Blossom & Decay - Community Guidelines

  1. General

    Players are urged to familiarize themselves with these guidelines and all related policies Terms of Service. Also it's the player's responsibility to be informed of any updates to all guidelines, which will be notified via email and posted in the release notes.

    1. Default Language

      • For posting and using community services write in English unless the channel specifies other languages are possible.

  2. Rules of conduct

    1. Basics

      Roleplay

      • In B&D there are hundreds of roles you can play, adopting friendly, or hostile/sleazy roles is expected. Don't take in-game events personally, it's a role playing game. Avoid letting 'in character' disputes become 'out of character' personal attacks that result in abusive behavior.
      • Consensual gameplay is preferred and encouraged, however antagonistic groups and conflicts are expected. Hostility and heckling in-game is expected, but roleplay is not an excuse to break community rules.
      • Having a hostile roleplay doesn't mean discussions have to be hostile too, hostile players should also communicate in a decent, polite, and respectful manner.

      Be community-minded and respectful

      • Express yourself in a constructive manner, for enjoyable interactions with others and help foster a good vibe.
      • Don't aggravate others or sabotage/sour/derail community discussions with destructive/off-topic, excess ranting, passive-aggressive, or negative behavior.
      • Toxic influencers won't be tolerated: Doesn't matter if you're staying just within the rules but regularly poking on people’s nerves, being passive-aggressive, sea-lioning/baiting, punching down, acting condescendingly, and general low-key abuse will not be tolerated.
      • Purpose of chats and community channels is to provide means of communication, coordination, and information exchange, not insults and abuse. Occasionally, conflicts will arise as a result of disagreements or misunderstandings. Be courteous when disagreeing with others and avoid insulting others.

    2. Hate, Obscenity, and Threats

      Abusive, hateful, upsetting comments, hate speech, or any form of mobbing are detrimental to the community and will not be tolerated. These are considered severe infractions which might result in an immediate ban. These may include – but are not limited to – the following:

      • Don't organize or participate in groups or endeavours that advocate anti-ethnic, anti-gay, anti-religious, racist, sexist or other hate-mongering philosophies.
      • Don't advertise, promote, or provide pornography, illegal content or inappropriately gruesome, hideous, and/or hateful content.
      • Don't make discriminatory remarks which are sexually explicit, offensive, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive.
      • Don't use excessive obscene or vulgar language.
      • Don't use racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted slurs.
      • Don't provide links to sites that contain any of the topics mentioned above.
      • Don't threaten players with real-world violence against their person, friends, or family.

    3. Toxicity, flaming, bullying, and Trolling

      • Verbal or psychological abuse won't be tolerated. Racism or any other types of toxic -isms and demeaning behavior are unacceptable.
      • Ridicule or mock people due to race, creed, ethnicity, sexual preference, etc. – that is personal harassment and bullying won't be tolerated.
      • Personal attacks ("flaming") made to personally berate or insult others are detrimental to the community spirit and will not be tolerated.
      • "Trolling" behavior that is deliberately intended to offend and harass community members will not be tolerated.
      • Spread of toxicity, vitriol, or excessive ranting are detrimental to the community. Sometimes cyberbullying is imperceptible and can creep-in through a longer period. Toxicity and abuse may take many forms (like aggressive or demeaning ranting, inappropriate or rude behavior). If you notice a player is harassing you or others, please report it, view 5. Report a Player.
      • Griefing or bad-faith playing means deliberately to harass or aggravate others (trolling), by using game aspects to destroy or block things other players created (sometimes in unexpected ways), or otherwise engage recurrently in disruptive and undue behavior. Apparently griefers toil to get pleasure from aggravating others to spoil their enjoyment.

    4. Share personal Infos & Doxxing

      • Under no circumstances reveal game passwords or bank-account data to anyone. Konspiracy staff will never ask you to reveal such information.
      • Private communication between Konspiracy staff (including GM and volunteers) and the channel admins is private and should not be made public anywhere. If you have issues with a moderator or their methods/decisions follow the appropriate protocol, view 5. Report a Player.
      • To divulge private and/or personal information about anyone (other players, Konspiracy staff, Moderators, etc.) anywhere is strictly prohibited and may result in an immediate ban. Do not under any circumstances communicate content found on or related to the user's social media profiles or other sensitive information. This includes but is not limited to photographs, real names, or contact details such as email, postal addresses, or phone numbers.

