Server Rules

Courtesy of Pure Roleplay Alium Deathtrap 13 host ,Walter0o. Rules

FIRST RULE : You HAVE to read ALL Rules BEFORE joining the game. No excuses.

This page is always accessible via the "Rules"-Button in the right upper corner of your Gamewindow.

Aurora station uses the original Baystation Rules mostly, but like everything else, they are modified and added to.

There are some rules we use which other servers don't and vice versa. This is why everybody, regardless of knowledge of other servers' rules or prior game experiences, has to read them all.

Above all, use your common sense, stay sane, and keep the round fun for everyone.

When in doubt, ask in Adminhelp via the Admin-Tab.

Terminology IC = In Character, means actions and events which happen ingame. Your character only has knowledge of IC actions and nothing from OOC. Using OOC knowledge is therefore metagaming. Things people say in-game are IC (e.g. say "Hello!"). Use of internet slang or smileys (E.g. Lol, rofl, :D, ^.^, etc.) is prohibited.

OOC = Out of Character, means the goings on outside the game. The things that you, the player, know, see, etc. The two should never be mixed or knowledge from one being used to influence the actions in the other. If you're angry at someone IC, don't bring it to OOC. OOC can be used to ask questions about game mechanics, but should not contain in-game knowledge. For example "How do I build a wall?" is fine. "halp, urist mcguy is beating me" is not okay.

Griefing = To cause grief to another player for no reason. Examples of this are beating random players senselessly for no reason, setting the singularity free for no reason, destroying the station for no reason, etc.

Metagaming = Using information acquired out of character to influence the actions in character. An example is learning who the traitor is from IRC, a friend on another computer, through voip or through ingame OOC chat and than acting on this information. This also means using knowledge that your character, as an employee of NanoTrasen, could not have. As an example, a call to check the shuttle modes of play, or knowledge of the Syndicate or Syndicate items workings. Using knowledge that your profession would not have is also metagaming. This also includes some specifics mentioned below.

Powergaming = Also know as 'playing to win'. If you're trying to complete your objectives, kill the antagonists, or 'win', at all costs and ignore RP, you may be better off somewhere else. This includes having your character unafraid of death or pain, resistant to any torture, ready to battle alone against a crowd of opponents, or, being unarmed, senselessly attacking a gun wielder or hostage taker. This also includes loading up your character with items 'just in case', for example wearing internals 'just in case' there's a hull breach or plasma leak. Or wearing a space suit indoors for no reason.

IC in OOC = Saying IC things (like the gamemode) in OOC (e.g. "why the heck is it cult again" in secret). Generally, if someone not playing can tell what's going on using OOC, it's IC in OOC. This is generally not a good thing. O OC in IC = Talking OOC in IC. Most of the time this is just bad (e.g "why is some of the game text red"). If you really, REALLY, have to only say something to those around you, you can use ((brackets)) to signify OOC. This is not standard practice however, so don't use it if you can possibly use OOC. Exceptions are made for spelling corrections. Aside from that, there is almost nothing you can say in this fashion that is not better off said OOC.

Multikeying = Using multiple BYOND keys/usernames. This is generally not needed ever for legitimate uses and so is a bannable offence.

Roleplay The main focus of our community in contrast to other servers is Roleplay (abbreviated as RP). This means that we expect of you to be able to assume the role of a character and stay in that role. To put it simply, your character can (and should really) be different from your real life personality, and when you make decisions, you should pretend that the world of the game is real, rather than just a game. Roleplay is mandatory, and poor or terrible roleplay can and will be punished.

Here's a list of examples of what you can do to roleplay a character. Note that they're just examples, and to contribute in any way to a round, you have to create your own ideas for your character.

It is HIGHLY recommended you read A Crash Course In Roleplaying to understand what is expected in terms of roleplay.


 * Restrict yourself to the knowledge of your character. This is an important one. When you're the Medical Doctor, even if you, as a player, know how to hack an airlock, you should not do it unless your character has somehow gathered that knowledge. In this regard, it is also important to mention that things are not as easy as they seem. The fact that you only have to push two buttons to clone someone doesn't mean that your character can learn to perform the task by someone saying "push two buttons to clone someone".


 * Related to the previous point, when something needs to be done that is not in the field of your character, ask someone else to do it. An example would be that you shouldn't treat yourself or give yourself implants when you don't have medical expertise. The Skill System is a useful tool in this situation, where you can clarify your characters skill for both yourself and admins. However, anything above an average character will come under heavy scrutiny. For example when there is a vital task, such as running the engine, and no one of that field is currently playing, you can try to do the task, but you must make it seem like your character only understands it to their skill level. AI's are generally expected to know most of the station's system and therefore can be consulted.


