atWar Rules

For the full nitty-gritty details of our rules, read on...

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Please note that our Rules and Guidelines have been modified. As of 1st March 2017, all players will act within accordance to the following Rules and Guidelines. These Rules and Guidelines can change at the discretion of moderators as necessary to best benefit the community and to cultivate an atmosphere appropriate to a gaming environment. There will always be areas that will be handled on a per incident basis by moderators. Even when not specified, staff has the sole right and final judgement of how to interpret and apply these Rules and Guidelines to any specific circumstance and situation, including proper punishment. The rules may, at any time, be applied or changed by any moderator or admin if they feel right. Relying on any inadequacies or deficiencies within the rules is therefore useless.

1. Game Behavior

• 1.1 Doing anything that interferes with the ability of other users to enjoy playing a game in accordance with its rules, or that materially increases the expense or difficulty of staff in maintaining the game for the enjoyment of all its users is not permitted.
  
  
• 1.2 Exploiting any bug to gain an unfair advantage(cosmetic or not) in the game and/or communicating the existence of any such bug (either directly or through public posting) to any other user is not permitted. Players caught abusing bugs or glitches in a competitive game, similar to clan wars and/or duels, face the risk of removal of any/all rewards earned.
  
  
• 1.3 The term "FARMING" is used to describe the process of exploiting the game to gain PC, SP or ELO. This may include using more than 1 account to win games or using custom maps made specificly for ELO/SP/PC gaining or sending protocoins to yourself. Moderators ultimately will take into consideration with what they believe is just and unjust.
  
  Example: Joining a game with 2 accounts or more accounts, playing a coalition war with an account on both teams, creating a map with the sole purpose of earning ELO or SP, creating a duel in which you control both accounts, and more.
  
  
• 1.4 The term "ELO GAMBLING" and "CLAN ELO GAMBLING" is used to describe a process in which more ELO is given out than actually necessary. This is considered abusing the game mechanics and is not allowed.
  
  Example: Player/Team A wins 1 game, in accordance with the game mechanics Player/Team B loses X ELO. Acting on an agreement made earlier by both players Player/Team B proceeds to lose Y number of game purposely, which gives Player/Team A more ELO than actually earned.
  
  
• 1.5 Improperly using in-game support or complaint buttons or make false reports to atWar staff is not permitted.
  
  
• 1.6 The beginner's lobby is for players ranked 0-6 only. High ranks found in this lobby will be kicked with possible further repercussions.
  

2. Chat Behavior

• 2.1 Harassing, threatening, embarrassing, or doing anything to another member or guest that is unwanted is not permitted. This includes posting insulting, offensive, or abusive comments about members or guests, repeatedly sending unwanted messages, attacking a member or guest based on race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc. Hate speech is not tolerated, and we reserve the right to end any conversation to avoid further escalations.
  
  
• 2.2 The term "TROLLING" which we define as comments, posts or threads that knowingly lead to overly strong, negative, and emotional responses for mere shock value, is not allowed. Accounts created with the sole intent to "troll" will be immediately and permanently banned. Constant personal attacks is also considered trolling/harassment and will result with further punishments.
  
  
• 2.3 Disrupting the flow of chat with abusive language, use of excessive shouting (all caps) in an attempt to disturb other users, "SPAMMING" or "FLOODING" (posting repetitive text) is also not permitted, and will result in mutes or bans in extreme cases.
  
  
• 2.4 Mature discussions on sensitive topics can be held in private chat or in private games. However, due to the high volume of reports and chat comments considered offensive, we are suspending these discussions in the room chat. Moderators are free to clear comments considered offensive and apply punishments accordingly.
  
  
• 2.5 Global channel is for advertising games and game related information (community events, tournaments, advertisement to a particular thread on the forum [given it does not violate and other rules], and so on.). The Help channel is for asking game related questions and technical support. Avoid any unrelated comment on any of these two channels, mutes may be applied if a player violates this ruling.
  
  
• 2.6 Only the English language is permitted in public chat channels (room, help, global and the forums). You may use non-English in private chat and private password protected games or in their respective rooms. An exception can be made for non-English conversation in game chat based on the nature of the game.
  
  
• 2.7 Advertising or promotional messaging, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or other commercial activities that are unrelated to the game are not permitted.
  

3. Forum Behavior

• 3.1 Posting comments within a thread which severely disrupts the original conversation is prohibited. Such posts will be deleted without warning and the poster may be on the receiving end of further punishment.
  
