HOUSE RULES for PlayDip.com
A summary of these House Rules can be found on the site. Go to the RULES tab, then the HOUSE RULES tab.
A. RULE BREAKING.
1. Multiple Accounts.
The site rule is one member, one account. If you are found to have more than one account in different games, all but one of them will be permanently disabled (banned) [see A2 below].
2. Multi-accounting.
(i) Operating more than one account in the same game, or accessing a game with more than one account. This will lead to ALL accounts attributed to a user being permanently disabled.
(ii) Multi-accounting also includes accessing another user’s account in the same game. Whilst “subbing” for another user IS allowed, members are not allowed to sub for anyone with whom they share an active game.
(iii) Checking the availability of a position in a Gunboat game using a secondary account. This might be tempting: is the NMRing country open to be taken over or not? Attempting to ascertain this be trying to join a game with a second account, which would tell you whether the power is surrendered or NMRing, is banned.
NO WARNINGS will be given for multi-accounting. A ban is immediate.
3. Members must ensure that they do not break any rules specific to certain games:
(i) Anonymous games: Players must not know which power the other players control start of an anonymous game. [It may be that, during the course of the game, a player may discover or work out another’s identity, and it is not against the rules to claim an identity in the game, whether true or false; it is to prevent an unfair advantage at the beginning of the game that this rule exists.]
(ii) Gunboat games: These games do not allow any form of communication, other than by orders issued to your units.
(iii) Public Press Only games: Communication is not allowed except via the Public Press box/Shoutbox in-game.
(iv) Fog of War games: In FoW games players have a limited amount of the map they can see. Players are not allowed to to use screenshots or similar technology to pass on information that another player cannot see on her/his map.
Breaking any of the communication rules will result in removal from the game(s) affected and players will receive one warning. A repeat will result in the account being permanently disabled.
4. Anonymous accounts.
There is no need for players to have a "dummy" account as the Short-handed Variant removes that necessity.
The site has an anonymous account that can be used for advertising anonymous games on the Forum ONLY. It is called AnonGamePoster and the password can be obtained from a Moderator.
An anonymous account must not be used in games.
5. Inappropriate content.
In (regular) games, players can communicate by sending messages to individuals, which can only be read be the recipients, or by sending messages in the Public Press box which can be seen by everyone in the game. The Public Press box can also be seen by site members and can be seen on the internet, therefore members must not post inappropriate content; that is, pornographic or abusive content. This will result in players receiving a warning, may result in removal from the game and, if repeated, being banned from site.
6. Cyber-bullying.
(i) Taking action, or threatening to take action, off site, whether on other sites or in person in an effort to influence play in games.
(ii) Taking malicious action, or threatening to take malicious action, on the site Forum or in Private Messages in an effort to influence play in games.
This includes "trolling" anywhere on site or on other sites (when it can be evidenced as linked to games on PlayDiplomacy.com) by carrying out personal attacks or spreading rumours about other players.
7. The Moderators may also act to prevent anything else which is, in their opinion, bad for the site.
This may include such things as phishing for account details, maliciously impersonating other members, etc.
B. VIOLATING THE SPIRIT OF THE GAME.
There are two main aspects to the spirit of the game: (1) that players ENTER a game intending to achieve a solo victory (although this may not be possible and therefore players may have to settle for a draw) and (2) that every game stands alone and is independent of any other game. Failing to honour the spirit of the game is usually termed “META-GAMING”, and may be summed-up by three terms: team play, cross-gaming and negative meta-gaming.
1. Team Play.
Players are forbidden to enter a game as a team or with a pre-arranged alliance. This includes entering the game with the intent to eliminate the opposition and then “shoot it out”. This means that the following are not allowed:
(i) Entering a game with other players as a team or an alliance set-up prior to the game.
(ii) Entering a game as a replacement with the intention of allying with another player to achieve a draw or other result.
(iii) Forming an alliance with other players solely on the basis that you know them from off-site or from previous games. [We know and accept that, at times, it is natural to ally with friends, family, etc. If you are not prepared to stab a friend, family member, colleague, etc you should play FRIENDS games with these people.]
(iv) Entering several games with the same player(s) and regularly forming the same alliance. As a guideline, no more than 1 in 5 of a player's games should feature the same alliance of players and have similar outcomes/results or the same pattern of alliances.
