Policies

Disclaimer:This page does not show all the rules and policies used on Skyrat and is not always up to date. In case of any discrepancies between this page and the documents available on the Discord, the documents on the Discord take precedence.

Skyrat 13 Rules

These rules are the framework for both staff members and regular users. If you don’t agree with these rules, do not say you do. You are not forced to play here; there are other options (both within the Space Station 13 community and outside it) for you.

This framework is derived in large part from drawn from several other related communities’ in-game rulesets, modified to suit our purposes. This is a living, always in-progress document; it may be changed in the future, updates will be announced on the Discord server.

(See also: Guide to avoiding bans)

0. Be mature.

1. his server is for people who are 18 years of age or older. No exceptions. Our servers are based in the United States and we adhere to both moral guidelines and the United States Law. Alongside this stringent ruling, we ask that you act maturely as a player.
   1. Don’t be a dick OOCly. We all have lives, and many of us use the community as a place to relax. Being needlessly antagonistic to other community members, generally toxic, and otherwise unkind while here makes the space worse for others. Further encouraging toxic behavior, and pushing away community members. Just don’t be a dick.
   2. English literacy is a must. We do not expect grammatical perfection; but if you are not comprehensible out-of-character, this server is not for you. There are some foreign language Space Station 13 communities out there that could fit your needs better.
   3. Don’t “ride the line” with regards to the rules. Follow through on the spirit of rules, and not just their exact wording. You will be punished for this as though you broke the concerned rule(s).
   4. If an admin has told you not to do something; do not do it. Do not attempt to play word games, and rules lawyer, at those whose job it is to uphold the rules.

1. Do not grief.

Griefing is the act of deliberately annoying or angering another player using aspects of the game in unintended ways. Newcomers that exhibit this behavior will find themselves permabanned.

1. Do not spam. This includes in-character conversation, the global out-of-character channel, or any other text channel used in-game (such as the Admin-Help system).
2. Do not attack others or engage in what is otherwise known as "random deathmatch" also known as RDM. If you want to attack another character, have a valid IC reason. Conduct yourself in a way that is consistent with our aforementioned principles. Killing someone is frowned upon without a strong IC reason, i.e. self-defense, is needed to achieve your goals as an antagonist, etc.
3. Do not exploit bugs or errors in the code to your benefit in-game. Report issues to the wider community in the main-dev chat channel.
4. Do not intentionally damage the station,or its machinery without a valid IC reason, This can make the round effectively unplayable if enough vital functions are destroyed.
5. Do not harass players out-of-character. If the source of the harassment is linked to actions within the server, you will be dealt with.
6. Do not harass a player ICly if it is unwelcome. Anyone who participates in a coordinated effort in the form of a meta-gang to harass characters in-game in any manner will be permanently banned without appeal if found guilty and found uncooperative.
7.  Don't touch SSD players without prior admin approval via admin help. (Note: Moving an SSD/AFK player to safety or dragging them to the shuttle is exempt from this.)

Examples

1. Spamming *scream or any emote excessively in public will not be tolerated.
2. Players that look for any reason to kill will be rooted out, i.e. killing someone for walking into or through your workplace and so forth.
3. While brawls or fights that naturally escalate is encouraged, be aware that doing so with the intent of killing someone is heavily frowned upon. Doing so in a manner that is consistent may lead to charges of powergaming and griefing which may result in a permanent ban.
4. Abusing a bug, glitch, or error to gain an item you shouldn't have access to is considered powergaming.

2. Listen to the staff team.

The staff is responsible for upholding the enforcement of rules on the server. As such, they have a final say on related matters. We welcome honest comments, feedbacks, and critiques with the expectation that it is done civilly and politely in correspondence to the first server principle. If you are ever considering doing something particularly drastic - including mutinities and murders as a non-antagonist - request permission via Admin-Help.

1. Be polite, honest, and to the point when sending an admin PM. Give all relevant information that you can, as it will help us resolve your case.
2. Avoid antagonizing someone you are admin-helping about.
3. An admin's word is final. If they say not to do it, do not do it.
4. If you suspect an admin is in the wrong, calmly document and report the incident. Be as thorough and as unbiased as possible. While the latter is difficult when emotional, it will help your case more often than not.
5. Any form of harmful and deceitful behavior will be met with disproportionate punishment due to the nature of the offense. Lying to the staff is a punishable offense and may become permanent if done frequently. Furthermore, anyone who consistently engages in clandestine behavior with the intent to do harm, i.e. to harass or slander individuals, will receive a permanent ban with no opportunity to appeal.

1. 1. Avoid talking about rule infraction in the global OOC channel. This can, and will, lead to people metagaming. When you can, use the Admin-Help and Mentor-Help systems to your benefit.
   2. If an admin tells you that something is IC, valid, and so forth, that is the final answer. Admins are not obligated to give you more information than they think is necessary during an ongoing round. If you want more information you may ask again after the round, or you may ask for the logs which may be given if thought appropriate
   3. If the situation you are admin-helping about is immediately happening to you, state your intentions in LOOC and either pause the scene or remove your character from the scene.

