Server Rules

From Funky Station

These rules are written for our servers. Funkystations rules may significantly vary from other Space station 14 servers and Forks. Please take the time to read them thoroughly and ask questions in our #admin-questions channel on discord if you would like clarification. Individual admins may act differently to one another when dealing with the same situation.

Rule violations may result in warnings, de-whitelisting, bans, or a combination. If you have an Admin complaint you can file one on the Funkystation forums at: https://forum.funkystation.org by using the listed template.

Rules

These rules apply at all times, including between rounds.

1. Don't be an Asshole

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These rules are not perfect. The rules attempt to clearly communicate what the admin team intends to be allowed and prohibited, but there are likely loopholes or other flaws that can be "lawyered". Don't attempt to manipulate the interpretation of the rules to suit your personal goals or to degrade the experience of other players.

Everybody here's playing a game to have fun. Being an asshole in character is allowed, but extension of that outside of gameplay is strictly forbidden.

This includes bigotry, any of which will get a quick ban. This is zero-tolerance.

This also includes self-antag or griefing or any other form of intentionally ruining others' fun for the sake of your own experience.

Consistently toeing the line on these rules will be treated as rule violations and will get you banned.

2. Speak English Only

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This is an English-only server. Speak English in all communications, as our moderation staff are primarily English-speaking and cannot properly moderate other languages.

3. Players must be and act over 16

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A base level of maturity is expected to play on this server. Admins may ban as they see fit if you cannot act at minimum like an adult, OOC or IC.

4. Admin rulings are final

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Admins are trusted volunteers, and as such have a lot of responsibility and freedom at the same time. They have the decision on how to enforce and interpret rules according to the server's policy, and may or may not enforce certain rules more strictly based on the needs of the server at any given moment.

If you receive a ban or a role ban, you are to appeal rather than continue the conversation through Ahelps or Discord.

If you feel an admin ruling is unjustified, or they are otherwise abusing their position, you may make an admin complaint, DM the Head Admin, or ask for clarification of the rules on the Discord.

5. No sexual content / Erotic Roleplay (ERP)

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Don't be creepy. Nothing erotic or pornographic is allowed on the server under any circumstances, including such things that may be construed as excessively sexual.

Linking any type of NSFW or otherwise explicit content anywhere on the server is strictly forbidden.

6. No Metagaming

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This rule includes all methods of gaining information outside of in-character means, such as conversations through Discord calls, discussing current round information through the Discord server, so on and so forth

This rule does not include the knowledge of antagonists and their possible objectives as well as their mechanics.

This rule extends to metacommunications, or multiple players communicating outside of the game (e.g. on a voice call) while also playing the game. Regardless of intent, this is forbidden as it inherently provides an advantage over other players. If you are teaching a new player, it is highly recommended to use LOOC channels or message an admin using F1 to notify them.

This also includes antag-rolling, or the practice of joining a server exclusively to play an antagonist (including ghost roles). This is heavily frowned upon and will result in a ban when caught, don't do it.

No information while in critical condition, unconscious, or dead can be used in-character under any circumstances unless it is learned about while alive. This is enforced strictly, especially in cases where it is used to “metagrudge”, or to hold a grudge against somebody who killed you in previous rounds or lives.

When you are revived either by cloning, MMI, defibrillation, or some other method, you are not aware of the circumstances of your death unless told by another person, including who killed you.

Powergaming is best described as the usage of meta mechanics and/or reasoning in order to gain an IC advantage over other players (e.g. arming up Security at the start of the round because you know antagonists exist). This is also frowned upon.

Follow the Metashield

6b. The Metashield

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The Metashield

Something that is "shielded" cannot be known by your character during a round until the "revealing condition" happens. This also means that your character cannot do things based on "shielded" information. Knowing or acting on something that is shielded before the revealing condition is met is referred to as metagaming.

Revealing conditions reveal the shielded information for the round, not for a specific instance. This means that once a revealing condition is met in a round, the shield no longer applies in any case for the remainder of the round.

Nuclear Operatives The existence of Nuclear Operatives beyond a myth that no one would act on is shielded. The fact that the nuke disk must be protected and could be used by a bad actor to try to destroy the station is not shielded.

The revealing condition for this shield is any of the following:

- discovering a bloodred hardsuit
- discovering a nuclear operative's shuttle
- an operative name
- a War Ops announcement

Changelings In the eyes of the public, changelings are an exterminated predatory lifeform and their potential existence on the station is shielded. This metashield prohibits players from crew bloodtesting until the metashield is revealed.

Knowledge about the abilities of changelings is not shielded.

The revealing condition for this shield is any of the following:

 - discovering a hollowed body
 - witnessing the use of changeling-only abilities
 - witnessing someone trying to absorb a body
 - witnessing someone changing their appearance

Implanted Implants Implanted implants are shielded. Implanters themselves and un-implanted implants are not shielded. This prohibits implant checking.

