A Note on Server Rules

[Fire Wraith]

Let me also clarify something, in case it's not clear.  The rules are vague not because we're lax or lenient, so much as that we believe it's a waste of our time (and yours, the players) for us to draw up a massive set of precisely worded rules that you'd need a lawyer to properly interpret, nor are we interested in arguing over whether or not our rule was clearly worded enough to apply to a specific thing. We are a group of friends running a game, even if a rather large one, and we expect you all to conduct yourselves accordingly.

You are all adults (and if you're not, well, sorry, you have to be 18 to play here), and this isn't your first game, online or otherwise. You all know generally how the game is meant to be played, and what an exploit is. Just because we never said you can't specifically do X, doesn't mean we won't hold you to it if you should know better. Now, we're nice and reasonable people, and we expect that there will be honest mistakes at times, so if you're being generally straight with us, we will be with you.

But you know what gets people banned here, ultimately? Proving that they're not people we want to invite back to our game nights, for any number of reasons - one among them being that we can't trust you to not try and weasel around rules, argue with us over stuff, exploit whenever you think you can, etc.

[Edge]

At this time, we feel it necessary to remind people of Rule Number Two on our server rules: to show respect to other players and staff. Players who fail to do so are, despite common claims to the contrary, breaking the rules.

Furthermore, notice this line in that very rule: "People who make everyone around them miserable are the sort that no one wants around." It isn't often we reach this point, but it does occur, and when a player's presence is so dreaded that them simply being here begins to cause people to leave, the admins are forced to act.

We do not require everyone to get along. We do not expect everyone will get along. But when a player's presence is so disliked, so dreaded, that players simply cease playing in large numbers to avoid them, that is a problem. And specifically, it is a community problem. And one of the duties of the administration is to deal with problems that affect the community as a whole.

Long story short: we can't police every person-to-person interaction and, frankly, there are a lot of jerks in the world and we can't exactly tell people not to be jerks. But if you're so much of a jerk that a large portion of the server is unwilling to play if you are present at all, we may end up telling you that you're no longer wanted. Consider this a warning for the future. This is not a decision we make lightly, and not without heavy consideration and consolidation between all four admins. But it is also not a decision we are unwilling to consider, should the situation call for it.