(v) Entering games with family, friends, co-workers, school mates, etc and treating them differently to other players in the game by default.
(vi) Entering a game with the intent to draw with specific players.
2. Cross-game Play.
This is specifically when actions in one game are linked to events in past, current and/or potentially future games. Each game should be independent of all others. The following are not allowed:
(i) Forming alliances in multiple games, along the lines of “Hey – we’re in three games: we should ally in all of them!”
(ii) Exchanging favours between games, so that if she does this for you in THIS game, you’ll do that for her in THAT game.
(iii) Exchanging information across games, discussing events in Game A whilst playing in Game B and/or giving information in Game A to a player just because you are allied with that player in Game B.
(iv) Offering players the chance to play in an up-coming game with you if this is linked to forming an alliance there.
(v) Referring players to past games in which you and other players in the current game were involved. [This means specifically linking two defined games. It is something along the lines of: “Turkey will stab you cos she did it to me in Game 12345”. There is nothing wrong with commenting in general terms about a player’s style.]
3. Negative Meta-gaming.
This is similar to the above but, rather than being aimed at helping a friend or ally, it is aimed at hindering an opponent unfairly. The following are not allowed:
(i) Entering a game with the preset idea of attacking a specific opponent, no matter what happens, as a response to events outside that game.
(ii) Threatening actions/reprisals/retaliation in a game for events that have happened outside of the game (or that game).
(iii) Threatening actions/reprisals/retaliation in future games for events in a current game.
(iv) Malicious action taken in games where a player enters a game, targets another another player and then leaves the game, when in response to actions in another game. This includes leaving malicious messages or public press posts.
(v) Threatening malicious action as in (iv) above.
It is obvious that some of these are hard to prove, therefore Mods will look at patterns over a number of games.
Actions taken for violating the spirit of the game may range from a warning, to removal from a game or games, to a permanent ban. However, a permanent ban will normally only be enforced where the cheating has been regular and over a protracted period.
C. BREACHING THE SEPARATION OF GAMES FROM THE FORUM.
The basic tenet is that the Forum should have no impact upon actions or events in games (with the exception of,say, advertising for someone to take over a surrendered position). The Mods will take action if they believe a player has attempted to use the Forum to influence a game or gameplay. If you are at all unsure about this, contact a Mod by PM.
1. Cheaters Section.
In general, it is pretty obvious that an accusation of cheating should only be brought to the Mod’s attention if you are convinced about it. The following are not allowed:
(i) Continuing to accuse players of cheating in a game once the game has been investigated and cleared.
(ii) Falsely accusing someone of cheating in the Cheaters Section. A Moderator will base this decision on the evidence available to you and whether, in the Mod's opinion, that equates to a fair reason to report the game.
(iii) Posting in the Cheaters Section claiming you have been accused of cheating when this has not happened.
[If you are accused of cheating in a game, the best way to deal with this is to suggest that the accuser (eg. through Public Press) report it in the Cheaters Section of the Forum. This will either openly clear you of cheating (assuming you aren't, of course) or show the accusation to be a ploy within the game only.]
2. Bugs Section.
Players are very welcome to post anything they think might be a bug but using the Bugs Section to support in-game activities when there is no evidence of a bug will not be tolerated. The following is not allowed:
(i) Players posting false bug reports.
(ii) Players seeking to use the Bugs Section to support mis-information they have given in the game.
[In general, admin will not consider altering game history unless there is clear evidence of a bug on site or clear mis-adjudication.]
3. Strategy and Rules Sections.
It may be difficult, sometimes, but players should do everything they can to prevent linking questions to specific situations in current games. The following are not allowed:
(i) Players must not provide a link to an active game they are in.
(ii) In STRATEGY, players shouldn’t refer to a situation in an active game they are in and should not post the name and number of an active game.
(iii) In RULES, players should not mention the game name or number unless asked to by a Mod; usually the situation can be described without the need to link to the game.
4. AARs and other game comments.
(i) AARs are After Action Reports and should be presented only after the game has finished.
(ii) Similarly, any comments from players involved in a game about the way the game has progressed should NOT appear on the Forum until after the game has finished.
When these rules are broken, they may lead to a warning being issued, possibly to being removed from the game. Unless this happens on a number of occasions players are unlikely to face a permanent ban.
APPEALING.
