Attention All Questers - Please read

[Tina]

Okay, gang. This is kind of a high priority post, so I hope you all take the time to read it.

The forums have been down a bit lately, and looks like we're back on track with this. Thanks, MB!

With the forums being down, some of the interaction of our community has been affected, of course. People who aren't on at the same times missing each other..no ability for that 'passing notes' effect the forums have. I'm hopin with them  back up, we'll get some of that sense of community back on track! To this end, I have a statement to make.

Lately in game, there has been a huge..and I have to say...ridiculously so...issue about language..what's okay and what's not. Arguements have erupted...debates have been held...but most importantly...this absolutely ridiculous language issue has been used to mask a much more serious issue. Respect of authority ingame. And we're going to put a stop to that, here and now.

Tomorrow, Friday the 3rd of February, I will post a list of 'swear' words that are acceptable in chat, so to speak. The very fact that this has become necessary, well, bothers me greatly. But it has. Since common sense, individual judgement, and the ability to adhere to QO issued instruction are all lacking, I will write a little list of things you're allowed to say so all you confused gamers out there can be clear on this.

What this will do, however, is eliminate your ability to argue these things with staff. Thanks to the absolute determination of some of our players to use this issue to incite arguement and undermine authority, we will now be required to adhere strictly to a black and white set of chat rules governing language, with absolutely no room for a judgement call based on who's in the room, whether or not there are kids present..whether someone slipped. Nothing.

The 'swearing' rules will be posted.

First offense thereafter will warrant an official warn.

Second will buy you a 5 minute mute.

Third will get you kicked.

Relogging to avoid mute will get you banned for 3 days.

Repeated offense after kick will get you banned for three days.

Character switching once banned will cop you a 7 day ipban.

Any other action, on the part of any player, to find a way to circumvent or undermine this set of rules will warrant further disciplinary measures.

Now..on a very personal note...even typing this up saddens me. Very. So I'd like to take a moment to mention one thing.

This..is exactly what you guys asked for...literally. And by 'you guys' you know who I mean. Weeks and weeks of 'I used to be able to say this; this qo doesn't mind; there needs to be a set set of rules!; are the names of the spells gonna change if we can't say damn?; how do we know what we can say? I get asked this by noobs all the time..i just don't remember who or where..but it's not US starting trouble..it's random nameless noobs that asked me why they can't cuss! I swear!'

Well. Now you have an answer for them. We have a specific set of chat rules and guidelines. That's just the way it is. Because it's the way you guys wanted it.

Furthermore, this is a measure being put in place, to eliminate one way that some of you have of intentionally inciting arguement and discord in Quest. But, it's not the only way that we will use to put a stop to it. Intentionally inciting arguement and discord, are not allowed. And we WILL put a stop to it.

Thanks to those of you in this community who have not been a part of this entire situation, and whom I apologize to for now being subject to this type of ruling.

[Tina]

 Okay...the following is what we as admin have come up with as guidelines for chat. This in no way negates any and all guidelines in place, it merely adds some clarification for those of you who were so determined to have that, done.

First and foremost, allow me to reiterate that at all times, respect of QO's ingame is expected. Our QO's give their time here, and often may do things that you do not understand. This does not mean they do not have a reason. Please show them the respect of their position. If a QO makes a decision or performs an action you disagree with, there are grievance and appeal threads for those situations to be handled. In most instances, a misunderstanding can be communicated and handled. However, an escalated disagreement in chat, where one or both parties ends up crossing lines of what's acceptable, stops being about the original issue, and becomes an issue of the incident at hand.

Now then, to the language issue.

We will continue to expect the rules of common sense and common decency to be the main governing factor in our community. No cussing out another player will be tolerated for any reason. Language that you may feel appropriate but becomes obviously offensive to another party needs to be stopped. Words using asterisks (*) to represent one or more letters will be treated as the word it was intended to be, or the one it most appears to have been intended to be. We will not engage in petty arguements such as 'but it could have meant this'. You use your judgement, we, as admin, will use ours.

The words 'hell' and 'damn' will be allowed in everyday chat. Keep in mind, these words are just words, and incidents may arise where these words become unacceptable. Telling another player to 'go to hell' will never be tolerated. Putting god before damn...will NEVER be tolerated.

Attacking other players, will be handled regardless of language used. If you use an 'allowed' word to attack others, your attack will still be dealt with...and will have nothing to do with the language.

Acronyms will be treated in the same way. LMAO and such will be allowed, yes, including FFS. However STFU directed at another player will not.

Again, use common sense.

Now, from here forward, there will be no unofficial warns on this language issue. We have faith in the intelligence level of our players. You know when you are out of line. If you aren't sure, the 'warn' message you get will let you know. You will get ONE. Then you will be muted. Then you will be kicked. I outlined above the disciplinary measures to be taken, but make no mistake, we will alway deal with each situation individually. Do NOT think a veteran player who's long known the rules will get a warn for a blatant disregard of chat protocol.

And on a final note..I've already mentioned that these little things are being used as a means of inciting issues ingame. What's happened is we've been forced to place more restrictive guidelines on our community, instead of allowing situations to be worked out individually. We've decided this isn't going to happen again. From here out, parties that are obviously starting trouble for the sake of it, with absolutely no genuine goal for game improvement in mind, will be invited to go play other games. This is a fantastic community, and we are committed to keeping it as such. If it's someplace that you can only find fault or reason to argue, perhaps it's not the community for you. And you are not the player for us.

Genuine concerns and suggestions are welcome on the 'Suggestions' board.

Thank you all in advance for your support around these new guidelines.

Happy Questing~

[Jouser]

The Quest Staff, including Tina!,  has decided to revoke these language rules.  We are officially, from this moment on, reverting back to the original Quest Constitution language guidelines which state:

You may not harass, threaten, cause distress or unwanted attention or discomfort to another player. This excludes Player Killing, which is accepted in Quest.

You may not use any excessively offensive or sexually explicit language.

You may not use any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable language toward any other player.

[DragonGlaive]

Can we still use "hell", "damn", "lmao", and "wtf" in a nonoffensive, nonsexual context?

[Jouser]

We (the staff) are not and will not be babysitters.  You will have to use common sense.  If you do not have any common sense please find another game to play.

[Perin]

well put jouser
 

[joundill]

I agree but please dont use offensive language obsessively....
thats my stream of long words for the week

[New-I3oi]

yes, but seriously we can still use lmao  right... its not like...bad

[Tina]

Thanks, guys...just with these posts, you've managed to show why I needed to change the rules in the first place. Fantastic job. Great work.

[Arsia]

Seriously.... if you use an acronym such as "wtf" actually spread the word out and think about if its right or not... wtf still has a word in it that isnt allowed in quest everyday chat... so dont use it at all

[Acdc]

well im wondering since ijust got back from retirment i've used gtfo as long as i can remember and i never saw anyone take it as offencive  like some times people will say well i gotta go and ill say somthin like good you better gtfo just jokin around so is it tollerable

[Azmodon]

Thanks, guys...just with these posts, you've managed to show why I needed to change the rules in the first place. Fantastic job. Great work.

There you go ACDCElement.