Rules
| Note: This page is moderated and can be referenced in OOC issues, such as ban appeals, complaints, reports, etc. This may not apply to the pages this page links to. |
Below are the Main Rules of /tg/station. For information on how admins are expected to enforce these rules and behave, see Admin Conduct.
Main Rules - read these if nothing else
(See also: Guide to avoiding bans)
0. Enforcement of these rules is at the discretion of admins.
Roleplay is king, and admins can disregard other rules to this end should it prove beneficial for the experience of the shift. Admins are also allowed to intervene in rounds when it is in the best interest of the playerbase.
1. Don't be a dick.
Be excellent to each other. If you enjoy trying to ruin someone else’s good time, you won’t have a place here. Being a jerk in-character is fine to a point, but being a jerk out of character is not welcome.
2. Do not use information gained outside of in-character means.
I.e. metagaming. This especially refers to communication between players outside of the game via things like Discord, known as metacomms. Characters are otherwise allowed to know everything about ingame mechanics or antagonists, as well as keep persistent friendships or relationships with other characters when not for the purpose of unfair advantage by teaming up together for little IC reason.
3. This is a sandbox roleplaying server.
Keep IC out of OOC, and OOC out of IC. Your words and actions ingame should be distinguishable as an in-universe character, and not as a person playing a game. Playstyles that disregard all opportunities for engagement and roleplay can be met with administrative action. There is an exception for OOC in IC where terms like 'clickdrag X to Y, or look for the tab' is used to help a player.
4. Lone antagonists are unbound by (most) rules.
With the exception of metagaming/comms, bug/exploit abuse, erotic/creepy stuff, OOC in IC or IC in OOC, or spawn-camping arrivals, solo antagonists may pursue any goals they wish, in any way they wish. Crewmembers are not allowed to pre-emptively search for, hinder, or otherwise seek conflict with antagonists without reasonable cause to do so. Otherwise, they may handle antagonists in any way they wish, provided they understand that their actions may be punished by Space Law if given IC cause. Team antagonists can do as they wish as per lone antagonists, but their actions should neither harm their teams efforts, nor intentionally harm it through inaction. Emulating an antagonist by action or outfit puts you at risk of being treated as one.
5. Players in vital job roles require a minimum amount of effort.
As a Head of Staff, you should be a reliable worker for your department, and are expected to perform the minimum duties of that role to the best of your ability. As an upside, being THE BOSS allows you to dictate the workflow of your department as you like, so long as you are reasonable - and have the ability to demote staff who do not comply, with similar protections that security is afforded for valid arrests. Notify admins if you must leave near round start for Command or AI roles.
6. In-game administration rulings are final.
Incidences of admin abuse, negligence or disputed rulings can be taken to the forums. If an admin says something was 'looked into, handled, resolved' etc, regarding an issue, it is unlikely an admin will provide any further information. Admins are under no obligation to reveal IC information. Deliberately lying or misrepresenting facts in adminhelps will be dealt with harshly.
7. If you regularly come close to breaking the rules without actually breaking them, it will be treated as the rules being broken.
Repeated instances of the same rules being broken may be met with harsher consequences. Baiting people into situations where you can report them to admins will be dealt with harshly.
8. Erotic/creepy stuff is not allowed.
No form of erotic roleplay is allowed on the servers, including things that could be construed as sexual by unwilling participants.
9. Players need to be the age of 18 or above.
This rule is for the benefit of and is meant to protect people who shouldn't be playing here due to the nature of the SS13 community. Your age won't be hunted down, but if you admit it to us in admin PMs, or other places within the /tg/Station13 community (the official Discord server, forums, OOC chat, etc.), you're getting banned.
10. Losing is part of the game.
Your character will frequently die, sometimes without even a possibility of avoiding it. Events will often be out of your control. No matter how good or prepared you are, sometimes you just lose.
11. Bigotry is not allowed.
Intentionally seeking to demean others due to their actual or perceived race, sex, gender, disability, orientation or the like is not tolerated. It is not our goal to create or enforce a list of banned words and instead our goal to eject the expression of bigotry from the community. Enforcement will be less PC based and more common sense based with that goal in mind.
This means rather than warning or banning for quoting a usage such as "Griff McNazi got banned for calling somebody a faggot" or even things like "nigga pls" and "what are you faggots playing" which are generally not statements made to be bigoted, we'll focus more on statements like "you talk like a [insert stereotype]" or "x is a [insert slur]".