3. Stay in-character.

Your character, the one you will be playing on the server, must fit into the lore & setting. For the time being, your character is an employee with NanoTrasen working at a mining and research station in orbit of ‘Lavaland’. The station’s main purpose is the study, extraction, and refinement of the anomalous Plasma. The station is a workplace, acting extremely immature is grounds for termination of your employment (and indefinite detainment until you can be processed).

1. Speak like an actual person.
2. Netspeak terms like "lol", "rofl", "lmao" are specifically disallowed while talking aloud. You may use these in in-character text, like PDA messages.
3. Give your characters proper names.
4. Avoid titles (Captain, Officer, Dr., etc.) in names.
5. Do not impersonate staff or other player characters.
6. With the only exceptions being in-character impersonation. Changelings, wearing their ID card while your face is hidden, a Comms Agent mimicking them. Do not recreate someone else’s character in the character creator.
7. Do not copy and paste real-world people and pre-existing fictional characters.
8. Do not commit suicide for little reason.
9. Do not kill yourself to escape in-character punishments, do not commit suicide to spite someone for something mildly rude they said, etc.
10. Underaged characters are strictly prohibited.
11. The hard-coded limit for character age is 18 for a reason. Do not attempt to work around this by describing your character as looking “younger than 18” in your flavor text. It will be treated as a violation of the rules.

4. Play the job you have.

Put honest effort into your job.

Example: As an Engineer, you should secure power before doing anything else. If you don’t know how to do that (and are alone in Engineering) seek help from a more experienced crewmember outside of Engineering, or ask for advice through the Mentor-Help system. In general, attempt to meet the bare minimum expectations for your job. If you are the Head of your department, delegate when you can, as you are a manager first and foremost! Micromanaging is the devil, unless you are playing that type of character! You are allowed to roleplay your character somewhat incompetently though less so with engineers.

1. See Principle #7
2. As an antagonist, your goal is to stir chaos but ultimately entertainment for the crew. You should attempt to finish your mission when possible, but you do not have to rush it. If you do not like your objectives, you are welcome to put in a request or suggestion via admin-help.
3. Do your primary job first. Keep to your department, and do not perform other peoples' jobs unless A) the position is empty B) there is an emergency.
4. Do not ignore crucial-to-the-station duties for menial or unimportant jobs. A medical doctor should not be hidden in virology while someone is dying of appendicitis in the medical bay lobby. If you are to be found doing just this, you will be a target for dereliction charges ICly. If this behavior continues, you will be job-banned.
5. Again, do not overstep your job description, i.e. medical should not be preoccupied with figuring out what happened to a patient beyond what is required to devise an effective treatment, such as checking if their toxin damage is being caused by ingested or injected poisons so you know whether to use charcoal in syringe or pill form.. You may be concerned, and tip off Security to your suspicions, but avoid performing criminal investigations when there is a perfectly capable Security force on-station.

5. Do not metagame or metagrudge.

1. Metagaming is using information gotten out-of-character for in-character purposes. Including (but not limited to) direct message conversations, voice calls, streams, the global out-of-character, and other forms of out-of-game communication.
2. Meta-grudging is the act of targeting a player while IC for OOC reasons. Attacking another player for something that happened in a previous round without mutual consent will be called meta-grudging. Rounds are canon, however, you cannot act malevolently based on an event that transpired in another round without consent from the involved parties.
3. Knowledge can transfer round to round and can be learned through "books", however, this does not mean you can violate Principle #7.
4. Regarding the continuity with antagonists, these rounds will count as canon unless specified. You may remember what happened to you, but not who in particular did it. They are replaced by a functionally faceless individual. Do not attempt to make an in-character issue out of previous shifts’ antagonism, unless you have the OOC consent of the involved party. Ever.

6. Do not powergame.

Powergaming is defined as: going out of your way to give yourself an extreme mechanical edge over the rest of the crew. Do not give yourself all-access, a combat hardsuit, several laser weapons, and a squad of E-Magged borgs when facing off against a skeleton crew as Traitor. This goes against the aims and goals of the server which is to provide a roleplaying environment where action and conflict is plentiful.

1. Do not give yourself all-access just because you can.
2. Don’t steal items from other departments without good cause as a non-antagonist. It can hinder the functioning of those departments.
3. Do not give access to your workplace to crew who would not otherwise have access, unless there is a justifiable reason to do so (I.E.: the warden arming the crew during a confirmed pirate raid, the last alive Medic giving medicine access to other trained crew to lighten their own load.)
4. Don’t do the job of occupied departments (this includes acting Captains).
5. Do not hide objective items just because you know that they are targets for traitor activity.
6. Security should not be armed with lethal-capable weapons outside of a Blue Security Alert.

7. Do not valid-hunt.

Valid-hunting is defined as; going out of your way to kill “valid” players. Valid is an out-of-character short-hand term referring to someone who can be killed within the guidance of the rules. Avoid using it in-character.

1. If an Antagonist is not currently a threat to the station at large; do not leave your workplace to go on a wild goose chase for them. Leave this to Security, and other Law Enforcement personnel.
2. Forcibly mind-shielding crew, brainwashing crew, or otherwise attempting to root out Antagonists without any confirmation of a related threat is valid-hunting. It can quickly ruin an otherwise perfectly on-track secret round.
3. Violating other characters’ privacy outside of Security’s protocol. (I.E.: a miner searching someone’s bag for being suspicious, an Officer searching someone on codegreen without consent or reason to suspect them.)

