Rules

Not knowing the rules isn't an excuse for breaking 'em!

The rules - more like guidelines, really - are intended to support an enjoyable experience for all, player and admin alike. We try to keep limitations on personal playstyle choices as minimal as possible while still allowing for a fair and entertaining game for the players. They're not intended to gate certain people out of the community, but to keep the community a place people want to be.

General Game Rules

1. Don't grief. This isn't limited to just killing people: dismembering, stripping, crippling, force-feeding, force-borging, uploading murder laws to the AI, setting up death traps, wrecking or depowering parts of the station, anything that explodes, etc. are all griefy. As a rule of thumb, if it's bad and takes more than 10 minutes for a normal player to fix, it is covered by this rule. If someone is confirmed (via game mechanics) to be an antagonist, is a cluwne, has agreed to whatever you're planning to do to them, or you've seen them griefing people this round, you can go after them. This means that you shouldn't kill people for annoying you mildly or inconveniencing you, but only if they are actual threats/a cluwne. Feel free to adminhelp for clarification anyways. Antagonists, emagged cyborgs, mindslaves and thralls may ignore this rule whenever they want to/can in the case of mindslaves and thralls. (Huffnote: mindslaves and thralls whose owners die have long since been allowed to just do whatever they want if they can't revive their owner) Silicons must ignore this rule if their orders/laws require it of them, but aren't allowed to grief otherwise. Note: braindead people still count as people. They might be coming back. A longer discussion of grief and what does and doesn't constitute it is available here. Do not harm anyone in arrivals, antag or not, if they're not existing players.
2. Listen to the admins. We will try to treat you with basic respect, please return the favor: If an admin has to grump at you, take the time to talk to them about it and answer their questions HONESTLY. We have multiple ways of telling if you are lying about stuff, and if we can't trust what you're saying, there's no point to talking so we're probably going to have to reach for the banhammer. Also, although nobody expects you to take a talking-to with a smile and a nod, please try to keep a civil tone. We're just people too, folks.
3. No metagaming. Look, we all know that gamers like talking to other gamers, and doing so while gaming - all we ask is that if you are playing SS13, you do not use any out-of-game means to communicate with another player on the same server. This effectively gives you more eyes and ears on a round than other players, and that's not fair. Conversely, acting on any information obtained using solely in-game mechanics (yes, deadchat counts) is explicitly NOT metagaming with very few exceptions - going to areas you shouldn't be is the meat of it, check the page for a fuller explanation. There's a more in-depth discussion of this rule at the Metagaming page.
4. Bigotry and sexual content is a non-negotiable hard 'no'. If you are unsure what sexual content includes: do not refer to sex acts, genitalia, or anything sexual in nature. Rape 'jokes' are considered sexual content. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to use the word rape in this game. Yes, you can call people dicks and insult them with terms that are used normally, but don't use bigoted language. Yes, this includes the term 'trap'. If an admin tells you to knock something off because it breaks the no bigotry or sexual content rule, that is not an invitation for debate. Knock it off or go elsewhere. Bigoted language (for example, slurs) is also not allowed in your BYOND key, character name, flavor text, or anything else with which you interact with the server, whether as a joke, or masked with misspellings or spoonerisms.
5. Do not modify your BYOND client (dreamseeker) in any way, shape or form. This is the other automatic 'no' and is not open to discussion or explanation. If you get a message on connect that implies that the server thinks you're using a modified client, and you're really sure you're not, catch us on IRC and we'll talk about what might have gone wrong - but don't try and pull a fast one. We have ways of knowing if you're telling the truth, and we will not talk about how.
6. Don't carry grudges from round to round. If someone was a tremendous jerk in one round, and you didn't get to enact your revenge before the round ended, kiss it goodbye. If you try to get back at them in a later round, that is griefing, and see rule number one.
7. Don't use multiple accounts in a single round. If you're Jimmy Poo, and you get killed, don't jump right back in as J. Fred Bloggs. You are welcome to use multiple accounts so long as you only connect to a given round with ONE of them and no other. If you for some reason want to roll up a completely new BYOND account for each and every round you play, we won't stop you, though we may wonder about your sanity. (NOTE: If there are other people in your household playing or otherwise sharing an IP address for some reason, it is worth dropping us a line via the adminhelp command to let us know. All we'll ask is that you not communicate with each other out-of-game about what's happening in the game.)
8. Don't outright give secrets away. The majority of the fun of secret stuff is the discovery of it, and the knowledge that you know something that isn't general knowledge. Please keep it that way, and don't rob other players of the joy of discovery.
9. Do not impersonate admins under any circumstances. Do not threaten to get other people banned. This will not end well for you!
10. This is not an exhaustive list. Rules-lawyering is STRONGLY discouraged. If an admin asks you to knock something off, 'well it's not in the rules' is not really an argument. If you feel this rule is being abused, please feel absolutely free to make use of the Admin Complaints forum - we won't punish you for posting a complaint.