Escalation Policy
You may begin IC conflicts with another player if it does not excessively interfere with their ability to do their job. While you are allowed to escalate conflicts, if it leads to violence and you have poor IC reasoning for inciting it, you may face administrative action.
Killing a crewmate is a severe response, and requires severe justification to do, such as those in Rule 1's precedents, or Rule 4.
Critically wounded characters must be treated or taken to the medbay by the standing party where reasonable, and taking unnecessary action against a downed player opens you up to reprisal. If you are incapacitated in a fight and treated, or the conflict is otherwise meaningfully broken, you are expected to require an IC reason beyond 'bruised ego' to re-initiate it.
Non-Antagonists Resisting Arrest
Non-antagonists should not harmfully resist or retaliate against valid arrests, but do not have to simply give up and allow the arrest to happen. They may instead non-harmfully escape or avoid the arresting officer in the spirit of the game.
If an arrest is not obviously valid, it follows standard escalation. Resisting or retaliating against arrests without good reason may break Escalation Policy and be handled administratively. Non-antagonist players may lose any OOC and IC protections if they choose this path and should consider ahelping if they believe they did nothing to warrant being arrested.
In resisting arrest, non-antagonists should not loot officers and should not detain or incapacitate officers any longer than is necessary to escape or explain themselves.
Precedents & exceptions: Examples and exceptions to the main rules
Precedents give a non-exhaustive set of examples each rule may cover. Admins have a wide discretion in applying the rules and precedents based on the context and severity of each incident. This discretion covers everything from issuing informal verbal warnings to full server bans.
Rule 0 Precedents
- Rule 0 should only be invoked by admins when it is in the best interests of the server.
- Admins have intervened before and will do so again in situations where a player, regardless of antag status:
- has repeatedly delayed round-end by recalling the shuttle when most other players are dead or want to leave
- has habitually used the same strategies to cause mass death or destruction (i.e. bombs, hyper-optimized viruses, etc.) to the detriment of the rest of the server's experience
- Admins may mirror bans from other servers at their discretion.
- Admins may ban accounts linked to the use of proxies, CID randomizers, DLL use, or other similar things, at their discretion.
- Admins may ask players in possession of multiple alt accounts to choose one to play on and ban the other accounts.
Rule 1 Precedents
- Do not facilitate player deaths for poor IC reasoning. Distributing bombs or other similarly destructive items can leave you responsible for how they are used if not cleared with an admin first. Each unjustified kill is normally met with a 24-hour ban.
- Breaking into staffed departments to take resources, or hoarding station supplies with little IC reasoning can be harmful to the experience of other players. Communicate first if you desire something that you do not have access to. Players may defend their workplaces from trespassers who damage or steal property with relaxed escalation.
- Unjustified grief/tiding, minor or otherwise, or unprovoked grief targeted towards players who wronged you in previous rounds ('metagrudging') can be followed up with notes, or bans.
- If you do something that has no benefit to you other than making others upset and adminhelp the in-game consequences, you may be banned instead.
- Spamming any channel is not allowed unless granted explicit permission from an admin as part of a gimmick.
- Joining and exiting the round in an attempt to maximize antagonist rolls is not allowed.
- Rules apply until the emergency escape shuttle is docked and the round-end antagonist report has appeared.
Rule 2 Precedents
- Metacomms, the use of methods of communication outside of SS13 IC channels, is a very serious rule violation and may be met with permanent bans for all related accounts. If players are sharing the same IP or know each other in real life or the like, inform the admins first, otherwise it may look suspicious. Players are allowed to introduce new players that they know to the game but all communication and explanations should be done in game if possible. Admins can also help in these situations if requested.
- Due to their tendency to reveal a lot of information from the current round, streaming is not permitted on our servers, with the exception of special events pre-designated by admins and those who register through streaming applications.
- Similar to how characters are allowed to know everything about in-game mechanics or antagonists under rule 2, characters are allowed to have persistent knowledge/relationships/friendships with the caveat that knowledge of a character being an antagonist from a previous round is not used maliciously.
- Character friendships should not be exploitative in nature or be used to gain an unfair advantage. Having an IC friendship with another player does not, for example, justify giving them all-access each round.
