Code of Conduct

[Linko64]

In order to maintain a pleasant and civil environment, there is a Code of Conduct we invite users to follow:

Stay On Topic - Refrain from intentionally derailing threads, spamming or trolling.

Do Not Spam - Refrain from spamming forums with topics of no worth.

Do Not Attack - Disagreeing with a user is fine, but attacking them is not. Avoid aiming insults at people.

Do Not Post People's Details - At no point is the posting of people's personal detailed relevant or allowed.

Do Not Post Porn - There's plenty of it online, there's no need to post it here.

Do Not Share Cheats/Cracks - Please refrain from publicly posting cracks and cheats for video games.

Do Not Overuse Vulgar Language - Swearing is fine, but don't fill your post with it.

No Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions - While purely political topics are banned, discussions on a game's content that has political elements (E.g. Metal Gear's anti-war/weapons trade stance, Elves being an oppressed race in Dragon Age) are permitted. However, this is not to be used as a platform to purely express your political view. The same applies to sexuality, gender and religious topics.

Do Not Post Phishing Sites, Spyware or Malware

Refrain From Posting Social Media Handles With A View To Dogpile - Please do not post people's social media handles with a view to harass them. Discuss the post (if it stays in line with our Code of Conduct) but do not enable people to chase after their social media accounts. We aim to keep Exclusively Games civil both on and off site.

Profile Pictures/Names/Signatures: Please refrain from using names designed to antagonize or stir up trouble, the same is applied to display pictures and signatures. Those who use display pictures of a political nature will be asked to change them.


How Do We Moderate?



Each situation will be judged on equal merit.

If a user breaks a rule by mistake, they will be informed of which rule they failed to follow and a moderator will step in the edit/delete the post. There will be no bans for rule breaks that were wholeheartedly unintentional.

If a user breaks a rule (for example attacking another user), they will be reminded to keep discussions civil. If a user fails to change their interactions, they will be issued a 3-day ban.

E.g. saying someone's post is silly is acceptable, personally attacking the poster for making the post is forbidden.

In case of a major infraction e.g. racism, they will be issued a much longer ban.

Users can report threads/posts that break the rules by PM'ing a mod who will then move to assist and inspect the reported case.


If a user accumulates 3 bans within a short period of time, they will have their account deleted.



I'm confident we can all enjoy and discuss the hobbies we love while staying civil

[FlameHeart979]

Glad to see you made it over here from GOG!
I, for one, know that I won't be giving them any more business if they make it a point to stifle good social media strategy for the sake of wokeness.

Also, I plan to break each and every one of these rules as surreptitiously as possible at some point, just to make your life more interesting! jk

[Bakpfeife]

As a discord mod I gotta say....
"No Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions - Please do not post anything relating to these topics. As the name of the site suggests, Exclusively Game."

Is an authoritarian censorship-esque rule and it WILL be abused by the moderators and lead to self censorship at some point. We gotta make this less vague in order to prevent that.
Otherwise this will turn into PURE escapism and that ain't it chief. How can we talk about e.g. Fallout New Vegas without refferencing politics at the time, morality(which is relative or a spook depending on your philosophy) or talking about romances. And without sexuality discussions we can't talk about the most interesting visual novels and such. I thought the idea was to keep political activism and JUST current day politics out of the forum and website. That combined with the authoritarian nature of the "attack rules" which are SOLELY on the moderators discressions this will end badly without revisionism of the rules.

Regards,
B.A.K.

[Linko64]

As a discord mod I gotta say....
"No Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions - Please do not post anything relating to these topics. As the name of the site suggests, Exclusively Game."

Is an authoritarian censorship-esque rule and it WILL be abused by the moderators and lead to self censorship at some point. We gotta make this less vague in order to prevent that.
Otherwise this will turn into PURE escapism and that ain't it chief. How can we talk about e.g. Fallout New Vegas without refferencing politics at the time, morality(which is relative or a spook depending on your philosophy) or talking about romances. And without sexuality discussions we can't talk about the most interesting visual novels and such. I thought the idea was to keep political activism and JUST current day politics out of the forum and website. That combined with the authoritarian nature of the "attack rules" which are SOLELY on the moderators discressions this will end badly without revisionism of the rules.

Regards,
B.A.K.

We're always open to feedback on rules, the points you raised will be taken into account.

