Server Rules

These rules are geared toward covering behavior **in-game.** If you are looking for the rules concerning our Discord Community - click here.

### **NO Theft**

*Stealing is a jerk move*, don't do it. It doesn't matter if it's 100 Diamonds or 1 Carrot, if it doesn't belong to you, please leave it alone. People worked hard for the items they've accumulated during their game time. You can find a carrot somewhere else. *This includes looting of bases that seem abandoned, unoccupied or forgotten*. ***Stealing is a zero tolerance rule and absolutely will result in a ban.***

### **NO PVP**

There is to be no PVP *at any time in any undesignated area* unless consent is previously established. We are a chill group, and we want to hang out, have fun, build, and be creative together. No one wants to take **an arrow to the head** while they're socializing and this behavior will be considered *aggressive* and *toxic*. ***Unauthorized PVP is a zero tolerance rule and absolutely will result in a ban.***

### **NO Vandalism or Griefing**

***Vandalism*** encompasses all acts of **unauthorized placing or destroying of blocks** in areas including *in close proximity to or within the boundaries of another players base, property or render distance* **OR** *community areas, property or render distance*. Community areas include but are not limited to; *the spawns in the End and the Nether, hub worlds, lobbies, and otherwise high traffic or central server locations*.

***Griefing*** encompasses **any act, build, or contraption designed with the intent to harass, annoy, or otherwise degrade the quality** of the game time another user is enjoying. Griefing can include pranks and practical jokes when the other party has not expressed an interest in participating in these situations. Obviously there is a gray area here. On one side it's jokes with friends, and on the other side it's bullying. It's up to you, the player, to know the difference. If a moderator or administrator is brought into a situation regarding this rule which now requires staff intervention, *the staff member's judgement is considered final and is backed by administrators in every case.*

### **Community Builds vs Shared Builds**

So there isn't any confusion going forward it's best to define a few more terms here so that they're used appropriately and can be referenced accordingly.

#### Community Builds

In most cases in the past a **community build** (ie. Community Crafting Center) is a **sanctioned** build created in a central server location by staff and/or volunteer team intended to be used by everyone in the community. Examples of this are Teleport Tower, the Post Office and the Arcade which serve a central function and are maintained and added upon in creative mode.

#### Shared Builds

Going forward, to differentiate, we will define **shared builds** as a *player led* effort to create a space, building or contraption with shared use in mind. These projects are unsanctioned and *will not be maintained or added upon by staff in creative mode* during it's creation or for maintenance, nor will players be compensated or restored in the event of a loss during the use of such spaces.

#### Why We're Making the Distinction

It's important to make this distinction because as time goes on and we continue to grow it will be impossible for staff to give equal time and attention to every instance of a shared build in a way that is fair and consistent. To save us the trouble later, making the distinction now is important. If you are working on a shared build please name it so (ie, Shared Trading Hall, Shared Iron Farm) and **reserve the use of Community** projects for projects that are sanctioned, maintained and insured by the staff.

Also please see Rule #3 regarding what is and isn't considered ***vandalism*** for builds from here on and plan your builds and build locations accordingly. If you'd like a project to be sanctioned, speak with an **Administrator** about having the project labled as such and seek permission before beginning builds in community areas including but not limited to; *the spawns in the End and the Nether, hub worlds, lobbies, and otherwise high traffic or central server locations*.

### **Redstone Farm Guidelines**

Redstone farms are a part of the game and we understand that, but we also play on a large multiplayer server. Redstone farms are extremely resource intensive. While we encourage you to build to your heart's content and express yourself in block circuits there are a few things we ask you to be aware of and a few things to avoid. The three redstone farm components that have the most significant effect on the server are:

* **Hoppers** - *hoppers call the server to process their inventory every single tick and this adds up very quickly.*
* **Entities** - *any free floating item that can be 'dropped' by a player or mob. The server tracks entities every tick. This includes item frames and paintings.*
* **Pistons** - *pistons move blocks and force every block being moved to call the server every tick. Again, consuming a lot of resources.*

