Embris: Code of Conduct

While playing on this server, you must adhere to the following rules. Violation of these rules will result in penalties, ranging from warnings, to temporary mutes, to permanent bans. + Embris is a living world, and at the end of the day we are a community that works together. Whether you are in or out of the game, treat other people with courtesy, and do your best to create a kind and welcoming environment.

The Moderator Team is a group of server members here to help provide any assistance with situations under the Code of Conduct that may need to be reviewed and addressed. We are independent from the Admins and DMs—a neutral party to come to with any concerns. We are here for everyone on the server, from the Curious to the Admins.

Disclaimer: Rules are subject to change as the CoC is expanded. For the meantime mods have more free reign to adjudicate cases brought before them in a more flexible manner that may extend beyond what is currently listed here. The CoC can change at any point in time, an announcement will be posted as it does.

1. Server Rules

1. Behavior:

   1. Be courteous and respectful to others, do unto others as you expect them to do to you. At the same time though, understand that people have different views and expectations of others than you and thus be patient and understanding of their reactions and cordially maintain a calm environment.

   2. Under no circumstances shall you use greatly offensive vocabulary against another with the intent of demeaning, harming, damaging, etc subject to moderation interpretation.

   3. No spamming, doxing, violating Discord ToS, hacking, etc that will harm the server and its members.  Be respectful of others and the environment you are in.

   4. Regardless of what is or is not listed in the rules, Moderation can determine what is or is not acceptable behavior, both in and out of character.  If anyone has any questions if something is or is not acceptable, ask any member of the Moderation team. 

   5. The moderation team’s word is final for the purposes of behavioral issues.  Failure to follow moderation orders will result in punishment.  Should there be any issues with moderation conduct, it is encouraged to notify Administration.

2. Cheating:

   1. Players are not permitted to cheat, both in a session and out of session, including but not limited to fudging dice, metagaming, recording fraudulent character information such as gold, equipment, xp, etc, using resources they do not have, bypassing DM rulings in a session, etc.  

   2. Staff are prohibited from using their position to directly benefit themselves outside of established means.  Cases will be addressed on a case by case basis.  

3. Punishments:

   1. Minor infractions of the rules will result in minor punishments.  Punishments on top of the revocation of illicit gold, xp, items, etc will include mutes, suspensions, and other similar punishments up to but not excluding temporary bans of limited length.

   2. Major infractions of the rules will result in major punishments up to but not limited to long term bans, revocation of staff position, and permanent bans.

   3. Multiple minor infractions will result in strikes against the person in question.  Three strikes and a major punishment will be issued.

   4. Moderation can give warnings as they deem fit.  Three warnings will result in a minor punishment.  Multiple warnings can result in strikes as well.

   5. People may lose strikes and warnings in a process to be determined at a later date. 

4. Session Rules:

   1. Players must engage in the session they are participating in. Sandbagging (willful lack of participation in a session) is prohibited.  Should a player be not able to play for a good reason, they are to notify the DM.  Moderation will take cases of Sandbagging and other participation issues on a case by case basis.

   2. The DM has the final say for all things in the session during the session. This includes behavioral issues, metagaming, etc.  Should players have a problem with this, wait until after the session before bringing up the issues with the DM.  Should the issue not be solved in this manner, both parties are encouraged to ask moderation to help solve the issue.  

   3. It is understood by the moderation team that some issues are egregious enough to warrant leaving a session or ending a session prematurely.  It is encouraged by the moderation team to keep such extreme actions as a last resort and for those who follow through with these actions submit a statement explaining why they did what they did.  Further action by the moderation team will be determined on a case by case basis.

5. Moderation duties, powers, and responsibilities:

   1. Moderation reserves the right to impose judgements and punishments at will within reason and under the purview of Administration.  It is asked that the players trust the moderation team to issue judgements and punishments fairly and dutifully and that patience be given to them for the inherently unpopular and controversial decisions they will inevitably make. 

   2. Moderation is expected to handle issues in a prompt, thorough and professional manner with as much information as possible before determining a judgment.  Under no circumstances will moderation without good reason issue judgements and punishment.  Administration is responsible for dealing with issues regarding the moderation team.

6. Administration duties, powers and responsibilities:

   1. Administration is responsible for ensuring the server runs smoothly outside of moderation issues unless intervention is necessary.

   2. Administration reserves the right to adjust rules when necessary with or without warning.

   3. Administration also has powers not listed here within reason for sake of the health and fun of the server.

7. TLDR:

   1. Be civil with each other, walk away when things get heated, listen to staff, do not be That guy who ruins the server for everyone.

1.1 General Server Rules

You Must be 18 or Older to Join

This is to both ensure a certain level of maturity from players, and to allow DMs the freedom to implement content at their discretion. There can be 18+ content on the server and in sessions, but posting such content in inappropriate channels can have repercussions.

• No blank (empty characters) nicknames.

• No inappropriate nicknames.

• No sexually explicit nicknames.