    5. Illegal and Inappropriate Content

      All content addressed in 2.2 Hate, Obscenity, and Threats and 2.7 Spam and Ads falls under this category, is strictly prohibited and may result in a ban. Infractions of this type may also result in real life legal/penal consequences.

      • Don't discuss real-world illegal activities.
      • Don't post links to executable files, distribute viruses, or engage in or promote phishing activities.
      • Don't post code that triggers exploits or bugs.
      • Don't post content or links to pornographic, inappropriately gruesome, hideous, hateful, offensive, harmful, threatening, or abusive content.
      • Don't share content glorifying or promoting, in general, self-harm. This includes any content that encourages others to: cut or injure themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, for example, seek counseling or treatment.
      • Don't arrange for the exchange or transfer of any illegal pirated software or other contraband while using the game client, servers or web site.
      • Don't create or distribute information about, or solicit the existence of any server emulator or other site where the game may be played without the authority of Konspiracy.
      • Don't acquire or publish private communication from Konspiracy's staff or representatives within the game world, official website, or other venues without authorization.
      • Don't transmit, upload or solicit copyrighted material without permission from the author or copyright holder.

    6. Illegal transfer/trading of accounts or items

      • Don't discuss, advertise, solicit, trade, sell, or exchange game-accounts, in-game goods or services, or in-game resources/currency for real-world compensation of any kind through online auction sites or any other venue. This severe infraction can result in an immediate ban.

    7. Spam and Ads

      • view the spam definition at 7. Appendix
      • Don't spam, or incite other players to spam.
      • Don't spam official Konspiracy communication channels, both in- or out-of-game.
      • Don't advertise or promote external websites or products (commercial goods and services), both in-game or out-of-game Konspiracy channels.
      • Don't run, advertise, or promote gambling or games of chance on public in-game channels.
      • Don't use global channels when there are dedicated channels for your message.
      • Don't use specialized channels for out-of-topic messaging or other purposes.
      • Don't start or engage in chain letters.
      • Don't advertise, promote, or engage in any form of solicitation.
      • Don't send excessive emails, forum-messages or support tickets with false information or repeatedly under the wrong category in an effort to avoid customer support queues.

    8. Newbie bashing and harassment

      The influx of new players is essential for the community. Any activities to harass or disencourage new players will be seen as harmful for the community and the game as a whole and are strictly prohibited.

      • Don't scam or abuse new players.
      • In the start zones you should keep in mind that there are other players. Don't over-farm, block/wall-off, or harass in these areas, don’t target or involve underpowered newbies in your pvp and don't gank them.

    9. Discussing hacking and Exploits

      • Don't publicly accuse other players of cheating, hacking, duping, etc. either in-game or out-of-game (forums, etc.). All incidents of cheating or hacking must be reported to a moderator or a community manager; view 5. Report a Player.
      • Don't discuss or spread knowledge of in-game bugs and exploits. All exploits and bugs must be reported, view 6. Bug-reports and feedback.
      • Don't run, discuss or advertise hacking or botting programs.
      • These severe infractions can result in harsh sanctions or an immediate ban.

    10. Hacking

      These are severe infractions and can result in an immediate ban. It's also likely they will result in real life legal consequences.

      • Don't interfere with the performance of the game's servers or web sites.
      • Don't scam, blackmail, use social engineering, impersonate, or use other trickery to access accounts (or account information) of other players.
      • Don't decipher, hack, or interfere with transmissions to or from the servers or web site.
      • Don't engage in activities that increase the difficulty and/or expenses to maintain the client, server, web site, or other services. If you do this you may have to refund the costs.
      • Don't obtain illegal access to accounts of other players or staff members by hacking or deception.

    11. Exploits

      Are game vulnerabilities that disrupt game mechanics and are considered exploitative since they give some players unfair game-breaking advantages by misusing game bugs or features in unintended ways. Please report all exploits, view 6. Bug-reports and feedback.

