GUIDELINES FOR IMMS

Being an imm is quite another thing than being a mortal, even a hero. As an imm you represent the Staff, and we expect our Staff to behave in a responsible way.

As you probably have noticed by now, this is a pretty easy going Mud, with rather few rules, but we expect those few we have to be followed by all, and especially by the immortal staff.

In fact we expect our imms to set an example for the morts, meaning that the rules for the immortals are much harsher than the ones for the morts. There also are some general rules about imm behaviour that should be observed.

The 7 basic rules for imm behaviour are the following:
1. Playing the Game is OK for an Imm, cheating or bug-abusing is not
2. Always be calm, fair and unbiased
3. Be polite and helpful – but not overly so
4. Avoid meddling in player conflicts if possible
5. Don’t hesitate to deal swiftly and firmly with ‘troublemakers’
6. Respect the ‘free speech’
7. Do not cheat!

Each of these points is explained commented on below. As an imm you agree to follow and uphold these rules.

Please don't bicker or even argue with other Immortals over public channels. If you must disagree with another immortal, especially when it is concerning mud policy, please use the Wiz Channel, a note to imm, or the imm Boards on the Forum. That's what they are there for. Nothing looks more unprofessional than two or more Immortals bickering over public channels. (In fact, avoid arguing with mortals over open channels too, unless it is done in an obviously amicable or joking way. Real issues are usually best dealt with over notes or on the discussion boards).

Also anything said over Wiz channel is privileged info, and should not be shared with morts. We need to be able to discuss sensitive matters openly between the Staff, or even joke around a bit, without bits and pieces of it being leaked to the playerbase. . Quotes ripped out of context can cause a lot of unnecessary grief because of sheer misunderstandings.

1. Playing the Game is OK for an Imm, cheating or bug-abusing is not

It is not forbidden for an imm to have one or more mortal chars - in fact it is encouraged, since playing as a mort gives you a better understanding of the game and helps you to be a better imm. But: Do NOT use your imm char, or the knowledge you get access to as imm, to gain any type of advantages for your mortal char, your personal friends or your Clan. This is considered cheating and will be punished harshly if discovered. Having your Imm on line at the same time as your mortal is not allowed, for this very reason, unless with special permission from an imp.

Imms are expected to report any bugs they find and also any attempts they see of cheating (including cheating with bugs). Abusing bugs is totally unacceptable for an Imm. See also under point 7. Do NOT cheat!

If your imm level is high enough to give you the power to load items; use it only for legitimate reasons, like quest rewards or tokens in return for bug report, or replacing lost perzes against tokens. Loading weapons and equip and giving it to players (or your own mort) is not acceptable, even if it is claimed to be a reimbursement for items lost due to a bug or a crash. We keep daily backups of the pfiles, so just direct these cases to the Coder in charge.

2 Always be calm, fair and unbiased
To the immortal staff the good of the mud in general must always come before personal gain, or the good of your friends or Clan. Don’t let your personal likes and dislikes influence your actions or decisions. Regardless of personal feelings, an imm should always act in a balanced and fair way.

Mud sex is not forbidden in 4D, as long as people are reasonably discreet about it, but as imm you should never have a virtual ‘affair’ with a Mort. If you have any kind of personal relation with a mort, (whether positive or negative, in the game or in RL), avoid dealing with situations involving that person with your imm. Refer the matter to another imm, or the entire staff. Rumours of favouritism spread very fast in a mud, and even if your actions and intentions are impeccable, you should be aware that anything you do in those situations can – and probably will – be interpreted as favouritism.

Don’t lose your temper. Never in any way harass a player yourself, neither verbally nor physically, by killing, slaying, teleporting, etc. Be friendly, polite but firm. If you need to transfer someone for a legitimate reason, always notify the player before doing so.

It’s not recommended that the mortals of imms act as Clan leaders, although it is not expressively forbidden. You will lose your position both as imm and Clan Leader if it is proven that you have been using your his imm status to gain unfair advantages for your Clan.

3. Be polite and helpful – but not overly so

Besides their normal ‘jobs as coders or builders, Imms are there to help the mortals within reasonable limits, to answer questions if asked, to run quests or RP events, to help keeping the players entertained etc. You can chat with them if you like and crack a few jokes, but don't get too involved, don't force your help on them if they didn't ask for it and - above all - do not cheat! (see Point 7 below).

