Harassment Policies

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Derrick
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Harassment Policies

Post by Derrick »

These are the harassment policies of EA and Origin. As you can see, the burden is put primarily on the player to remove themselves from an unwanted situation. UO is not always a friendly game and has freedom of play qualities which do not exist in other MMORPG's. As such, you may find yourself in situation which you do not like. We will very rarely find cause to intervene in player interaction, but it is also not encouraged to take advantage of this and intentionally cause misery for others through the exploit of game mechanics.
EA Games Verbal Harassment Policy (abridged) wrote: If you petition in game with a complaint of harassment you are going to be presented with two harassment category choices; Verbal and Physical. This article will attempt to clarify for you what is considered valid verbal harassment.

Behavior that is dependent on circumstance and how you attempt to resolve the situation include most other verbal harassment situations such as name calling. Before you submit a complaint be sure you understand what constitutes harassment and that you have followed these steps:
  • You have asked the player to "please stop", and they have continued to repeat the offending behavior.
  • You have tried to remove yourself from the situation, for example, by recalling away or moving several screens.
  • You have done nothing to instigate or further encourage the harassment.
  • You have added the player to your ignore list, which is located in your UO options, under Filter Options.
  • Your account information is up to date, including a current email address.
Please note that profanity itself is not prohibited, as Ultima Online is a teen rated game by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. However, this does not permit a player to harass another player with profanity.
EA Games Physical Harassment Policy wrote: We'd rather not go into the specifics of all the actions we consider physical harassment, but we do want to make it clear that it is not okay to ruin the fun of UO for other players, specifically when that is the intent behind your actions. It is important to realize and accept that everyone plays this game differently, and everyone has different expectations from the game and from the other players. Ultima Online is a social setting, and as such, we expect our players to treat one another with the same respect and dignity they would use in any other social situation.

If your sole purpose and intent in any action is to continually upset, aggravate, or otherwise annoy another player, you may be a "grief player." Using game mechanics to cause grief to others can also be seen as exploitation, and will be treated accordingly by game staff.

If someone is using grief tactics against you, please report it to a Game Master using the Help button on your paperdoll. Once the Help menu appears, choose the Harassment option, and enter the exact name of the other player, and a brief description of his actions. For example: Jody keeps luring these poison ele's to us and hiding. Clearly luring!

The following are NOT considered physical harassment:
  • Res killing
  • Stealing or kill stealing
  • Legal player killing, such as takes place in guild and faction wars
  • Refusal to take turns at spawn points
  • Refusal to resurrect another player
  • Blocking a recall location
  • Area Peacing
Before you submit a harassment complaint, be sure you understand what constitutes harassment and that you have followed these steps:
  • You have asked the player to "please stop" (and then they have continued to repeat the offending behavior).
  • You have tried to remove yourself from the situation, for example, by recalling away or moving several screens.
  • You have done nothing to instigate or further encourage the harassment.
  • You have added the player to your ignore list, which is located in your UO options, under Filter Options.
  • Your account information is up to date (including a current email address).

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Derrick
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Re: Harassment Policies

Post by Derrick »

EA Games wrote: QUESTION
How do I ignore another player or NPC?
Answer
To ignore a player or NPC, use the Options button on your paperdoll. Select the lower right tab with the globe symbol on it. Double-click on [new] under Ignore Players, then target the person or NPC you wish to ignore. That person's name will be added to your ignore list, and you will no longer see anything they say. Finally, click the APPLY button, then the OKAY button. To remove the person from your ignore list, click once on their name in the Ignore Players list, then press the Delete key on your keyboard. Their name will be removed from the list. Be sure to click APPLY and OKAY to make this change permanent. If you find the delete process is not working for you it is usually because of a delete key macro. Check UO and even UO Assist for a process mapped to the delete key, and disable that.

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Re: Harassment Policies

Post by Derrick »

EA Games wrote: QUESTION
What constitutes an exploit?
Answer

It is hard to describe every incident which might be considered an exploit. Because the game changes, and systems change, new exploits appear as old ones go away.

Basically, an exploit is the ability to do anything in the game which you should not normally be able to do. For instance, if you aren't able to walk into a house with your character, but you discover a way for an animal to break in for you, you are obviously taking advantage of an exploit. It is obvious that thieving animals are not part of the game. It is obvious you should not be able to get into houses which have the door locked.

If you find a loop hole which allows you to duplicate items or create more gold, this is also considered an exploit. In each instance, the rules have obviously been broken and unusual gains have been made. Knowing what is an exploit is really a matter of knowing how the game works. Ignorance that you were using an exploit will not prevent removal from the game for committing such an exploit.

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