  
• 3.2 Petition posts are frowned on. If you have an issue with the game, please discuss it in a civil and informed fashion, staff members reserve the right to lock or delete petitions.
  
  
• 3.3 Do not post to pillory other players. If you have a problem with another player or want to report something please contact a moderator.
  
  
• 3.4 Do not post about locked or deleted threads on forums or in public chat channels in games. Moderation actions can be discussed privately with the moderator who applied the action. If you feel a mod is treating you unfairly, inform them you are seeking a second opinion from another mod.
  See the Guidelines => "Transparency" for how a moderation action can be discussed in forums.
  
  
• 3.5 Posts deemed inappropriate due to inconsistency with the according forum's "GUIDELINES", will be moved to a more appropriate section or even removed completely. Posts that have been removed are not to be re-posted.
  
  
• 3.6 Advertising or promotional messaging, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or other commercial activities that are unrelated to the game are not permitted.
  
  
• 3.7 As a courtesy to players who use the general forums at work or school, autoplay is not permitted when posting videos in the forums.
  
  
• 3.8 Promoted forum posts should be informative and conducive to promoting positive aspects of atWar, any promoted topic that contains abusive language, flame wars, consistent trolling or any other material deemed inappropriate will be removed without warning.
  

4. Game Accounts

• 4.1 Registering an alternate account or using another player's account for the purpose of disobeying the rules or to avoid punishment of your main account is not permitted. Alternate accounts created for this purpose will receive permanent bans if necessary, and this may incur additional action towards the member's main account. Player's aiding a banned or muted player to avoid punishment will result in their own account being banned or muted.
  
  
• 4.2 Member accounts are non-transferable. Accounts may not be bought, sold, or shared with other users. Registered users are responsible for any actions that take place on their accounts or private messaging systems.
  
  
• 4.3 Impersonating an admin, moderator, supporter or player is strictly prohibited. Impersonating a staff member may result in being permanently banned from the game without warning.
  
  
• 4.4 When playing any Duel or Coalition War, accounts must not be shared or made available to any other players to be used (also known as Ghosting), and must only be used by the account holder. Any players caught Ghosting may have their ELO (personal, or coalition) reset, with punishment to follow with moderator discretion. More severe punishment will be served for persistent offenders. Alt accounts are welcome, however only the player that registered the account may use them. *Exception, see here: https://atwar-game.com/forum/topic.php?topic_id=48133
  
  
• 4.5 When playing any Duel or Coalition War, accounts must be the account holders original "main" account. Duel's and Coalition War's on alt accounts are prohibited. *Exception, see here: https://atwar-game.com/forum/topic.php?topic_id=48133
  

5. Privacy

• 5.1 Communicating any player's real-world personal information in game or on forums is not permitted. Such incidents will be dealt with harshly by the staff, in the forms of mutes and bans.
  
  
• 5.2 Attempting to get a password, other account information, or other private information from any member is not permitted. Accounts found doing so will be permanently banned without warning.
  

6. Uploading

• 6.1 Posting, transmitting, promoting, or distributing any content that is illegal or promotes or encourages any illegal activity including hacking, cracking or distribution of counterfeit software, files that contain viruses, corrupted data, or malicious software is not permitted. Accounts found doing so will be permanently banned without warning.
  
  
• 6.2 Transmitting or facilitating the distribution of content that is harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, or objectionable in a reasonable person's view is not permitted. Hate speech is not tolerated, and this includes graphics. Staff member have the right to prevent such discussion at any point they see fit and ban the transmitter or facilitator if necessary.
  
  
• 6.3 Re-posting copyright and/or press material in its entirety from other sources is not permitted. Quotations from things such as news articles are fine, provided it is cited and (if possible) linked to.
  

7. Player's Banlist

• 7.1 The mapmakers have the privilege to ban a player from playing on their map/scenario for breaking map/scenario rule's or leaving early in games that could potentially jeopardize the development of a game on their map/scenario; however, the mapmakers are not allowed to ban a player on a map/scenario for personal reasons or not describing the reasons for the ban.
  
  
• 7.2 Players are assumed innocent of breaking a game's rules unless proven guilty. It is up to the map maker to provide substantial evidence when asked to do. Map makers who fail to do so will have to lift the ban, if the map makers refuses to comply moderators will lift the ban.
  
  
• 7.3 Players may ban other player from their games for an reason they wish, therefore they do not need to provide a reason.
  

Simplified:

• Players may ban other players from games they host for any reason.
  
  
• Map makers, when called upon, must justify the act of banning players from playing their maps/scenarios by including information/screen shots in the "Comments" spot on their ban lists.
  