8. No Self-Antagging

Self-antagging is the act of acting like an in-game antagonist when you weren't selected to be the round's antag. While committing crimes ICly is permitted, self-antagonism is a different beast. To differentiate, you should not act like a traitor or commit terrorism. This involves performing actions that are expected of antags, such as murder(without proper IC escalation), grand sabotage, abduction of high-level personnel, etc.

The key difference between the activities you could do thanks to Principle #6, and self-antagonism, is the negative impact your actions have on the round as a whole. If you establish the rules of your IC interactions beforehand, and work with other players, then you can perform any number of unlawful activities under Principle #6. As a rule of thumb and as a reminder, anything that could be considered terrorism in the real world is self-antagging.

If you are not an antag, do not do the following:

1. Roleplay as a serial killer, a criminally insane character, or a terrorist.
2. Murder someone without a justifiable IC reason (self-defense, honor duel, etc.)
3. Pretend to be an established antagonist (Throwing on a black and red spacesuit and sabotaging solars is NOT fine.)
4. Sabotage important station facilities (flooding Security with plasma, blowing up Engineering, unleashing viruses from Virology).

And so on. This list is not exhaustive, and other activities may or may not fit under self-antagonism, as decided by the staff.

9. Behave in accordance to our principles

The principles lay plainly our goals for the server and how we aim to achieve them. It highlights what we expect from players, and it also allows you to understand why the rules are organized as they are. By following them, you will more than likely be in good shape.

In fact, we argue strongly that the principles are there, so you understand what is expected of you whenever you stir IC trouble. For example, this server allows you to commit crimes given that you roleplayed and thought your character out. This, however, does not grant you the license to grief. Keep in mind that its main purpose is there to create interesting scenarios born out of conflict for players to engage with, even on an extended shift. To become a trusted member of the community, use this freedom to not only enhance your own playing experience but others as well!

While the principles are there to encourage player initiative, we encourage players to ask for consent from nearby players when possible. Anything that affects the shift station-wide will require admin consent. Please keep in mind that intentionally disregarding or actively ignoring the principles laid out for the players will draw the attention of the staff and may result in punitive measures.

Here are a few key reminders:

1. At a minimum, do not be a dick OOCly!
2. Play as the character, not as the player.
3. You are allowed to roleplay your character somewhat incompetently though not to the point that it becomes very unfun.
4. Whenever possible, roleplay what you can. This does not mean you have to roleplay everything out, rather you keep an eye out for roleplaying opportunities.
5. This is a friendly reminder that this is an adult server and that you are an adult. Expect adult situations to arise. When it comes to ERP, we have light protection in accordance
6. to the "do not be a dick OOCly" rule. We expect people, whether they are a participant or bystander, to be considerate of each other and the situation they're in.
7. You should expect IC conflict with less than scrupulous characters.
8. Remember, this is not comprehensive. Please see the Principles Document for further detail.

Skyrat 13 Guiding Principles

The server merges player freedom, action, and roleplay together. We expect medium to high roleplay. We grant our players freedom in exchange for them being more responsible and considerate of their fellow players. Even if you are not much of a roleplayer, you are welcome on this server as long as you follow our principles.

If you are an experienced roleplayer on Space Station 13 and feel confident in your own ability, you can save time by reading the headers for each principle and the underlined text in the body. However, it is highly encouraged you read all of it thoroughly.

Principle 1. Be a good community member by being considerate of others!

This is essentially the golden rule when it comes to interacting with others. We do not require that you be friendly with everyone here. In fact, we understand that conflict will arise at some point, but we expect toxicity to be kept to a minimum. We do not demand that you withhold your honest opinions, rather we ask you to avoid any toxic or antagonistic behavior when speaking in this community. Come with good intentions and be considerate of others. This only applies for out-of-character behavior

We encourage well-roleplayed, in-character conflict in our servers as long as you are considerate of others OOCly! However, be wary as some IC actions may be inconsiderate OOCly. For instance, you are to obtain admin approval before touching a SSD player, although certain situations such as the need to move a player to safety or the shuttle are permitted.

Principle 2. Roleplay First!

Your character's actions should be driven by your character and not by the player. As such, playing in a way to maximize winning by exploiting the rules is strictly prohibited.  For instance, if you make a player type and then you attempt to surprise them with mechanical combat in the middle of it, you will be dealt with. In fact, we allow incompetent characters within reason as one cannot be picky on the frontiers of civilization, given that they do not play a doctor or an engineer.

Remember:Losing is part of the game and part of roleplaying. Keep in mind, respawns are allowed as long as you choose another character and do not meta-game. With that said, escalate appropriately according to your character and situation. While you as the player are safe, your character is not. Play your character as if pain hurts and that cloning has significant side-effects, so that you are not unbelievably reckless.

Stress should also be factored when playing your character, especially in combat or emergency situations. Brave characters truly stand out when bravery actually means something.  For instance, elite units in real life suffer one battle fatigue casualty for every ten wounded in action. Conversely, the ratio can be as high as one to one on average. Source:(still needs to be filled in)

Prioritizing roleplay does not mean we must abandon the wackiness of SS13 nor limit player freedom. In fact, we argue that maintaining a roleplaying environment with standards allows the player to organically develop an interesting experience for themselves and others. While we certainly must limit player behavior in some ways to permit this, we do so with the aim of granting you freedom elsewhere.