      • The use of any kind of exploits is considered cheating and therefore is strictly forbidden (e.g. bugs that render players invulnerable, or allow them to duplicate items).
      • Using publicly-known exploits constitutes a serious infraction.
      • Failing to report an exploitable bug constitutes an infraction.
      • Don't distribute information about exploits to other players.
      • Don't engage in activity that intentionally causes others to lose connection, suffer latency issues, or to crash their client or computer.
      • Don't use, distribute, or advertise illegal 3rd party programs (i.e. macros or cheat programs) and report all players using one.
      • Players that benefit (funds, goods, etc.) from other players using an illegal 3rd party program may be regarded as complicit and also incur serious penalties.

    12. Scams

      It is a severe offense and can result in permanent revocation of channel rights, temporary suspension, or permanent account ban. It's also likely they will result in real life legal consequences.

      • Don't engage in any real-life illegal scam ploys.
      • In-game scams as part of roleplay are considered gameplay and are permitted. However, that only refers to in-game goods and services. All scams involving real-world money or other commodities and/or personal accounts are strictly prohibited. Infractions of this type may result in real life legal/penal consequences.
      • Pyramid schemes are also considered scams.
      • Don't create contracts that cannot be completed with normal/legal game mechanics or abilities.
      • Don't impersonate another player, staff member, channel patron, channel moderator, or other official group members.
      • If a GM asks players to stop a scam ploy, please do so immediately and follow all GM's instructions. If you want to challenge a GM decision, contact a Moderator and explain your situation, view 5. Report a Moderator.
        A committee will review the occurrence and give you an answer.

    13. Discuss Moderator decisions

      • It is forbidden to discuss moderator decisions. This is not aimed to repress/ignore complaints, but protect moderators' autonomy and uphold a due process that enables us to track and resolve community issues effectively.
      • Moderator decisions and communication are private between the parties involved and should not be discussed in public channels. Questions or comments concerning moderation methods can be made through private messages only, preferably only with the parties involved.
      • Moderators will lay out issues and explain their decisions once.
      • Don't harass/hound moderators about "reasons." If you have issues with any moderators or their methods/decisions follow the official procedure and lay out your grievances; view 5. Report a Moderator

  3. Naming Policy

    1. Naming Rules

      In-game names include, but are not limited to: Any player-given names in- or out-of-game (character names, player-run groups, communication channels, organizations, or any other player-nameable item or entity within the game) are subject to these policies. This is not an all-inclusive list, it's at moderators and staff discretion to flag, forbid, and change names.

      • Don't use misleading formatting that imitates or masquerade groups, tags, or other types of official in-game interface identification or visual styling.
      • Don't use the character name of another player to falsely represent their identity.
      • Don't impersonate or parody other players, moderators, staff members, official groups, organization members, or other Konspiracy customer service representatives.
      • Don't use obscene, vulgar, profane, sexually explicit, inappropriately gruesome, hateful, offensive, harmful, threatening, abusive, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic or otherwise bigoted names.
      • Don't reflect, glorify, or emulate any real-world hate groups, criminal organizations, or their leaders and figureheads. This includes the use of names of real-world military, political or religious groups.

    2. Naming Violations

      • Names deemed inappropriate will be changed immediately by a GM and the player will get a warning for infringing this policy. Decisions are at the discretion of moderators based on, but not limited to, account and player history and violation severity.
      • If moderators are unable to contact a player when choosing a new name, they may temporarily select a generic name from a fallback list like "Hanselwurst".
      • Blatantly offensive names created in direct violation of the Terms of Service and this Naming Policy, additionally will be subject to disciplinary actions taken against the player and account.
      • New fallback names issued by moderators without player consent can be changed by filing a new name request form. Players who get their name changed will receive an in-game message with a link to the form. The new name must follow the Terms of Service and Naming Policy guidelines and will be subject to approval. If the approval process is sabotaged by a player, further disciplinary actions will be taken.
      • When violating this policy, the age of an account or character is irrelevant. All names that violate this Naming Policy will be changed or deleted depending on severity.
      • Players may not create, promote or be a member of a group that violates this Naming Policy.