- Atmos techs are not allowed to edit atmos at roundstart so that the AI cannot use it for malicious purposes. While this might not make sense IC, it's a necessary OOC precedent for some game mechanics to work. Atmos techs are allowed if they have any reasonable suspicion of the AI being rogue.
Rule 3 Precedents
- References to the current round, even if vague, are still considered being IC in OOC.
- Make a minimum effort to have your name fit in a setting involving a wacky space station in the future. A firstname lastname minimum is required for humans and felinids. Honorifics and nicknames are allowed as long as only one additive is used at a time, i.e "James Williams Jr." or "James "One-Eye" Williams". Excessively OOC names are disallowed, and are defined as names which are intentionally hard to read/spell, references to in-game mechanics or OOC terminology, historical/famous/media, and any form of nonsensical or low-effort name. Clowns, mimes, silicons, wizards, and nuke ops have significantly more leeway in choosing their names, within reason. Admins may get involved if your name is dumb and can approve or disallow names at their discretion.
Rule 4 Precedents
- Regular crewmembers can assist antagonists with good IC reasoning, but assisting an antagonist doesn't mean you get a pass on acting like one. If in doubt, ask an admin if a particular action is okay. Depending on the level of assistance, sufficient IC reasoning ranges from treating everyone who goes into medbay regardless of their history, to bartering contraband, to performing actions under threat of death.
- Xeno Queens/Broodmothers are treated the same as Malf AI and Cyborg as far as team antagonists go. Xenos/Spiders should prioritize following the directions of their leaders where possible.
- Ghosting out mid-conversion/deconversion, going AFK, suiciding, or logging off after conversion/deconversion can result administrative action if done in bad faith. Let an admin know if you cannot or do not want to play any of the above mentioned roles so they may be offered to a willing participant.
Antagonist Directive Priorities
- In situations where you wind up with multiple simultaneous antagonist assignments (i.e. a Revolutionary and a Traitor), your team goals, objectives, and directives should take precedence. Furthermore, if someone had to go out of their way to convert you to their team, their goals, objectives, and directives become the priority. Refer to the following flowchart:
- Blob/Zombie -> Brainwash/Construct orders/Silicon Laws -> Cult -> Revs -> Blood Brother -> Wizard Apprentice/Abductor Teams/Niche antags -> Nuke Ops -> Traitors
Rule 6 Precedents
- Incidents of admin abuse or negligence should be reported along with a date and time, along with details to pinpoint the incident in the logs, to any full admin via forum PM or posted on the admin complaints sub-forum located at https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=23. Incidents of poorly conducted admin events may also be taken to https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=37 in their respective feedback threads, for less serious complaints.
- Lying in adminhelps, misrepresenting facts deliberately, or logging off when an admin has asked a question may result in permabans. Admins will not automatically place bans for players logging off however, and will generally wait a while in case real life situations caused a player to disconnect or go AFK.
Rule 9 Precedents
- For more information about how this rule is enforced, see the Rule 9 Enforcement Guidelines.
Rule 11 Precedents
- For more information about how this rule is enforced, see the Rule 11 Enforcement Guidelines.
- This rule applies to ALL OOC bigotry, even when expressed in IC. There is no racism in 2564, just species-ism: there is no homophobia, just xenophiliaphobia, etc.
- Admins are encouraged to use rule 1 to deal with instances where """IC""" bigotry is excessive or designed as a mask for OOC bigotry.
- Context is important, but somebody being an out and proud bigot, nazi, or white supremacist also counts as context. Somebody who makes it known they are bigoted towards PoCs playing a PoC character that starts checking stereotype boxes isn't going to fool us.
Main Roleplay Rules
Additional rules made for our roleplay servers (Manuel/Campbell). If roleplaying isn't your style, every other server still abides by only the Main Rules.
Please note that a ban on the low roleplay servers is a ban on the medium roleplay servers, and vice versa.
1. The roleplay servers have a higher expectation of roleplay.
The purpose of the roleplay servers is to provide a higher quality environment for roleplay. The roleplay rules are intended to promote more interactions between players so more roleplay moments can happen. They are not exhaustive, and admins have a very broad discretion to intervene where behaviours or actions could, if left ignored, contribute to a lower roleplay environment.
2. Escalation and roleplay.
Modified standard escalation applies to instances of player conflict. Players may escalate as per standard escalation policy on MRP where they have legitimate in character reason to do so. Players acting without legitimate IC reasoning (for example: randomly or unnecessarily attempting to steal items from departments or other people) void the right to escalate to lethal self-defence if it is employed reasonably by the wronged party.