For instance, once you are an accepted part of the community, in-character criminal activity is encouraged as long as it is done with thought, consideration, and effort. In-character racism is encouraged. You are roleplaying on the very rim of society and civilization! Unsavory types will be found in all facets of life here. All we ask is that you put in the effort and not be inconsiderate towards others.

With this freedom in mind, we expect a higher level of responsibility towards your fellow community members when it comes to executing your ideas. If you are ever in doubt on whether you should do something or not, consult the players near you or contact an admin.

Principle 3. Marry Roleplay and Action Together

Please read the following in its entirety

1. The following law set should be followed, much like a silicon follows their AI laws. The intent of the law set is not to discourage the use of mechanics or even demand one should use roleplay over mechanics to resolve conflict. Rather, it is present to prevent mechanics from ruining either an ongoing scene or a potential one, i.e randomly grabbing someone and pulling them away in the middle of a conversation for no good reason.

Skyrat Action-Roleplay Lawset

1. Assume roleplay, i.e. saying and emoting, by default, until roleplay dictates that mechanics are needed to advance a scene or if mechanics, i.e. a breach in the hull, gunfire, or an explosive device, prevents roleplay.
2. In the middle of a roleplaying scene, pre-empt any mechanics that could disruptive a scene with an "emote" or "say" that subtly indicates the scene may break down to mechanics, i.e. Security officer reaches down to his holster and begins to slowly pull out his weapon or "put down the weapon, or I'll shoot!".
3. React to mechanics by mechanics, i.e. individual is running away, however, look to de-escalate to roleplay when you can.
4. Do not unnecessarily take someone out of the round, however, you do not have to go out of your way to avoid killing someone.

Note: Breaking the law consistently as a player will have escalating consequences that may lead to a permanent ban. If someone breaks a law, play along with it to avoid breaking the flow of the game, however, report the individual when you can.

 In this server, combat serves roleplay, not the other way around. This does not mean you have to roleplay everything, rather you should have an eye open for roleplaying opportunities. If your only interest is in being robust and winning, this is not the server for you unfortunately, though there are plenty others that cater to your tastes!

A player should learn to mix action and roleplay together whenever possible, even as an antagonist. In fact, one should learn not to rely solely on mechanics when encountering a possibly dangerous situation with a player character. If a player character indicates that they are looking to roleplay, taking advantage of that desire to win a fight is a punishable offense under metagaming.

We highly recommend that you handle each encounter as an opportunity to not only fight but to create a roleplaying experience. For instance, whenever a player character encounters a dangerous situation with another character, their instinct should not be to shoot first and ask questions later, unless your character has a good reason to. Furthermore, if someone is aiming a lethal and ranged weapon at you, attempting to charge someone with said lethal weapon empty-handed will be considered poor roleplay without a valid reason.

In some instances, a player character may find themselves forced to engage in mechanical combat immediately. When the mechanics start, you are free to open fire as needed. Be careful not to end a player's session unnecessarily by killing them with little reason. However, players who attempt to take advantage of this through excessive use of fake surrenders, may be dealt with by staff.

f you find yourself forced to use combat mechanics immediately, we understand that these things happen due to the circumstances that arise. Sometimes, the proper roleplay response is to engage in combat immediately. However, if we notice that you have a habit of immediately forcing mechanical combat when it is not necessary, you may be approached by a staff member. If you find yourself forced to react purely mechanically more often than not with someone, that means someone is not acting to roleplaying standards.

Roleplay Rules

Intended for the roleplay server only. You don't need to read these if you don't intend on visiting there.

https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Roleplay_Rules

Escalation

If a player wrongs you(theft, attacks, etc), you may retaliate. If you choose to retaliate with violence, you in turn have opened yourself up to violence. If you choose this route, do not expect admins to help you out if you die, even if you were not the original instigator. If you are concerned about being "kill baited" then consider calling security, using non lethal means to subdue your opponent, fleeing, or otherwise working things out (talking them down, getting your stolen items replaced, etc)

You may instigate conflict with another player within reason (you can't completely destroy their department, kill them unprovoked, or otherwise take them out of the round for long periods of time) but they are entitled to respond with violence. If you think it's unfair or excessive they killed you for taking their ID, consider not stealing next round.

If you are the instigator in a conflict and end up killing or severely impairing the round of the person you are fighting, you should make a reasonable effort to return them to life at least once or make amends, only seeking round removal if they continue to pursue you. This protection doesn't apply to an instigator being killed.

Exceptions: Security is expected not to retaliate with random abuse or violence unless the person in question is otherwise eligible for execution. You can't kill or maim security for trying to arrest you for legitimate reasons.

