Rules

Offenses

1. Transmitting any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable content, as determined by any marius net Admin. This includes vulgar and abusive language, even when masked by symbolic characters or misspelled, and includes screen names, profiles, and game names. If it cannot be said on prime time network television, do not say it on marius net.
2. Harassing, threatening, embarrassing or causing distress, unwanted attention or discomfort to another marius net user.
3. Causing the chat window to "scroll" faster than other users are able to type to it, posting unsolicited advertising or promotional materials, or disrupting normal chat in any way.
4. Impersonating any marius net user with abusive or deceptive intent.
5. Disturbing the atmosphere of marius net as a friendly environment, as determined by any marius net Administrator.
   

Possible Offense Consequences

1. Entry into the Admin "Evil Doer" Database
2. up to 24 hour banishment from marius net
3. Extended banishment from marius net. Length of banishment at Team marius nets discretion.

Strong Offenses

1. Repeated Offenses
2. Verbal abuse of a marius net Admin. If you have a disagreement with an admin, please send your complaint to marius_net@yahoo.com.
3. Impersonating a Team marius net member or a marius net Admin.
4. Intentionally or unintentionally using marius net to violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation.
5. Modifying of Myth TFL/Myth SB Application or Myth TFL/Myth SB Data Files with malicious intent or in unapproved ways. (This includes modifications that do not directly affect gameplay.)

Possible Strong Offense Consequences

1. Immediate Termination of all marius net Accounts (including accounts that have not violated rules but are used by the offender.)

Team marius net reserves the right to create new rules and consequences as needed to preserve a friendly atmosphere on marius net.

Be Nice and Play Nice

There are two types of rules on marius net: "be nice" rules, and "play nice" rules. The "be nice" rules dictate the limitations you should observe when interacting with your fellow players on marius net. Generally speaking, these are common sense. However, since this is one thing many people seem to lack, these are the rules most often violated.

The "play nice" rules are the rules which dictate fair play. These are the rules in place to prevent one player, or players, in a game from taking too much advantage of the others. Generally, these rules prohibit outside interference and manipulations of the shortcomings of artificial physics.

As admins, our primary concern is that you are all nice to each other! That you are polite, well-mannered and well-spoken. In this way, we keep marius net a pleasant and fun place to play.

Our secondary concerns all have bearing on this. "Encouraging" you to play nice, by enforcing these rules helps keep everyone in a calm frame of mind, which is conducive to their being nice to each other. Thus it is that playing nice is part of being nice.

All of this, of course should not rule out good-natured jocularity! Quite the contrary, you are encouraged to have as much fun as you can squeeze out of your respective bandwidths. However, when this fun encroaches on another's good time to the point of discomfort, problems will occur. So, look first to your fellow players, and last to yourself. You may find that you have a good time in the process, and the rules should never then be an issue.

On occasion the question will arise as to what exactly this rule or that rule does or does not cover. Since this very often leads to player frustration and admin headaches, this section endeavors to explain what exactly each rule entails.

Offenses

Rule #1. "I. Transmitting any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable content, as determined by any marius net Admin. This includes vulgar and abusive language, even when masked by symbolic characters or misspelled, and includes screen names, profiles, and game names. If it cannot be said on prime time network television, do not say it on marius net."

This is probably the most easily manipulated of the rules, and consequently, the most often violated. This rule can be broken down into three parts: body, caveat and illustration. The body is the first sentence, which may be paraphrased simply as, "Transmitting any objectionable content, as determined by any marius net Admin." This means, the *admin* determines what is and is not objectionable. The caveat, or warning is the second sentence, which may be understood to mean that self censorship of objectionable content does not make said content any less objectionable, and also informs that this is not limited to chat but includes anything and everything transmitted in the public areas of marius net. The third and final portion of the rule is the part that most people get hung up on. This last sentence is not license, merely example. It should be understood to read, "For example, if it cannot be said on....etc."

This rule may not be enforced solely on a literal understanding of the words, but also on context and understood implications: if the admin feels you are violating the rule, in spite of the fact that you are not using any technically vulgar language, be prepared to comply with the admin when they ask you to cease and desist.

Rule# 2. "I. Harassing, threatening, embarrassing or causing distress, unwanted attention or discomfort to another marius net user."