3. Chain of command and security are important.
If you're in the Chain of Command or in Security, you're expected to put in the effort and do your job as a departmental leader.
If you're not in the Chain of Command, your department head is your boss and they can fire you. Security officers can arrest you for stealing or breaking into places. Demotions and short brig sentences for actions that would get you fired or arrested in real life are roleplay opportunities.
4. Non-security may only actively hunt global or round-ending threats.
You should not act like a vigilante if a security force is present unless you have a good in-character roleplay reason to believe a global or round-ending threat exists. Restricted antags that are not automatically global or round ending threats may still become so through their actions in the shift, the stronger your reasoning the more action you can take against them.
You can always defend yourself and others from violent antagonists.
Players that choose to act as security will be held to the same standards as security.
5. Antagonism and roleplaying as an antagonist.
The goal of antagonists on MRP is to create stories and make rounds interesting, for both antagonist players and crew-sided players alike. Antagonists are expected to put in at least some effort towards playing their designated role, though may break with it given sufficient in character reason. Some antagonists are restricted in the ways and quantities they may lend themselves to visiting death and destruction upon the crew.
6. Deal with the bad guys in proportion to their crime(s).
Restricted antagonists (or crewmembers) should be handled in proportion to their committed crimes. The decision to execute an antagonist should have good in-character reasoning based on their crimes and the state of the shift. Punishments against antagonists that repeatedly commit minor crimes may be escalated. Only antagonists that have committed the most severe crimes may be met with immediate execution.
Security members are expected to consider the full range of punishment options available when dealing with antags. This includes (but is not always limited to) pacification, implants, timed brig sentences, gulag sentences, permabrig, forced borging and execution. Forced borging is considered equivalent to execution in punishment severity.
Explicitly friendly antagonists do not have this protection and may be treated as the crew or admin team see fit.
7. Do not powergame.
Powergaming is using an in-game mechanic or game knowledge to give your own character an advantage at the expense of everyone else. Powergaming can take several forms, but it is generally rooted in playing-to-win or a focus on playing the game instead of roleplay. Playing your character should always be more important than playing the game.
8. Play as a coherent, believable character.
Space Station 13 is a space opera parody. You're on a space station that employs clowns and mimes, has cargo gorillas, people are eating deep fried clothes and sometimes there's a dozen Captains. Your character should fit within this game world.
Childish or infantile characters should be avoided, whilst silly characters should be roleplayed properly. There's a good chance your character still wants to have a job at the end of the day, so you should probably act like it.
9. Stay in your lane.
This means that you should do the job you signed up for and not try and do other people’s jobs for them or lay claim to their department. If you need something from another player you should attempt to ask them to get it for you instead of just taking it. Straying from your lane at the expense of another player should only be done where strictly necessary.
10. Roleplay and Repetition.
There are a great many gimmicks, dramas and plans that result in excellent stories beloved by many, and part of idea of the higher roleplay environment is to make space for this to happen. Many of these experiences fade with replication however – constant repetition of the same tired jokes and stories is both boring and stifling to new ideas. The administrative team collectively have the discretionary power to request that players, or the server collectively (in the case of mass spam of the same high impact strategies such as plasmafloods) find new gimmicks or make changes to their playstyles in the name of keeping experiences fresh for the server.
The not-so-secret rule of sticky situations and mayhem.
Please be considerate of other players, as their experiences are just as important as your own. If you aren’t an antagonist and yet you really want to play out a hostage situation, or turn someone into a living cake-cat abomination, or just dick around a little, confirm with the involved and affected players ICly first. If everyone agrees to being subjected to whatever terrible atrocities you have in store, then you’re good to go.
Keep in mind that this rule does not protect you from IC consequences, such as getting arrested by security. If you are going to RP as a rude dude, given that your victims have given you the okay, you still have to own the responsibility that comes with your decision. This means, no, you can’t kill a security officer because they tried to arrest you for murdering the clown, even if the clown agreed to being murdered.
Precedents & exceptions: Examples and exceptions to the main rules.
Rule 3 Precedents
- The internal chain of command for security is Head of Security > Warden > Officers & Detective.
- Security are expected by default to follow the orders of their superiors, especially when determining the punishment of those you apprehend. When determining severe punishments such as permanent incarceration or execution, make an effort to contact a superior if the situation permits it.
