V:MP - Server Rules

[Jcstodds]

V:MP Server Rules
Last update: 25.01.2021

All rules are enforced at the discretion of the administrators ingame.
Issues with administration can be reported to server headquarters (Manager+)

PART 1. Acceptable mentality

• 1. Always priortize roleplay interactions above anything else
• 2. You are not allowed to avoid any RP situation by quitting the game, denying the RP or pretending to be away. Exceptions are crashes/issues
• 3. You should always try your best in any RP scenario. You learn by time, but intending to do a poor RP is not allowed
• 4. Always be kind in your approach to others’ mistakes. Going toxic, flaming the other player or the whole community is not allowed and can result in a permanent ban
• 5. Expressing your opinion is one of the main factors to succeed in this community, expressing your opinion in toxic manner or in a way that attacks another player or the community directly or indirectly is not allowed

PART 2. Multiple accounts & character profiles

• 1. Multi-accounting is not allowed
• 2. You may create up to 6 character profiles. All characters should be seperated from each other both ICly and OOCly
• 3. It is not allowed to interact characters in any way (businesses, information, placeholders)

PART 3. Advertising, bugs/exploits & modifications

• 1. It is not allowed to advertise any server, community, or discord invitations, not affiliated with Argonath RPG
• 2. It is not allowed to use exploits or bugs either in client-side, server-side or the original game itself. Always report to the staff team once you find a bug/exploit privately
• 3. It is not allowed to use any kind of modifications that gives you an advantage over the other players, including:
  
  • Handling modifications
  • Weapons damage modifications
  • Vehicle modifications
  • Hacks or trainers

PART 4. Roleplay rules

• 1. It is not allowed to mix knowledge, information, details, or anything between OOC and IC chats (metagaming)
• 2. It is not allowed to exchange knowledge, information, character details or anything with two of your characters. Both characters don’t know each other and should not know each other (metagaming)
• 3. Do not use IC chats for OOC chats or the otherwise
• 4. Do not bring IC arguments to OOC channels, keep IC actions/arguments in-game in IC chats. Take any OOC arguments to private messages
• 5. All illicit or sexual roleplay must be consensual between all parties involved
• 6. Organised roleplay that involves large groups of players must be announced to a member of the admin team beforehand
• 7. Committing serious crimes against other players characters should have sufficient RP reason that is clear to all players involved
• 8. Roleplay where the characters objective is only to mass kill other players is not allowed

In-character:

• 9. In-character means you are carrying out actions and behaviors of the character that you are roleplaying with in-game. It's the character persona that you choose to roleplay in the server
• 10. You can have more than one character
• 11. You should consider for each character roleplaying their feelings, concerns, personality, acquired knowledge, and traits
• 12. This character is not you - the person behind the screen and keyboard
• 13. Types of chat used: /l, /w, /s, /em, /me, /cb and ingame voice chat

Out-of-character:

• 14. Out-of-character means you, the player behind the screen with the keyboard and mouse
• 15. Your own character should not interfere with your ingame character
• 16. Types of chat used: global chat, /pm, /o, Discord channels and external voice channels

Fear roleplay:

• 17. If your in-game character is in a life-threatning situation, you should obey and comply
• 18. Your reactions should reflect the fear of death or serious injury
• 19. It is not allowed to avoid roleplaying fear, running away in an unreasonable way, or ignoring the actions of other players in these situations

Forcing roleplay:

• 20. Roleplaying quickly to gain an advantage for yourself giving the other player no chance to reply, fight back, respond or react to your actions is not allowed
• 21. Forcing or describing another players action to gain advantage is not allowed

PART 5. Metagaming & powergaming


Metagaming (using IRL knowledge to your advance):
Example: you are following someone and use the minimap to see their location

• 1. Metagaming is not allowed
• 2. Using the namentags to identify a person you have never met nor interacted with in the roleplay scenario is not allowed
• 3. Using out-of-character methods listed above to get advantage over an in-character situation is not allowed
• 4. Exchanging or leaking information, details, knowledge or anything else between two of your characters is not allowed

Powergaming (overpowering in your roleplays):
Example: you open the trunk, grab your gun, shoot someone and shout they should be dead

• 5. Powergaming is not allowed
• 6. Roleplay should be fair to those involved: they should have freedom and a choice in the options on how to interact
• 7. Unrealistic roleplay that includes super-hero powers, illogical actions etc. is not acceptable. Exception is by approval of administration team
• 8. Mountain chasing/escaping in non-offroad vehicles is not allowed
• 9. Resisting a taser after multiple hits is not allowed
• 10. Changing vehicle color or character details to avoid certain RP situations is not allowed

PART 6. Deathmatching & combat

Deathmatching

• 1. You cannot attack someone without a roleplay reason, this is counted as deathmatching
• 2. The roleplay reason for killing should be obvious to all players involved
• 3. Killing without a sufficient roleplay background or reason will be considered as deathmatching
• 4. Provoking combat in places that would be highly secured IRL will be considered deathmatching

Combat rules:

• 5. You may not use any vehicle or aircrafts/helicopters to harm or car kill other players
• 6. You should always give the other player chance to react, before attacking him. Do not attack players who are standing still typing
• 7. Healing yourself in a shootout is not allowed
• 8. Rejoining the same shootout after death is not allowed unless consent is provided by all players involved.

PART 7. Communication rules

General communication chat:

• 1. Use English only in the global (main) chat. Other languages may be used in private chatmodes
• 2. Avoid using excessive foul language
• 3. Racist, homophobic, religion, and/or politics are not allowed on any kind of out of character (OOC) chat. For in-character, all parties involved should consent
• 4. Flaming or personal attacks towards other players are not tolerated
• 5. Non-constructive arguments between individuals and/or groups after a certain roleplay situation are not allowed
• 6. Do not spam/flood any kind of OOC or IC chat
• 7. Advertisements should be used for in-character roleplay purposes only

Voice chat rules:

• 8. Speak English only in the voice chat
• 9. Voice Chat can be used for OOC chat with the consent of other players. All other Voice Chat is considered in-game and must reflect your character
• 10. IC Voice Chat can be extended into external voice applications such as Discord or Teamspeak, but the servers must be server owned and/or approved by the owner
• 11. Voice changers or synthesizers are only acceptable if the voice being used correctly represents your IC character or the current RP situation
• 12. Using voice to make noise, annoy, and/or flame other players is not allowed

[Jcstodds]

Additional Notes

These rules were formed after considerable feedback from the community from October 2020 to January 2021.
Most of these discussions are available publicly on our V:MP Discord server, where the new rules were drafted and poll voting was conducted to highlight any further discussion required.
Further feedback was collected on this thread in order to finalise changes with the end result shown above.

I would like to thank and acknowledge Manager [TCL]Mac for his major contributions to these changes. It is thanks to his very high engagement within the community that we have been able to address the challenges and frustrations voiced by players.
These rules have been finalised by myself ([R*]Jcstodds) and the following HQ staff: Community Leader [R*]Wdoyle, Managers Bert,  [R*]Norrage and [TCL]Mac.

It may be a culture shock to the admin team and players, and we will do our best to educate and address any issues as they come up in the next few weeks.
We are sure these rules, doing away with any "unspoken rules" that may have existed in the past will lead to a better experience overall for everyone and will prepare us for the Argonath 2021 release later this year.

Thank you for your continued support!