The following is a list of the current rules we ask that you follow while playing Nodeka. Should you have any questions, or disputes regarding these rules, feel free to email a Nodeka staff member, whose e-mail addresses can be found in 'help email'.

  Mortal Rules:

    0. Always be respectful of Nodeka and the Nodeka staff. This is not simply a
      guideline; it is a strict rule. Any disrespect towards any Nodeka staff
      member will merit an instant freeze of your character, and is sufficient
      grounds for character deletion.
      
      We understand that you will not always agree with the decisions made by
      the Nodeka staff. Mature discourse is allowed and encouraged, but
      disrespect will not be tolerated, be it within or outside of the game.
      
      Any issues or complaints may be filed via e-mail with a staff member who
      is involved with mortal affairs, such as the Chief Guard (see 'display
      staff'). Do not direct such correspondence to Nijlo, as he will no
      longer be involved with mortal affairs.
      
      We do respect and appreciate our players, and we work hard to create a
      positive environment in which you can play and be heard. However, we will
      not tolerate defamatory activity. Cyber defamation, cyber libel and cyber
      slander are illegal, and we will take all necessary steps to prevent it,
      up to and including legal action.

   1. Character selling and trading is illegal on Nodeka. Any characters caught
      attempting to sell or trade their character will be zapped. Any
      characters found later to have purchased a character from another player
      will be zapped. As passwords can never be changed, character
      buying is a serious risk to the buyer as the seller will always know the
      original password. Short answer: don't do it.
     
      Exchanging in-game platinum for an in-game donation is perfectly legal.
      If you are buying a donation from another character, ensure you donate to
      Nodeka under the character's name to steer clear of any potential
      punishment. If a player is caught buying a donation from another player
      and paying that player to his or her personal account, both players will
      be punished.

      Buying a donation from another player is fair game. However, donations
      are the life-blood of Nodeka and circumventing donations entirely from
      Nodeka is hurtful to all of Nodeka and cannot be allowed if Nodeka is to
      stay afloat.

      As such, any trading of in-game Nodeka goods (platinum, equipment,
      etc.) for non-game goods (US dollars, computer equipment, plane tickets,
      etc.) is illegal. Both the buyer and seller of these situations will be
      punished accordingly.

      Trying to work around this rule by both parties agreeing the transfers are
      "gifts" is simply a way to cheat the system and is flagged as selling
      in-game goods for non-game goods.

   2. No spam: meaning, repeating the same message over and over again through
      public (or private) channels, putting away equipment, multiple player
      killing, etc. For the most part, spam is incredibly annoying and
      distracting. If you persist in spamming Nodeka, consider yourself lucky
      if you only get a warning.

   3. No advertising for other MUDs on Nodeka. In addition, we ask that you
      respect other MUDs and not globally advertise for Nodeka on them. If you
      wish to tell your friends about Nodeka on other MUDs, please do it
      through private channels.

   4. No multi-playing: Nodeka prevents this internally. However, if you play
      from a network with only one IP address and can validate this, you may
      be allowed to have multiple characters log in from that address. This
      priviledge is given in a per basis fashion.

   5. No botting. See help bot for more information on this topic. Botting
      characters are dealt with automatically by Nodeka.

   6. Bug Abuse: if you discover a bug, it is very important that you report it
      immediately. If you do not, and are caught abusing the bug, you will be
      punished most severely, ranging anywhere from freezing to deletion of
      your character.

   7. Nodeka aids: the Nodeka aids (immortals, guards, mentors) work very hard
      keeping Nodeka together and growing for you. As such, they are to be
      treated with courtesy and respect. If you treat a Nodeka aid poorly, you
      can expect the same treatment to be returned to you.

   8. Players which have not been logged in for more than six months may be
      deleted. Although we generally try to give at least 12 months inactive
      time before deleting old characters, our minimum time for deleting unused
      characters is six months. It is your responsibility to keep your
      characters active. There will be no reimbursements for characters lost
      due to inactivity.

   9. No misleading players over the newbie channel who ask questions over the
      newbie channel. This rule applies specifically to the newbie channel, and
      no other channels.
     
      If you reply to a newbie channel question over the newbie channel in a
      misleading manner, you can be punished. The severity of punishment is in
      direct relation to the level of misdirection which the player who
      responded to the newbie channel question offers.

  11. < guards > and < mentors > have deemed themselves as third party arbiters.

      These characters can be trusted sources of handling item sales and
      anything related to Nodeka where an unbiased third party is needed. An
      example of an arbitrator's name is as follows:
  
      < mentor > Eru

      If an arbiter does not follow through on any arbitration, a complete log
      should be sent to one of the Nodeka staff members and that arbiter will
      be permanently deleted and site-banned from Nodeka. Both parties involved
      in the failed arbitration will be reverted back to their original status
      before the arbitration.

      Only guards and mentors whose names show up in the "who" list in colored
      brackets should be used as third party arbiters. Examples of such players
      are seen below:

      < mentor > Eru
      < guard > Klosus

      Any players caught impersonating a guard or mentor will be punished, up
      to character deletion.

  12. Do not give out answers to quest riddles over global channels. If you
      wish to give someone a hint to a riddle or an answer to a riddle, please
      do so via a private message (tell). However, it is strongly suggested you
      do not give out answers to quest riddles in any form (via public or
      private communication).

   13. Do not intentionally try to abuse player's clients. While we do not
      protect players who may be abused by their client due to their own lack
      of knowledge on how to use their client, we will punish players who are
      actively trying to abuse players' clients in very obvious and/or
      malicious ways.

      Examples are:   using any form of communication to trigger client
                      responses (e.g. rem all, drop all, quit).

                      using player set strings (such as clan hall room names
                      or descriptions, player names or descriptions, etc.) to
                      trigger client responses.

      The punishment for intentional and malicious client abuse will be
      determined by the severity of action. Furthermore, the player(s) who are
      abused may or may not be reimbursed for their loss. Each case will be
      handled individually. Note: if the players who are abusing clients are
      doing so in an intentional and extremely malicious way, the punishment
      will be extremely severe (e.g. character zap and permanent site-ban).

      Please keep in mind that you are responsible for your client's behavior
      at all times. However, certain abuses such as clan hall room names and
      descriptions cannot be overcome by clients and would require special
      Nodeka code which would break the consistent theme of the game. Therefore
      these client abuses must be corrected by the clan hall creators.
     
      Players failing to correct client abuse after being notifying of the
      behavior (malicious or not) will also be punished. If a client abuse
      occurs which is accidental and benign, the player will be requested to
      correct the behavior and may be released without punishment. However, if
      the players refuses to correct the client abuse, he or she will be dealt
      with as if the client abuse was malicious.

Rule set updated February 11 2008 - Rules are correct at time of posting but are subject to change and update.
Use 'help rules' ingame to check for changes, and inform me if this article is not up to date.

Thank you,
Serenity