[Work in Progress] Universal Rules

Tamat·5/30/2014, 4:04:29 AM·34 votes·29,397 views

Good evening!

I wanted to give you a sneak peek at a draft of the Universal Rules that we're planning to roll out in the next week or so. These rules will unilaterally apply to all sub-communities, so we'd really like to hear as much of your feedback as possible.

Here goes...

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Universal Board Rules v6

Don’t be an Asshat

We’re aiming for the most sportsmanlike gaming community in the world, in-game and out. Just because you’re anonymous doesn’t give you a license to be a jerk. Posts that walk over the line will be deleted. Repeat offenders may be permanently kicked out.

Moderators should ask themselves the following:

  • Is the player posting content that would be extremely offensive to others?

  • Is the player attacking an individual or group in a way that could be considered severe?

  • Is the player making baseless complaints or contesting a private matter that isn't relevant to this community?

No Mature Content

This one is important for everyone to read carefully. We know that this community tends to be more mature, but there are kids here, too. All of us want this to be a reasonably safe environment for children, and at the same time, we won’t tolerate childish behavior.

With that in mind, many players vary in age, and there are some things that children and young adults shouldn’t see. Violations of this rule will be dealt with swiftly, and seriously. You could lose your in-game account if you mess up here.

Moderators will look for and consider the following as violations of this rule:

  • Pornographic materials of any kind
  • Imagery that show gore, death, horrifically violent acts
  • Overly sexual art

All that being said, even risqué content can fall under these rules, and will be dealt with accordingly. Stay classy.

Spamming

There aren’t a lot of reasons to post the same content in multiple places. Every once in a while it makes sense to cross-post, but if it’s not appropriate, the subsequent posts will be removed. Repeat offenders will be hit with restrictions. Remember, just because you want the whole world to see something doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. If you want visibility on a post, post it in the right place, and make sure the content is solid.

Account, Product, & Services Selling

If you’re trying to sell a product or service, there are other websites for that. If you’re trying to sell a game account or service that violates our TOS, please don’t; however, if you absolutely have to try it here, expect that you’ll be losing access to the boards and possibly your game account. TL;DR: posts attempting to sell anything will be removed. Serious offenders will feel the wrath of the banhammer.

Moderators will be looking for the following:

  • Advertising for product sales of any kind
  • Advertising for services offered by individuals or companies
  • Coupons or discount information that doesn’t contribute anything to the conversation.

Reporting Other Players

Please don't report a potentially misbehaving player in these boards. If you see or hear about another person breaking the rules, send us a ticket directly so we can investigate and take action if necessary. We know that players report publically with the best intentions, but it often leads to a witchhunt, rarely resulting in a positive discussion. We’ll be taking action against players who have violated rules, so please report these players correctly.

Moderators will be looking for the following:

  • Posts that accuse others of being toxic players in-game
  • Posts accusing others of malicious activity
  • Posts that accuse others of cheating or using illegal services
  • Posts accusing others of trolling in the boards (there’s a report button for that)

Hacks & illegal downloads

Do not share links or information related to obtaining illegal software. To us, this includes cheats or exploits that create an unfair advantage in-game. We’ll be removing all links and posts that give such information. Repeat offenders will lose access to the boards, and in some cases, a lot more.

Moderators will be looking for the following things:

  • Posts with links to download software that give an unfair advantage in-game
  • Posts that link to pirated movies, music, software, etc.

Illegal Activity

Criminal masterminds, or aspiring criminal masterminds: please don’t talk about your activities or plans in these boards. Posts about illegal activity will be escalated to law enforcement.

Threats

Making threats on the internet is just bad form. We don’t tolerate it, and neither should you. Threats of any kind will be handled differently depending on severity, but all posts of this kind will be removed. Extreme instances will be escalated to the proper authorities. Be cool, dudes.

Phishing & Scamming

Trying to get a leg up on others through scamming, or forcing an account breach is a serious no-no. This is theft. It’s stealing from your fellow players. It’s pretty shitty. We have a whole team at Riot Games dedicated to battling this crap and they take it seriously.

Moderators will be looking for the following things:

  • Posts about services claiming to be an RP generator
  • Links to cleverly disguised phishing sites
  • Posts designed to bait someone into a trap

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The intent of these rules is to maintain the culture that we'd like to create with this new platform, as well as help make it 100% clear what kind of content will be moderated. Are these rules clear? Do they make sense? How do they make you feel? Tell us here!