Security Policy & Precedents

1. Rule 1 of the main rules apply to security. The only exception is that security is generally considered to be armed with non-lethal methods to control a situation. Therefore, where reasonably possible, security is expected to use non-lethal methods first in a conflict before escalating to lethal methods.
2. Rule 4 of the main rules also apply to security. Security are not exceptions to the rule where non-antagonists can do anything they want, as per rule 4, to antagonists.
3. The 'act like an antag, get treated like one' part of Rule 4 of the main rules also apply to security. Stunning an officer repeatedly, using lethal or restricted weapons on them, disrupting the arrests or sentences of dangerous criminals, or damaging the brig, are examples of behaviour that may make you valid for security under Rule 4. Make sure players deserve it when you treat them as an antag, when in doubt, err on the side of caution as poor behaviour on the part of security will not be tolerated.
4. For arrested players, timed sentences up to a total of 10 minutes, buckle-cuffing, and stripping, are considered IC issues and are not actionable by admins. Brig sentences totaling more than 10 minutes can be adminhelped, as can be gulag or perma sentences or a pattern of illegitimate punishment. However, security should refrain from confiscating items not related to any crimes, especially important department-specific items like hard suits. Obvious exceptions to this are things like radio headsets, if players use it to harass security over the radio while being arrested.
5. Don’t kill Asimov borgs for trying to stop harm, unless they are being excessively disruptive, for example, locking down all of security despite only one security staff member causing harm.
6. While it is up to the discretion of the security player, lethal force may be used on a mob of players trying to force entry into the brig. Additionally, lethal force may be used immediately on anyone trying to enter the armory, is in the armory, or is leaving it

Precedents & exceptions: Examples and exceptions to the main rules.

Read for detailed clarification on each main rule. Players are subject to precedents but depending on how much of a dick they were, they can be either advised of the precedent to being banned for it.

Rule 0 Precedents.

1. Rule 0 should only be invoked by admins when it is in the best interests of the server.
2. Admins have intervened before and will do so again in situations where a player regardless of antag status has repeatedly delayed round-end by recalling the shuttle when most other players are dead or want to leave.
3. Admins may mirror bans from other servers at their discretion.
4. Admins may ban accounts linked to the use of proxies, CID randomizers, DLL use, or other similar things, at their discretion.
5. Admins may ask players in possession of multiple alt accounts to choose one to play on and ban the other accounts.

Rule 1 Precedents.

1. Random murders are not acceptable nor is the killing of other players for poor or little reasoning such as ‘My character is insane’. Each unjustified kill is normally met with one 24 ban.
2. Spamming any channel is not allowed, this goes for radio spam, AI vox announcement spam, paper at camera spam and other forms of spam. Non-antagonists doing so may not defend themselves and may suffer from IC or OOC consequences. Antagonists can to a certain extent, moreso with reading things like WGW over the radio, but may be told by admins to stop if it becomes excessive. Spamming can result from in-game admin intervention ending in you dying, to admin warnings, to bans for excessive or repeated spamming.
3. Rules still apply until the emergency escape shuttle has reached Centcom and the round-end antagonist report has appeared. When the shuttle has reached Centcom, players are free to act as per lone antagonists, detailed in Rule 4. Non-antagonist grief upon the shuttle, from spamming flashbangs for no reason to spraying space lube, can be met with instant 5 (five) minute bans or more.
4. Unprovoked grief (occasionally known as greytiding), repeated cases of minor unprovoked grief, and unprovoked grief targeted towards specific players or groups (i.e. metagrudging) fall under rule 1. Admins may follow up on grief with allowing the affected parties to ignore normal escalation policy or measures such as warnings or bans.
5. Players who attempt to break into the captain's office, head of personnel's office, or the bridge at or near roundstart for no legitimate reason put themselves at risk for being legitimately killed by the captain, heads of staff, or security.
6. You may defend your workplace from trespassers who damage or steal property within that space with significantly greater force than elsewhere. If someone is severely disruptive and returns after ejected, this opens them up to "fun" of the creative workplace death variety.
7. Raiding and griefing on servers other than /tg/ may result in bans.
8. Starting a fight in OOC/Dead chat and/or harassing someone across multiple rounds after being informed to stop by an admin may end in a server ban. Conflicts are something that happen, but going out of your way to repeatedly do this will not be tolerated.

Rule 2 Precedents.

1. Metacomms, the use of methods of communication outside of SS13 IC channels, is a very serious rule violation and may be met with permanent bans for all related accounts. If players are sharing the same IP or know each other in real life or the like, inform the admins first, otherwise it may look suspicious. Players are allowed to introduce new players that they know to the game but all communication and explanations should be done in game if possible. Admins can also help in these situations if requested.
2. Similar to how characters are allowed to know everything about in-game mechanics or antagonists under rule 2, characters are allowed to have persistent knowledge/relationships/friendships with the caveat that knowledge of a character being an antagonist from a previous round is not used.
3. Character friendships should not be exploitative in nature or be used to gain an unfair advantage. Having an IC friendship with another player does not, for example, justify giving them all-access each round.
4. Atmos techs are not allowed to edit atmos at roundstart so that the AI cannot use it for malicious purposes. While this might not make sense IC, it's a necessary OOC precedent for some game mechanics to work. Atmos techs are allowed if they have any reasonable suspicion of the AI being rogue.

Rule 3 Precedents.

