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Rules of Conduct

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE BASIC RULES OF CONDUCT THAT GOVERN PLAYER INTERACTION AND ACTIVITY WITHIN MECH WARS. FAILURE TO ACT RESPONSIBLY AND COMPLY WITH THESE RULES WITHIN MECH WARS MAY RESULT IN THE TERMINATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT. IF YOUR ACCOUNT IS SUSPENDED OR TERMINATED YOU WILL NOT BE ENTITLED TO A REFUND OF ANY AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU TO USE THE MECH WARS SERVICE AND YOU WILL FORFEIT ALL OF YOUR UNUSED ACCESS TIME.

  1. You may not harass, threaten, embarrass, stalk, or cause distress, unwanted attention, or discomfort to another players.

  2. You may not use any sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise offensive language.

  3. You may not impersonate any Mech Wars staff, past or present, including Customer Support personnel.

  4. You may not violate any local, state, national or international law or regulation while playing Mech Wars. You may not use the game service to engage in illegal activity.

  5. You may not market, promote or advertise anything, or make any other form of solicitation (including pyramid schemes and chain letters) on the Mech Wars service or any Mech Wars web site.

  6. You may not access the game by any means other than through a standard web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla).

  7. You may not arrange for the exchange or transfer of any pirated or illegal software while on Mech Wars or the Mech Wars website.

  8. You will follow the instructions of authorized personnel while in Mech Wars or on the official Mech Wars bulletin board.

  9. You may not organize nor be a member of any organization or group within Mech Wars that are based on, or espouse, any racist, sexist, anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-gay, or other hate-mongering philosophy.

  10. You may not give false information or intentionally hide any information when registering for your Mech Wars account.

  11. You will not upload or transmit on Mech Wars, or on the Mech Wars website any copyrighted content that you do not own all rights to, unless you have the express written permission of the author or copyright holder.

  12. You will not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running Mech Wars.

  13. You will not exploit any bug in Mech Wars and you will not communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug (bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in game), either directly or through public posting, to any other user of Mech Wars. You will promptly report any such bug via the bugs@mechwars.net email address.

  14. You will not create, use, play, or provide any site where Mech Wars may be played.

  15. You will not do anything that interferes with the ability of other Mech Wars users to enjoy playing the game in accordance with its rules or that increases the expense or difficulty of Mech Wars staff in maintaining the Mech Wars service for the enjoyment of all of its users.

  16. You will not share your account password with anyone.

  17. You will use the Mech Wars petitioning system in accordance with the Petition policy. You will not intentionally submit misinformation through the petition system.

  18. You will not taunt or otherwise encourage other players to violate any EULA or game rules.

  19. You will not allow another player to taunt you into violating any EULA or game rules.

  20. You will not use partial masking in order to use inappropriate words that would otherwise be in violation of the rules. (Note: If we can tell what word you are trying to mask, and the word is in violation of the rules, then the partially masked word is in violation of the rules. Hint: Try using cartoon speak when you really want to say something naughty. 'I am &^%^$% lost!' This is an example of complete masking and is acceptable.)

Play Nice Policies - Activity within Mech Wars

In addition to the general guidelines listed above, players are also subject to these supplementary rules while playing Mech Wars. While by no means an all-inclusive list of the do's and do not's in Mech Wars, it provides a suitable foundation by which the player can determine what activities are appropriate:

  1. Foul language is not permitted, in any language.

    Excessive use of foul language in an inappropriate context, including swear words, real-world racial slurs, and other language that is not consistent with the fantasy environment and designed to hurt, will be considered a disruption.

  2. You may not harass others.

    Harassment is defined as specifically targeting another player or group of players to harm or inconvenience them. As harassment can take many forms, the Mech Wars Customer Service Representative (MWCSR) involved will make a determination as to whether or not a “reasonable person” would feel harassed and act accordingly.

  3. You may not defraud other players.

    Fraud is defined as falsely representing one's intentions to make a gain at another's expense. Examples of this activity include, but are not limited to, using deception to deprive another player of items (e.g. mechs, troops, credits), slandering another player or impersonating them with the intention of causing harm to that player's reputation, or falsely representing one's identity in order to gain access to another player's account or account information.

    Fraud in all transactions between players may result in disciplinary action when confirmed by an MWCSR.

  4. You may not abuse other players or Customer Service Representatives.

    The following actions would be considered abuse:

    • Hate Mongering - participation in or propagation of Hate literature, behavior, or propaganda related to real-world characteristics.

    • Sexual Abuse or Harassment - untoward and/or unwelcome advances of a graphic and sexual nature. This includes, but is not limited to, virtual rape, overt sexual overtures, and stalking of a sexual nature.

    • Attempting to Defraud a CS Representative - This includes reporting item loss, or accusing other players of wrongdoing without basis for it.

    • Impersonating a Customer Service Representative - falsely representing yourself to another player as a Mech Wars administrator, moderator, or guide.

    • CS Personnel Abuse - This includes, but is not limited to, sending excessive messages (as an individual or group) to a CS Representative, excessively posting on the official Mech Wars bulletin board to communicate to a CS Representative, making physical threats, or using abusive language against a CS Representative.

    • Implying Favoritism by MWCSRs - Stating that Mech Wars staff or members of the Moderator or Guide program will show favor towards one or more parties involved in any given situation. This includes, but is not limited to, using threats of retribution or inferring that you will not be held accountable for your actions due to special consideration.

    Note: This list is not all-inclusive. Other actions may be determined as abuse at the discretion of the MWCSR.

  5. “Role-playing” does not grant license to violate these rules.

    Though we encourage role-playing both in the game and on the Role-Playing forum on the bulletin board, the claim of “role-play” will not be accepted in defense of any of the anti-social behaviors mentioned above. We strongly encourage role-playing, but cannot allow it to be done at the expense of others.

  6. You may not operate an organization that habitually violates these rules.

    Disciplinary issues involving organizations may be addressed with the entire organization. Organizations whose members habitually violate these rules may be issued organization warnings, and can even be permanently disbanded.

    Organization leaders and/or officers may be held accountable for any actions of their organization members, in addition to any other actions that may be taken. It is therefore the responsibility of the organization leadership to ensure that all organization members abide by these rules.

(Last updated October 25th, 2002.)