There are basically four types of harassment, which will be explained in this file, along with the solutions. ---------- Sexual Sexual harassment will *not* be tolerated on this mud. Here is an example of simple harassment: --- Sue sits in the Pub alone. Bob walks in. Bob hugs Sue. Sue says 'Hey! Don't do that' (Bob now assumes she's being cute.) Bob hugs Sue. Bob grins evilly. Sue says 'I said stop that.' --- This is simply hugging, but because Sue said no, and Bob did not stop, it is sexual harassment. Please remember, Sue does not have to leave the room, she was there first, and Bob came in and started harassing her. She said "no". We all know what that means. Now she does not have to go through trying to find a sympathetic admin, because we will be reading that log sometime soon. What will happen next is that one of us will talk with Bob, let him know that behaviour of that sort is not acceptable here, and warn him not to do it again. It doesn't matter if he protests innocence, we now have proof. Very simple. If it happens again, Bob will be removed. If it becomes necessary, Bob's site will be banished. ---------- Pestering the Wizards Harassment of wizards is less common, simply because the 'victim' of such harassment can handle the problem much more easily. Pestering is defined as: 1. Asking the same question repeatedly, when the answer has already been given. 2. Attempts to kill the wizard repeatedly. 3. Spamming (dumping large amounts of text). 4. Verbal attacks on the wizard's person. A RetroMUD staff member is incapable of being verbally attacked because he can use the ignore command. Any staff member who finds the content or material of a conversation offensive, shall utilize said command, without further retaliation against the individual unless the person in question continues to be offensive and disrupt conversation despite the ignore. Playing here is a privilege. You do not have any basic inherent rights other than the right to enjoy yourself when playing the game. This definition of what enjoying the game includes is defined by RetroMUD administration. While you are entitled to talk as you like to any player, but be warned that you may be snooped, and thus your privacy is at risk. You may protest logically, argue your points, and otherwise attempt to get various RetroMUD staff to see things your way, but if you don't, you must accept such decisions as FINAL. The staff is here to code a game, they are volunteers who receive no other compensation, and they rarely get any credit or appreciative remarks from players. They don't expect it. What they do expect, however, is to be left alone, free of personal criticism and verbal attack, to do their jobs. If they are not treated in this fashion, staff members are likely to quit - so this is why we have such strict laws. In order of escalating seriousness, the following actions can be taken: taking away channel privileges, paralyzing the character, banishing the character, zapping the character, nuking the character, and finally, banishing the character's site. In escalating seriousness of what a player can do: spamming a channel or player is minor, plotting to overthrow the MUD with code is major. ---------- Player Disagreements No resident of RetroMUD may harass, insult, instigate hostilities, or otherwise verbally attack any individual based on race, gender, sexual orientation, creed, color, religion, or otherwise unspecified classification which could be perceived as insulting or deprecatory towards said individuals outside of what may be properly considering "role-playing". This applies to all levels of RetroMUD users, including administrators. Excessive profanity, public defamation of a person's character will be treated accordingly. HELP PLAYER-KILLING ---------- Abuse of Wizard Powers Common abuse of powers follow: Desting players/other wizards Inflicting 'curses' upon players/wizards Setting up snooping devices Making prisons (outside of the need for one in a playing area) Using certain commands to 'fool' other players/wizards into thinking something is happening that is not (echo, echoall, etc) Such abuse of power shall not be tolerated unless explicitly permitted. (For example, there may be times that we ask our wizards to become actively involved in changing the play of the game to be more "interesting" for the players) It is not the job of the ordinary wizard to become involved with the administration of "justice" on a mud, and this can create additional problems when a wizard attempts to do so. A good example, is a wizard who builds a prison intended to be used only on "wrongdoers"... this is the role of the administration, not of the ordinary wizard. Individuals who break any of the above rules repeatedly and without conscience whom are deemed hostile to RetroMUD and to the residents therein, shall be warned once by an archwizard or administrator. Players who continue this behavior will be then banished. Should any group of players prove to be a threat to RetroMUD, and should they all share the same site, that site shall be warned once and told to mail their site administrator to prevent access of said invidual to RetroMUD, and then the site will be banished for an unspecified amount of time, subject to removal only by administrative approval. It will be the burden of the players at the site, and not RetroMUD, to isolate the problem and find a solution. |