Roleplay Server Rules

The roleplay server operates very differently rulewise to our other servers and players are held to a higher standard of effort during their play there. However, due to our ban system a ban from one is a ban from all, so make very sure that you follow these rules when on our roleplay server. If you are unsure if something is allowed or not, first consult the base rules of Goonstation; if you are still unsure after doing so, feel free to adminhelp for clarification. If you disagree with any of the below rules, please do not play on the roleplay server, and instead spend your time on one of our other, non-roleplay servers.

1. These are extra rules.The RP rules are an extension to the base rules, not a replacement for. Do not use roleplay as an excuse for rulebreaking behavior, such as bigoted language or sexual content. No, your character doesn’t get a free pass to be racist just because you’re trying to roleplay as a racist.
2. We're all here to have a good time. Going out of your way to seriously negatively impact or end the round for someone with little to no justification is against the rules. Legitimate conflicts where people get upset do happen; however, these conflicts should escalate properly, and retribution must be proportionate. For example, this means you shouldn’t immediately escalate to murder when someone refuses to leave a certain area or give back something they stole.
3. Keep IC and OOC separate. Do not use the OOC channel to spoil IC (In Character) events, such as the identity of an antagonist. Even if something seems minor to you, as long as it pertains to the current round and characters, you should not be mentioning it in OOC. Likewise, do not treat IC chat like OOC (saying things like ((this round is great)) over radio, etc).
4. Don’t use OOC information or knowledge that your character would not reasonably be aware of just to give yourself an advantage. In other words, don’t powergame or metagame. This includes things such as shouting “LING!” right after you as a player realize that you’ve been stung, or rolling captain every round just to do genetics. Deadchat is considered OOC, and so you should not be using the information you learned from there to inform your IC decisions. Conversely, a changeling’s hivemind is considered IC, and so you should not be bringing in OOC content or information.
5. Play as a coherent, believable character that you enjoy portraying. Real life realism is not required, and you are allowed to be silly within the context of the SS13 game world. (Clowns, farting on people, people spontaneously combusting and exploding are all non-serious things but yet a vital part of the game world.) At the end of the day, it is very likely your character wants their employment with Nanotrasen to continue. As such, they should act like it. Playing as a violent or otherwise psychologically unstable character is not a valid reason to cause harm to others or damage to the station unless you are an antagonist. Only minor criminal activity is permitted.
6. Chain of command and security are important. The head of your department is your boss and they can fire you; security officers can arrest you for stealing or breaking into places. The preference would be that unless they're doing something unreasonable, such as spacing you for drawing bees on the floor, you shouldn't freak out over being punished for doing something that would get you fired or arrested in real life. This also means that if you are someone in the chain of command or security, you are expected to put in effort and try and do your job.
7. Stay in your lane. While you are capable of doing anything within the game mechanics, allow those who have selected the relevant job to attempt the task first. As an example, busting into medical and self-treating would be a very strange real-life event if there are doctors literally standing there, and while a janitor mixing up some more space cleaner is believable, if there are scientists working in chemistry you should consider asking them to make you your space-cleaner beaker bombs. Choosing captain just to be sure you can go and work the genetics machine all round is not acceptable.
8. Self-defence is allowed to the extent of saving your own life. Putting someone into critical condition is considered self-defence only if they attempted to severely harm or kill you. Preemptively disabling someone, responding with disproportionate force, or hitting someone while they are already downed is not self-defence. Minor assault and fistfights are acceptable, assuming that both players have a reasonable justification as to why the fight started. Assault without any provocation or warning is strictly disallowed under a majority of circumstances.
9. Look out for everyone. Please be considerate of other players, as their experiences are just as important as your own. If you aren’t an antagonist and yet you really want to play out a hostage situation, or deep-fry someone, or be a rude dude in whatever way, confirm with the involved and affected players either IC or in LOOC first. If everyone agrees to being subjected to harm or terrorization, then you’re good to go. Please keep in mind that this rule does not protect you from IC consequences, such as getting arrested by security. If you are going to RP as a rude dude, given that your victims have given you the okay, you still have to own the responsibility that comes with your decision. This means, no, you can’t kill a security officer because they tried to arrest you for murdering the clown, even if the clown agreed to being murdered.
10. Have you been made an antagonist? Treat your role as an interesting challenge and not an excuse to destroy other people’s game experience. Your actions should make the game more fun, more exciting and more enjoyable for everyone; you can treat your objectives as suggestions on what you should attempt to achieve but you are also allowed to ignore them if you have something more enjoyable in mind. You do NOT have to act in a nefarious or evil way, but you are not allowed to just go on a silent rampage and eliminate all the players in a power trip. It is the experience of everyone that matters, not just your own.
11. It is security’s job to stop antagonists. If you are not part of the security team (HoS, Sec. Officer, Detective or Vice Officer), you should not go out of your way to hunt for potential antagonists. You are allowed to defend yourself and others from violent antagonists, but you should not act like a vigilante if a security force is present. The exception to this rule is when rare game modes such as blob or nuke ops appear on the RP server - you are free to fully engage with these antagonists, as they are considered stationwide threats.
12. Be kind to the bad guys. Because antagonists are often the primary driver for rounds, some amount of goodwill should be extended to them. This means you should try to interact and communicate with antagonists and try to create an exciting narrative, rather than, say, immediately laser them to death when you see them. Communication and dialogue are expected on both ends.