There will always be a shade of doubt to any decision about possible cheating. The Mods decisions are based upon the evidence open to them and they are committed to investigating thoroughly. Action will only be taken where the evidence is convincing. If a Mod is unsure, s/he MAY contact members by PM or by email; however, they are under no obligation to do so.
Should you wish to appeal a decision, you can do so by the visiting the Cheaters Section (or appropriate Section) and looking at the report there. To appeal you will need to present the evidence as to why you were NOT cheating.
Mods aren’t perfect and occasionally mistakes may happen. Please remember this isn’t a result of the Mod NOT doing her/his job, but a decision made on the available evidence.
OPENING A NEW ACCOUNT & REJOINING GAMES
Should an account be deactivated and removed from games for cheating, new accounts are NOT allowed to go back into the same game. This is, effectively, multi-accounting.
The same for the case where a secondary account is deactivated and removed from games for Multiple Accounting: the primary account is NOT allowed to replace the secondary(ies).
If an account is deactivated (and so removed from games) because it contains abusive or strongly offensive words, the new account MAY return to the same game if that position is open but may NOT return to the game as a different power.
MODIFICATIONS OF THE HOUSE RULES BASED ON THE STATUS OF THE GAME.
There are three basic types of game status:
1. RANKED games.
These games award points towards the site rankings. ALL of the House Rules apply with no exceptions.
2. NO RANK games.
These games do not award ranking points. In general, ALL of the House Rules apply UNLESS the game has been deliberately set-up to break certain rules. For instance, a game may have been set-up to simulate WWI, or a game might have been set up as a team event. In order to allow these modifications, however, the game description MUST state the type of game being played clearly, otherwise Mods will view it as operating under standard House Rules.
3. FRIENDS games.
This status has been specifically designed for players who wish to regularly play against the same groups of players, where meta-gaming may be difficult to avoid, or for games with less than seven players. As such, they are also not ranked. We do not investigate FRIENDS game for cheating unless:
(i) We are directly asked to investigate possible multi-accounting (we will not investigate meta-gaming), or
(ii) FRIENDS games are part of a wider investigation that includes RANK or NO RANK games.
4. SCHOOLS games.
This status has been designed for teachers to set up games classes, or for mentors to run mentor games. As such, they are not ranked and will not be investigated.
1. Multiple Accounts.
The site rule is one member, one account. If you are found to have more than one account in different games, all but one of them will be permanently disabled (banned) [see A2 below].
2. Multi-accounting.
(i) Operating more than one account in the same game, or accessing a game with more than one account. This will lead to ALL accounts attributed to a user being permanently disabled.
(ii) Multi-accounting also includes accessing another user’s account in the same game. Whilst “subbing” for another user IS allowed, members are not allowed to sub for anyone with whom they share an active game.
(iii) Checking the availability of a position in a Gunboat game using a secondary account. This might be tempting: is the NMRing country open to be taken over or not? Attempting to ascertain this be trying to join a game with a second account, which would tell you whether the power is surrendered or NMRing, is banned.
NO WARNINGS will be given for multi-accounting. A ban is immediate.
3. Members must ensure that they do not break any rules specific to certain games:
(i) Anonymous games: Players must not know which power the other players control start of an anonymous game. [It may be that, during the course of the game, a player may discover or work out another’s identity, and it is not against the rules to claim an identity in the game, whether true or false; it is to prevent an unfair advantage at the beginning of the game that this rule exists.]
(ii) Gunboat games: These games do not allow any form of communication, other than by orders issued to your units.
(iii) Public Press Only games: Communication is not allowed except via the Public Press box/Shoutbox in-game.
(iv) Fog of War games: In FoW games players have a limited amount of the map they can see. Players are not allowed to to use screenshots or similar technology to pass on information that another player cannot see on her/his map.
Breaking any of the communication rules will result in removal from the game(s) affected and players will receive one warning. A repeat will result in the account being permanently disabled.
4. Anonymous accounts.
There is no need for players to have a "dummy" account as the Short-handed Variant removes that necessity.
The site has an anonymous account that can be used for advertising anonymous games on the Forum ONLY. It is called AnonGamePoster and the password can be obtained from a Moderator.
An anonymous account must not be used in games.