 * Pick a normal name. You must have a first name and a last name (e.g John Smith). You must not use honorifics or nick names (E.g. Dr Greg House or Jack "Johnny" Johnson), and must be spelt fully with capitals and no shortenings (e.g. NOT J Hoffman or jaiden mallow). Names that are from popular culture are against server rules, and will attract an admin, they are a hallmark of a bad roleplayer, and break the atmosphere of the game.


 * Try to avoid pain. When you know that a process is painful, try to avoid it. You'll want to avoid surgery without anaesthetics, and torture will be a good way to force you to do something. Not considering pain at all in your decisions is a failure in assuming the role of your character, and can get you banned in the long run.


 * Try not to talk like you do in real life. For example, you can use short sentences and ...'s to indicate a shy character. Try to examine different personalities and imitating them. You can even play a female when you're a male and vice verca, it's a great way to explore your own personality!


 * Try to adapt to the goals of your character. For example, in a traitor round, do not make it your goal as a Captain to catch the Traitor (that's Security's job), but instead try to keep the ship intact by keeping an eye on the Engine, doing checks on your employees, and so on.


 * Be creative! Invent missions that the station could be on right now, historical events, or even a full backstory for your character. There's even a section of the wiki dedicated to it. There are no limits, as long as you avoid clashing with others!


 * Take into account your character's comfort. For example, constantly wearing internals, or a bio suit, or a space suit would likely be very tiring or extremely uncomfortable for prolonged periods of time. Don't wear these items without good reason. From a gameplay perspective, you're giving yourself an advantage without cost, so admins will most likely try to stop it.


 * Don't play Mary Sues. Unless you are an EXTREMELY good roleplayer, you should balance out your character with flaws and skills. Mary Sues are usually characters that have no or insignificant drawbacks too them, and massive advantages. For example, war veterans are usually done very badly, as well as any type of military characters. This also ties in to having far too many skills than your character should have. Note that most people think they are 'very good roleplayers' but actually are not.

But as this is a game, roleplay is not all.

In fact, there are cases when you could perform perfect roleplay and still be banned. In order to avoid that, do not take on a role because you think it'd be fun for yourself. Take on a role because it'd be fun for EVERYONE.

A lot of players like to kill, so if it'd be allowed, they'd all roleplay insane sociopathic mass-murderers. But a ship full of sociopathic murderers wouldn't be fun for anyone. This is why you have to roleplay boring stereotypically dull characters more often than not (although if you're a good roleplayer, you won't need exciting characters to create exciting stories!)

Guidelines Since the above points are often up to interpretation, to make perfectly sure not to get banned, you can play safe and follow the below points.