  4. Reprimand Policy

    1. General

      • The community rules are based on warnings, mutes, and suspensions of various lengths, depending on the severity and number of transgressions of the rules.
      • Most reactions to missconduct will start with a warning. After an initial warning, a mute may be issued for the appropriate duration for the offense. Repeated transgressions and failing to follow moderators' advice will increase the severity of the offenses.
      • Infractors of community rules in public channels will be admonished by a moderator. Should the offending behavior re-occur, reprimands will escalate. Frequent/repeating offenders will be subjected to direct mutes or bans, depending on severity.
      • Please be aware that if a transgression of the rules is severe enough, this policy may be bypassed completely in favor of permanent revocation of all user’s privileges.
      • To penalize/discipline players is smth we'd like to avoid, but must be done to protect other players and safeguard a civil and friendly environment in the community.

    2. Warnings and Mutes

      • Warnings, mutes and suspensions get sent to the player via in-game moderator message and will be displayed in your in-game notifications.
      • Group (parties/clans/guilds/towns) leadership and moderators can mute you in their specific channels.

    3. Offenses and penalization

      • Severity of the penalty depends on the severity of the offense, but can result in an immediate and permanent ban (with revocation of all user’s privileges).
      • To determine the situation a moderator will conduct an investigation of the incident and parties involved, depending on the transgression's seriousness and offender's history, reprimands will be issued at their discretion (in accordance with internal guidelines).
      • Non-severe infractions can result in a Warning or a Mute.
      • A player with previous warnings will get a harsher reprimand, if the reprehensible behavior reoccurs within an intolerable timeframe.
      • A player that ignores a moderator's warnings and fails to follow instructions will also get a harsher reprimand.
      • Severe offenses may result in an immediate ban without warning, but warnings may be given for first time offenses, followed by account suspensions of varying degree and ultimately a permanent ban.
      • Leniency may be applied when issuing suspension if a period of more than 6 months has elapsed between the current warning and any previous action. This leniency lies entirely at the discretion of the Community Moderation Team.
      • Permanent bans are rarely issued, and only in severe cases where a player has grossly violated the rules or shown a track record of disruptive and abusive behavior -- after repeated warnings and temporary suspensions.

    4. Reprimand Appeals

      • Players can appeal staff decisions, however good reasons and strong evidence must be presented.
      • If you feel the reprimand wasn't reasonable, the decision can be appealed by officially requesting a review. An appeal does not guarantee a different outcome.
      • If you have an issue with the moderator or the duration of the reprimand you were given, please refer to 5. Report a Moderator with an explanation of the situation and hard evidence.
      • Permanent bans are issued by the community counsel and might be appealed, however once a permanent ban is issued, that case has already been considered, therefore verdicts are unlikely to change, unless new evidence is presented.
      • Players that repeatedly appeal decisions, because they constantly engage in disruptive or borderline behavior, will be suspended or banned.

  5. Report a Player or Moderator

    1. General

      • Reporting misbehavior and troublemakers that infringe the Community Rules will help us maintain a civil community.
      • Reporting a player can be done through a moderator. You can communicate with moderators at our Discord Channel or at the Ingame Konspiracy Guild.
      • When reporting add a short description of the situation (what happened, where and when, also who was affected).
      • Failing to report obvious/blatant transgressions to the Community Rules may amount to complicity and can be penalized.
      • In case you have a problem with a moderator's decisions, send us an email at support@blossomanddecay.com.
        A council of staff members different from the moderator in question will review the case with extra care.
      • Repeatedly sending unfounded reports will be regarded as spam/sabotage, thus a breach of our Community Policies.

  6. Bug-reports and feedback

    1. General

      • Only post reports and send feedback about Blossom & Decay. We want to have friendly and purpose-driven communication and discussions. Please make objective contributions, and analyze what happened before posting.
      • Don't hold back your feedback about the game. Let us know what works and what doesn’t. Try to be specific and remember it’s exhausting to decode useful information from whining walls of text or passive-aggressive comments.
      • Try to stay analytical (although we understand that even a rant has a message) and don't be upset when we can not implement your feedback immediately.

    2. Check before creating a new topic

      • Check the specific channel's rules before posting
      • Review the threads before starting a new one. Try to avoid creating duplicate threads unless the group's rules indicate it otherwise.

