    • Punishment for multiplay is usually a long time in hell. Repeat offenders may find themselves deleted.

    2.7 Multi-accounting

    • Multi-accounting is the sharing of or having access to, more than one account.

    • Never give out your password to any other player. You are responsible for the actions of your account irrespective of who is logged in.

    • Never log in to another player's account (even if your own account isn't logged in).

    • Strictly one account per player.

    • Anyone found multi-accounting will have all concerned accounts deleted.

    2.8 Choose

    • Non-chosens can not in any way participate in the attempted pkill of a chosen player.

    • Non-chosens can not recall chosens who are engaged in pkilling.

    • Once you have chosen, there is no 'un-choosing' - it's permanent.

    • You may have more than one chosen in your account.

    • Repeated interference of non-chosen in chosen activities will result in being forced to choose.

    S3 General Rules

    • Do not exploit any bug in the game, if you find a bug, you must report it. People found exploiting bugs will probably be deleted. People who report a bug will probably be rewarded for it.

    • Do not attempt to interpret these laws in ways that will let you get through a so-called 'loophole'. It is important that you understand the spirit of the laws contained here. It is an immortal's prerogative to interpret the rules however the immortal sees fit - not yours.

    • Immortals have the power to invent or create laws to fit situations as they deem fit. Anything posted on the boards by an immortal is also law.

    • Ignorance of these laws is not an excuse for breaching them. It is your responsibility to know the rules of PR, and to follow them.

    • The laws of Perilous Realms are not all-encompassing. It will be possible to break them, it will be possible to do things that annoy your fellow players without breaking them. It is up to you, the player, to help make PR the world that you want it.

    S4 Punishments for Offenders

    • All immortals, demigod and higher, have the right to enforce the laws of Perilous Realms and apply punishments.

    • Each player has a permanent log file to which immortals write all punishments and warnings, and their dates.

    • For minor offenses, the player is initially warned about their behaviour. Repeated offenses will get punished with either removal of channels, or with a period of banishment. The length and severity of the punishments will increase with repeat offenses and the severity of the offsenses.

    • For serious offenses, examples of which would be multi-accounting, pkilling under 20's, harassment, will start with banishments and progress to char deletion, account deletion.

    • For offenses which involve non-chosens committing thefts, or interfering with chosen combats, the punishment will be to be set chosen permanently.

    • All enforcement imms have the right to vary punishments as they see fit to match the crime.

    • All time-based punishments will be noted in the COMMENT file and players can request to know their release date and after such a date, any immortal will release them.

    • If you have a query with the punishment given by an immortal, bring it to the attention of the assistent imps. Arguing with the immortal in question is normally non-productive.

    S5 Rules for Immortals (Player Perspective)

    • Always treat the immortals with respect, they are not to be considered exempt from any of the above rules about insulting or using abusive language. You will be punished just as harshly if you do insult an imm.

    • Immortals are often AFK (away from keyboard), please remember this when waiting for a reply.

    • Do not assume that if you can not see any immortals, that there are none on-line.

    • Do not argue with immortals. If an immortal says you broke a law, then you did. If an immortal intervenes with a situation, then they are within their rights to do so. All immortals are held accountable to each other - and they are more closely watched than most players. Immortals have their own rule set, and they will follow it. If you have a serious complaint regarding a particular immortal, then please send a polite note (not a tell) to an asst imp - who will investigate.

    • Please do not assume that an immortal knows who you are and what your particular story is before asking for help. If you have a problem, politely inform an immortal about the situation. Don't demand they simply 'do' something for you - they might have no idea what you're talking about.

    • If an immortal tells you something is so, then that's final. Do not try asking a different immortal the same question to get an answer that pleases you more. If an immortal says they don't know, or suggests asking someone else, then you may assume that you may do so.

    • If you find yourself unsure about something it is always all right to ask an immortal, they will be more than happy to answer your questions.

    • Do not ask an immortal to reimburse you for eq/gold/levels lost unless it is a game error.

    • NEVER attack an immortal, death normally results.

    S6 Rules for Immortals (Immortal Perspective)

    • Always treat the players with respect, immortals are not exempt of the rules that govern the interaction of people on the mud.

    • Do not harass the players, harassment by an immortal should be reported to an imm higher than the offender. All cases will be investigated.

    • All immortals have all their actions, including tell and say, logged. Statements by and to immortals are not considered private but are accessible to only the most senior of staff members and normally only are accessed during investigations.

    • Do not let your immortal aid any mortal characters you may have in any way.

    • Test characters should NEVER interact with regular PC's.

    • Do not kill mobs or take EQ for the purpose of denying it to players, the mobs and equipment are there for the game players.

    • Never give out restrings, new equipment, immortal enchants to players without the permission of a senior immortal.

    • Don't give out any game information you obtain as your immortal to others. This will be monitored and will result in demotion or deletion.

    • Don't give out any player personal information that you may obtain or come across as an immortal. Any infractions will result in deletion of the immortal character. No exceptions allowed.

    • The above two rules apply to giving information to OTHER IMMORTALS who don't have access to the information.

    • A builder's job is to BUILD, unless specifically told otherwise by a god. Also, if there is an emergency you may interrupt your building to handle the matter. In such circumstances take a note of the issues and mudmail a senior immortal. Builders do not have any powers of enforcement and threats by builders should be reported immediately to senior imms.

    • Do not abuse your power or it will disappear with haste.

    • All punishments must be noted and dated in the COMMENT file or else they will be null and void.

    • Biased behaviour in the handing out of punishments is a cause for removal of the authority to enforce the laws.

    • All punishments should start with a mild punishment with repeated offenses resulting in greater punishments. Work on the presumption of a "stitch in time..." rather than needing a sledgehammer to enforce good behaviour.

    • All immortals will start at builder grade and promotion within that grade is dependent on work performed. Promotion to demi-god, the first enforcement level is not automatic and is based on issues of trust and impartiality of the player. It may also require deletion of game characters to avoid conflict of interest.

    • Both immortal and mortal players of the game have the right and the duty to report immortal bad behaviour.

    • Immortals should remain visible unless busy building or working on some project.

    • Immortals should respond politely to all player queries and help them when possible with information about the mechanics of the game. Game information cannot be provided.

    • Immortal positions confer responsibility upon certain players. Abuse it and you must lose it.

    • All immortals, from builder up, should be treated with respect, as they are the ones who keep the mud running; if you are informed by a immortal that you are engaging in improper behavior, you should make every effort to curtail such behavior. Though you are not expected to always roleplay and treat the gods as gods, you should keep a base level of politeness (especially if you expect us to do anything for you!). The Immortals have put a lot of time in the mud and try to make it a better place for you.

    S7 Miscellaneous - General Advice:

    • Only use the Magic: The Gathering hall for MTG, nothing more. This is a historical feature of the mud and so it will remain.

    • Check the mortal/immortal boards frequently to keep up with coding changes and what is going on in the game.

    • Don't portal to areas that are off limits due to your level. You'll just end up dying. The limit guides are just guides but dying is not fun.

    • Explore new areas with someone else, there is safety in numbers.

    • Don't exploit any bug in the game. Doing so will result in deletion and site banning if caught...

    • The staff will be grateful for information on bugs, and no that doesn't mean free equipment.

    • Time-Purged, deleted players and accounts cannot be restored, it is irrevocable so be careful.

    A Final Note-

    These rules are subject to change at any time, you can keep up to date with the changes, if they occur, by reading the immortal board in the underground. Any other rules that you know of that are not on this list ARE still in effect, unless you are told otherwise by a senior immortal.

    And the most important rule of all: Have alot of fun, that is what it's all about.