Let your character only know what is in their job description. Again emphasized for importance. Some variance is allowed here, ala the Skill System, but any more than that is considered very bad form. Admins have the full right to break up any and all ERP. Promotion of other servers is not allowed. The way we play the game isn't everyone's cup of tea. We understand that and we don't fault you if you enjoy more a competitive style of play, but we do expect you to go elsewhere for that.
 * Don't be a dick. This is a simple rule and really needs very little explanation. Don't ruin the game for everyone else and use your common sense.
 * Read the rules. Yes, thank you for reading this, many people don't. Not reading the rules will get you banned to give you some time to go over them.
 * Read the round specific guidelines. The general rules still apply, but there are additional guidelines depending on the gamemode. Reading these are considered part of the rules. View them here: http://baystation12.net/wiki/index.php?title=Game_Modes
 * Read the antagonist guidelines. If you're an antagonist, make sure to read the guidelines here: http://baystation12.net/wiki/index.php?title=Guides#Antagonist_guides
 * Knowledge of the antagonists and Syndicate Items is restricted. We expect players to allow traitors some leeway and as such have a list here (http://baystation12.net/wiki/index.php?title=Identifying_Antagonists) of who and what can be recognised and by who. We expect players to not powergame and give the antagonists a little leeway to get away with things.
 * Listen to what the admins say. Admins will sometimes message you or give you directions through direct PM's or a subtle message of "You think...". It is highly recommended you do what they say (this is different to the Genetics superpower message, if it is not "You think..." it is not an admin message, and should be reported if abused). Arguing about it, unless there is a very good reason, will just frustrate both sides (and no, there are often not very good reasons). If you receive a PM or a "You think..." message, and do not follow it, expect repercussions.
 * Make every effort to not kill anyone. Even as an antagonist, if you have an objective, you do it, you don’t kill that random medical doctor who annoyed you once when you need an RCD.
 * Killing in self-defence is not preferred. In all situations you should make to disable or flee your attacker, rather than kill. If that's not possible, delaying before help can arrive is preferable. Only when the attacker will not back down, there is NO chance of help, and the intent to kill is highly likely, is murder in self-defence acceptable.
 * Do not break the atmosphere of the game. Also know as 'breaking immersion'. For example, using slang terms for antagonists IC "traitor", "rev", "cultist", "syndie", "wizard","changeling", etc. Use of OOC game slang IC, "robust", "shitcurity", "emag", "esword". Or use of chatspeak or smilies IC, "lol", "srs", ":D", etc. These are often signs of bad roleplayers, so do not use them unless you have an extremely justifiable reason.
 * Stick to sane and mature characters. Immature characters can be fun, but can also ruin the game for everyone. Insane characters are not allowed. If your character has induced insanity (Clone Memory Disorder, drugs, etc.) this is not an excuse to kill people.
 * Stick to the in-game Chain of Command. If you don't listen to your direct superiors, expect to be reprimanded both IC and OOC.
 * Do not spam other players. Anything that causes unnecessary chat spam or other types of spam (e.g. spamming show ID, spamming OOC or IC chat, spamming shuttle calls, etc.) is not cool. Don't do it.
 * Calling random restart votes is not allowed. Restart votes should only be done when the round is physically unplayable due to lag/glitches, or with admin consent. Calling an random restart vote is a bannable offence. The crew transfer shuttle can be called otherwise.
 * End of round shuttle grief is not allowed. This rules is different to most other servers, but the reveal message is not IC knowledge, and RP continues until the round reboots. That means no random killing or attacking each other at round end. *Generally, any attacking whatsoever after round end will earn a ban. This is an automatic ban without warning.
 * No metagaming or multikeying. This is pretty self-explanatory, but either of these will get your banned very quickly. This includes using knowledge from previous rounds without admin/player consent. Metagrudging (attacking/greifing someone because of something they did in previous rounds) is also an offence.
 * Being a round antagonist does not exempt you from the rules. All the rules still apply regardless of whether or not you're the traitor/wizard/syndicate agent/etc.
 * Erotic roleplay is only allowed under the following restrictions : Also known as ERP, you MUST have the OOC consent of everyone participating in it. Any ERP that takes place must be tasteful, and strictly non-pornographic in nature; essentially involving at its most graphic what one might see in an R-rated movie. Events and public decency take a higher priority over it, that means you can and will be punished by admins ICly and/or OOCly if the ERP is deemed disruptive.
 * As a free willed AI/Cyborg you should make every effort to not kill. Mass murder will very likely get you banned. The same goes for not following your laws. If you receive a law which tells you to kill everyone, adminhelp it. Otherwise damage done by the AI/cyborgs is on whoever uploaded the law.
 * Leave AFK/SSD/disconnected players alone. Killing/stealing from/doing anything to AFK players is just bad. Unless they're your traitor target or have a steal objective on them, the most you should do is take them to the dorms. AFK/SSD/disconnected players can be identified by examining then and seeing "He/She has a vacant stare..."
 * Suiciding to leave a round is not okay. Killing yourself because you're bored and want to observe/switch characters is not good. If you have a very good reason, adminhelp it first. Otherwise you are expected to log out in the dormitories, or if not possible, your own department.
 * Do not abuse bugs or exploits. If you find a bug or exploit, you are expected to Adminhelp it. Using a bug or exploit will net you a ban.
 * Use English. Occasionally using a different language in-game is all right, but english should be your main language. OOC is pretty much english only. This is to prevent miscommunication in investigations and such.
 * Do not be offensive. This includes things such as racism OOC, or using offensive stereotypes. This is an idiot filter, if you break it, expect to be banned.
 * Do not lie. Lying to admins will almost always earn you a permaban. This applies for IC and OOC activities, especially in ban appeals.
 * Intent of the rules is more important than the letter. Line-toeing or generally trying to rules lawyer your way out of a situation will usually net you a ban anyway. It is the spirit and intent behind the rules that is followed, not necessarily their exact wording. This also includes situations not explicitly mentioned in the rules.
 * Do NOT enter/hack into/break into/sabotage the following Areas, or take things out of them, without having LEGITIMATE access, a legitimate reason or being an antagonist who needs something from inside : Captain's Quarters, Secure Armory, TelComSat-CentralCompartment. Doing so outside of a catastrophic event, without an admin's consent or without being antagonist is forbidden.
 * As non-antagonist NEVER pose as the Captain, a Head, or any member of Security.
 * Do not choose Head-Positions if you don't play atleast some hours. If you repeatedly log off after a short time on Head-Positons, you will get jobbanned from Command.
 * Do not log out outside of the Dorms. This is even more important for Heads and Security members, who have their own rooms.
 * Understand the effects of Clone Memory Disorder. If you are a clone, roleplay according to CMD; if you are a doctor or are performing a cloning, do not tell them they are a clone.
 * If you fail to setup your job preferences correctly at roundstart, you may end up with a job you don't want. Setting a job to 'High' will not guarantee you get that job ! ! If you get some job you don't want, it will be entirely your fault ! Learn more about proper Job Preferences at http://baystation12.net/wiki/index.php?title=Job_Selection_and_Assignment . Alternatively don't click 'Ready' on Roundstart and wait for it to start, so you can pick your Job via the normal Late Spawn. Expect to be tempbanned if you log out right after join for wasting a job slot, same goes for Latespawns.
 * Metagrudging is not allowed.
 * Metagrudging is whenever your character or you carry over negative experiences and relations from previous rounds into a new one, be it IC-ly or OOC-ly.
 * All negative experiences are not canon anymore, unless agreed upon. ( = get erased from history) once a round is over. Unless it does not involve the station dying, and all players involved consent
 * For example, if a Security Officer arrested you in a round, or if a person wronged you in any way, your Character does not remember that in the next round because it 'never happened'.
 * Taking grudges to OOC chat is just pathetic and not allowed either.
 * Remember, this is a game, we are here to enjoy ourselves. ( See the ' Don't be a dick ' rule.)