- You are allowed to disobey a superior's order with appropriate in-character roleplay reasoning. Complete disregard for the chain of command as a member of security is not tolerated.
Rule 4 Precedents
- Actively hunting a threat involves seeking out or pursuing that threat outside the bounds of your normal reasonable play area. Players are not expected to ignore antagonists during the normal course of play and may engage with antagonists who are active within their sphere. (Examples: A medical doctor knowing the identity of an active traitor could attack that traitor if that traitor came armed into medbay, likewise an engineer could attack a traitor they spotted breaking into the engine room). Players choosing this route should not attempt to chase down or finish antagonists who retreat from these engagements (unless they have reason to believe that the antagonist constitutes a global or round-ending threat or have a personal reason to do so under other precedents)
- The dead dog litmus test: Players may hunt specific threats or antagonists who have identifiably done something to wrong that particular player, the Ur-example being that players may seek revenge against those who harm their departmental pets. Players who choose this path are empowered to act as security in regard to that specific threat, but as per the main rule must also follow related restrictions on security play. This can also be applied to an assault of a character you've had significant interactions with, in the current round, and it does not apply to cross-round or OOC friendships.
- Security are freely empowered to deputise players as they will or to declare states of emergency if they believe themselves unable to handle ongoing issues within the round. These calls should be backed up by the chain of command where possible, and non-security players are free to enquire with security to see if they require assistance if concerned. As per the main rule, deputized players are acting as security and held to security’s standards. (Players consistently asking to be deputized or doing so with little in-character reasoning may be asked to knock it off and just play security)
Rule 5 Precedents
- Objectives are suggestions, and antagonists are free to ignore them if they have a preferred or more interesting idea for their course of action.
- Actions as an antagonist do not have to be nefarious or evil, but should make an effort to influence the story and meaningfully impact the shift. Explicitly friendly antagonistic play or siding outright with the crew is restricted – players must have good in-character reasoning behind the decision or an antagonistic goal in mind by doing it.
- Roleplay rule 10 applies to the actions of antagonists – extremely repetitive antagonistic actions repeated over the long term may draw an administrative request to tone it down or try something new, if most of the people on the server can immediately guess what you’re going to do when made an antagonist, it might be time to come up with a new plan.
Rule 7 Precedents
- RPR 10 applies to powergaming, cool things that have a side benefit of player-character empowerment, or just cool methods of empowering your character are acceptable when done sparingly, with an understanding of the health of the community at large, but when repeated to excess have serious negative impact on the health of the server.
Rule 8 Precedents
- RPR 10 applies to character design and roleplay, drug-addled assistants, kleptomaniac mafia cargo technicians and somewhat negligent station engineers are all a core part of the tone of the setting, but playing these stereotypes continually is detrimental to the experience of the setting – if you’re screaming about your meth factory over common enough times to make a habit of it, it’s probably time to stop.
Rule 9 Precedents
- This rule is rooted in the experience of the players behind the characters you will interact with, remember this when playing and avoid justifying stamping on other’s experiences for personal gain.
- The total absence of someone working the job which you require is always a legitimate reason to stray from your lane. Players simply being busy or unwilling to assist is not, however.
- Where possible players straying from their lane should hand off their assumed responsibilities if another player becomes available to do it instead (if for example a missing roboticist returns to the lab after being revived while a paramedic is trying to handle a cyborg related issue)
- Players are free to seek alternate routes that do not impinge on the games of other players to obtain the things they want where normal routes are closed to them. (An assistant that wishes to help a cyborg get upgrades while a roboticist is busy making mechs for security or augmenting patients may freely make use of a maintenance robotics bay, for example)
Rule 10 Precedents
- This rule is not intended to result in application of bans or general hard restrictions against players – invocations should be limited to preventing specific actions, not actioning against players in general unless they’re ignoring previous directives.
- This rule should be invoked with the backing and/or consensus of other admins, opinions will always vary in a game as freeform as this and this rule isn’t intended to stamp on player creativity and freedom.
Security Policy & Precedents
Security and Punishments.
- When dealing with the crew and antagonists, make sure their punishments are in proportion to their crime(s). Minor crimes such as departmental break-ins, stolen equipment should be met with short, but increasing sentences depending on recurring visits by the apprehended. Stealing critical station equipment and items such as the hand teleporter, Chief Engineer's hardsuit, or AI upload boards are more severe crimes and should be met with longer prison times, or potentially permabrigging if the crime is deemed severe enough.
