Luckily for us, there are only 5 rules that you can break. (please don't make me come up with more, 5 is a good number people!)
Rules for players
#1 No Spam
We all know what spam is, don't do it.
#2 No Excessive Cursing
As a general rule of thumb - if 50% or more of your chat messages contain cursing - your breaking this rule. If less than 50% of your chat messages contain cursing - you are not breaking this rule.
#3 Give Basic Respect To Everyone
Unwarranted personal attacks are generally what I am talking about here.
#4 No Advertisement
If you log in and post nothing but a link and comment on how everyone should click on that link - you are violating this rule. General links to things that come up in conversation are allowed.
#5 No Adult Content
Anything involving sex, mass murder ect. is to be kept out of this game.
Now..One thing I always remembered as a player of other games is the rampant amount of abuse game staff demonstrated to their players. I am not going to tolerate any of that here. In fact, I am much more worried about having awful staff than I am about having awful players - because staff have a bunch of extra ways they can f*ck up. So here are the rules for administrators.
#1 Always warn an offender before handing down a punishment
This is a simple way of making sure the "offender" actually understands that they are doing something wrong. In all cases, you should warn a player and make sure they understand they are breaking a rule before punishing them. (this means they can break a rule once without incurring your wrath)
**An exception to this rule is advertisers. advertisers generally have no desire to actually play the game.
#2 Punish people if they offend
Your there for a reason - if a spammer shows up - stop them! Even if they are on your friends list or you know them.
#3 Never argue with a fellow staff member (about enforcement)
Not only do you look stupid - it won't accomplish anything. If you have a concern - take the matter to someone with higher authority and let them make a decision.
#4 Do not use a power without a reason.
Don't reboot the game unless there is a reason to. Don't shut down the server unless there is a reason to. ect.
#5 Your still a player.
You are not above the rules. Follow the regular rules as well!
You have rights!
WHAT!? I have rights!?!?
Yes. You have rights.
If are banned or punished by a staff member. Then you have the right to appeal the decision on the forums - where everyone can see it. Unless you re-offend on the forums - it will stay there without being removed - and I or an administrator will review it.
You also have the right to report any staff or players that break the rules.
Hosts!
Hosts will not be given any enforcement powers except the ability to ban people from their servers. You only have 1 rule - don't ban staff. If you do then I will blacklist your server and you will never be able to host again.
You must rely on staff to enforce the rules - you yourself are still a player.
You also have an extra right. You may ban any player from your server without restriction. Why let you do this? Why allow you to punish people without reason? - Because you are paying for the hosting, and you aren't the only one that can host.
If people really hate you or your server that bad, they can host their own or move to a different one. This is basically a form of capitalism - where the best server wins.
Well that's about it.
If you have a suggestion or comment - feel free to leave a post