Things to Keep In Mind (Ingame)

1. Warnings aren't necessarily required. Although in general the admins will do their best to have a discussion about any given conflict before enacting a punishment, there are some cases where communication is either impossible or nonproductive.
2. Different admins have different styles. Although we all follow the same general directives, some admins are more or less forgiving on certain issues than others. If you do a thing that gets you a dayban from one admin, and your buddy does the same thing later and gets away with just a talking-to, that is not a thing to complain about. If you DO feel that an admin's actions were inappropriate, please feel absolutely free to make use of the Admin Complaints forum - we won't punish you for posting a complaint.
3. There is a difference between grief and jerkery. Being a jerk to people is expected and almost necessary in this game - minor theft, facefarting, etc - basically stuff that either doesn't severely impact someone else's ability to enjoy the game, or is otherwise handleable with in-game resources like the security force. This is something of a moving target and probably the one where the 'different admins have different styles' bit will be the most relevant for. If it's a relatively calm round, the HoP hasn't vanished yet, and someone steals your ID, that's not so big a deal. If all hell is breaking loose, the round has been going on for more than 15 minutes so the HoP has vanished into the ether, and therefore you can't really replace your ID, then ID theft is a MASSIVE dick move and absolutely worth adminhelping for. Feel free to adminhelp if you really do think something isn't okay, but if we tell you 'this is something that should be handled ingame' then at least give it a try. Besides, bored sec officers rarely find ways to amuse themselves that the rest of the station would call 'useful'.
4. If you are a 'special role' like a Captain, a department head, an antagonist, or an AI, and you have to log out, please let us know via adminhelp before you leave. You don't have to stick around to wait for a reply, just let us know so we can replace you if it's necessary. (POPENOTE: This is a temporary bandaid, the AI role is finally getting some love. It's still a good idea though.)
5. Mindslaves, thralls and other related roles have a couple of very important rules that must be followed. You must not reveal that you have been mindslaved/thralled/whatever unless your master tells you to, and you must obey every command your master tells you. Of course, if things start getting a little weird or creepy and are clearly in violation of our main rules, please adminhelp right away. As a mindslave you are expected to support and protect your master. This means you should not do anything that might cause them to come to harm unless you are very explicitly told to do so. Even if you are told to murder everyone, you should not do something like set off a bomb while your master is standing in harm's way.
6. Sploded Clause - this should be ALMOST NEVER used, but we reserve the right to dispose of a consistently terrible player on a permanent basis even if the event the ban is in a direct response to would not normally involve a permaban. If your ban involves the word 'sploded', you should probably wait at least several months before even thinking about appealing it - it means you're really super not fitting in here, and literally the entire server population is better off without you. These cases are EXTREMELY rare.
7. When to use adminhelp vs. when to use mentorhelp vs. when to let it go: If you have a question about the rules, or are reporting another player who you believe has broken them, or you have discovered a bug/exploit, or you have been spawned as a special role (AI, antagonist) and are unable or unwilling to stick around and fulfill your role (help, i got AI and have to leave / help, i rolled traitor and really just want to play with botany / help, i rolled chief engineer and haven't got the first clue about how to run the engine) then use adminhelp. If your question is about game mechanics (help, how do i do genetics / help, where's the bar / help, what does a chaplain even do) then use mentorhelp. If you want to complain about a player who hasn't broken a rule but you think they're annoying, or you want access to an area or an object that you don't have, or you want to talk about some totally sweet music you just heard, or something else that doesn't involve the rules, game engine, or game mechanics, then please just let it go.
8. Addendum to the above regarding prayer: Use this when 97% of the time you want to be ignored, with the remaining 3% divided between being blown to smithereens; having your request answered in the most evil-genie / monkey's-paw way possible; and Oh God Pope Is Drunk, This Has Gotten Out Of Hand, It Started Out Pretty Much What I Asked For But Then He Headbutted That Cop And Now I Think We're Doing Some Sort Of Thelma And Louise Thing Into A Landfill.
9. Although very few topics are expressly forbidden, there are several topics (politics, religion, cartoon horses, several others) that really, really, REALLY don't result in productive or useful conversation. Not exactly a rule, but maybe keep your mouth shut about stuff that's gonna start arguments. Just a thought.
10. The RP server has a different ruleset - that's available here.
11. Borgs and the AI have a list of things that are and are not considered human for the purposes of their laws. That list is available here.
12. If you DO get banned, and you want to not be banned, please visit the ban appeals forum. Please read ALL the sticky threads before posting your appeal - they contain important information you will absolutely need!
13. If you feel that an admin has acted inappropriately, please visit the admin complaint forum. Please read ALL the sticky threads before posting your appeal - they contain important information you will absolutely need!
14. If you're not sure about any of the terms used here, please check out the Terminology page.

