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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rule 3 Precedents
References to the current round, even if vague, are still considered being IC in OOC.
Disruptive fighting with your friends in public spaces (sometimes called "chicken fights" or "Family Guy chicken fighting") is against the rules if done so without valid IC reason. If you do want to fight your friends for no real IC reason, keep it out of the public or utilise purpose-built areas such as rage cages, boxing rings or holodeck combat sims to make it RP-friendly.
Make a minimum effort to have your name fit in a setting involving a wacky space station in the future. 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.
Species Naming Conventions
Species Naming Conventions
Species have naming conventions that are part of their in-universe culture. These may be subverted if they have a sufficient amount of in-character reasoning and effort explaining their non-standard name. Non-standard names are held to higher scrutiny and you may be questioned on why your name breaks these conventions.
Naming Conventions:
Humans/Felinids:
Firstname Lastname
Examples:
John Smith
Jane Doe
Lizards:
Verbs-The-Noun or a hyphenated Firstname-Lastname in a suitably lizard sounding language.
Examples:
Mops-The-Floors
Shira-Thaskan
Ethereals:
The name of a celestial body, followed by an arbitrary identification marker.
Examples:
Delphini A
Gemini DF
Plasmamen:
The name of an element followed by a Roman numeral.
Examples:
Oxygen VI
Erbium IX
Moths:
A moniker usually related to something the person likes or is known for, or a Firstname Lastname which emulates a Latin species classification.
Examples:
Tulip
Vilmaxia Virmonis
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:
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 8 Precedents
For legacy reasons the library isn't moderated for rule 8 as strictly or as actively as the rest of in-game content, but making lewd content involving other players or their characters is treated harshly unless consensual.
This rule applies to ALL OOC bigotry, even when expressed in IC. There is no racism in 2565, 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.
(Pending overhaul by staff)
Above all else, S.P.L.U.R.T. Station is an EROTIC ROLEPLAY server and, as such, you are expected to act in a way that not only makes sense for your character, but also in a way that does not disrupt the roleplay of others in the process. The roleplay quality we aim for at S.P.L.U.R.T. is medium roleplay, therefore we expect you to be up to that standard in our server. Your characters and the way you play them should at all times reflect a quality of roleplay good enough for this server. You should avoid disrupting peoples’ experience and immersion through your decisions.
Play as a coherent, believable character. You're on a space station as a hire. There's fluffy characters from all corners of the universe and beyond, some of which are twice as tall as you and walk around with nothing hiding their bits, people are eating deep fried clothes and sometimes there's a dozen Captains. Your character should fit within this game world.
1 - Escalation
All fighting and use of mechanics should be proportional to the conflict itself, and make sense for your character and the situation they encounter. Not unlike how conflict would normally happen in the real world. Conflict and use of mechanics are natural and normal within a roleplay environment in SS13. However, you shouldn’t go overboard when fighting someone else, the admins will gauge for every situation if the use of mechanics was pertinent or not.
In general, try and escalate only when, and as necessary for the situation at hand.
2 - Fuck around and find out
You are not exempt from the consequences of your actions on the server. Just like you would in real life, your decisions and actions ICly on the server can and will be met by ICly consequences from the rest of the players.
Reactions from the playerbase to your character and your in-game actions can range from the use of escalation, to retaliation over several rounds. If admins deem that a situation your character is going through is due to the previous actions you performed as said character, they will let nature run its course.
Consider this when deciding your actions in-game and the type of character you want to play as!
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.
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).
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.
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 can rely on good faith play.
Security acting within the good faith spirit of security gameplay are afforded a level of OOC protection against retaliation/escalation compared to regular crewmembers. Acting in bad faith or trying to exploit the system may void any OOC protections or if serious enough result in admin intervention.
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.
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)