5. Inappropriate content.
In (regular) games, players can communicate by sending messages to individuals, which can only be read be the recipients, or by sending messages in the Public Press box which can be seen by everyone in the game. The Public Press box can also be seen by site members and can be seen on the internet, therefore members must not post inappropriate content; that is, pornographic or abusive content. This will result in players receiving a warning, may result in removal from the game and, if repeated, being banned from site.
6. Cyber-bullying.
(i) Taking action, or threatening to take action, off site, whether on other sites or in person in an effort to influence play in games.
(ii) Taking malicious action, or threatening to take malicious action, on the site Forum or in Private Messages in an effort to influence play in games.
This includes "trolling" anywhere on site or on other sites (when it can be evidenced as linked to games on PlayDiplomacy.com) by carrying out personal attacks or spreading rumours about other players.
7. The Moderators may also act to prevent anything else which is, in their opinion, bad for the site.
This may include such things as phishing for account details, maliciously impersonating other members, etc.
B. VIOLATING THE SPIRIT OF THE GAME.
There are two main aspects to the spirit of the game: (1) that players ENTER a game intending to achieve a solo victory (although this may not be possible and therefore players may have to settle for a draw) and (2) that every game stands alone and is independent of any other game. Failing to honour the spirit of the game is usually termed “META-GAMING”, and may be summed-up by three terms: team play, cross-gaming and negative meta-gaming.
1. Team Play.
Players are forbidden to enter a game as a team or with a pre-arranged alliance. This includes entering the game with the intent to eliminate the opposition and then “shoot it out”. This means that the following are not allowed:
(i) Entering a game with other players as a team or an alliance set-up prior to the game.
(ii) Entering a game as a replacement with the intention of allying with another player to achieve a draw or other result.
(iii) Forming an alliance with other players solely on the basis that you know them from off-site or from previous games. [We know and accept that, at times, it is natural to ally with friends, family, etc. If you are not prepared to stab a friend, family member, colleague, etc you should play FRIENDS games with these people.]
(iv) Entering several games with the same player(s) and regularly forming the same alliance. As a guideline, no more than 1 in 5 of a player's games should feature the same alliance of players and have similar outcomes/results or the same pattern of alliances.
(v) Entering games with family, friends, co-workers, school mates, etc and treating them differently to other players in the game by default.
(vi) Entering a game with the intent to draw with specific players.
2. Cross-game Play.
This is specifically when actions in one game are linked to events in past, current and/or potentially future games. Each game should be independent of all others. The following are not allowed:
(i) Forming alliances in multiple games, along the lines of “Hey – we’re in three games: we should ally in all of them!”
(ii) Exchanging favours between games, so that if she does this for you in THIS game, you’ll do that for her in THAT game.
(iii) Exchanging information across games, discussing events in Game A whilst playing in Game B and/or giving information in Game A to a player just because you are allied with that player in Game B.
(iv) Offering players the chance to play in an up-coming game with you if this is linked to forming an alliance there.
(v) Referring players to past games in which you and other players in the current game were involved. [This means specifically linking two defined games. It is something along the lines of: “Turkey will stab you cos she did it to me in Game 12345”. There is nothing wrong with commenting in general terms about a player’s style.]
3. Negative Meta-gaming.
This is similar to the above but, rather than being aimed at helping a friend or ally, it is aimed at hindering an opponent unfairly. The following are not allowed:
(i) Entering a game with the preset idea of attacking a specific opponent, no matter what happens, as a response to events outside that game.
(ii) Threatening actions/reprisals/retaliation in a game for events that have happened outside of the game (or that game).
(iii) Threatening actions/reprisals/retaliation in future games for events in a current game.
(iv) Malicious action taken in games where a player enters a game, targets another another player and then leaves the game, when in response to actions in another game. This includes leaving malicious messages or public press posts.
(v) Threatening malicious action as in (iv) above.
It is obvious that some of these are hard to prove, therefore Mods will look at patterns over a number of games.
Actions taken for violating the spirit of the game may range from a warning, to removal from a game or games, to a permanent ban. However, a permanent ban will normally only be enforced where the cheating has been regular and over a protracted period.
C. BREACHING THE SEPARATION OF GAMES FROM THE FORUM.
The basic tenet is that the Forum should have no impact upon actions or events in games (with the exception of,say, advertising for someone to take over a surrendered position). The Mods will take action if they believe a player has attempted to use the Forum to influence a game or gameplay. If you are at all unsure about this, contact a Mod by PM.
