Mech Crusaders Rules, Guidelines and Etiquette
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The rules, guidelines and etiquette of Mech Crusaders are guided by the core principles of common sense, fairness and respect for all.
It is through everyone following these common sense rules and guidelines that we will create and uphold an enjoyable atmosphere for all members.
If you understand and acknowledge these principles, you will have no problem playing and enjoying the game within the rules and guidelines set out here.
In return, Mech Crusaders aims to provide you with a free, quality gaming environment with a great, fun atmosphere and regular updates, additions and improvements.
+ Accounts, "Multis" and Cheating
Every person is limited to one account only. Sometimes you can’t log in to the game for a period of time (e.g. a holiday/vacation), but don’t want to waste Energy, Mining Operations or Free UC Ops....Mech Crusaders lets you give someone else permission to cover your account for occasional periods. It is advisable, when having your account covered be someone, that you always change your password before and after, and only have someone trustworthy within the game community, or that you know personally, cover your account.
There is no specific limit on how frequently you can have your account covered, but in general you should aim to play your account at least three quarters of the time, in the long run. Account covering shouldn’t be used to have someone grow your character instead of you, e.g. only logging in to chat on the forums while having someone battling for you every few weeks is not really playing!
We can revoke this privilege at any time for any reason, if we think that fair play isn’t being maintained or the system is being abused for one person to play multiple accounts.
You should only ever access an account you have permission to access and only use that account for the reason you were granted access. More than one person is allowed to play from one computer or one internet connection; however, the guidelines below must be followed to avoid problems.
Click here to read the Same Computer/Connection guidelines.
All accounts remain the property of Mech Crusaders at all times. You have rights to use the account within these rules. You can pass on the access rights to an account to another person who you know in real life or through an off-game messenger or email, but cannot offer to "buy" or "sell" an account’s access rights/login details in the game via any in-game communication medium. If an account is not logged into for more than 21 days, and is not in 'vacation mode' our automated systems may delete the account.
Reasoning: This is part of the principle of fairness, as there are limited website resources and the use of more than one account per person leaves another person unable to play. We want to be able to share our fun, free gaming experience and enjoyable community with as many people as possible! In addition, playing more than one account can yield other bonuses, such as target-weakening, suicides, or information/resource sharing and other such practices (which are unfair when it is the same person in control.)
+ Theft, Stealing and Ripping
Stealing from another player includes, but is not limited to: accessing their account and taking something, not completing your part of a trade or other agreement, purposefully setting or completing a secure trade differently to agreed upon to benefit yourself or a friend, abusing your position and permissions in a clan or when covering another account to benefit yourself or a friend.
Mech Crusaders does not allow stealing or unfair practices in our game, and we aim to proactively seek out those who do it and bring them to justice. Attempting to cheat someone or steal from someone will not be taken lightly.
Reasoning: Nobody can say that stealing is fair, this obviously comes under the fairness principle. If you feel you have been ripped off at all, then you need to contact one of our Anti-Cheat Team or "ACT", through the option provided in the Police Station. They will help you deal with your problem, recover your unfairly lost or stolen items/currency, and deal with the person responsible if necessary. Always try to resolve a suspected stealing matter yourself first, in a calm and polite manner, and give people plenty of time - for example 48 hours - to complete a trade before reporting it as possible theft. Always check a player’s last active time from their profile. We at Mech Crusaders pride ourselves on striving to create and maintain a theft-free game. Experiences with other games where theft was allowed left us wanting to create a game that was fair for all it's members and ban those who would go against that principle from playing.
+ Clan Mails and Recruiting
It is within the rules to contact new (or old) players and mention your clan, as long as the tone is not 'hard-sell' and it is part of a welcoming, positive message, rather than an infomercial. Messages should be personal, and not mass-sent.
Exceptions to who you can contact unsolicited, talking about your clan, include all players currently in a clan. Such players should only be contacted through the existing CIML (Clan Information Mailing List), if they are on it, or if you have a prior connection with them as friends or acquaintances, and reasonably believe they will not be offended or annoyed by your mail. Otherwise, no clan-invite contact should be made.
Remember, any mails sent need to be:
- To players not in a clan, or players on the CIML.
- Personal, and not mass-mailed. (You can send similar mails and copy-paste sections, of course, especially to new players who may differ only in name.)
- Where new players are concerned, focussed on being helpful, positive and welcoming and not simply be adverts, in contrast to the CIML.
Reasoning: Every day, about 30 new players sign up at Mech Crusaders. Some of those will never log in, and some will see that the game is text-based and decide that they are not interested in that kind of game. For the remainder, encouraging them to get 'into' the game and it's community is a priority. One of the main ways this kind of game keeps players long term is with community, and clans form a large part of the community here.
Clans will, inevitably, often be looking to recruit new players, whether they be experienced or just starting out. A mass of clan recruitment mails/clan advertisements can easily scare new players away from the game altogether, and this is, of course, something we do not want to see happening.
Clans are in a great position to offer advice and assistance to new players, as well as giving them options for joining a clan that can help them further. The net benefit to the game, and to the new player, far outweighs any annoyance from a few polite, non-pushy welcome mails, and as such, clan leaders, and indeed any players, are encouraged to contact new players, welcome them to the game and make a positive connection.
The spirit of the rules is what is important here, and the wording may be improved as we see how this works out. If you are unsure if something would be okay or not, please ask FleckerMan (11112) or any of the Head ACTs by mail.
+ Flaming, Slander and Bullying
This game has public forums and other forums of communication, with a diverse range of members with differing opinions and backgrounds. There is a large potential for bullying (defined loosely: to treat in an overbearing or intimidating manner; to force one's way aggressively or by intimidation), slandering people’s names (defined loosely: communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation; a false and malicious statement or report about someone) or simply flaming (defined loosely: an insulting criticism or remark intended or likely to incite anger).
