As with anywhere, these Realms are a society of people sharing a space within which they all live. As such, laws are a necessary means to ensure that society’s continued prosperity. Many LAWS are documented so as to avoid confusion.
You are required to live by the laws and so you must become familiar with them. You can list our laws typing the command LAWS . To read a law, type LAWS topic.
Some laws you should be acquainted with are:
Laws Channels
CHANNELS allow us to communicate with each other. They are a great resource but could become terribly crowded if people were to abuse them.
ASK and ANSWER are useful when you can’t find a HELP file for a problem and can’t figure it out for yourself. ASK is monitored by players who like to help people who are learning the game. ASK is a good channel to use if you need help recovering your corpse (HELP CR).
If no one answers your question, don’t just repeat it. Repeating in channels is called SPAM. People do monitor channels and if you weren’t answered, they may not know! Or they may know that it’s something that you should figure out for yourself.
Profanity is not permitted on public channels at all. It’s just not necessary. If you choose to swear in private channels, TELL, GT, or WHISPER, that’s up to you so long as it doesn’t bother the person you’re talking to. If, for any reason, someone is upset by language, subject, or insinuation of your comments on any channels, be courteous and stop the conversation immediately.
If asked to stop a conversation or take it to an appropriate channel, it is best to do so. Being asked to stop by anyone is more than enough warning that you shouldn’t continue. Immortals can punish you for it.
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Laws Pkill
Those who choose the DEADLY path of the pkillers are not bound by all of the same laws as peacefuls, but they do have laws of their own. Pkillers may not MULTIPLAY in any way at all even using another IP or connection. In other words, pkillers may only have one character on the WHO DEADLY list at any time.
Deadlies may not receive spells from peacefuls, however they can buy and sell non-deadly equipment with peacefuls. You may not attack, steal from, cast aggressive spells on, or make aggressive actions or skills toward any other player unless you both appear in the WHO DEADLY list and you are within five levels of one another.
The WARTALK channel is for deadlies to communicate with each other, and while it is not illegal for deadlies to use other public channels, they shouldn’t need to. Deadlies have chosen a solitary life where they should look after themselves.
It is not illegal to attack a naked, LD (Link Dead), or otherwise incapable deadly, but cowardly actions do not bode well amongst one’s capable peers.
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Laws Stores
The shopkeepers of Darkhaven are protected by a law stating that players will not attack or steal from them. The law exists for obvious economical reasons as well as to ensure the playability of the MUD for those who buy and sell at the shopkeepers. The law applies to most Darkhaven mobs where the LIST command can be used. The law is in effect at all times of the day.
Shopkeepers outside of Darkhaven are not directly protected by this law, and common sense must be used to determine whether or not killing a certain shopkeeper could affect the enjoyment of the MUD for another player wanting to shop at that particular shopkeeper. Being courteous is easy if you use a little common sense.
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Laws Harassment
The law against HARASSMENT exists for the obvious reason that there are better ways to solve disputes than harassing other players and better use of the MUD and processor resources than as a tool for harassment.
If you consider someone’s actions to be harassment, they are required to stop when you tell them to. Use the IGNORE command to stop receiving TELLS or other communication from another player.
If IGNORE isn’t enough to deal with another player’s harassment, or the content of the other player’s behavior is particularly notable, report the incident to an IMMORTAL. Type WHO IMM and TELL one of them:
1) Who is harassing you.
2) What they are doing.
3) What you’ve tried to do about it.
4) Whether or not they’ve said they would stop.
Harassment is a very serious offence, and the IMMORTAL will be able to help you to get away from it.
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Laws Multiplay
MULTIPLAYing occurs when one user is playing more than one character on the MUD at one time.
Multiplay is not in itself illegal, so long as it does not impede any other player’s ability to enjoy the mud and none of the characters are DEADLY .
Multiplay is, however, limited to a maximum of eight non-deadly characters online at a time from any one user or group of users sharing a single IP address.
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Laws Sharing
Sharing of characters, or the use of a character by more than one player, is legal so long as the character is a peaceful and holds no position of power in any guild or order.
Choosing to share a character is the original owner’s own risk. If the second user of the character chooses to destroy, steal or abuse the character, it is their choice and the character will be subject to the same laws as non-shared characters.
It is much safer to never allow anyone access to your characters or passwords. Password = Ownership: if someone who you shared a character with changes the password, you will no longer have access to that character.
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Laws Stake
Mobiles REPOP when the area resets. This restocks the area for the next adventurers after others have already been through.
Repeatedly waiting in an area for a mobile to repop after having already killed it and not allowing others to do so is called staking. It is illegal, unfair to other adventurers, unrealistic in gameplay, and punishable.
If you want to wait for a mob to repop AND there aren’t any other players around that might benefit from the mob, chances are that you are not going to be punished for staking.
