Server and Forum Rules

[Lina]

Sprocket SMP Server and Forum Rules

Hello there, and thank you for your interest in our community!

Here at Sprocket, we strive to keep our environment welcoming and fun for all. To aid these efforts, we have set out some ground rules for players and staff to follow. These rules apply to every player on the server, regardless of rank, authority, and donation level. In the best interest of the community, rule breakers will be dealt with according to the severity of their infraction(s). If you ever have a question about the rules or what is allowed on the server, feel free to contact any staff member either in game or on the forums. This will help ensure that we are all on the same page. These rules are subject to change and evolve with the server. If rules are changed, a public announcement will be made addressing the changes. We hope you enjoy your time here!

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Table of Contents

1) Griefing
2) Stealing
3) Cheating
4) Chat
5) Killing and Harm
6) Building
7) Spawned Items
8) Scamming
9) Town Rules
10) PSA for Donors
11) Ban Evasion and Appeals
12) Multiple Accounts and Name Changes
13) Staff Rules
14) Loopholes and Staff Discretion
15) Forum Rules

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1) Griefing
Griefing is not allowed on this server.There are many different forms of griefing.
-Breaking and modifying another player's build or town without their permission.
-Building within 7 blocks of another player's build without their permission.
-Building structures that generate significant amounts of lag.
-Building 1x1 pillars that litter the landscape.
-Not removing all wood from harvested trees (please don't half-chop trees).
-Intentionally ruining another player's experience on the server.
-Breaking into and trespassing in locked/protected areas. If it's locked, it's locked for a reason, stay out. Curiosity is no excuse for trespassing.

This is not factions, and there is no land claim system. As a rule of thumb, if it's a structure you did not build, don't touch it. Exceptions are naturally generated structures, such as Jungle Temples and NPC Villages.

If you don't like our “no-griefing” rule, go find a griefing server or build and fund your own. You waste both our time and yours by griefing here. Mostly yours, as CoreProtect allows us to correct griefs in a timely fashion.

If you have been griefed, please report this to a staff member or to the Report Rulebreakers forum section. Please provide coordinates to the grief and/or screenshots to assist staff. We have a plugin called Core Protect that logs all block changes on the server. This allows us to see exactly who is responsible for griefing.
Use item frames, paintings, and armor stands with caution - CoreProtect has been known to either incorrectly restore these items, or not restore them at all.

2) Stealing
Stealing is not allowed here.
-Do not take from chests  that do not belong to you, unless the owner visibly marked them "free".
-Unlocked chests you did not make do not belong to you.
-Do not override chest locks through any means.
-You  may loot chests in naturally generated structures, such as NPC Villages and Mineshafts.

Please use our Lockette plugin to secure your chests.
As with griefs, CoreProtect logs all chest transactions. If you have been stolen from, please report this to a staff member or to the Report Rulebreakers forum section. Please provide coordinates for the theft and/or screenshots to assist staff.

3) Cheating
Cheating is not allowed here.
-Xray, full bright, gamma, zans minimap, zombes, nodus, any mod granting their effects, and any other mod offering an unfair advantage is not allowed on this server. Check with staff if you have questions about whether or not a mod is allowed.
-Xray resource packs, and other resource packs that give you an unfair advantage are not allowed.
-Abusing glitches and exploits in the game is not allowed. Check with staff if you have questions. As of now, Obsidian generators are the ONLY exception to glitch/abuse/exploit rules. See "6) Building" below.
-Glitching through Lockette protections to enter and trespass into locked/protected areas is not allowed. This includes the enderpearl method of bypassing locked doors. If it's locked, it's locked for a reason, stay out. Curiosity is no excuse for trespassing.

If you come across evidence of cheating, or find something that can be abused for an unfair advantage, please alert staff in game or on the forums.

Here are some commonly used mods that we do allow on the server: Optifine, Reis Minimap, TooManyItems (TMI will only work for staff).