We admins are no gods, and we make mistakes and also sometimes interpret things differently. If one admin banned you, that doesn't mean all admins agree on that. If you want to not stick to one of these and there's an admin on, you can also use the adminhelp verb to ask if it's okay with them. For example, if you want to kill someone because you think it's what your character would do, while it's not necessary for your objectives, you should ask for permission in most cases. You can also visit our forums at http://auroraserver.freeforums.net/ to make an unban request.

Measures the Admins Take You may or may not receive a warning for what you did, and this entirely depends on the leniency of the individual admin.

Currently there are two methods admins use to encourage players to stick to the rules. The first, lighter one, is the jobban. It will make it impossible for you to select a specific job on the pregame screen. Note that if you're jobbanned from a job, you should not ask to be assigned to that job in game, as this might be seen as evasion and get you a ban.

When the jobban is not sufficient, we sometimes throw out temporary bans, which will make it impossible for you to play the game for a while. And when this one fails, there's the permaban, which should make it impossible for you to join our server ever again. So yeah, try not to go there. Also note that evading a temporary ban by using a different key will almost certainly get you a permaban if caught.

If You Get Banned Under no circumstances should you attempt to evade a ban, either by multikeying or by attempting to be promoted ingame. If you do then any appeals will be rejected, and it is likely you will be facing a permanent ban.

The Chain of Succession & Acting Captain
 * The 'Acting Captain' is a function that a head can have, he/she serves the crew and has command over the other heads.
 * The 'Acting Captain' is basically the legitimate holder of the Spare ID.
 * In absence of a proper Captain, the heads choose an 'Acting Captain', which means he/she is allowed to take the Spare ID from *the Captain's Quarters, to perform actions with that need to be done with it, most importantly operating the ID computer in the HoP office for the crew.
 * The other active heads remain equal in rank.
 * The 'Acting Captain' is NOT ALLOWED to change his/her own ID or ANY OTHER ID to Captain or all-access !
 * If the 'Acting Captain' or the proper Captain wants to go SSD( =logout), he/she must hand the Spare over to the next head chosen.
 * If you are the last active head and want to go SSD ( =logout), adminhelp it, so admins can appoint a new Acting Captain swiftly and/or secure the spare.
 * If no admins are online/responding at that point, throw the Spare into the Captain's Quarters.
 * When the proper Captain arrives, hand the Spare to him/her, so it can return to its spot, in his/her office)
 * The 'Acting Captain' must announce his/her newly gained function, so the crew knows who to turn to.
 * Repeat it regularly over radio so newly arrived crew are informed too.
 * Keep in mind, being the 'Acting Captain' is a DUTY, NOT a PRIVILEGE.

The Whitelist We use a single whitelist for all command staff, and additional ones for each alien race

You can apply for a whitelist here http://auroraserver.freeforums.net/ but it is advised that you wait until people know you a bit.

If you read all the rules, don't break any rules and are a good Roleplayer, you will be added to the list fast.