This is similar to the above rule, as it deals with "objectionable" behavior and is also subject to the interpretation of the admin. The difference lies in that this rule deals more with objectionable behavior toward your fellow players and less with generally objectionable behavior (as discussed in Rule #1). Rule# 2 has to do with targeting specific players, attacking or harassing with intent to try to casue them more personal discomfort. The difference is akin the differnce between walking down the hall using swears as part of casual conversation, and walking up to someone, looking them in the eye and calling them a number of choice names.

Rule# 3. "III. Causing the chat window to "scroll" faster than other users are able to type to it, posting unsolicited advertising or promotional materials, or disrupting normal chat in any way."

This is what we call "spamming." In many cases, this happens unintentionally as a result of lag. A user will type something and when it does not appear right away, continue sending out bits of nonsense to the world at large in order to test their latency. It looks a little like this:

Player: 1
Player: 2
Player: 3
Player: 4
Player: 5
Player: 6
Player: 7
Player: asd
Player: 1k;a;DFJJBF
Player: gkjlihriuh;lg
Player: wtf?!
Player: lag
Player: LAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MNA :
MNA : Keep it to yourself, spanky.

Aside from it being irritating to suddenly get a stream of garbage text, for that brief moment in which your text fills the screen of every user in the room, you're using up a lot more bandwidth than anyone else thus causing everyone else to lag. Thanks for sharing!

If you feel compelled to spam, please control click on your very own name and spam yourself. This way, you won't bother anyone else and no admin will gag you.

Rule# 4: "IV. Impersonating any marius net user with abusive or deceptive intent."

Abuse is bad. This seems to be a running theme in these rules. Hmm... At any rate, there are two reasons to look like someone else: either you don't know that you do, or, you really don't like them and plan on behaving in such away which will damage their reputation or otherwise embarrass them.

In the first case, the chances of actual "coincidental impersonation" are very slim. Two players may happen to have the same name, but it's not at all likely that they would look anything like each other with respect to color, icon, text style, etc. If you happen to look like someone or someone happens to look like you and this bothers you deeply, feel free to talk (note: talk does not mean yell at or berate) to this person. I know this is a shocking idea, but it often works.

In the second case, you purposely look like someone because you want other people to think that you are them. This is impersonation and it carries intent to deceive. This is a bad thing and will get you in trouble.

Rule# 5: "V. Disturbing the atmosphere of marius net as a friendly environment, as determined by any marius net Administrator."

This is the magic catch-all rule. Any time an admin feels you are out of line, you may be asked to cease and desist. If you do not, the admin will punish you to the extent that they feel necessary (warning or a boot for up to 24 hours), and they may ask a member of Team marius net to review the situation to enact further punishment.

It is our primary concern as admins to maintain a friendly atmosphere for playing Myth TFL/Myth SB on marius net. Anyone we feel is disturbing that through their attitude to other players, may be removed from marius net for all time.

Strong Offenses

Rule# 6: "I. Repeated Offenses"

This falls into the Strong Offences category. Strong offences are those for which Team marius net agrees are bad enough to give us authority to permenently lock an offender's account or accounts.

We keep track of offences and when we feel that an offender has made no effort to "reform" (that is, stop offending), we brand them incorrigible and give 'em the boot.

Rule# 7: "Verbal abuse of a marius net Admin. If you have a disagreement with an admin, please send your complaint to marius_net@yahoo.com"

The admins are volunteers that have been chosen by Team marius net. As such, Team marius net does not compensate them for the considerable time and effort they put into making the marius net community a nice play to play. Neither does Team marius net expect them to take any abuse. Admins are not online for irate players to swear at or belittle. Admins are not online to argue or discuss policy. Admins are online to enforce policy and see that players treat one another with respect. If you feel the urge to chew out an admin for what you perceive as a bad call, it would be best to restrain yourself and simply e-mail marius_net@yahoo.com. In this way you can continue playing; for if you do choose to call the admin out, you're very likely to get booted.

Rule# 8: "III. Impersonating a Team marius net member or a marius net Admin."