Guidelines

Due to popular request we have decided the publish a simplified, informal version of the rules above. Do note that this is not a complete list, just a good list of suggestions for how to best keep out of trouble. You are still recommended to read the rules above.

• Don't be a jerk. Embrace this concept, treating others the way you'd like to be treated is a pretty good recipe for a pleasant chat experience. We know you can't keep everyone happy forever and ever, just don't purposely set out to disrupt chat, and you'll do fine.
  
  
• Don't harass others. If you find yourself harassing another user based on race, sexuality, religion, or nationality, just stop for a moment. No matter what you believe or what has happened to you, it's never okay to insult others. No, not even self-defense justifies it. If what you have to say is not civil, just don't say it.
  
  
• Keep it PG-13/SFW(safe for work). Since players are not required to disclose their age when they register, we at AtWar have decided, for everyone's benefit, that we are going to keep the game PG-13. Some swearing can be allowed, but it should not be directed at other users. Extreme profanity and linking to pornography or shock sites in chat will definitely be censored by our moderators. Both swearing and overly-sexual language anywhere on the site may get you silenced by a moderator.
  
  
• Don't spam. Spam can mean all sorts of things, including repeatedly sending the same message over and over or large chunks of completely irrelevant text, so think about the relevance of what you're posting before you post it.
  
  
• Speak English in public chat channels. AtWar is home to gamers from all over the world. In order to keep it civil we have decided that players are to use only English in public chat channels. You may use any language you wish in private channels, but for everyone's benefit please only use English in public chat channels. Moderators may ban or silence users for ignoring a room's language setting, so be forewarned.
  
  
• Use the appropriate chat channel when speaking. Most if not all chat channels are relatively clear with their purpose. Global channel is for advertisements only while Help channel is for questions. Do pay close attention to which chat channel you are using when speaking. Player caught using in appropriate chat channels constantly will be silenced.
  
  
• Hacking is bad, don't do it. If we find out that you have indeed cheated in any way, you risk disciplinary action. That being said, we know various things can happen that look like cheating but are not. Because of this we wait until we are certain before taking action on someone's account for hacking. If you are sure someone is cheating and can prove it, you can make your case by messaging one of our moderators.
  
  
• Don't abuse bugs in the game. We work really hard to make sure there are no bugs in the game. However a few bugs do slip by everyone now and then. Player are forbidden from abusing these bugs to gain an upper hand against their opponents. Player caught doing may be banned with little to no warning. If you are unsure if something is a bug feel free to ask a moderator or someone experience with the game.
  
  
• Don't post about moderators on forums. Our moderators are humans too, and they do occasionally make mistakes. However players are warned against making thread about moderator actions on forum or in public chat channels. Threads about moderator actions will be instantly locked without warning. If you have an issue with a moderator, PM them privately or another moderator to help sort the issue.
  
  
• Off-topic forum reports. Posts in off-topic tend not to be moderated as rigorously as other forums. However, the forum rules apply to these forums, and moderators will respond to reports. To clarify: if all participants of a particular Off-topic thread are engaged in 'banter' with one another, moderators are not obligated to respond if there is no report. That said, attacking a member or guest based on race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, and any other form of hate speech or harassment, explicit, implied, or interpreted, remains unacceptable and moderators can and will close the thread to avoid further escalations (even if posted in off-topic).
  
  
• Transparency and Forum Discussions of Moderation Actions:
  
  Occasionally, a mod decision leaves members of the community with questions. You may request a particular issue be publicized for transparency, but this request must be made privately first, as there are likely details of the issue of which you are not aware. The request will then be opened in the mod forums, where the moderation team will discuss if the matter is suitable for discussion in the community forums. Generally, there are only two reasons your request will be declined:
  
  (1) The player involved in the issue is clearly using the incident to gain attention, notoriety, is using the action to forward a personal agenda by personally attacking an AW staff member, or otherwise create dissent, distraction, or unrest in the community.
  
  (2) The player involved has made an honest mistake, and prefers to quietly make amends without drawing unwanted attention. (i.e. respect for the right to be forgotten.) Many new players make mistakes, and have later come to be respected members of our community. AW staff respect the intense emotional nature of this game, and most of us have 'been there' at one point, and said something in game we may not have said otherwise. As such, we will protect your privacy for these 'one time occurrences'.
  
  Once accepted, the moderator will inform you the request for transparency has been approved, and a discussion thread will be created. The moderation team will keep the discussion unlocked provided it does not devolve into personal attacks and blame. The point of transparency is to inform, not inflame.