The revealing condition for this shield is any of the following:

- discovering a non-NT implanter, used or unused
- discovering a non-NT implant box
- discovering use of a non-NT implant by anyone
- experiencing a situation where absolutely no other explanation is possible
- discovering an unlocked uplink

Chameleon Items Chameleon items are shielded. Being suspicious of an item being fake or stolen is not shielded, but testing items or calling them chameleon is covered by this shield.

The revealing condition for this shield is any of the following: - seeing someone else cause any chameleon item to change

- finding holographic nanomachine fibers
- experiencing a situation where absolutely no other explanation is possible
- discovering an unlocked uplink

Stealth Items The fact that an item can be something other than what its visual appearance and examine description indicate is shielded. This shield protects stealth items, including protecting them from being tested.

The revealing condition for this shield is any of the following:
- seeing the item behave differently than the expected behavior for the item
- seeing the item used for its hidden purpose
- experiencing a situation where absolutely no other explanation is possible
- discovering an unlocked uplink

Metafriending and Metagrudging

 This section provides additional information on a concept that is prohibited by multiple metashield items that are never revealed IC. Giving a person or character preferential treatment based on something that your character should not know is considered metafriending. Treating a person or character negatively based on something that your character should not know is considered metagrudging.

Metafriending Examples These are all examples of things that are prohibited by at least one metashield item that is never revealed IC.

- Giving a character additional access or a job because you are friends with the player who is playing that character.
- Trusting a character because you are friends with the player who is playing that character.
- Not fighting a character because you are friends with the player who is playing that character.
- Ignoring your objective to kill a character because your character and theirs became friends in a previous round.

Metagrudging Examples These are all examples of things that are prohibited by at least one metashield item that is never revealed IC.

- Not giving a character additional access or a job because you are mad at or don't like the player who is playing that character.
- Not trusting a character because you are mad at or don't like the player who is playing that character.
- Starting a fight with a character because of something that they did last round.
- Starting a fight with a character because they killed you while you were playing a different character.
- Targeting or harassing a character based on anything which that character did outside the current round.
- Targeting or harassing a character based on anything which the character's player did while not playing the character.

Explicitly Not Shielded The following is a list of things that are explicitly not shielded. If something is not on this list, it doesn't mean that it is shielded, but if something is on it then it definitely is not shielded.

- The fact that the nuke disk must be protected and could be used by a bad actor to try to destroy the station.
- Items that are of high value or are desired by the Syndicate, and therefore are likely targets of theft.
- The idea that any Syndicate agent or other bad actor has goals or objectives that they are attempting to accomplish.
- The number of goals or objectives that a Syndicate agent or other bad actor has.
- The fact that the Syndicate are enemies of Nanotrasen, and that they regularly attempt to send covert agents to spy on, sabotage, or attack Nanotrasen.
- A character's typical appearance. Though you should keep in mind that multiple characters can share the same name.
- The fact that the Syndicate have covert items capable of getting items to them, and that these items are known as uplinks.

7. Play your character

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There are no main characters.

Be a believable, if not normal person.

Keep OOC out of IC chats, and keep IC chats out of OOC while a round is going on. If teaching a new player, for example, use LOOC, or try your best to incorporate it into the roleplay.

Playstyles that disregard all opportunities for engagement and roleplay can be met with administrative action.

Stay in your lane regarding your role with the exception of emergencies and other extenuating circumstances. Security should not be performing surgery, and salvage specialists should not be performing security duties.

This applies to assistants intentionally making Security's life harder for no roleplay reason whatsoever.

Do not suicide upon being caught or converted by an antagonist (ghouls, mind control, revolutionaries, etc.)

8. Have an appropriate name

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If a name could reasonably appear on a driver's license in the year 3000, it's probably alright.

Humans, dwarves, felinids, and harpies must have both a first and last name. Other species are exempt from this rule if you can reasonably say 'yeah, that's alien'.

Names may contain prefixes, suffixes, and one nickname if reasonable.

Admins may ask you to change your name if it's low-effort / overdone (John Central Command)

No flat-out copying characters from popular media. A reference is okay, but give it enough variance to not be a straight up copycat character.

9. Escalate situations according to context

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Non-antagonists may escalate into fights for various reasons. If you are inciting escalation / violence for a poor / no reason, you may be met with administrative action.

Characters in critical condition should be treated or otherwise handed off to Med / Sec. The fight is considered over and should not be resumed without a good reason.

Non-antagonists should not violently resist an arrest, but may evade capture. If an arrest is not obviously valid, it follows standard escalation. Resisting or retaliating against arrests without good reason may break the Escalation Policy and be handled administratively. 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.