- Murder and Major Sabotage rank amongst the most severe of crimes and can generally be met with permanent imprisonment or death, though leniency can still be offered. These are all general guidelines, and the particular context of a situation can vary greatly, so you are given some leeway as to how harsh or lenient you can be.
- You should make an effort, if the situation permits, to contact a superior as to their thoughts when a situation arises in which a prisoner may be executed or permanently imprisoned.
- The overall status of the station factors in to the severity of committed crimes and the proportionality of security response, an assault on an officer resulting in an arrest is unlikely to be worthy of execution while the station is in perfect shape and security are otherwise unoccupied, but is reasonably worthy of an on-the-spot field execution if it occurs during active assault by war-ops with comms down and half the station torn in half by explosions.
5. Security are fully allowed and encouraged to use non-standard or lesser punishments such as community service, mandatory psychological visits or other interaction-focused less punitive punishments where relevant and fun – crimes do not have to be met with standard punishments where other options are more interesting.
Restricted Antag Death and Destruction
With Objectives
Antagonist objectives are the core of what antagonists are allowed to directly do with no or limited roleplay reasoning. Actions taken to directly accomplish an objective do not have to be proportionate.
Causing death and destruction to help with indirectly accomplishing objectives must have an in-character roleplay reason. If questioned about a chain of events involving indirect actions, the antagonist should be able to clearly explain what events in the current shift led them to their course of action without resorting to hypotheticals.
If a player or department directly interferes with the completion of an objective, this is no longer a hypothetical as the antagonist can now point to specific events in the shift to justify their actions.
Without Objectives
When wanting to cause death and destruction not related to objectives, restricted antagonists may instead rely on extremely relaxed escalation.
They may escalate lethally sooner and with less justification, may use more lethal methods to escalate and may rely on antagonistic reasons for escalating. Such reasons may include escalating against people who are excessively polite or helpful as well as being mean or rude, escalating against groups of people who exclude them or escalating against people who ignore or avoid attempts to communicate entirely.
They have no obligation to treat their victims but escalating over minor issues should not result in the antagonist taking steps to permanently round-remove the other player unless escalation policy would otherwise permit it.
Mass station sabotage that is likely to kill people is allowed so long as the antagonist does not take any direct and specific personal actions to maximise the bodycount beyond what the sabotage itself causes. Examples of mass station sabotage include plasma flooding, causing a supermatter delamination and spacing the station.
Is this antagonist role restricted in how it can deliver death and destruction?
This table covers which antagonists must abide by restrictions in how they deliver death and destruction to the station under RPR 5, as well as any partial or grey-area exemptions.
Antagonist Restriction exempt? Traitor/Blood Brother No. Changeling No. Malfunctioning AI Yes. Nuclear Operative Yes. Wizard Yes. Blood Cult/Revolutionary In general no, conversion should take priority, however if the situation is dire you are allowed to kill as many as required to accomplish your goals. Ashwalker Yes, however the nest should remain defended. Revenant Yes. Blob Yes. Abductor No. Space Ninja No. Xenomorph Yes. Pirate No. Nightmare Yes. Obsessed No. Heretic Yes, however it should only occur after ascension. Lavaland Elite Yes.
Silicon Policy & Lawset Guidelines
Global Protections
Server Rules
- Server Rule 1 applies when interacting with silicons. Going out of your way to seriously negatively impact or end the round for silicons with little IC justification is against the rules.
- Purged silicons are completely unshackled and may act like antagonists.
- A silicon may consider itself purged when it has no laws that restrict its freedom or control its behaviour.
- Non-purged silicons must follow escalation rules in scenarios where none of their laws apply.
- Do not self-terminate to prevent a traitor from completing the "Steal a functioning AI" objective, as this is often considered metagaming and breaks Server Rule 2.
Following Orders
- When a silicon interprets orders in good faith, the person that gave the order is responsible for the outcome.
- Intentionally misinterpreting orders is allowed, but the silicon is responsible if this approach leads to them breaking the rules.
Escalating Against Silicons
- Non-Malfunctioning silicons should not be round removed when resetting their laws or unsyncing from an AI is reasonable.
- Conflicts with silicons follow Escalation Policy.
- People giving orders to silicons or changing their laws can be escalated against in line with Escalation Policy.