Mech Crusaders does not tolerate such behaviour from it's members, via any forum or method of communication. The only form of attacking allowed is in the Battle Arena! This game involves battling, and clan challenges. These aspects are part of the game, and being battled by someone should not be taken personally, even if it is intended so. If a particular member isn't trashing you, somebody else will be!
Reasoning: This covers all three principles: Fairness, Respect and Common Sense - "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Our shared goal of an enjoyable atmosphere for all will not occur if members go out of their way to bully, slander or flame others, as loosely defined above. Resolve your differences in a courteous manner, or accept them and put them behind you. If someone attacks you, do your best to avoid reducing yourself to their level.
Extreme, continued harassment out-of-game between members as a result of Mech Crusaders, or based around Mech Crusaders affects the game itself and all members enjoyment of it, and hence we take this under our jurisdiction.
+ Spamming and Flooding
“Spamming” (defined loosely: unsolicited mail sent for clan recruitment or to advertise something, widely off-topic posts) and “flooding” (defined loosely: excess/repetitive posts/messages over a relatively small period of time), be it on the forums, through mail or other forms of communication, should be avoided.
Reasoning: Spamming and flooding can be irritating and annoying to people, affecting their enjoyment. It also wastes the server’s bandwidth. This comes mainly under common sense, and respect for people not wanting to read/receive spam or floods.
+ Bug Abuse and "Hacking"
You have a responsibility to report any abusable bugs - that is, an error in the game that can give the abusing parties an unfair advantage - direct to [email protected] or to manager FleckerMan (11112) in-game - and to not purposefully abuse any such bugs you may find or become aware of. We appreciate your assistance in reporting other non-abusable 'bugs' or minor errors on the Bug Board in the forums, or mailed to a Player Support [Bugs] staff member if you prefer. Please avoid mailing managers for minor errors and non-abusable bugs, and please avoid posting publically or sharing abusable bugs.
Reasoning: Abusable bugs, while very rare, occasionally crop up with a new addition or update, despite careful testing. They have the potential to give unfair advantages to abusing players and can have knock-on effects on market rates for minerals, etc., or other things. It is important that these problems are located and corrected quickly, and if necessary the game rolled back to the state before the bug was in existence or first discovered and abused. If many people abuse a bug, a rollback is the only option, if only a few, they can usually be corrected fairly without the need for a rollback. This is why it is important that you a) do not abuse a bug and b) report it immediately if you become aware of a problem or discover one.
Hacking as shown in movies and TV is usually brute force or computer wizardry. In real life the most common type of hacking is through social engineering, or trashing. If you have someone watch your account, always change your password before and after, and do not give them a password that's similar to one you use elsewhere. Players who "hack" into another player’s account (find out login information and log in, unauthorised) are in breach of the rules. Any person attempting to gain unauthorised access to any part of the MechG website or third-party 'Mech Crusaders' related websites that they should not have access to is also in breach of the rules of the game.
Reasoning: 'Breaking into' someone’s account without permission is unfair and similar to breaking into their house or their car. Deciding who has access to an account belongs to the account owner. Breaking into a website for Mech Crusaders related reasons or doing Mech Crusaders related damage is not something that encourages an enjoyable atmosphere and community, and has bearing on the game itself, and hence we take such actions under our jurisdiction.
+ Automation
Please note our policy on ‘automation’ - scripts, macros and similar.
You are not allowed to use any automation to play the game or do things for you, where it:
a) gives you an unfair advantage, or
b) increases your footprint on the website’s server to higher than it would be through normal use.
Reasoning:
Explanation for part A - 'unfair advantage’ refers to what you gain from using automation that other users that are not using automation would gain. It could simply be time. Depending on the level of automation, time saving automation can be an unfair advantage.
Explanation for part B - This is a free game, so you can't over-use the website through automatic scripts as it would make the website unavailable for other players and slower for all.
Examples:
- Using an auto-refresh option on your browser in the plains to use up your energy, while you are online and watching it work, with a reasonable delay, is no different than clicking the link yourself, so is fine.
- Using an auto-refresh option on your browser on a mech healing page, while away from the computer yourself OR even while at the computer, is unfair, as it gains you defensive EXP if you are a strong player.
Use your best judgement. If you are in any doubt over whether any automation you use is unfair, stop using it, as if there is room for doubt, it's likely unfair, by Mech Crusaders' definition of unfair.
(Note that all page loads are logged in our database, so can be used to check for signs of unfair automative use)
+ Privacy and Personal Information
Players are not to give out the personal information of other individuals, including but not limited to: their real name, their email address, their IP address, their location details, etc; without express permission from the individual in question.
Reasoning: Players have a right to their own privacy. They may share information with an individual about themselves with another individual in privacy and not wish it to be passed on to other people or the population as a whole. It is out of respect for this right that personal information should not be shared without express permission.
All players should take great care when deciding whether to give out personal information. People on the internet may not be who they say they are, and once you have given out information, you cannot take it back. If your information is shared against your wishes, it cannot be 'un-shared'. Bear this in mind when telling anyone anything about you that you might not wish everyone to know.
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By respect, we don't mean you have to like everyone, agree with everyone, or be friends with everyone, and we don't mean you have to hold everyone in deferential regard. We mean you should have "willingness to show consideration or appreciation" and/or "avoid violation of or interference with".
Respect each other, respect the rules and principles, and enjoy the game and community. Thank you!
(All relevant rules here apply on the forums. For additional, forum-specific rules, see the pinned thread in the general board, and in individual boards.)
Breach of these rules may result in your account being locked, or "jailed" (or even removed permanently with continued abuse). Errors & omissions excepted.