IRC/Discord Channel Rules

These rules are to set up a framework of basic human decency in the IRC/Discord channels and NOT to censor speech. Most of the time, if you cross the line you will simply be told to knock it off, and maybe kicked with a note to stop pushing it if you keep going. Bans will be reserved for only the worst cases. Furthermore, these rules apply solely to the #goonstation channel on the synIRC network and the Goonstation Discord. Other channels, Discord servers, or services where ss13 folks hang out are beyond the scope of this ruleset.

1. NO IC IN OOC. Don't talk about the current round in IRC/Discord.
2. Be respectful of others. You will not be banned from the channel for expressing opinions, so long as you are able to express those opinions in a respectful fashion. Don't use slurs, racial or otherwise, even ironically. Don't attack people for their opinions.
3. Be respectful of the admins. An exhaustive list of every situation where an IRC channel operator, half-op, owner, founder, etc etc might be grumping at you is impossible and disingenuous, so if an admin is grumping at you and asking you to stop talking in a given fashion or about a given topic, knock it off. Don't pretend to be an admin. These rules are intended to be more of an overview than a complete list of statutes. Also, don't discuss exactly how to exploit game mechanics or get around our security systems - if you have a bug to report, there are other venues. Basically don't teach people to cheat.
4. Be respectful of the channel. Some conversation topics (including but not limited to current politics, racial tensions, religious freedom) are extremely volatile and controversial by their very nature, so if an admin requests that a conversation not take place in the channel, take it elsewhere. You're always free to make a new channel or carry on the conversation in PM, we are neither interested nor able to police what goes on in PM or in other channels.
5. Be respectful of the IRC network. Basically don't break synIRC's rules. Come on.
6. Tread VERY CAREFULLY with trolling or 'devil's advocate' stuff. There's a fine line between 'making the conversation interesting or hilarious' and 'being a thundering butthead' and you generally only find out you've tripped over it when people are screaming at you.
7. Don't take things too seriously. Don't expect trigger warnings, don't assume every link is going to be safe for work / school / your immortal soul (though please don't post outright porn, and tagging NWS links is Strongly Encouraged), and we kick people all the time for shiggles. You can rejoin immediately after.
8. If you DO manage to get banned from IRC, please visit the IRC ban appeal forum. Please read ALL the sticky threads before posting your appeal - they contain important information you will absolutely need!