General rules applicable to ANY online game.

[Wakish]

It would be nice if the "vets" could contribute some general rules and regulations applicable to any style or type of online text-based games.

[Chris]

1) Do not care too much about any "rules"posted on the internet
2) Keep the game online, this is a top priority
3) Keep the minimum staff required to operate the game as a second priority
4) Do not go bankrupt (donations, advertisement income, etc are important)
5) Make the game fun (people do not want to play "the best game ever", thay just want to have fun)
6) Do not burn out yourself (delegate power and authority to helpers, take proper vacations, make at least 1 day off each week)

[Kimmybwoy]

Vulgar abuse is banned
Sexual Abuse is banned
Hacking Is Banned

[03laceys]

I have enclosed the dbs code (formaly known as mccode) default rules.
Hope this helps.

Players are only allowed to have one account, owning two or more accounts will result in all accounts being jailed, if you are on the same IP as another player, mail staff and let them know.

You are responsible for whatever happens on your account, don't give out your password to anyone.

Children play this game, so keep it PG-13. Mild swearing will be permitted, but F-bombing, sexual vulgarities or excessive swearing will result in some time in Fed until you clean up your act.

Profile images with nudity, profanity, or otherwise offensive images will be removed, and may result in jail time.

We understand that you play other games, but do not advertise them here. You get 1 warning, afterwards its Fed time.

Do not spam the staff's mailbox, if you have a problem, message one of us once. They will deal with your problem in a timely manner, but do not mail them repeatedly, or mail multiple staff members.

Do not harrass other players, use common sense on this one, if you don't know when your crossing the line from fantasy into harrassment, assume that you are harrassing the other player. This will not be tolerated and will result in a stiff punishment.

Scamming will not be tolerated in any manner. Any attempt to scam anyone will result in being jailed for a long time.

If a member of staff is bothering you for any unfair or just plain, weird reason, mail any member of staff.

Common sense rules are not posted here, if you can't determine the difference between what is ok, and what is not, you should consider not interacting with other people until you do understand.

These rules are subject to change without notice, check them from time to time, as ignorance will not be accepted as an excuse.

[codestryke]

Vulgar abuse is banned

This is situation specific. Since they are playing a game sometimes tempers run hot because of a given situation.

Sexual Abuse is banned

Agreed

Hacking Is Banned

Ehh this is a tough one. You ban some kid and the next thing you know they have made it there mission in life to mess with your game. They don't quit, they never give up and they have more time then you to try and break your game. I often befriend them and give them something in the game if they tell me how they exploited it. I've fixed more security holes this way then any other method

The power, is the always something in your TOS or Game Rules that should state..
"At the administrators digression"

Put all the rules up you want just don't miss that one because that's your blanket. If you as the owner / admin feel something isn't right in your game you can do what you want because it's at your digression. We've had player's that look and say "hey but that's not in the rules" when they are towing the line, but we just point them to the digression clause

[Barrikor]

Vulgar abuse is banned
Sexual Abuse is banned
Hacking Is Banned

Ban Auto-clickers
Ban Multiple accounts
Ban Internet Explorer 6 Users

[Sagefire135]

If you looking for rules regarding running a game. 1) keep the game running. your better off learning what works best for you than from asking for someone elses opinion i think. Chris nailed this already, but it doesnt hurt to say it again.

If your looking for rules that players need to follow, i would say the best guideline is "dont be a dick."
cursing out someone because they are new and asked a question. not cool
spamming useless messages to players in chat, on forum, through mail, also not cool
trying to break the game or cheat in some way, again...not cool

rules really are common sense things, there are very few gray areas. one thing to be noted though, make sure all your staff are on the same page. its never good to have one staff not care about occasional cursing, and another that doesn't put up with it at all. as people play with the staff they will learn where the limits are and know not to cross the line.

other things like protecting your privacy is out of the games control, thats up to YOU. If you gave your signin and pass to someone to babysit your account and they steal it, thats your fault not the games

The way i plan on making my rules for the game im working on is to say "There really should need to be any written rules, use common sense and you will be fine". if someone does somethign stupid then there will be a punishment. when people start to whine that they didnt break the rules because it didnt say they couldnt do something, my response will be "i shouldn't need to tell you" and then penalize them. If things get out of hand then i will be forced to crack down and write a comprehensive list of rules and penalties which are strict. Dont abuse my leniency or it could result in being banned for something pretty harmless like calling a new player stupid.

[codestryke]

The way i plan on making my rules for the game im working on is to say "There really should need to be any written rules, use common sense and you will be fine"

You, my friend, are going to be in a WORLD of hurt. If you think common sense is at all common on the internet then I have a great piece of swamp land in Florida I would like to sell you LOL

[Karlos]

Ban Internet Explorer 6 Users

The thing is a wide range of people still use it, so you could be blocking a decent percent of users.

Want to go on a misson to kill them people? 

[zykal]

Yeah IE6 users primarily people at work stuck on it, but yeah there are others to that just haven't upgraded to something better.

could be a decent chunk of users