A character staking a mob is not an excuse for a KILLSTEAL. If you feel that someone is staking a mob, it is best to politely ask them to continue on their way. If they still continue to stake, it should be brought to an immortal’s attention.
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Laws Charm
It is illegal to bring charmed mobs into Darkhaven or any area designed to be for lower levels than the area from which the mob came if the mob is either an aggressive mob or one which is likely to join in a fight.
Type WHERE to see what area you’re in at any time. Typing AREAS gives a list of all the areas and their intended level ranges.
You are responsible for the actions of any mob you have charmed or purchased. If your mob is attacked and fights or even kills a player, you will be marked with an ATTACKER or KILLER flag and will have to deal with the consequences. Do not allow your mob to get you into trouble.
It is very frowned upon to kill other people’s charmies or pets. If someone’s use of charm is negatively affecting the other players in an area it should be brought to an immortal’s attention. Always get the owner’s permission before attacking another player’s mobs. Obviously, you shouldn’t use charmed mobs to spam or annoy other players.
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Laws Objects
Type: LAWS OBJECTS to read about ownership of objects lying in rooms. If a character in a room drops an object, it remains their property until they abandon it or give another character permission to pick it up. If a second character picks it up without obtaining the owner’s permission, it is stealing and therefore an illegal act amongst peaceful players.
Similarly, if a player enters a room where another player already is, the objects on the floor are to be considered the property of the player that was already with them and the entering player must not take the items without gaining the permission of the owner.
These rules can, of course, be construed to the point where they’re not reasonable to abide under certain situations, at which time it is best for all involved to do what’s obviously right to reunite separated items with their rightful owner. If ownership disputes do occur, make sure you have tried to do what’s obviously right. If an immortal has to become involved, it is possible that everybody will lose for wasting the immortal’s time.
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Laws Cheating
CHEATING is difficult to define, but we all know what cheating is. Cheating is damaging to the MUD as a whole and is absolutely intolerable. Attempting to create any item or GOLD through a BUG of the game or a duplication, knowingly assisting in the creation or duplication of illegally acquired items, buying, selling or owning such items and not reporting the bug to the immortals as soon as possible are all examples of cheating.
Using common sense in regards to what will be considered cheating is pretty easy. If an immortal gets involved in something, his/her decision is final. If you attempt to cheat, you will be harshly punished and possibly lose all access to any characters you play.
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Laws Murder
It is illegal to use the MURDER command or CAST an offensive spell on another player unless the following requirements are met.
1) You must appear on the WHO DEADLY list. (Type WHO DEADLY )
2) Your opponent must appear on the WHO DEADLY list.
3) You must be within five (5) levels of your opponent’s level.
OR
- You are in an ARENA designed for dueling.
- You have obtained an immortal’s permission to partake in a pkill.
Illegally attacking another player either with MURDER or a spell will cause you to be tagged with the KILLER or ATTACKER flag. Illegal pkilling is one of the most intolerable acts a player can commit.
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Laws Assist
DEADLY characters (type: WHO DEADLY ) may interact with non-deadlies. However, there are rules concerning how non-deadlies may and may not provide assistance to Pkillers. Although peacefuls may buy and sell items and equipment (Potions and scrolls included), and advise deadlies about where things or people are, peacefuls may not cast spells on deadlies under any circumstances, or use any skills and spells to give any one deadly an advantage over another.
This law can leave a grey area of what may or may not be acceptable. It is an easy law to avoid breaking if peacefuls allow deadlies to help themselves.
Under no circumstances may a DEADLY have more than one character logged on at any time simultaneously with a DEADLY – by any means whatsoever.
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Other Rules
There are, of course, many points of courtesy and decency that aren’t written laws but can be considered unwritten rules that help keep the game playable.
The MUD exists for the enjoyment of its players – a place where people can interact and enjoy gameplay.
ADVERTISING: There are plenty of venues on the internet to be inundated with unsolicited advertising. If we all try to protect our Realms from going that way, it can continue to serve as a break from commercialism. HELP AD discusses the topic further.
HARASSMENT: It is illegal to try to prevent others from enjoying the game, be it through harassment, cruelty, language, or any other method. If you can’t enjoy playing the game, you should quit instead of disturbing those who can. See LAWS HARASSMENT
LAWS OBJECTS and LAWS STAKE discuss where many player conflicts arise. If everyone uses common sense to politely allow everyone to enjoy the game, there should be no problems. If an item might belong to someone in the room, don’t take it. You can use the Chat channel to say that an item has been found and its owner should contact you. There is a Lost And Found board in the Darkhaven Town Hall where you can report the item.
MOBS: Do not spell up a mob unless you will then kill it. Read LAWS MOBASSIST .
Enjoy the game and help everyone else enjoy it too.
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