Unwritten Legends Gameplay Policy

Revised November 2016

General Gameplay Policy

Unwritten Legends is a text-based, multi-player online roleplaying game in which each player takes on the role of a character interacting within a world of magic and historically inspired fantasy. In Unwritten Legends, we believe every player deserves the full respect of all other players and staff members, and should be able to play and enjoy the game without disruption or harassment. This policy document is intended to help the staff ensure Unwritten Legends provides an enjoyable gaming experience for players and staff alike, and outlines guidelines as to what is and what is not appropriate conduct in the game environment.

Out of Character and Disruptive Behavior

Players are expected to participate in the game world in a manner consistent with the themes of the game. Behavior which happens within the game environment but concerns topics that are outside the scope of the game's themes of magic and historically inspired fantasy is "out of character" and should be restricted to specific channels within the game, as it breaks immersion in the game world and disrupts roleplay.

"Out of character" behavior includes, but is not limited to:
- discussing real-world topics unrelated to the game environment, such as movies, television shows, politics, or sports events,
- using abbreviations like "afk," "brb," "lol," smilies, or emoticons,
- direct references to game mechanics, such as the WHO list, your character's statistics or skill numbers, or the out of character channels, etc.

The OOC command and the in-game CHAT and GAMEHELP channels are appropriate venues for out of character communications with other players or with staff. You may discuss out of character topics in any of these channels, subject to the following guidelines: the CHAT channel is for general out of character discussions, while the GAMEHELP channel is intended for discussion of game mechanics. The OOC command allows players to communicate on a one-to-one basis without breaking immersion or disrupting roleplay.

As a general reminder, please be aware that use of the CHAT channel is a privilege and is intended to be used for casual discussion of OOC topics. It should not be used for:

  • Discussion of game mechanics, policies, or interactions. Criticisms and complaints should be directed to the forums; gameplay questions should be directed to the GAMEHELP channel.
  • Harassment, criticism, or complaints directed at other players, whether those players are online or not. This is a policy violation and will be dealt with accordingly.

In keeping with this policy, character names should be appropriate to the themes of the game. Characters may not be named after prominent fantasy or historical figures, even if such names would otherwise be in genre for the game. Unwritten Legends reserves the right to deny a given character name request or to require a character to be renamed at any time.

Unwritten Legends is a game which may feature a moderate amount of descriptive violence. However, we prefer to maintain a standard of conduct equivalent to a PG-13 rated film, so excessive profanity, vulgarity, and sexually explicit behavior is completely prohibited, whether it is in the game environment, in character names, or in out-of-character venues like the OOC command and the CHAT and GAMEHELP channels.

Failing to stop any behavior or actions when requested by staff is also a violation of gameplay policy.

Private and Public Areas

A "public" area is any location in the game world which is accessible to most or all players. Most areas in Unwritten Legends are public. Some public areas are also designated as WHO list locations. When the WHO command is queried to bring up a list of all currently logged-in characters, characters who are in a WHO designated location will have the title of the room displayed alongside their names. All players should be aware that WHO list rooms are roleplaying hubs, and behavior like repeated logins and logouts, inventory- or magic-related spam, and so on, will be considered disruptive if it interrupts roleplaying in a WHO listed area.

A "private" area is an area outside the "game world," such as a Customer Service consultation room. These areas are always out of character and exist to allow staff to communicate with players in a confidential environment without breaking the immersion of those around them. Players are transported to these rooms by staff for the duration of the discussion and returned to the game world when the consultation is finished.

Inn rooms are a special case. In most cases, an inn room is an "in character" area. Since inn rooms are controlled access areas, players within an inn room may engage in out of character activities (such as plot discussions, item transfers, and so on) if the door to the inn room is locked and all parties in the room have agreed to participate.

Staff at Unwritten Legends may monitor any activity in any location in the game environment at any time. While we maintain a strict confidentiality policy, players should not have any expectation of privacy within the game environment, and must be aware that all communications and activity may be logged.

Systems Abuse

Using a bug or exploiting a system flaw (an "exploit") for experience or monetary gain is systems abuse. Failure to use the REPORT and BUG commands to alert staff to exploits is a violation of gameplay policy as well. If you believe you have discovered a bug or an exploit, or if you observe another player taking advantage of a bug or an exploit, you should immediately REPORT the situation to staff and follow up with a BUG command with further details.

After you have reported a bug or an exploit, it is incumbent upon you, the player, to cease any activity related to the bug or exploit. Reporting systems abuse does not excuse the reporting player from being sanctioned if that player continues to make use of the bug or exploit. "I reported this issue last week and you didn't fix it, so I figured it was okay to keep doing it," is not a valid excuse. Transmitting information about bugs or exploits to other players is also prohibited.