As for the 'attack rules' if a users is abusing another, mods will step in. Abusive posts made towards members are simply not welcome, the goal is for civil discussion, even when things get a little headed. Hope this clears things up!

[MrLacksOriginality]

Yeah there need to be more and a little room because sometimes politics and sexuality maybe part of a game and it should be discussed within the confines of that game. Perhaps if you want to add anything external from the game, put it in spoiler tags?

[FlameHeart979]

I wouldn't mind discussing game-related politics, but I think the whole point of the rule is not to let it spiral out of control and become a toxic discussion about modern politics instead of games.

One could successfully argue that this is all gaming "news" outlets do ... so perhaps the wording of the rule would have to be considered carefully so as not to open any crazy doors to toxicity.

[MrLacksOriginality]

Yeah, I think discussing politics unique to the game world should be okay imo. I mean escapism is about having unique experiences right? and game world specific politics is part of that.

[Bakpfeife]

So basically it is "no activism and keep politics to directly game related stuff". But yeah... the rules need reworking and the "attack" part also leaves too much to the moderators discression.

[614BlindKiller]

So your saying if it was a murder simulator we could discus why that's not ok "or defend it" but we couldn't discus why there is not a strong female/male leading character. That sounds ok.

[Linko64]

So basically it is "no activism and keep politics to directly game related stuff". But yeah... the rules need reworking and the "attack" part also leaves too much to the moderators discression.

As said earlier, rules are open to feedback and will change after some discussion. The Attack rule is pretty easy to follow, don't attack other users, you can disagree with them, joke on with them, but don't attack them. Attacks (unless they're of a highly serious nature e.g. racism) will not result in instant bans, you'll merely be asked to remain civil. If users ignore the request, then action will be taken.

[TheRifleman]

As said earlier, rules are open to feedback and will change after some discussion. The Attack rule is pretty easy to follow, don't attack other users, you can disagree with them, joke on with them, but don't attack them. Attacks (unless they're of a highly serious nature e.g. racism) will not result in instant bans, you'll merely be asked to remain civil. If users ignore the request, then action will be taken.

Wow talk about harsh and unreasonable! Gosh there’s a name for people like you.... can’t quite remember what it was though 🤔

[TheRifleman]

In all seriousness sounds well thought out and should facilitate a strong community here.

[sickbattery]

"Do Not Post Porn" ... yeah, sure, no porn ...

... but what about modding and games like Conan Exiles or The Witcher 3? Is it fine to talk about it? Is it fine to post screens? Or not ^^?

Just asking.

[Adult_Neptune]

So basically it is "no activism and keep politics to directly game related stuff". But yeah... the rules need reworking and the "attack" part also leaves too much to the moderators discression.

I agree. I've been modded on gamefaqs for saying that someone's post was stupid because the mod thought I was calling the guy stupid... Hopefully we can avoid that level of bullshit here.

[MrLacksOriginality]

I agree. I've been modded on gamefaqs for saying that someone's post was stupid because the mod thought I was calling the guy stupid... Hopefully we can avoid that level of bullshit here.

Shouldn't just putting "that's" alleviate that?

[ad_victoriam]

As a discord mod I gotta say....
"No Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions - Please do not post anything relating to these topics. As the name of the site suggests, Exclusively Game."

Is an authoritarian censorship-esque rule and it WILL be abused by the moderators and lead to self censorship at some point. We gotta make this less vague in order to prevent that.
Otherwise this will turn into PURE escapism and that ain't it chief. How can we talk about e.g. Fallout New Vegas without refferencing politics at the time, morality(which is relative or a spook depending on your philosophy) or talking about romances. And without sexuality discussions we can't talk about the most interesting visual novels and such. I thought the idea was to keep political activism and JUST current day politics out of the forum and website. That combined with the authoritarian nature of the "attack rules" which are SOLELY on the moderators discressions this will end badly without revisionism of the rules.

Regards,
B.A.K.

I get what you mean. Looking through a lot of the intro threads, most of us here are people who have been burned by communities and boards where politicized rules lawyering was used to silence them and ultimately push them out. So your concerns are definitely valid!

On the other I think that Jeremy as the founder is going to pick people he trusts to implement rules and enforcement that are in line with his vision for the site. The text of the rules is probably going to change but I think it's the spirit that we need to pay attention to.

Trust but verify!