4) Chat
To keep Sprocket's environment suitable for all players, the following chat rules are in effect:
-Excessive swearing is not allowed. Moderate swearing is acceptable.  
-The F-word is allowed, just not excessively.
-Keep sexually explicit content off of our server, it is not welcome here.
-Try to keep politics and religious topics out of chat. They tend to cause very hostile arguments among players. You may discuss these topics, but if it escalates into hostility, either cease the discussion or take it elsewhere.
-Racial slurs and other hate-speech are never tolerated on this server. We are open to everyone, regardless of religion, political stance, race, color, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, etc. In brief, People are people and should be treated like people. If you do not like this policy, this server may not be for you.
-Disrespect is never tolerated.
-Harassment is never tolerated.
-Do not spam the chat. This includes gibberish, multiple lines of text, and repeated messages.
-Do not advertise other servers here. If you wish to ask a few of your friends to join you on another server, do so in private messages.
-Do not ask/beg for ranks, perks, items, or operator permissions. Some of those things listed can be earned through our rank system, but asking and begging will not help you. If you are interested in ranks and perks, please view our rank descriptions, rank applications, and donation perks on the forums.
-Do not encourage other players to break the rules.

Disrespect, hate-speech, and harassment almost always result in a permanent ban, with little chance of appeal. Other minor chat infractions may result in warnings or tempbans.

In general, please exercise common sense and self-restraint. Minecraft tends to have a very young community, and we don't want to exclude people by creating a hostile chat environment.
Rule of thumb: If someone is uncomfortable and asks you to stop, stop.

*Regarding harassment outside the server (skype, facebook, etc): there is not much we can do if this behavior is occurring outside of Sprocket. However, if you have a serious case of harassment occurring outside of Sprocket that involves our server and/or our players, we will do our best to look into the matter to find a solution for all parties involved. These issues will be dealt with case-by-case, and solutions will vary.

5) Killing and Harm
As of now, PVP is disabled. Intentionally killing and/or harming players by any means is not allowed. This includes setting traps.

In the future, we may open special areas or games for PVP. These will be the only places on the server were killing and harm will be allowed.

Death looting, stealing a person's inventory after they have died, is not allowed.

6) Building
-Keep in mind you may build anywhere in the wilderness, towns are optional.
-Do not build within 7 blocks of another player's structure.
-Do not build with the intent to harm another player's experience on the server.
-If you are building in a town, please mind that town's rules.
-Do not build obscene structures and/or offensive symbols.
-Do not create signs with any message that would violate our Chat rules. See "4) Chat" above.
-We have no land claim system, and we prefer not to install one. If you would like to hold a piece of land for future building, please mark it with signs, torches, blocks, etc - just let people know the land is being used. Please don't hoard huge plots of land you don't intend to use for a while though.
-Please refrain from leaving tall, thin pillars and odd trails of blocks around the map. These are ugly, and will be removed. There is a special place in jail for repeat offenders. A very special place.
-Do not build directly on other players' structures without their permission. This is considered an unauthorized build modification, known as griefing. See "1) Griefing" above.
-Large-scale auto-farms, redstone clocks, and other lag generating structures are not permitted. If you have any questions, please contact a staff member in game or on the forums.
-Please exercise caution building with materials of great value near high-traffic areas, towns, and warps.
-Death traps must be visibly marked. This includes 1x1 holes dug deep into the ground. See "5) Killing and Harm" above. You should not build traps with the intent to kill players, but you may build them to kill mobs.
-Glitch/Exploit machines are not allowed. This includes any method of simulating Xray, duplicating items, or otherwise gaining an unfair advantage.
-You may build Cobble generators.
-You may build Obsidian generators. We're not sure if these work in 1.8 though. We understand these are technically a glitch, but in all honesty it gives no real advantage aside from making obsidian for players to mine. It doesn't generate much if any lag. It can be easily constructed by any player. It's like a cobble gen that makes obsidian instead of cobble. Go crazy.
-You may build mob grinders, but if their lag becomes an issue they will be removed or modified to decrease lag. AFK-ing near mob grinder spawners is prohibited, because of the lag storm it creates.

7) Spawned Items
All ranks in the SMP world have some form of spawnable items, given through /kit's.
These items are never allowed to be lent, borrowed, traded, or sold to other players, or to chestshops.
Players caught violating this rule will have their item spawn abilities revoked, and will face bans for more serious offenses. Spawned items are for personal use only.

Spawned items are prohibited in Harsh World. If caught smuggling them in through glitch/exploit/abuse, you will be restricted from entering that world for a long, long time.

Do not beg or entice other players into giving you spawned items. This falls under "encouraging others to break the rules". See "4) Chat Rules" above.

8)Scamming
There are many creative ways to scam people. Listing the methods would take forever.
They will all end in banishment.
Scam is defined as a "dishonest scheme; a fraud; swindle". Use common sense.