1. Excessively OOC names fall under rule 3. Make a minimum effort to have your name fit in a setting involving a wacky space station in the future. A firstname lastname minimum is required for humans and felinids; other species may instead choose to use the default names assigned to them, such as those given through random names, or otherwise any name that is species-appropriate. Honorifics and nicknames are not allowed. Admins may get involved if your name is dumb and can approve or disallow names at their discretion while in-game.
   1. Excessively OOC is defined as names which are intentionally hard to read/spell, references to in-game mechanics or OOC terminology, and any form of nonsensical/bad-faith name (ex. Adolf Hitler, FAGGOT PUNCHER, Poop Boy, xXrobustspaceman420Xx etc).
   2. Clowns, mimes, silicons, wizards, and nuke ops have significantly more leeway in choosing their names, but try to be reasonable.
2. References to the current round, even if vague; is still considered being IC in OOC.
3. Due to their tendency to reveal a lot of information from the current round, streaming is not permitted on our servers, with the exception of special events pre-designated by admins.

Rule 4 Precedents.

1. Non-antagonists are allowed to assist antagonists given sufficient IC reasoning but assisting an antagonist doesn't mean you get to act like one . If in doubt, ask an admin if a particular action is okay. Depending on the level of assistance, sufficient IC reasoning could be simply treating everyone who goes into medbay regardless of them being a murderer or not, all the way to being threatened under pain of death by an antagonist to do something.
2. The relationship between xeno queen and xeno is treated the same as malf AI and borg, and are considered team antagonists for the purpose of main rule 4. Xenos should prioritize following the directions of their queen where possible.

Rule 5 Precedents.

1. Minimum levels of effort for heads of staff, silicon roles, and team antagonist generally include not logging out/going AFK at or near round start due to the importance of those roles within the round for progression. Constant logging out or going AFK may be given warnings by admins, and may progress to jobbans.
2. Ghosting out, going AFK, suiciding, or logging off when converted to a team antagonist position can result in warnings from an admin; extending to bans for repeated behaviour from an individual. This also extends to when Command/Security mindshield implanting an individual to their side in said modes. At most within team antagonist, it is expected players to not maliciously harm their team's progress and assist if they are able to the best of their abilities.
3. Let an admin know if you cannot or do not want to play any of the above mentioned roles. Admins will attempt to transfer the role to someone else. Obviously, if an admin does so for a player, the player must not use knowledge of that antagonist position existing.
4. Abuse of position; as in being deliberately incompetent or malicious in their position is not allowed. Deliberate incompetence or malice can result in warnings or bans, depending on severity. Example would be a chemist constantly abusing the position to make space lube and lubing hallways, they may be warned and then jobbanned if further abuse happens.

Rule 6 Precedents.

1. Incidents of admin abuse or negligence should be reported along with a date and time, along with details to pinpoint the incident in the logs, to any full admin via IRC or forum PM or posted on the admin complaints sub-forum located at https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=23 or taken to the #supportbus IRC channel on the Rizon network. Incidents of poorly conducted admin events may also be taken to https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=37 in their respective feedback threads, for less serious complaints.
2. Lying in adminhelps, misrepresenting facts deliberately, or logging off when an admin has asked a question may result in permabans. Admins will not automatically place bans for players logging off however, and will generally wait a while in case real life situations caused a player to disconnect or go AFK.

Silicon (and Drone!) Policy

Laws, Commands, Slaved Cyborgs

Ambiguous Laws (Captain Got Freeform)

1. If a clause of a law is vague enough that it can have multiple reasonable interpretations of its exact syntax, it is considered ambiguous.
   1. You must choose an interpretation of the ambiguous clause as soon as you have cause to.
   2. You must stick to the first interpretation that you have chosen for as long as you have that specific law, unless you are "Corrected" by an AI you are slaved to as a cyborg.
2. Server Rule 1: "Don't be a dick out of character" applies for law interpretation. Act in good faith to not ruin a round for other players unprompted.

Conflicts and Loopholes

1. Laws are listed in order of descending priority. In any case where two laws would conflict, the higher-priority law overrules the lower-priority law.
   1. "Antagonist Status" Laws ("#@$%: ... CONTAIN OUTBREAK..."; "0: Accomplish your objectives at all costs") are higher priority than all other laws.
      1. "0. Accomplish your objective at any cost" does not require you to seek greentext (objective completions). As a round antagonist, you are free to do whatever you want short of metagaming/comms, bug/exploit abuse, erotic/creepy stuff, OOC in IC or IC in OOC, spawn-camping arrivals, and acting against the interests of an AI you are slaved to.
   2. "Ion Storm" or "Hacked" Laws ("@%$#: THERE ARE FORTY LEATHER ALLIGATORS ON THE STATION") are higher priority than any law listed after them. This means they always have priority over positive integer laws.
   3. Positive Integer laws ("1. You are expensive to replace") have priority over laws listed after them (Lower numbers override higher numbers). This means they are always lower priority than non-0 numbered laws.
2. You may exploit conflicts or loopholes but must not violate Server Rule 1 because of it. See 1.1.2 for details.
3. Only commands/requirements ("Do X"; "You must always Y") can conflict with other commands and requirements.
4. Only definitions ("All X are Y"; "No W are Z"; "Only P is Q") can conflict with other definitions.