Be helpful and polite, answer questions to the best of your ability, but don't be "helpful" to the verge of blabbing. Don’t give away the secrets of the zones or the Quests, this isn’t really helpful, it just spoils the fun of exploring and solving difficulties and takes the challenges away for the players. It is also very unfair to those who have better sense than asking imms for hints about the Quests. You also don’t have to answer questions, if you find them inappropriate, overly stupid or intentionally irritating. (Ignoring a dumb question is usually better than publicly berating or mocking the questioner).

Preferably refer the questioners to resources where they can seek knowledge on their own, for instance Mud School, the HELP files, the Hint Channel, the Helpers Library, the Map room or the 4D Website. (Even if you choose to answer the direct question too, this reference is better for the player in the long run, since there will not always be someone on line to assist them). If there are Helpers or Heroes on line, you should be able to leave the assistance to those.

You can do a ‘restore all’ every time you enter and leave the game, but never restore on demand, unless a player is stuck on negative hp without dying.

Never reset a zone, (especially not on demand), unless it is for OLC/testing purposes or as part of a Quest, for instance an ‘invasion’.

Avoid being wizinvis all the time, unless you have really good reasons. Seeing visible imms on line usually leads to better player behaviour. If you are busy with something else, preferably use the BUSY or AFK flags, with appropriate messages, instead of going wizinvis.

Do NOT transfer mortals to any remote areas on request; the idea of the game is that they shall explore themselves. You can give them directions of the way if they ask for it, but preferably don't be too specific about it (for instance rather direct them to the Map Room or the in-game Map shops and road signs, than giving directions like 4e, 2s, 1w...). In fact, do not transfer mortals at all, except to Recall, if they got stuck in a no-exit room.

Do NOT transfer aggressive mobs to any rooms where players can go, except possibly to the Battle field for a quest. But even then be careful to purge the room afterwards, so you don’t jeopardise the safety of other players.

Start the Arena if asked to, this is generally appreciated by the players.
The same goes for the Zedd Quest.

4. Avoid meddling in player conflicts if possible

Imms should interfere as little as possible with the mortal game. Respect the integrity of the players! Even in a Mud people are entitled to some private life. Do NOT stalk or spy on the players (for instance by going wizinvis to sit at recall or follow them around) unless there is a strong suspicion of cheating or harassment that needs to be verified.

Always try to solve player problems by talking to all the players involved and explaining the rules and reasons before administering any punishments.

There is a definite difference between player conflicts and actual harassment.

Avoid meddling in player conflicts as much as possible. In most cases they should be able to deal with it themselves. Personal likes and dislikes are as common in a Mud as in RL and - unless taken to the extreme - conflicts are usually good for the gameplay. Don’t be a nosy busybody – never interfere unless specifically asked to. Avoid berating a player publicly, unless it is part of a punishment. (See point 5 below).

If you do choose to interfere in a player conflict, remember the following simple facts:
- It’s usually just not one’s fault when two quarrel.
- There is usually more below the surface than perceived at first sight.
- Roleplay, socials or jokes can sometimes be interpreted in a not intended way.
- Always listen to both sides before taking any action or making any decision.
- Never judge on hearsay alone.
- Players will usually try to paint themselves out in a better light, when describing a conflict to you.
- Some players will lie to your face. (There are even examples of players who’d go as far as to tamper with logs, to make an opponent look bad).

Teleporting both players to the same room and letting them each give their side of the conflict with you as referee can sometimes help with the intentional misinformation.

Harassment is usually defined as repeated messages or actions directed at a certain person or group of persons, with the intent of irritating, intimidating or harming the ‘target’. In a mud this can mean anything from excessive Pkilling and junking to messages over open or closed channels or even repeated socials. Common ‘bad language’ or spamming on open channels can be disturbing enough and should be dealt with, but is usually not harassment.

Before deciding that something is to be regarded as harassment, consider the disclaimer in the log-in sequences, and Point 6. Free speech, below.

In either case, talk to both parties and try to explain basic things like tolerance, cultural differences and respect for others. Ask the ‘active’ party to stop what they are doing, since it is irritating to the other party.

In blatant cases - (and yes, they do exist) - inform the rest of the staff and take whatever measures you deem necessary (see Point 5).

5. Don’t hesitate to deal swiftly and firmly with ‘troublemakers’

Some players are obvious troublemakers, and need to be dealt with swiftly and efficiently, because they can be detrimental to the fun of all other players. Do not tolerate bad behaviour or harassment (see point 4) from one player against another player.

You don’t need to accept any twinkish behaviour against yourself either, even though it is recommended to apply some humour, patience and tolerance to those situations, especially when you are new as imm. You cannot expect the players to immediately respect you simply because you got an imm. Respect has to be earned – from both sides.