    3. Post constructively

      • Negative feedback can be useful to further improve B&D if it is presented in a civil and factual manner. All users are encouraged to provide input regarding B&D and suggestions for improvement. Posts that aren't constructive, insulting or breach the Community Rules and TOS will be deleted regardless of how valid the ideas behind them may be.
      • Spamming with non-constructive posts will be regarded as spam and thus breach our policies.
      • Posting offtopic content is considered spamming and also breaches our policies.

    4. Be factual and concise

      • Describe the system and browser you used and add a screenshot if that helps with the explanation.
      • First try to describe the problem (what exactly doesn't work), then if you have input regarding a solution you can add a solution proposal.

  7. Appendix

    1. Definitions

      • In-game communication channels: regional chat, public chat, community forums or chats, moderator forums or chats.
      • Out-of-game communication channels: any official Blossom & Decay or Konspiracy websites, platforms or forums.
      • Ordinary infractions: all other infractions that are not minor or severe infractions.

      Spam

      • Repetitive display of the same text in an effort to aggravate other players.
      • Indiscriminate use of CAPS to aggravate other players.
      • Advertise or promote external websites or products in communication channels, or any official channels, in- or out-of-game.
      • Send an excessive amount of messages or support requests in any in- or out-of-game communication channels.
      • Intentionally flood communication channels (in- or out-of-game) to disrupt communication or regular game or community services.

      Off-Topic discussions

      • Excessive discussion of real-life politics, religion, current affairs, etc.
        A good measure for what counts as excessive, is when other players start to complain and ask you to stop discussing the topic.

    2. Types of Moderators

      Devs and staff members desire for the community to thrive. There are different types of in-game moderators with different functions and responsibilities.

      Group Leaders (GL)

      • Guild, Clan, and/or Town officials get elected by their group peers.
      • Their primary tasks are to foster constructive discussion, and if necessary keep an eye on tone and spam in the different chat channels. Future: They can also moderate local public chats in their territories.
      • GLs have a GL-clan tags in their username.
      • GLs have a limited set of tools:
        • They can temporarily mute players
        • Can remove / hide posts in their community
        • Their reports will be taken with priority
        • GLs will not see any additional info on your account and have no powers to influence gameplay directly.

      Game Masters (GM)

      • Game masters are player-volunteers appointed by the community management team.
      • They moderate global chat and public communities. They are responsible for reviewing in-game reports and issue first reactions. They get in contact with problematic players or groups and potentially contact Group Leaders where members are involved.
      • They have a GM-Tag in their username.
      • Powers
        • Issue warnings to players who break the ToS and Community Rules.
        • Can open (forced) chat channels with players and chat with them, to address the issues directly with the infractors.
        • Can temporarily change players names
        • Can temporarily mute players
        • Can review player conduct reports and history
        • Can not create or replace lost items

      Community Managers (CM)

      • Are Konspiracy employees and primarily communicate via the in-game Konspiracy-Guild to help relay information between players and devs.
      • They coordinate with GMs and GLs and review critical cases and complaints as well as appeals. They can investigate unclear cases further.
      • They have a CM-Tag in their username
      • Powers
        • They can see in-game channels where complaints occurred
        • Teleportation
        • Invisibility
        • Review logs of complaints and GL/GM/CM actions in game
        • Review player conduct reports and history
        • Review player payment/purchase history
        • It is important to stress that these employees are contractually bound not to lead any factions or seek/obtain gameplay advantages.
        • Can revoke suspends, mutes, etc.

      Devs

      • Are Konspiracy employees actively working on Blossom & Decay.
      • Communicate through Community Managers.
      • They could theoretically do almost everything in game, but will play with normal unmarked characters or marked GM accounts with GM permissions.
      • They play the game as regular players and in their spare time, so even if you know a player is a Dev, don’t harass them with change requests or improvements. Use the regular channels.
      • Of course pestering Devs for game advantages and/or exploits infringes the Community Rules.

    3. How to handle account/login data

      • Players are responsible for keeping their account information confidential. Sharing your account credentials is a violation of our End User License Agreement, so Konspiracy won't be held liable for any loss of characters or assets that occur as a result of account sharing. Account holders are strongly urged not to share accounts or account information with others.
      • If you suspect an unauthorized person has obtained access to your account, change your password immediately.
      • Under no circumstances reveal game passwords or bank-account data to anyone. Konspiracy staff won't ever ask you to reveal such information.