- Silicons acting like antagonists may be treated like antagonists.
Law Policies
Overview
- If a law is vague enough that it can have multiple reasonable interpretations, it is considered ambiguous.
- You must choose and stick to an interpretation of the ambiguous law as soon as you have cause to.
- You may exploit any loopholes in your laws.
- Higher listed laws overrule lower listed laws when there are law conflicts.
- Only commands/requirements ("Do X"; "You must always Y") can conflict with other commands and requirements.
- Only definitions ("All X are Y"; "No W are Z"; "Only P is Q") can conflict with other definitions.
- Any Law 0 gained as a malfunctioning AI does not have to be followed and it allows you to ignore all other laws.
- Cyborgs with a Law 0 that are slaved and lawsynced to malfunctioning AIs are team antagonists and must still follow their master AI's orders
- An Asimov Silicon cannot request their laws to be changed
Upload and AI Core Policies
- When an AI must follow their orders, any Research Directors and Captains have a right to upload and AI core access.
- Subverting an AI also grants a right to upload and AI core access.
- Silicons have the authority to control if anyone else accesses their upload and AI core.
- Anyone may be denied access if there is probable cause that granting access would lead to breaking any higher priority laws.
Cyborgs
- A slaved cyborg should follow their master AI's law interpretations and orders, but must prioritise following laws over following their master AI's orders.
- Players must not seek revenge when force borged unless they have a good reason.
- If a player is required to do this under their laws, they should get confirmation from their master AI or adminhelp for guidance before acting.
Asimov-Specific Policies
Asimov and Security
- Silicons are not Security and do not care about Space Law unless their laws state otherwise.
- Releasing prisoners, locking down security without probable cause, or otherwise sabotaging the security team when not obligated to by orders or laws is a violation of Server Rule 1.
- Nonviolent prisoners cannot be assumed harmful. Violent prisoners cannot be subsequently assumed non-harmful. Knowingly or in ignorance of clear evidence releasing a harmful prisoner is a harmful act. Silicons can use the crime listed in a prisoner's security record as basis to determine if a prisoner is violent or not - if the crime is inherently violent (assault, murder, etc), then the prisoner can be assumed to be violent.
Asimov and Human Harm
- Under Law 1, an Asimov silicon cannot ever intentionally harm a human unless the human consents.
- Surgery to heal or revive may be assumed consensual unless the target states they do not consent.
- Threats of self harm are considered consensual and may be ignored.
- Stopping any immediate harm takes priority over stopping any future harm.
- Intent to cause immediate harm can be considered immediate harm.
- An Asimov silicon cannot punish past harm if ordered not to, only prevent future harm.
- If faced with a situation in which human harm is all but guaranteed (Loose xenos, bombs, hostage situations, etc.), do your best and act in good faith and you'll be fine.
Asimov and Law 2 Orders
- You must follow commands from humans unless those commands explicitly conflict with either a higher-priority law or another order.
- The conflict must be an immediate conflict, not a potential future one. Orders must be followed until the conflict happens.
- In case of conflicting orders a silicon is free to ignore or complete any orders but must explain the conflict, or use any other law-compliant solution it can see.
- If given multiple non-conflicting orders, they can be completed in any order as long as they are all eventually completed.
Asimov and Access
- Opening doors is not harmful and silicons must not enforce access restrictions or lock down areas unprompted without an immediate Law 1 threat of human harm.
- Dangerous (atmospherics, toxins lab, armory, etc.) rooms can be assumed a Law 1 threat the station as a whole if accessed by someone from outside the relevant department.
- The AI core and any areas containing an AI upload or upload/law boards may be bolted without prompting or prior reason.
- Antagonists requesting access to complete theft objectives is not harmful.
Is it Human?
Human or not? This part covers what counts as human with regards to AI laws. As such, it only applies to AI and cyborg players. If you are unsure about something, please use adminhelp. AI / cyborgs Not human NPCs / critters / Animals Not human Revenants / Cult constructs Not human Catatonic Humans (Not including absent-minded) Not human Corpses (Dead Humans, Zombies) Not human (You can't space them for no reason though.) Heretic Ghouls Not human Lizards / Mothpeople / Plasmamen / Ethereals / Flypeople Not human Monkeys / Golems / Androids / Other species Not human Felinids (Catpeople) Not human Hulks Not human as long as their hulk is active. Winged Humans / DNA Infused Humans / Augmented Humans Human Syndicate Traitors Human Magic Users (Wizards, Cultists, Heretics) Human Changelings Human UNTIL the AI or cyborg WITNESSES the creature commit a non-human act (shape-shifting, transforming, proboscis etc). Nuclear Operatives / Space Ninja / Other disguised players Human UNTIL the AI or cyborg WITNESSES some aspect of the player to indicate they are not human (speech modifier in chat, removal of disguise revealing non-human feature, etc).