If you are scammed, or come across anything set up to scam players, please report to staff in game or on the forums. If you wish to proceed with a trade or purchase, but you fear you may be scammed, contact staff to investigate the matter beforehand and/or serve as a "middle-man" for trades.

9)Town Rules
-Town's are player run, and are allowed to make their own rules.
-Each town MUST have a rule board!
-However, Town Rules may never trump essential server rules. Only the 7-block build rule may be altered.
-Town rules will mainly govern the land - you could restrict the town to using a certain theme for its builds, you can have people evicted from your town, you can sell plots for your town, etc.
-In the event someone breaks your town rules or you need a build removed, first attempt to solve your disputes with the player(s) affected. If the issue cannot be resolved, contact staff.
-If you want a warp for your town, please develop the town quite a bit. When ready, you may apply for a warp on the forums.
-Only one town warp per person. Otherwise, towns get way out of hand. A town warp master-list will be kept available on the forums, and a warp-list hub will be made available in spawn.
*The command to list warps is disabled, due to some warps being private for special staff and server projects. This is why a public warp list is made available at spawn.

10) PSA for Donors
Just a friendly reminder that you are never above the rules, nor will you be given any extra leniency over a non-donating player for breaking them.
Donations are optional. Your perks are a thank you, and a privilege granted to you by our staff team.
Don't abuse them.

11) Ban Evasion and Appeals
"Ban Evasion" is when a banned player accesses the server on an alternate account.
This will result in an IP ban from the server, whether it is your account or not.
Repeated evasion will upgrade you ban to "IP ban with no chance of appeal".

On ban appeals, you are responsible for actions on your account. We have plugins and server logs that show us who does what, when, where, how, and sometimes even why. Dishonesty never goes over well.

If you have been banned and wish to appeal your ban, please see the "Ban Appeals" section on our forums.
There you will find an application format, and a place to post your appeal for staff to review.
If you have been banned with no appeal, I am sorry but you are no longer welcome here.
However, if you have been banned with no appeal for a long time, and come back with a sincere appeal, we may consider it. All appeals will be dealt with case-by-case.

12)Multiple Accounts and Name Changes
Please alert staff if you are using alternate accounts on the server.
Only one of your accounts may hold your rank and donor perks. This is to prevent people from claiming alt accounts, then giving them out or selling them off to friends.
Do not use these accounts to troll or trick other players. Not cool.

If players change their names via Mojang’s name-change system, they are encouraged to post in the “Name Change” thread to let the community know.

13) Staff Rules
....are located in the hidden Staff Forum section. Yes, you have rules. Yes, you are expected to follow them.
Power abuse will never be tolerated.

14) Loopholes and Staff Discretion
If you find a glitch/exploit or loophole in the rules that can be exploited for an unfair advantage, please alert staff immediately in game or on the forums. Players caught abusing loopholes for personal gain will face severe consequences.

Not every single case of wrong-doing is documented in this rule section - it may be impossible to complete such a list here within this lifetime. Staff reserve the right to punish for wrong-doing undefined by this rule set, with valid reason. Staff's discretion may be challenged, supported, or even overridden by the Owner and staff team. The server Owner always gets the final say in the matter. This is referred to as "The Owner Card".
However - even when the Owner feels strongly about a matter, if the majority of the staff team and/or server disagree, the Owner will take their views to heart.

15) Forum Rules
-All server Chat Rules apply on the forums here. See "4) Chat Rules" above.
-Do not spam multiple posts on a thread.
-Do not "shitpost".
-Signatures should not exceed 600(width)x300(height) in size (or at least remain very close to that limit). They get annoying and distracting if too large.
-Please refrain from using gifs with seizure inducing flashes - if you must, put it in a spoiler
-Please put large image posts in spoilers
-Please put large posts with multiple embedded youtube videos in spoilers
-"Necro-posting", or reviving a dead thread, is frowned upon. Please do not “bump" or post in a thread that has not been active in over a month. If you see an unlocked thread of interest that falls into the "dead" category and you wish to post in it, contact staff beforehand. If they deem it worthy of revival, they will give you the go-ahead to post there.
-Do not post links to sites featuring adult (18+) content, advertisements, other servers, sexually explicit content, gore, excessive foul language, and/or other obscenities. Children play here, have some respect and common decency.
-Please keep threads on topic.