• No offensive nicknames.

• No nicknames with unusual or unreadable Unicode.

• No blank profile pictures.

• No inappropriate profile pictures.

• No sexually explicit profile pictures.

• No offensive profile pictures.

• No membership granted to minors (under 18 years).

• Moderators reserve the right to change nicknames.

• Moderators reserve the right to use their own discretion regardless of any rule.

• No exploiting loopholes in the rules (please report them).

• No inviting unofficial bots.

• No bugs, exploits, glitches, hacks, bugs, etc.

• PVP requires the consent of all parties. Abuse of this system could result in a strike.

1.2 Text Chat Rules

• No questioning the mods outside the official methods.

• No asking to be granted roles/moderator roles.

• @mention the moderators for support.

• No @everyone/@here mentioning without permission.

• No sexually explicit content, no pornographic content, no NSFW content.

• No illegal content.

• No piracy.

• No homebrew without permission.

• No hacking.

• No publishing of personal information of yourself and others (including real names, addresses, bank info etc.)

• No Doxxing

• No flaming.

• No flame wars.

• No trolling.

• No spamming of any kind (messages, @ spamming).

• No personal attacks.

• No witch hunting. Use official channels for complaints.

• No harassment.

• No irl sexism, no irl racism, no hate speech.

• No excessive offensive language/cursing.

• No excessive religious discussions.

• No excessive political discussions.

• No explicit sexual discussions.

• No out of character excessive PDA in open chats, keep anything >PG13 to DMs.

• No excessive CAPS LOCK spam.

• Keep conversations in English.

• Moderators reserve the right to delete any post.

• No advertisement without permission.

• No linking to other servers.

• Bot commands only under #general-bot and other appropriate bot command channels.

• Keep conversations and posts in the appropriate channel for the topic you wish to discuss.

1.3 Voice Chat Rules

• No excessive voice chat channel hopping.

• No annoying, loud or high pitch noises.

• Reduce the amount of background noise, if possible.

• Moderators reserve the right to disconnect, mute, deafen, or move members to and from voice channels.

1.4 Bot Specific Rules

• No command spam.

• No macros.

• No hacks.

• No adding/changing/removing commands.

2. The Strike System

The server uses a 3 strike moderation track, with different rule violations resulting in a different number of strikes being accrued. First time offenders will be issued a warning before any strikes are issued. (With exception to certain offenses.) Whenever strikes are added to a player, a punishment appropriate to the current total is levied, unless the moderation team decides otherwise. 

Furthermore, to prevent a player from rapidly accruing several strikes from a single incident only the strikes from the highest severity offense will be issued for each case. For example, if an offender were to violate one 1 strike offense and three 2 strike offenses they would only be issued 2 strikes.

Here is a list of offenses:

Case-by-Case Offenses: The ramifications are determined by moderator consensus

• Harassment

• Facilitating Ban Evasion

• Cheating

• Abuse of Power

• Utilizing channels improperly

1 Strike Offenses:

• Disruptive Behavior

• Distribution of Suspicious Material

• Excessive Argumentative Behavior

• Excessive Game Abandonment

• Excessive Spam

• General Toxicity

• Distribution of NSFW Material

• Distribution of Pirated Material

• Encouraging the use of Recreational Drugs in public chats

• Getting high or intoxicated during a session

• Unauthorized Advertisement

2 Strike Offenses:

• Mature RP that is beyond PG-13

• Witch Hunting

• Bigotry (Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Ableism, etc.)

3 Strike Offenses:

• Doxxing (Unauthorized distribution of personal information; names, addresses, etc.)

• Breaking Discord ToS (See Rules of Conduct and Usage)

• Spreading Malware/Phishing/Scams

Rundown of the server punishment system:

• 1 - Temporary Mute (24h-1w)

• 2 - Temporary Ban (24h-1w)

• 3 - Permanent Ban

The time duration is based on the amount of offenses violated in a single case, as well as at the discretion of the moderator team after reviewing what the offenses were.

Situations that could be deemed as cheating:

• Looking up a stat block 

• Adding too much exp/gold to your sheet / Not deducting gold after buying something. 

• “Rigging” the dice (altering the source code of Roll20 to give you a favored outcome, utilizing exploits that Roll20 has, etc.)

Note: This list may not encompass everything. While we endeavor to set up the rules so that it is fair to everyone, we cannot account for future events. We will review each case with sincere care and determine the best outcome for the health of the players and of all of Embris. 

If a player does not cause significant trouble or accrue any strikes for an extended period of activity, they can lose a strike. This is decided on at the moderation team's discretion. Nevertheless, once a player has gained 2 strikes, their total can never go below 1.

Should a situation or individual prove to be abusing the system or cause exceptional problems moderators reserve the right to issue a punishment that they deem appropriate. This punishment need not follow the rules set in place as mentioned above.

If you are concerned with anyone’s activity on the server, please contact the Moderation Team either directly or with the anonymous ticket bot found in #server-information.