General

1. The Lost Realmers shard is open to role-players and non-role-players alike. Neither playing method will be given preference over the other, except as indicated in this section.
2. Staff reserves the right to change inappropriate character names. Please refrain from using names that detract from the role-playing environment. (kEwLdOoD, MinerGuy, etc.) You will be requested to supply an alternative name if the one you have chosen is deemed unacceptable. If you do not comply, staff will be happy to supply one for you. *smile*
3. While we try to offer continued service to all, it should be understood that things change and nothing is guaranteed.

Player Conduct

1. Harassment of any type will not be tolerated. Racial, sexual, religious slurs of any kind, aimed at staff or players, will be dealt with severely.
2. Any player found using an exploit to his/her advantage will suffer for doing such. Exploits list. An exploit can generally be defined as an activity that advances a character's stats/skills at an abnormal rate.
3. Excessive swearing is discouraged. If anyone within hearing range asks you to stop, do so at once. Penalties will depend upon the severity of the infraction.

Infractions and Penalties

This section is still under revision while we create a list of the most common infractions and their corresponding penalties. At this time there are 3 levels of crime and punishment.

1. Minor offences will result in jail time of up to 24 hours real time or a temporary 24-hour ban if the GM decides the player poses a threat or is disrupting the game. This would include macroing out of time, since jailing the player does not stop him from continuing the undesired activity. The GM and player may negotiate an alternate punishment as a means for the player to better atone for his crime. If the GM feels the crime merits a more severe punishment, she will proceed with rule #2 of this section.
2. Moderate offenses include 2nd and 3rd offenses and all others more serious than minor, but not serious enough to merit the ultimate 3rd level punishment. If the presiding GM decides the infraction fits in this category, she will contact one of the administration. The administrator will make a ruling within 24 hours. The player may be jailed or temporarily banned during this time. The next rule will be invoked if the administrator feels that the case fits into the category of a major offense.
3. A permanent ban will be considered only for the most grave of offenses. A Full staff member vote will be issued for permante bans and will take 48 Hours permanent banning decisions are final.
4. The player may request an appeal at any time, unless he was permanently banned, with the understanding that, should he lose his case, the corresponding punishment will be more severe than the original. This is necessary to discourage abuse of the system with frivolous appeals.

Gaming Issues

1. Macroing is allowed Sunday - Thursday, 9 PM - 6 AM Central (10 PM - 7 AM Eastern, 7 PM - 4 AM Pacific). This is subject to change should the server’s performance begin to suffer. For this purpose, macroing is defined as the character performing a repetitive action while the operator is away from the keyboard (via use of 3rd party software or the use of the game’s built in macro function). Sparring is not considered macroing. To avoid the appearance of macroing, please try to limit time spent away from the keyboard to 20 minutes or less, or risk the penalty. We will try to be flexible in this area, as people are sometimes called away unexpectedly, but if misuse becomes rampant, the time limit will be rigorously enforced.
2. The use of 3rd party software is forbidden with the exception of UO Pro utilities and EZ Macro. See http://uo.stratics.com/ for a listing of OSI approved software.

Staff Assistance

1. Staff members will not modify stats/skills in any way, per player wish. In addition, staff is not allowed to create free items of any sort for players. Generally this means no special treatment to anyone.
2. Only page a GM if it is absolutely necessary. This means if you are stuck somewhere in the world, or other game stopping issues. Bug reports, item problems, and bona fide complaints and/or disputes are also valid reasons to page.
3. Constant abuse of the GM paging feature will result in JAIL time. Do not continually page GMs, they will get to you as soon as possible. If you find a solution to your problem before a GM is able to assist you, it is permissible to send a second page stating that the problem is resolved.

Regional and Property Classifications

1. Player killing/stealing/looting of bodies, houses, yards (includes killing a players pets) is allowed in designated red zone areas only. (Link to an image where the areas are delineated with different colors). Order/Chaos war zones will be included in the red zones for now, and more information on these factions will be available under a separate section. To ensure an enjoyable experience by all parties please leave the starting characters alone and go against tougher targets. Role-playing is encouraged while doing these activities. *NOTE: Until the above link is operational, the following zones will be “blue” or safe zones: All towns and guarded areas, (except Vesper and Buccaneer’s Den) Britain Cemetery, and Deceit.
2. Dueling, sparring, player versus player consentual combat is allowed everywhere as long as all combatants agree to the terms beforehand.
3. Newbie zones are off limits to characters with stats/skills over 60. Higher level players are allowed to assist/instruct new players in these areas.
4. Uncontrollable, respawning, dangerous spells are restricted to dungeons, towns and wilderness areas within the red zones only. If a creature of yours kills an innocent player in a safe zone, it will be considered the same as violating rule #1 of this section.
5. Area spells are allowable everywhere as long as they do not affect any unwilling participants. Killing someone accidentally by such methods will incur the same penalties as violation of rule #1 of this section.
6. Property owners (and guildmembers on their own guild’s property) are allowed to defend their property and/or person from intruders and attackers, in any zone. Includes pets. All other rules covering that zone still apply, i.e. no looting the body of the intruder/attacker if the incident occurs in a zone that forbids looting. Keep in mind, if you attack in a guarded area, you can be guard killed.