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Author Topic: What are consistent rulings & punishments?  (Read 2951 times)

Talek

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What are consistent rulings & punishments?
« on: June 22, 2014, 06:32:43 PM »
There is a thread here regarding consistent rulings and punishments: http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=5974

But what are they? Simply put, they are punishments fitted around a rule (or a group of rules) that occur when one of the rules are broken. Pretty simple. Here is how we use them:

1. Player breaks a rule, ex: griefing, cybering, hacking, harassing, exploiting, neglecting dm rulings, breaking pvp rules, etc..

2. DM posts it on our hidden DM boards to discuss the OOC concern to determine if it is a valid rule break (this process can go back and forth depending on the complexity)

3. If it is a rule break, the player at fault is punished according to the consistent ruling list. For example if they cyber then its a permanent ban on the first strike, if they were muling and its their 2nd offense then the items muled are removed and they are banned for a week, etc...   We keep track of everyone's offense stage with a separate thread.

Now... there are going to be exceptions. For example if a player was on their 'general neglect of rules' second offense but their latest offense happened years ago and they've showed positive behavior since then, their next punishment may not be the temp ban, but another final warning. Or if a player has received punishments for several of our consistent rulings but has kept barely under to avoid being banned... then they might get banned regardless. Or if a player has broken a rule and the act to break the rule was highly severe then the punishment may skip to the next tier (ex: receiving a final warning instead of a verbal warning).

If you have any questions, please ask the DM team.

Please note there has been a recent update to the consistent rulings:

Rule Broken: Neglecting to follow the direction of DMs during an OOC concern (assuming that the direction is also supported by Head DMs [& CC when applicable])
Punishment: Verbal warning (First offense)
                   Final warning (Second offense)
                   2 Week Ban (Third offense)
                   2 Month Ban (Fourth offense)
                   Indefinite Ban (Final offense)

The ruling should be pretty self explanatory. If it isn't then here is an example. DM ABC adds OCR to Player XYZ who was caught openly casting in front of Barovian officials. Player XYZ disagrees with the OCR and questions the DM. The DM explains their stance and that stance becomes supported by the Head DMs. Player XYZ still disagrees and argues. This is when they will start to become punished with this ruling.

This example was pretty cut and dry and that is for a reason... This shouldn't be a rule that is ever broken; but it happens. Typically we see this rule broken when bad eggs become unhealthily invested into their characters (when they really should just take a break from the server). They start to value their own character over anything else on the server (including fellow players and the DM team). They also start descending down a downward spiral in belief that the DM team is out to get them. It sounds dramatic... but it definitely happens.

The DM team makes the effort to talk to every player, especially the bad eggs to try to steer them on the right path. We're here to help and provide guidance if necessary. No DM is 'out to get' anyone... We have CC & Head DMs in place to ensure equality/fairness in all of our rulings and to sort out any challenges that you may have with a member of the DM team.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2014, 06:36:07 PM by DM T »