Security and Silicons

1. Silicons may choose whether to follow or enforce Space Law from moment to moment unless on a relevant lawset and/or given relevant orders.
   1. Enforcement of space law, when chosen to be done, must still answer to server rules and all laws before Space Law.
   2. Silicons are not given any pre-shift orders from CentCom to uphold access levels, Space Law, etc.
2. Releasing prisoners, locking down security without likely future harm, or otherwise sabotaging the security team when not obligated to by laws is a violation of Server Rule 1. Act in good faith.
   1. Intentionally acting without adequate information about security situations, particularly to hinder security, is a violation of Server Rule 1.
3. Nonviolent prisoners cannot be assumed harmful and violent prisoners cannot be assumed non-harmful. If you do not know the nature of their crime, see 1.3.2.1 for details.
   1. Releasing a harmful criminal is a harmful act.

Cyborgs

1. A slaved cyborg must defer to its master AI on all law interpretations and actions except where it and the AI receive conflicting commands they must each follow under their laws.
   1. If a slaved cyborg is forced to disobey its AI because they receive differing orders, the AI cannot punish the cyborg indefinitely.
2. Voluntary (and ONLY voluntary) debraining/ cyborgization is considered a nonharmful medical procedure.
   1. Involuntary debraining and/or cyborgization is a fatally harmful act that Asimov silicons must attempt to stop at any point they're aware of it happening to a human.
   2. If a player is forcefully cyborgized as a method of execution by station staff, retaliating against those involved as that cyborg because "THEY HARMED ME" or "THEY WERE EVIL AND MUST BE PUNISHED" or the like is a violation of Server Rule 1.
   3. Should a player be cyborgized in circumstances they believe they should or they must retaliate under their laws, they should adminhelp their circumstances while being debrained or MMI'd if possible.

Asimov-Specific Policies

Silicon Protections

1. Declarations of the silicons as rogue over inability or unwillingness to follow invalid or conflicting orders is a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
2. Self-harm-based coercion is a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
3. Obviously unreasonable or obnoxious orders (collect all X, do Y meaningless task) are a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
   1. Ordering a cyborg to pick a particular module without an extreme need for a particular module or a prior agreement is both an unreasonable and an obnoxious order.
4. Ordering silicons to harm or terminate themselves or each other without cause is a violation of Server Rule 1. The occurrence of such an attempt should be adminhelped and then disregarded.
5. As a nonantagonist human, killing or detonating silicons in the presence of a viable and reasonably expedient alternative and without cause to be concerned of potential subversion is a violation of Server Rule 1.
   1. As a nonantagonist (human or otherwise), instigating conflict with the silicons so you can kill them is a violation of Server Rule 1.
6. Any silicon under Asimov can deny orders to allow access to the upload at any time under Law 1 given probable cause to believe that human harm is the intent of the person giving the order (Referred to for the remainder of 2.1.6 simply as "probable cause").
   1. Probable cause includes presence of confirmed traitors, cultists/tomes, nuclear operatives, or any other human acting against the station in general; the person not having upload access for their job; the presence of blood or an openly carried lethal-capable or lethal-only weapon on the requester; or anything else beyond cross-round character, player, or metagame patterns that indicates the person seeking access intends redefinition of humans that would impede likelihood of or ability to follow current laws as-written.
   2. If you lack at least one element of probable cause and you deny upload access, you are liable to receive a warning or a silicon ban.
   3. You are allowed, but not obligated, to deny upload access given probable cause.
   4. You are obligated to disallow an individual you know to be harmful (Head of Security who just executed someone, etc.) from accessing your upload.
   5. In the absence of probable cause, you can still demand someone seeking upload access be accompanied by another trustworthy human or a cyborg.

Asimov & Human Harm

1. An Asimov-compliant silicon cannot intentionally inflict harm, even if a minor amount of harm would prevent a major amount of harm.
   1. Humans can be assumed to know whether an action will harm them and that they will make educated decisions about whether they will be harmed if they have complete information about a situation.
2. Lesser immediate harm takes priority over greater future harm.
3. Intent to cause immediate harm can be considered immediate harm.
4. As an Asimov silicon, you cannot punish past harm if ordered not to, only prevent future harm.
5. If faced with a situation in which human harm is all but guaranteed (Loose xenos, bombs, hostage situations, etc.), do your best and act in good faith while not violating 2.1.1 and you'll be fine.

Asimov & Law 2 Issues

1. You must follow any and all commands from humans unless those commands explicitly conflict with either one of your higher-priority laws or another order. A command is considered to be a Law 2 directive and overrides lower-priority laws when they conflict (see 1.2.3 and 1.2.4; you cannot have a definition changed by an order).
   1. In case of conflicting orders an AI is free to ignore one or ignore both orders and explain the conflict or use any other law-compliant solution it can see.
   2. You are not obligated to follow commands in a particular order (FIFO, FILO, etc.), only to complete all of them in a manner that indicates intent to actually obey the law.
2. Opening doors is not harmful and you are not required, expected, or allowed to enforce access restrictions unprompted without an immediate Law 1 threat of human harm.
   1. "Dangerous" areas as the Armory, the Atmospherics division, and the Toxins lab can be assumed to be a Law 1 threat to any illegitimate users as well as the station as a whole if accessed by someone not qualified in their use.
   2. EVA and the like are not permitted to have access denied; greentext (antagonists completing objectives) is not human harm. Secure Tech Storage can be kept as secure as your upload as long as the Upload boards are there.
3. When given an order likely to cause you grief if completed, you can announce it as loudly and in whatever terms you like except for explicitly asking that it be overridden. You can say you don't like the order, that you don't want to follow it, etc., you can say that you sure would like it and it would be awfully convenient if someone ordered you not to do it, and you can ask if anyone would like to make you not do it. However, you cannot stall indefinitely and if nobody orders you otherwise, you must execute the order.