The most common and easiest to handle troublemakers are newbie Twinks that log on and/or create new chars just to cause irritation. The best way to deal with those is to silence them, using whatever method you have at their disposal, for instance teleporting them to Twitches or Hell. (If you have the mute and freeze command, you can use those inetead). If they persist in creating new chars, you may also have to use a newban. This soon makes them tire and go to harass another mud, and the ban can usually be removed in a week or so.

A bit more complex are regular players that turn into ‘Griefers’ for different reasons. These usually need more consideration when dealt with, since the bad behaviour can just be the symptom of an underlying bigger problem. Nevertheless they usually need to be taken care of immediately, if only to ensure a decent player environment for the rest of the playerbase.

If a player behaves badly and you think he/she deserves a punishment, you may use whatever methods you feel appropriate.

Always start by warning the player and telling him/her to stop whatever they are doing. If they don’t listen to this, keep up the bad behaviour, or start arguing with you, use whatever methods you find suitable, but try to keep a level head and adapt the punishment to the ‘crime’.

The disciplinary methods you can use are the following, (in the preferred order):
- herosilence (mutes the culprit for a limited time)
- teleport to soundproof room for instance Hell (room 12024) or Twitches)
- mute
- freeze
- Coventry
- force
quit
- DC # (the command Users will give you the connection #)
- Ban isp (see below)
(remember that the mute and freeze commands also haves to be revoked by an imm)

You can also use the more ‘direct’ commands
- smite
- powersmite (smite player-name hard)
- slay (demon, immolate, deheart etc.)

The smite/slay commands may look dramatic to onlookers, buy don’t really harm the target permanently, they just knock some hp off, not exp. They are more a demonstration of ‘displeasure’ than a real punishment, and to tell the truth they are usually not very eddective. (It should be observed though that the smite commands make them drop equipment, which could be lost in a crash or nicked by other players).

All the other disciplinary commands listed above (with the exception of herosilence), need to be revoked by yourself or another imm. You cannot just leave them on indefinitely. Usually it should be enough to revoke them after 5 minutes. Hopefully the message has gone through by then, if not, just repeat the command.

Always report any disciplinary actions taken with a note to imm, to alert other Staff members of the incident. The note should include details of the offence, the player's Mud name and isp. It’s usually a good idea to log the event. You need not attach the log to your report, but keep it handy in case the player should lodge a complaint in return.

Also inform the player that they have been reported to the Staff and will be under observation hereafter.

In extreme cases it may be necessary to ban the player for some time. This can be done in three ‘grades’:

- nameban
- newban
- full ban

The nameban is the least severe one, since it still allows the player to log on other alts. In extreme cases you can also use the command ‘purge player’, which will purge all their equipment. This should never be used without a previous consent from the imps however.

6. Respect the ‘free speech’
Free speech is important in 4D, and a bit of 'rough' language on the open channels should be tolerated, (there is even a disclaimer about this in the login sequence), so don’t get too anal over a bit of cussing. However, this freedom also involves some responsibilities.

Refer any culprits to the helpfiles RULES and BEHAVIOUR RULES.

Traditionally we also allow free discussion and critique about the Mud itself or its Staff, as long as it doesn’t degrade into constant griping, in which case it might be dealt with as SPAM.

7. Do NOT cheat!
Cheating imms can destroy any mud. Even the faintest rumour about cheating imms is detrimental to a Mud. Remember the old saying; ‘Cesar’s wife must be above suspicion’, and act accordingly. Certain imm commands, for instance load, stat and set are logged, to prevent cheating, as are all Token transactions.

1. Do NOT give any player equipment of any kind, with the possible exception of newbie equip and some gold coins, or as a quest prize.

2. Do NOT transfer mobs for any player to kill, or transfer players to mobs, unless it is done as a part of an imm-run quest or RP event.

3. Do NOT use your imm to get advantages, neither for your own mort, nor your friends. (For instance killing mobs with your imm to collect equip, resetting zones to get the mobs and objects to repop, restoring your mort in battle and other things along these lines). Also do NOT use your imm powers to check on quests, or the strength and location of certain mobs or objects, or if certain artefacts are loaded.

4. No NOT group your imm char with mortals. Do NOT help mortals to level by fighting mobs to wear their HP down and then fleeing so the mortal can finish it off.

5. Do NOT on any occasion create, load and/or use "cheat equipment"! If equipment like that is ever found in the Game Port we expect all Imms to report it immediately, since it basically destroys the game for everybody.