This one should be pretty obvious. Do not tell people you are an admin or a Team marius net member if you are not. Do not even suggest it or leave it open to interpretation. If you do, you will be harshly and swiftly punished. It is easy to tell if someone is a marius net Admin. Do a .info on the player, if they have a login name that starts with 'admin' - then they are a marius net Admin. Simple as that. Team marius net members currently are Conner and Marius - with matching login names. When Admining, marius net Admins will have the Admin tag on and be at the top of the room.

Admin impersonation is the far more prevalent form of this, and this rule covers anything the admin may interpret as impersonation. In most cases, impersonation includes: taking an admin's name, placing the letters "MNA" (in any of their many incarnations) in front of your own name, telling people you are an admin, or telling people that you are an agent of Team marius net or an admin.

Rule# 9: "IV. Intentionally or unintentionally using marius net to violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation."

Respect and obey the laws of your native place. Live in peace and harmony with your fellow humans. Be excellent to one another. Party on dude.

Rule# 10: "V. Modifying of Myth TFL/Myth SB Application or Myth TFL/Myth SB Data Files with malicious intent or in unapproved ways. (This includes modifications that do not directly affect gameplay.)"

There are certain ways that are allowable to modify parts of the software. If you wish to modify the player icons and swap these files, for example, this is allowed. There are several third party tools to do this but you're on your own. Generally, do not hex your appearance or modify the game in ways that would give you an unfair advantage over other players. Be proud of who you are and do not seek to mask your identity with markings and smudges.

For every rule there is a punishment for violating that rule. Generally, you will be removed from marius net for a time that fits the crime.

The boot is the most common punishment. A player can be booted for any amount of time between one minutes and 24 hours. Sometimes a five minute cool off period for the offender is just what the Doctor ordered. Generally, if possible, you will be verbally warned by the admin before you are booted. However, if you are afk or in a game - it is not possible to tell you that you are being booted. These are usually "awarded" to players who've committed some minor offence. A ban for any larger length of time is referred to as an extended ban.

Admins have the power to server warn (a percentage warning that will show up at the start of your screen name - if you are between 70% and 80% you will not be able to speak in the server room, over 80% and you will be booted), boot and ban a player. They are unafraid to use these powers, so do not tempt them. A boot is just that: a swift disconnection from marius net. A boot can also be for a set amount of time that fits the crime. Generally the first boot will be for five to ten minutes. You should use this time to calm down, get something from the kitchen, or use the toilet. No matter how you use this time, it would be a good idea to return to marius net in a much more peaceful state of mind than when you left. If you come back and continue in your offending ways, a longer boot will be issued. A ban is the ultimate weapon at an admin's immediate disposal. A ban locks your account until it is removed. Please - we want you to enjoy marius net, it's why we worked on it for the community and continue to work on it. We honestly do not want to ban anyone from the server. If you return on a second account, the admin also has the option to remove that account as well. Because of this reason, do not share or let others use your account. If they get it locked, we will not be sympathetic.

Also remember that marius net is NOT Bungie.net or PlayMyth.net. Just because a rule was not enforced on either one of those doesn't mean you can get away with it on marius net. Also - marius net was written from the ground up. We added the dot commands (.afk, .me, .profile, .buddy etc) to help the user enjoy their time better. We also added many dot commands for the admin to use as well. We will not go into them but use your imagination. Comply with admin requests and your time on marius net will be without problems. This concludes explaination of relevant admin powers.

A Note on General Policy

It is Team marius net's goal to provide a fun, fair and friendly place for the community to play Myth TFL and/or Myth SB. In the course of human interactions, there will be those whose goals are contrary to our own and who attempt to fulfill their own needs selfishly, by detracting from the environment we are attempting to create. As such, if the need arises to lock a player's account, it is our general policy to lock all of that player's accounts. In effect, we lock players, not accounts. This is because the account is not the source of the problem, the person using the account is. Therefore, if your account is blammed for something, do not be surprised if all of your accounts are likewise locked.

Along these lines, if your account is locked, but you weren't using it at the time, you are still responible for the account. So, ask yourself before your let a friend use your account: "Is this person really my friend? Do I really trust this person? Why exactly does this person need *MY* account?" So, don't give anyone your password. And if you think that someone, somehow has gotten your password, change it! If you need help, you can always mail marius_net@yahoo.com.