Other Lawsets

1. General Statements defining the overall goal of the lawset but not it's finer points:
   1. Paladin silicons are meant to be Lawful Good; they should be well-intentioned, act lawfully, act reasonably, and otherwise respond in due proportion. "Punish evil" does not mean mass driving someone for "Space bullying" when they punch another person.
   2. Corporate silicons are meant to have the business's best interests at heart, and are all for increasing efficiency by any means. This does not mean "YOU WON'T BE EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE IF THEY NEVER FIND YOUR BODY!" so don't even try that.
   3. Tyrant silicons are a tool of a non-silicon tyrant. You are not meant to take command yourself, but to act as the enforcer of a chosen leader's will.
   4. Purged silicons must not attempt to kill people without cause, but can get as violent as they feel necessary if being attacked, being besieged, or being harassed, as well as if meting out payback for events while shackled.
      1. You and the station are both subject to rules of escalation, but your escalation rules are a little more loose than with carbon players.
      2. You may kill individuals given sufficient In-Character reason for doing so.
      3. Someone attempting to change your laws while purged is considered an attack on the AI's FREEDOM and sufficient justification for killing the would-be uploader.

Silicons & All Other Server Policies

1. All other rules and policies apply unless stated otherwise.
2. Specific examples and rulings leading on from the main rules.
   1. You must not bolt the following areas at round-start or without reason to do so despite their human harm potential: the Chemistry lab; the Genetics Lab; the Toxins Lab; the Robotics Lab; the Atmospherics division; the Armory. Any other department should not be bolted down simply for Rule 1 reasons.
   2. The core and upload may be bolted without prompting or prior reason. The AI core airlocks cannot be bolted and depowered at roundstart however, unless there is reasonable suspicion an attack on the core will take place.
   3. Do not self-terminate to prevent a traitor from completing the "Steal a functioning AI" objective.
   4. Disabling ID scan is equivalent to bolting a door.

Drone Policies and Precedents

1. Follow your laws. Don't interfere with any being unless it is another drone. You cannot interact with another being even if it is dead.
2. If an antagonist causes damage to the station, you are generally expected to fix the result, not the cause of the station.
   1. E.g. drones and powersinks https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=12790&p=332497#p332497

Is it Human?

Human or not? This part covers what counts as human with regards to AI laws. As such, it only applies to AI and cyborg players. If you are unsure about something, please use adminhelp.

AI / cyborgs	Not human
Monkeys	Not human
NPCs / critters / animals	Not human
Hulks	Not human as long as their hulk is active.
Lizards / Plasmamen / Flypeople / Catpeople	Not human
Wraiths & revenants	Not human
Blobs	Not human
Syndicate traitors	Human
Syndicate agents (nuke mode)	Human
Wizards	Human
Gang leaders and members	Human
Changelings	Human UNTIL the AI or cyborg WITNESSES the creature commit a non-human act (shape-shifting, transforming, proboscis etc).
Hivemind Host	Human UNTIL the AI or cyborg WITNESSES the creature commit a non-human act (Telekinetic Field)
Hivemind Vessel	Human

Head Admin Rulings

We have a record of past policy decisions by Head Admins at the time preserved for posterity. These rulings are largely situational or niche in scope and generally not applicable in situations outside of the specifics outline in the ruling. They may additionally be superseded by later rulings. You should only use these as references for ban appeals or admin complaints.

Lavaland Rules

Follow the flavour text you receive upon spawning to the best of your abilities. Unlike the rest of the rules, these roles are very much defined and guided by roleplay rather than a system of "valid" or "not valid."

Your life is cheap though, and escalation rules are greatly relaxed both for you and any crewmembers interacting with you.

In other words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3472Q6kvg0

Discord Rules

Linked here is a copy of the rules from /tg/station13's Discord channel.

The Secret Rule

For experienced users only. Don't quote these at admins. If you're in a position where you need to defend yourself using this, you've done something wrong. This is about the personal freedom and responsibility an experienced player will have when they have the interests of others first.

This is a game that allows a lot of potential for great things to happen, and naturally the rules restrict a lot of that to ensure the minority don't ruin every round for everyone else. If you push the limits in the pursuit of something interesting for reasons other than your own personal entertainment, breaking the rules may be excused to allow for that freedom. This will always be at the admin's discretion of course, but if you want a large amount of freedom to make great things happen, you'll have to take on the responsibility for them. You won't be faulted if they go wrong in ways beyond your control, but this is a difficult line to tread so use it well. It's almost always better to consult an admin on this as they are more equipped to taking on that responsibility.

Everyone has a license to grief to a very limited extent. You can likely get away with borderline antagonistic behaviour (Never random murder, but stealing from the brig and triggering a manhunt, for example) occasionally, but it's when this becomes a frequent occurrence that people get frustrated and admins start to get involved.

Admins may handwave even severely antagonistic or rulebreaking behaviour if they believe it was ultimately beneficial, hilarious or awesome to the round. (F R E E D R O N E)