Scripting and AFK Behavior

Using any method to send a series of automated commands to the game without the player being present at the keyboard is prohibited.

Being unresponsive to the gaming environment is also prohibited. If you must leave the keyboard, move to a private area or log out. You may remain idle within an inn room until the idle timer disconnects your character from the game; however, anti-idle scripts which send a command to the game at preset intervals to circumvent the game's idle timer are not allowed, as are auto-login scripts which automatically reconnect the player's client to the game if the player logs out.

We understand and sanction the use of macros, aliases, utility scripts, and other shortcuts to reduce the amount of typing necessary to participate in a text-based gaming environment. However, Unwritten Legends is first and foremost a roleplaying game, and excessive scripting of any kind is strongly discouraged, whether the player is at the keyboard or not.

Metagaming, Multi-Accounting, and Account Confidentiality

Players of Unwritten Legends are limited to one (1) account. Players may not play more than one character on the same account at the same time. Players may not use multiple characters on the same account to participate multiple times in the same interactive storyline, auction, merchant alteration list, or raffle.

Sharing account information is strictly prohibited. Do not share account information, such as your password or your account name, with any other player, and do not share any information about any other player's account with a third party.

While it is not a bannable offense to use public game channels to discuss your own characters, your contact information, or your personal details (such as your name or where you are playing from), we strongly discourage this practice, if only for the sake of your own account security.  However, it is a bannable offense to disclose any information or personal details about another player or their account to a third party, regardless of whether it is on a public or private channel within the game environment.

You may always discuss concerns about account privacy with staff, and report policy violations to cs@unwrittenlegends.net, particularly if you believe a banned player has opened a new account under a new identity, or a current player is multi-accounting. Such information should be reported directly and only to staff and should not be discussed with any other person or persons.

This is a zero-tolerance policy (see below).

Harassment

While Unwritten Legends is a role-playing game, and in-character conflicts are a natural outcome of roleplay, it is not an excuse to engage in unsolicited abusive conduct.

If you feel that another player is harassing you, immediately REPORT to alert staff to the situation. You should also log the incident and email a description of the incident to cs@unwrittenlegends.net. A staff member will notify you if a log is unnecessary.

It is always a smart idea to communicate with other players via the OOC command or the CHAT or GAMEHELP channels to ensure that conflicts have not crossed over into harassment. If permissions are agreed upon by all involved parties before engaging in such behavior in-character, it's much less likely to become an incident which will require the intervention of Customer Service.

This is a zero-tolerance policy (see below).

Penalties for Gameplay Violations

Depending on the circumstances and the exact nature of the violation, penalties are at the discretion of the customer service staff. They may include:
- An official warning applied to your account. Accruing additional violations will result in additional penalties (see below).
- A temporary or permanent decrease in your character's experience or skill learning rates.
- A temporary or permanent loss of your character's accumulated experience points, skills, or levels. Characters found to be in violation of our AFK scripting policy will immediately have their current experience buffer reset to zero.
- A temporary or permanent ban from use of a command (such as the ACT/EMOTE or OOC command) or a channel (such as CHAT or GAMEHELP).
- A temporary or permanent ban from gameplay, either for a single character or for an entire account.

Temporary bans may range from 24 hours to 30 days.

Zero tolerance policies will always be penalized with at least a 24-hour ban from gameplay.

High Maintenance Accounts and Three Strike Policy

Unwritten Legends Policy violations run on a Three Strike system. If you accumulate three gameplay violations in 30 days, your account will be permanently removed from UL. If you accumulate three gameplay violations over a period greater than 30 days, your account automatically becomes a High Maintenance account.

Staff may also designate any account as a High Maintenance account at their own discretion, regardless of accumulated warnings and policy violations.

A High Maintenance account may be suspended or banned without notice by any Admin level staff member.  If you feel a suspension or banning is unfair, you may request an Account Review by all the Admin staffers, who will review your account history and vote to maintain or reverse the suspension.

If you have any questions or would like clarification regarding our High Maintenance Player policy, please feel free to send your request, comments, or concerns to cs@unwrittenlegends.net.

Contacting Staff

If you need to contact staff, you can use the REPORT or GAMEHELP commands, email our staff address at cs@unwrittenlegends.net, or open a new request in the fame queue.

Do not contact staff outside of approved channels! Unsolicited contact of staff outside of an approved channel is a violation of gameplay policy.