Summary of the Rules:
- No multiplaying. Only play one character at a time.
- No same-side player-killing. See below for evil race exceptions.
- No communication or cooperation across sides. Taunting in the game is ok.
- Observe the Twenty Minute Rule:
- Wait 20 minutes before switching characters across sides.
- Wait 5 minutes before switching characters on the same side if either character has been or will be involved in player killing.
- No equipment transfer between your own characters. No mules, please.
- No abuse of bugs in the game system. Report any bugs you come across.
- No reimbursement of anything lost due to bugs in the game system.
- No character trading. Make and keep your own characters.
- Respect role-playing. Respect those who are trying to have fun by role-playing their characters.
- No lying to high immortals (Valar, Aratar or Implementors)
The Rules Explained:
Everyone has more fun if everyone plays by the rules. Penalties for rulebreaking range from loss of levels to character deletion to banning you from the game entirely.
In our game there are three player factions at war with each other. The term whities refers to the Humans, Dwarves, Wood Elves and Hobbits. The term darkies refers to the Uruk-Hai and common orcs. Third side refers to the Uruk-Lhuth.
No multiplaying
No multiplaying will be tolerated. You cannot have more then one MUD character on at any time. Linkless characters count for multiplaying -- to enter one character you must rent the other (if needed, reconnect and rent). You may own more than one character on the MUD, but you must follow the switching character rule to change characters.
No same-side player-killing on the side of good
Race-war player killing: this involves killing players on opposite "sides" of the game. You will see these players' races only, for example, *a Hobbit* or *an Uruk*. See HELP RACE WAR in-game for details.
Whitie-whitie player killing: player killing on the same side as you is another matter entirely. As a player of the Free Peoples of Arda, you are not permitted to attack another good-aligned citizen. Doing so will result in punishment from the Immortal staff.
Same side player kill for evil races: killing of other characters on the same side is allowed for evil races. However, the killer is considered avenged after one kill, so repetative killing of the same character will not be tolerated, and the offender will be punished.
No communication across sides
Anyone caught giving information to other sides of the race war, be it useful or not, will be dealt with in the strictest manner possible. This includes giving it over ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, E-mail, phones or paper airplanes if you feel so inclined. This includes intentionally behaving in such a way that characters of people you know out-of-character will not be harmed.
Taunting and antagonizing the enemy is not only quite acceptable, it is the only allowable communication between sides.
Obviously, we cannot monitor your activities. We ask that you act in the best interests of the MUD and keep your information to your side.
Observe the Twenty Minute Rule
You must wait 20 minutes before switching characters across sides. Keep in mind that this amount of time is time spent rented out of the game, not time spent at the rent room, not time spend in the starting room and not linkless.
These rules also apply to characters of different people playing from the same computer. For example, if you are playing a character and you rent so that your brother can play, he and you must observe the rules.
If you wish to switch between characters on the same side of the race war, the time you must wait depends on your participation in player killing. If you participated in player versus player combat or you are switching to a character who intends to player kill, you must be logged off for 5 minutes between switching characters. If neither the character you are renting nor the character you are logging wish to player kill, then you may switch without any wait.
If you do not understand this, ask an immortal.
No abuse of bugs in the game system
If you find a bug in the game, post it or tell an immortal (see "wizlist") right away, especially if the bug could be used to a player's advantage. If you are caught abusing a bug for your own good, you'll get in trouble, especially if you did not report it.
No reimbursement of anything lost due to bugs in the game system
No reimbursements will be given out. While the game is imperfect, and your character may sometimes suffer unfairly, there will be no compensation of any kind either for the game's rough edges or for real-life problems beyond our control. Exception: when a reimbursement is declared on the news board, the post will supercede this rule.
This is especially true for deaths or losses due to network or internet lag or timeouts. If there is a timeout at the MUD end of things, all players will have no access to the MUD. In this case, an exception (see above) may be made. In all other cases, we can't be held responsible.
If a reimbursement posting is made and subsequently removed, the excuse "I didn't read the news" will not be acceptable.
No equipment transfer between your own characters
If you own several characters, you may not transfer objects or gold from one character to another that you own--directly or indirectly.
No character trading
No character trading is allowed. This includes selling characters, leaving characters with very obvious passwords, trading characters for Magic: the Gathering cards and the like.
Respect role-playing
Some people like to fully act out their characters as they would be in a good story, as opposed to playing the MUD as if it were a simple video game. This MUD encourages such role-playing as it can be great fun. Don't wreck the game for role-players.
The rules are simple. Don't try to stretch them or find loopholes. They do not exist not to make life harder for you, but rather to keep it enjoyable for the you and other players of the game. Please help us make this a nice place to play by following the rules.