Please try to reduce your usage of these components as much as possible to keep the server fun to play on for everybody and save the *absolutely ridiculous* redstone builds for your single player world. If you are building a redstone farm that may impact the server, please remember that **being away from keyboard (AFK) for longer than 10 minutes is strictly forbidden**. Please see the section below titled **NO** **Systems Abuse** for more information on devices and contraptions designed to circumvent this limit. If your farm is found to be causing server lag mods and admins can use timings reports to find the exact location of the offending farm. If the offending farm does not have a clear and present off switch, *staff members reserve the right to "break" the redstone circuit to cease operation of the farm, and restore the server status to nominal performance.*

### **NO System Abuse**

System abuse is defined *as any act, hack or manipulation of the software, unauthorized modifications to the game, formulas or equations* that run in the code of Minecraft to produce a result unintended by the developers. System abuse typically produces a return or an advantage in the world which the average player would not have knowledge of or access to. System abuse includes *taking advantage of loopholes, exploits or clear and present miscalculations* which better judgement would make clear **was not intended** by staff or the developers and would not be considered part of normal gameplay. System abuse also includes ***duping, counter-measures to AFK-kick systems, lag machines, or any device designed to keep a chunk loaded when a player is not present.*** System abuse does not include redstone farms, animal farms, crop farms and contraptions that utilize the games mechanics to produce normal amounts of in-game items. ***System Abuse is a zero tolerance rule and absolutely will result in a ban.***

### **One Account per Player**

Players with multiple accounts have a significant advantage over players with one and thus we have set the limit on accounts to one per player. This is especially true for players who own **Bedrock** **and Java** copies of the game. If you own both copies please see the Geyser/Floodgate page for instructions on how to link accounts so that no matter which platform you log in from the server uses your Java player data. Players who disregard this rule or do not link their accounts despite being aware of the rules will be ***banned.***

### **Economy Guidelines**

Economy guidelines are in place to make sure our server remains a fair and pleasant place to be and participate in. Staff take the economy guidelines seriously and there can be financial or structural consequences for members who do not adhere to them. Read more here.

### **Release of Personal Identifying Information**

**Any release of someone else's personal identifying information on our servers is a major offense and a crime.** *It will not be tolerated and will be reported to the appropriate authorities if it occurs.* Sensitive topics that are discussed in Discord are implicitly private and are to be considered confidential. Confidential material is not to be discussed or shared in game or elsewhere online without the owner’s CLEAR approval.

### **Treat Staff Members with Respect**

Staff members are dedicated volunteers who sacrifice a lot of their time and energy to make our server a fun, entertaining and safe place to express ourselves and socialize, and they deserve to be treated with respect. Staff members cover an entire spectrum of ages, races, religions, and identities, and instances of them being treated differently based on any of those factors or others unlisted here is entirely unacceptable. Staff members often have to make difficult or uncomfortable decisions regarding the players they regularly socialize with. While we're all friends and joke around often, staff member decisions are to be taken seriously regardless of their role or status. Staff instructions and directions are to be followed at all times. These amazing volunteers have a lot on their plate, and the last thing they need while trying to help run and maintain the server is sass from an unhappy player who's bent out of shape because they had their behavior corrected.

We are growing at an extremely rapid pace and as the number of users skyrockets, staff need *new tools to set the tone moving forward* as rule violations occur. As of writing this I have given all staff members the ability to issue temporary bans in response to insubordinate behavior from members and I expect they will be used. **The standard temporary bans are 15 minutes, 1 hour, 12 hours, 1 day and 1 week.** *Any form of toxicity or aggression in response to a temp ban will immediately result in a permanent ban.* ***Please take this warning seriously.***

### **Moderation**

Moderators and Administrative Staff reserve the right to kick or ban any user for any reason at any time. All of our staff are long time members, well versed in the game and discord, and experienced with dealing with users. Their opinions are respected and their judgements are backed by the owners. **Moderators are not permitted to help you with anything in game that has occurred as a natural consequence of game mechanics, so please don't ask them.**

* *Ex: You died, your stuff is 10,000 blocks away - staff member can not assist*
* *Ex: You glitched through a wall and fell out of the world - staff member can assist*