1. Cheaters Section.
In general, it is pretty obvious that an accusation of cheating should only be brought to the Mod’s attention if you are convinced about it. The following are not allowed:
(i) Continuing to accuse players of cheating in a game once the game has been investigated and cleared.
(ii) Falsely accusing someone of cheating in the Cheaters Section. A Moderator will base this decision on the evidence available to you and whether, in the Mod's opinion, that equates to a fair reason to report the game.
(iii) Posting in the Cheaters Section claiming you have been accused of cheating when this has not happened.
[If you are accused of cheating in a game, the best way to deal with this is to suggest that the accuser (eg. through Public Press) report it in the Cheaters Section of the Forum. This will either openly clear you of cheating (assuming you aren't, of course) or show the accusation to be a ploy within the game only.]
2. Bugs Section.
Players are very welcome to post anything they think might be a bug but using the Bugs Section to support in-game activities when there is no evidence of a bug will not be tolerated. The following is not allowed:
(i) Players posting false bug reports.
(ii) Players seeking to use the Bugs Section to support mis-information they have given in the game.
[In general, admin will not consider altering game history unless there is clear evidence of a bug on site or clear mis-adjudication.]
3. Strategy and Rules Sections.
It may be difficult, sometimes, but players should do everything they can to prevent linking questions to specific situations in current games. The following are not allowed:
(i) Players must not provide a link to an active game they are in.
(ii) In STRATEGY, players shouldn’t refer to a situation in an active game they are in and should not post the name and number of an active game.
(iii) In RULES, players should not mention the game name or number unless asked to by a Mod; usually the situation can be described without the need to link to the game.
4. AARs and other game comments.
(i) AARs are After Action Reports and should be presented only after the game has finished.
(ii) Similarly, any comments from players involved in a game about the way the game has progressed should NOT appear on the Forum until after the game has finished.
When these rules are broken, they may lead to a warning being issued, possibly to being removed from the game. Unless this happens on a number of occasions players are unlikely to face a permanent ban.
APPEALING.
There will always be a shade of doubt to any decision about possible cheating. The Mods decisions are based upon the evidence open to them and they are committed to investigating thoroughly. Action will only be taken where the evidence is convincing. If a Mod is unsure, s/he MAY contact members by PM or by email; however, they are under no obligation to do so.
Should you wish to appeal a decision, you can do so by the visiting the Cheaters Section (or appropriate Section) and looking at the report there. To appeal you will need to present the evidence as to why you were NOT cheating.
Mods aren’t perfect and occasionally mistakes may happen. Please remember this isn’t a result of the Mod NOT doing her/his job, but a decision made on the available evidence.
OPENING A NEW ACCOUNT & REJOINING GAMES
Should an account be deactivated and removed from games for cheating, new accounts are NOT allowed to go back into the same game. This is, effectively, multi-accounting.
The same for the case where a secondary account is deactivated and removed from games for Multiple Accounting: the primary account is NOT allowed to replace the secondary(ies).
If an account is deactivated (and so removed from games) because it contains abusive or strongly offensive words, the new account MAY return to the same game if that position is open but may NOT return to the game as a different power.
MODIFICATIONS OF THE HOUSE RULES BASED ON THE STATUS OF THE GAME.
There are three basic types of game status:
1. RANKED games.
These games award points towards the site rankings. ALL of the House Rules apply with no exceptions.
2. NO RANK games.
These games do not award ranking points. In general, ALL of the House Rules apply UNLESS the game has been deliberately set-up to break certain rules. For instance, a game may have been set-up to simulate WWI, or a game might have been set up as a team event. In order to allow these modifications, however, the game description MUST state the type of game being played clearly, otherwise Mods will view it as operating under standard House Rules.
3. FRIENDS games.
This status has been specifically designed for players who wish to regularly play against the same groups of players, where meta-gaming may be difficult to avoid, or for games with less than seven players. As such, they are also not ranked. We do not investigate FRIENDS game for cheating unless:
(i) We are directly asked to investigate possible multi-accounting (we will not investigate meta-gaming), or
(ii) FRIENDS games are part of a wider investigation that includes RANK or NO RANK games.
4. SCHOOLS games.
This status has been designed for teachers to set up games classes, or for mentors to run mentor games. As such, they are not ranked and will not be investigated.