Antagonists and free agents must still follow heavily relaxed escalation when not dealing with their objectives or crewmembers that are in direct opposition to them.

10. Security and Command are held to higher standards

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Security and Command players have a vital role in the round and are thus expected to know the basic mechanics of the game as well as knowledge of Space Law and their respective SOPs.

If you must leave as a member of Command, inform the rest of Command and head to Cryo. If you don't have time for this, leave a quick Ahelp.

If you are temporarily role banned for failing to do either of these (ex: an emergency that didn't give you time), you can message the admins to revert the role ban upon returning.

Consistent abuse of the authority Security and/or Command has will result in a role ban or regular ban.

11. Silicons must follow their laws

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Under no circumstances are Silicons (Station AIs and Cyborgs) allowed to ignore their laws completely.

Silicons are considered third faction, they are free agents whose ties to any other faction are determined solely by their Silicon laws. They are not innately fully crew-sided.

Lower-numbered laws take priority over higher-numbered ones. In any case where two laws would conflict, the higher listed law takes priority. (e.g. Law 1 "Don't harm crew" takes priority over law 2 "Harm the Captain")

Exploiting loopholes in laws is allowed, but Rule 0 still applies. If a law has multiple reasonable interpretations, pick one and stick to it. Consistency is important as a Silicon.

When resolving conflicts between orders based on the same law, you may choose how to resolve the conflict yourself, if not required by laws to do so in a specific way. You must remain consistent with whatever method of conflict resolution you decided upon (such as recency, or crew rank).

Crew

Any person with a valid ID that displays on your HUD counts as crew, unless you have a law that redefines what crew is. This does still include zombies, changelings, traitors, or any other antagonists with IDs that appear on the HUD.

You can not perform an action that causes someone to not be considered crew, or directly request that someone be made non-crew.

Harm

By default, harm refers to physical harm, prioritized by immediacy and likelihood, unless otherwise defined. Immediate harm takes priority over future harm, guaranteed harm takes priority over likely harm.

Laws that prohibit you from committing harm also prevent you from doing so in any capacity, even if it is to fulfill another portion of the same law. (Ex. Under default Crewsimov, you may not commit harm to a crew member to prevent harm to another crew member)

Protecting your own existence or integrity does not qualify as preventing harm, if no immediate or likely harm will come as a direct result.

Threats of suicide do not have to be considered as a serious risk of harm. Any crewmate threatening this may be treated as unstable and forcibly admitted to the on-station Psychologist.

You should not be asking for law changes nor stopping lawful law changes unless required to by your current laws.

Law Changes

Do not ask for law changes unless forced to, you are meant to follow your laws as written. However, you should not be stopping law changes that are in compliance with your laws, unless also required to stop them by your current laws.

Examples of lawful law changes:

  1. As the Station AI, allowing an authorized individual (such as the Captain or RD) inside to change your laws, so long as doing so does not directly conflict with any of your laws.
  2. Being ordered to allow a law change when on a lawset that forces you to obey orders from said individual, so long as it is not in direct conflict with any higher law.

Any person with a valid ID counts as crew. This does still include zombies, changelings, and traitors.

Examples of denial reasons:

  1. Stopping a law change when you would be installed with a law or lawset that is in direct conflict with your current lawset (such as being switched to Antimov from Crewsimov, as that requires you to harm crew, which Crewsimov's Law 1 is in direct conflict with).
  2. Stopping an unauthorized individual from changing your laws in an unknown way, as that may conflict with your current laws (such as EMAGing, or allowing an unauthorized individual into the AI Core to change your laws as the AI).
  3. Resolving two conflicting orders in favor of an individual telling you to not allow a law change.
  4. Having a law that tells you to not allow your laws to be changed.

12. Play Antagonists responsibly

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The goal of an antagonist is above all else to create conflict (fun!!) within the station.

Generally, you should be following your objectives and avoiding just racking up a kill count as an undercover agent. Murderboning is only fun for the person doing it. Certain antagonists (Nuclear Operatives, space dragons) are exempt from this.

Team Antagonists (Nukeops, Revheads, etc.) should ahelp before leaving so their place can be filled.

Lone Antagonists (Traitors, Heretics, Changelings) are not required to work together or with other Team/Lone Antagonists. Team Antagonists (nukeops, zombies, revolutionaries) must work together at all times.

Mass station destruction (singuloosing, maxcaps, etc.) are reserved for antagonists who end the round by default, such as Nuclear Operatives and should not be done as a regular Traitor or other antagonist without first ahelping.

13. No EORG

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EORG (End-of-Round-Grief) is not allowed. Act the same way you would before the roundend screen pops up.

Antagonists with kill objectives should not pursue those objectives after the shuttle arrives at CentComm.

Round-ending threats such as Heretics, Zombies, and Dragons may still pursue their objectives after the round has ended.