Edit: Removed some Teemo's

243 Comments

Bad Footwear5/30/2014, 3:13:04 PM88 votes

Tamat, this is all well and good, but the biggest problem your forums have isn't a lack of clarity on the rules, it's a lack of visibility of the moderation.

As long as threads are being closed, posts are being deleted, and people are being permabanned, all without any form of visibility for the community as to why it is happening, these rules will remain ineffective.

Rule 345/30/2014, 9:26:21 AM8 votes

I posted this on GD, but I'm going to bring my concern here for the sake of visibility as well.

What are we defining as 'overly sexual art' and how will this matter be handled? This game has numerous splash arts and female champion themes that can be considered overly sexual, such as Ahri, Evelynn, Elise, and Zyra, among numerous others. If posting mere fanart of these champions and skins is grounds for breaking the rules of GD/CB, this is a terrible example to follow. There should be a much more rigid definition of this rather than be done on a case by case basis, because in the event that an image is deemed to break this rule, the ideal scenario is that the image is just deleted and it's left as that, but more often than not bans are thrown out for such a violation even though the intention was never to post lewd content.

This also makes art threads a significant liability to anyone who desires to continue posting in these forums, and as someone who does enjoy partaking in such threads, this is a very important concern of mine.

Ser Safir5/31/2014, 4:48:36 AM8 votes

I'd like to ask a red for clarity here.

No Mature Content

** Pornographic materials of any kind Imagery that show gore, death, horrifically violent acts Overly sexual art **

Is it showing a bit of cleavage?

Characters that dress like strippers/playboy bunnies?

Bondage wear?

Poledancers?

Because your game has all of this.

Nid poledances like kat once did, Eve wears a bondage suite, most women have at least one busty skin (save for the yordles and Annie)

Your game MARKETS sexualized imagery, so who are you to tell us not to put them on the forums?

YvieZileanOddly5/30/2014, 6:02:09 AM7 votes

Looks like we won't be able to post splash arts of the women in league now because of the "overly sexual art" rule.

Pangrine6/2/2014, 11:09:46 PM5 votes

So many people wasting Tamat's time with BS questions like "What about if I almost break the rules by a teeny-tiny fraction? Is it okay then?"

You're acting like children, or even worse, the average user on Twitch chat. Crying whenever anyone tries to implement order or discipline in what you perceive to be a wild-west setting.

"Threads are being deleted and users are being forum banned? Obviously the Moderators are nazis and are sitting in their dark cabal trying to prevent us from having any sort of free speech!"

This is why we can't have a black/white rule set. We need that gray area because otherwise you get everyone who thinks it's funny to find every conceivable way of crossing the line without technically crossing it.

"Is it okay if I post porn but except for it being straight up porn, I do <insert random minor difference from porn"

or, even better as am seeing in this thread:

"WHY CAN'T I POST PORN IN THE FORUMS! YOU HAVE FEMALE CHAMPIONS WITH BOOBS! THAT OBVIOUSLY MEANS YOU CONDONE PORNOGRAPHY AND HENTAI! STOP CENSORING MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH BY NOT ALLOWING ME TO POST MY ANNIE/TIBBERS HENTAI!"

I would say that common sense should rule the day but we all know how that would go.

Templar4Ever6/4/2014, 11:56:30 PM2 votes

Selling my account is illegal, wait what? can you explain plz?

Only Play Nid6/7/2014, 2:08:09 AM1 votes

Wait, TAMAT is the one posting about not being an asshat?!

"If you'd prefer not to participate in this weekend, that's totally fine! Just let me know by complaining in this thread and I'll remove the bonus from your account before it begins tomorrow."

Never forget.

darkdill5/30/2014, 5:05:43 AM1 votes

Funny enough, I recently got forum banned for the third time for breaking that "Asshat" rule, but the guy who was provoking me in the first place didn't even get a slap on the wrist.

http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?p=46857003#post46857003

"GLHF with your internal struggle, you cyst on this forum's community." is what he said (among other things). And somehow his report to Riot Support means he can't be punished as I was?

Picking favorites is being an "Asshat", Riot. I'll accept the forum ban, but I expect him to get the same punishment or at least something similar. (Oh, and I did talk to Riot Support about this, but they won't lift a finger. Favoritism indeed.)