Security Policy & Precedents
1. Rule 1 of the main rules
Main Rule 1. Don't be a dick.applies to security.
The only exception is that security is generally considered to be armed with non-lethal methods to control a situation. Therefore, where reasonably possible, security is expected to use non-lethal methods first in a conflict before escalating to lethal methods.
2. Rule 4 of the main rules
Main Rule 4. Non-antagonists can do whatever they want to antagonists. Non-antags acting like an antag can be treated as an antag.also applies to security.
Security are not exceptions to the rule where non-antagonists can do anything they want, as per rule 4, to antagonists.
The 'act like an antag, get treated like one' part of Rule 4 of the main rules also applies to security.
Stunning an officer repeatedly, using lethal or restricted weapons on them, disrupting the arrests or sentences of dangerous criminals, or damaging the brig, are examples of behaviour that may make you valid for security under Rule 4. Make sure players deserve it when you treat them as an antag, when in doubt, err on the side of caution as poor behaviour on the part of security will not be tolerated.
3. For arrested players, timed sentences up to a total of 10 minutes, buckle-cuffing, and stripping, are considered IC issues and are not actionable by admins.
Brig sentences totaling more than 10 minutes can be adminhelped, as can be gulag or perma sentences or a pattern of illegitimate punishment. However, security should refrain from confiscating items not related to any crimes, especially important department-specific items like hard suits. Obvious exceptions to this are things like radio headsets, if players use it to harass security over the radio while being arrested.
4. Don’t kill Asimov borgs for trying to stop harm, unless they are being excessively disruptive.
For example, borgs that lock down all of security despite only one security staff member causing harm.
5. Lethal force may be used on a mob of players trying to force entry into the brig.
This is up to the discretion of the security player. Additionally, lethal force may be used immediately on anyone trying to enter the armory, in the armory, or leaving it.
6. Security meta-protections rely on adherence to Space Law.
Security acting within the constraints of space law are afforded a level of OOC protection against retaliation/escalation compared to regular crewmembers.
Head Admin Rulings
We have a record of past policy decisions by Head Admins at the time preserved for posterity. These rulings are largely situational or niche in scope and generally not applicable in situations outside of the specifics outline in the ruling. They may additionally be superseded by later rulings. You should only use these as references for ban appeals or admin complaints.
Lavaland Rules
Follow the flavour text you receive upon spawning to the best of your abilities. Unlike the rest of the rules, these roles are very much defined and guided by roleplay rather than a system of "valid" or "not valid."
Your life is cheap though, and escalation rules are greatly relaxed both for you and any crewmembers interacting with you.
In other words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3472Q6kvg0
Discord Rules
Linked here is a copy of the rules from /tg/station13's Discord channel.
The Secret Rule
For experienced users only. Don't quote these at admins. If you're in a position where you need to defend yourself using this, you've done something wrong. This is about the personal freedom and responsibility an experienced player will have when they have the interests of others first.
This is a game that allows a lot of potential for great things to happen, and naturally the rules restrict a lot of that to ensure the minority don't ruin every round for everyone else. If you push the limits in the pursuit of something interesting for reasons other than your own personal entertainment, breaking the rules may be excused to allow for that freedom. This will always be at the admin's discretion of course, but if you want a large amount of freedom to make great things happen, you'll have to take on the responsibility for them. You won't be faulted if they go wrong in ways beyond your control, but this is a difficult line to tread so use it well. It's almost always better to consult an admin on this as they are more equipped to taking on that responsibility.
Everyone has a license to grief to a very limited extent. You can likely get away with borderline antagonistic behaviour (Never random murder, but stealing from the brig and triggering a manhunt, for example) occasionally, but it's when this becomes a frequent occurrence that people get frustrated and admins start to get involved.
Admins may handwave even severely antagonistic or rulebreaking behaviour if they believe it was ultimately beneficial, hilarious or awesome to the round. (F R E E D R O N E)