Statement on Core Principles of Ahoyworld Enhanced (AWE) server

[Ryko]

There have been a few events recently which have called into question the nature of gameplay on the AWE server. This statement will serve to clarify AhoyWorld’s official position on the style of gameplay that should take place there.

 

To summarize, the server has, and will continue to, operate in the grey zone between public casual play and serious community play ("milsim"). Part of the allure of AWE is that the barrier to entry is the size of the MODs and the ability of the players to follow only a few rules. There is no application process, mandatory training, ranking system and requirement to play in only our community.

 

The problem with this situation of course, is that it means different players have different interpretations concerning where in that grey zone they are actually expected to operate.  To that end, we refer you to the current rules, which give all the guidance that is required. Staff are constantly reviewing these rules, but the core rules will always be applicable, and can be summarized as:

 

1. Play your role and perform the functions required by it. This means not doing something “out of character” for that role, like charging the front lines as a missile specialist, or sniping as a medic. Players are encouraged to take a realistic loadout for their role.

2. Obey the chain of command. If someone is of higher rank than you, you must follow their orders, to the best of your ability, within reason. Playing on AWE is all about teamwork and coordination, and nothing gets done if there isn’t a command structure.

3. Help enhance the gameplay for every player to enjoy the mission and your company. If someone needs help, give it to them. If you need help, ask for it.The greater good should be your mandate; overbearing or disruptive behaviour is not acceptable. A player should try to bring their skills to the table or enable others to do so. AhoyWorld Enhanced is a community of friends, with common interests - welcome and treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.

 

There are currently several guidelines which further clarify specific situations (ie., not parking vehicles in infantry spawn, not teamkilling, and not typing in side chat), but those are all extensions of these three core rules. Players who don't follow the rules are subject to administrative sanctions (warn, kick, ban). While these rules may seem fairly wide-ranging and open to interpretation, they are not. Followed in this order, they are generally complementary and cover 99.9% of situations that arise.

 

Now, some specific notes, to address some situations which have arisen over the last few months.

You are the author of your own experience.

Players are encouraged to play to whatever level of realism that they prefer. If you want to play a first-person only, completely realistic experience - that is your prerogative. If you want to play a more relaxed style, using third-person, and play it more like a game, that is also possible.

 

As long as you play your role, follow the orders of your superior, and follow the server guidelines, everyone should be able to get along no matter what style of gameplay you wish to follow. However, it is possible that one player's gameplay preference may rub up uncomfortably against the preferences of another. At that point, you have three options:

 

1. Ask the other player to respect your preference (this can be as simple as a player in third-person revealing targets to a player who is playing first-person, who couldn't normally see them).

2. Acknowledge that other players have alternate preferences, and live with it.

3. Play somewhere else.

Play your role trumps Follow Chain of Command.

There aren't many situations where this applies, but in general, a player can't be ordered by another player to do something that is outside of the reasonable requirements of their role. For example, a medic cannot be ordered to NOT bring medical supplies to the field; a soldier cannot be ordered to NOT bring and wear a helmet. If it's reasonably applicable to your role, a player CAN be ordered to adhere to their role (for example, a front-line soldier wearing a helmet).

 

Otherwise, if a player chooses to bring or not bring gear which is typical to their role, and their superior officers don't have a problem with it, they are free to do so. (An example would be a player choosing to wear a cap instead of a helmet, if their superior officer doesn't order them to wear a helmet, or better yet the player asks if they can just wear a cap instead of helmet and the superior officer agrees, they are free to do so. Yes, it's stupid, but it's their choice to be stupid.)

 

There are probably situations where these rules and principles don’t make sense; where this occurs, staff have the right to arbitrate a solution which makes sense in the context of these principles and rules of the server.

The application of sanctions, the implementation of bans, and the removal of bans.

There are only a couple of instances where a player will be instantly banned: repeated and/or unapologetic teamkilling, hacking, or other offences of that nature. While these notes serve to clarify the sanction policy on AW, they can’t possibly cover every future scenario, so the moderation team reserve the right to issue sanctions for against any behaviour which runs contrary to the general principles of the AhoyWorld community.

 

Players are subject to the Warn → Kick → Ban procedure of sanctioning. If a ban is instituted the player will be notified at the time, the reason that this action was taken. In addition to this, a specific time will be given for when the ban will automatically lift, or when they may appeal to have the ban removed.

 

A ban is removed completely at the discretion of the community referee or Core Staff, depending on the circumstances of the appeal. If a player is unbanned, they revert to the status of being warned against the offences that resulted in them being kicked.

Rules lawyering and player enforcement.

We appreciate that some players want others to play the game as they do, and to follow the rules as seriously as they do. Unless you are staff, it is not your job to enforce the rules (but you can - and should, if asked - offer advice to players). If you are being personally inconvenienced by another player's failure to follow the rules, you are encouraged to report the offending player to moderators, whose job it is to enforce the rules.

 

I helpfully direct you to the player report form, and as always, you can also message anyone on teamspeak.

 

[Noah_Hero]

To say this first: I appreciate an official statement on this and agree with the points made. Except one:

 

19 minutes ago, Ryko said:

We appreciate that some players want others to play the game as they do, and to follow the rules as seriously as they do. Unless you are staff, it is not your job to enforce the rules (but you can - and should, if asked - offer advice to players). If you are being personally inconvenienced by another player's failure to follow the rules, you are encouraged to report the offending player to moderators, whose job it is to enforce the rules.

I´d guess that´s a hint for @Amentes as well as for myself and I disagree a lot with that point. This is simply because the great majority of players on AWE have literally no idea at all on when they are allowed to take wich slots since the squad changes for example. This means that people are constantly picking these slots even if they aren´t allowed to. In these situations I have two choices: 1.: tell them to change slots because of them breaking rules (wich takes like 5 seconds and ends up in a quick result) or 2.: to get an AWE Moderator who will tell the exact same thing to them (wich will disrupt the Moderators gameplay if they are in an AO and mostly also will take way longer since a message on CTab or TS will probably not directly be read and typing in Side is not allowed under these circumstances). So long story short: It is just simply stupid to get an admin for every of these situations wich are happening everytime because it just takes way longer and these situations can be solved without Moderators assistance.

 

25 minutes ago, Ryko said:

I helpfully direct you to the player report form

And to get onto this one real quick: Totally "effective" if someone slotted up not correct since it´ll mostly take so lang that he´ll most likely already has left the server when someone looks into the report. Also I did that once (about someone taking wrong slots) and no administrative sanction was applied at all...not even a warning was given. If we have rules they should be enforced equally and not some of them strict and some of them nearly not at all.

[SkullCollector]

I get where you're coming from and we do appreciate your diligence in sorting out issues. Telling people to reslot is perfectly fine as Mission Actual and you are just as fine pointing out a slotting mistake when you see one. Most of the time it's just a misunderstanding and a gentle nudge resolves it.

 

An issue arises when the server grinds to a halt because of a discussion about the exact wording of the rules.

 

It is not yours to make sure a slot is left vacant when it should be and it's also not yours to hawk over the roster to jump on the next best perpetrator in Vortex 2. Ideally you wait for an opportune moment in base, approach the subject in question and just ask if they'd consider reslotting into a more sensible role. If they refuse, you will likely not accomplish anything anyway, except for getting them and yourself grumpy. I've seen people leave over this stuff.

 

Don't be grumpy. Let us deal with it.