Eclipse Server Rules - Changelog

[Osborn]

29/JUN/2023

• We would like to announce a significant change regarding the implementation of scripted No Crime Zones (NCZ). We will be conducting a trial period to remove these zones in all areas except for banks and poker locations. The No Crime Zones were initially established in a different environment, and as both our community and staff team have evolved, we now possess more comprehensive guidelines and rules to address the issues that the No Crime Zones were designed to prevent.
  
  We want to emphasize that this change aims to enhance the natural and realistic role-play experience by eliminating potential interruptions. Previously, as an example, individuals could report heinous crimes, such as murder, and seek refuge within an NCZ. However, we feel that this practice, known as rule playing, has not been adequately enforced. Consequently, this trial period will restrict the extent to which individuals can utilize NCZs for protection in such situations.
  
  It is crucial to understand that the absence of scripted No Crime Zones does not excuse inappropriate behavior that was previously deemed unacceptable in these locations. This change does not grant a free pass to engage in disruptive activities at places like hospitals or to initiate robberies or other serious hostile actions within these areas. Players will still be held accountable for their actions according to all our other existing rules, including those pertaining to Non-RP, Robbery, and Theft.
  
  We hope that this trial period, which will last for an unspecified duration, proves successful in keeping No Crime Zones permanently disabled. Our goal is to foster an engaging and immersive environment that encourages responsible role-playing.
  
  No Crime Zones can and will still be used by the Event Team where they feel it is applicable, and can also be temporarily established by Senior Staff members in areas that they deem have the need for it.
  
  This change will not impact the utilization and locations of Speed Cameras, as they will continue to function both as an in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC) tool in these key areas. Their purpose is to discourage unrealistically excessive speeding.

[Ranger]

10/JUL/2023

Updated under 3. Prison Break (PRISON RULES) & 15. Prison Breakout (GENERAL RULES)

Old (Prison Rules):

• Rule Description (3rd sentence): "However, breaking out from prison could be a part of someone's character development, but it needs to be regulated so that it does not happen too often, and if it does happen, that it is filled with roleplay and free from rule violations from all sides."
• Bullet Point #1: "Once an inmate is behind the gates or a locked door, break-out requires prison break permissions."

Updated (Prison Rules):

• Rule Description (3rd sentence): "However, breaking in or out from prison could be a part of someone's character development, but it needs to be regulated so that it does not happen too often, and if it does happen, that it is filled with roleplay and free from rule violations from all sides."
• Bullet Point #1: "Once an inmate is behind the gates or a locked door, breaking in or out requires prison break permissions."

Old (General Rules): 

• Prison Breakout must be approved by a Senior Moderator+ prior to the RP being initiated. Players may also not participate in more than 1 prison break attempt within 1 OOC week. For more detailed prison rules, read our Prison Rules.

Updated (General Rules):

• Prison break-in and break-out requests must be approved by a Senior Moderator+ prior to the RP being initiated. Players may also not participate in more than 1 prison break attempt within 1 OOC week. For more detailed prison rules, read our Prison Rules.

The reason for adding this rule is to make it more clear that any attempt(s) to break in to Bolingbroke Penitentiary (DOC) also require "prison break" permissions.

To read the Prison Rules, click the link below:

To read the General Rules, click the link below:

 

 

[Ranger]

27/OCT/2023

Changed under 12. No Crime Zones (NCZ):

• OLD: No Crime Zones are listed below. Only the interiors of each zone are considered.

• New: No Crime Zones are listed below.

• Clarification: The "Only the interiors [...]" section was removed to make the locations more fluid and to prevent ruleplaying set locations.

Changed under 9. Non-Roleplay (Non-RP):

• OLD: Swimming for an unrealistic amount of time in a chase. Always have a goal when you swim in a chase, don't just swim out to the ocean.

• NEW: Swimming during an active chase. Exemptions include crossing a small body of water (such as a river) or to an escape vehicle (such as a boat).

• Clarification: Although the rules previously stated that swimming for an unrealistic amount of time during a chase was disallowed, there were still multiple instances of it occurring. If you are being chased and you would find it advantageous to swim across a small body of water such as a river to gain a slight advantage or to swim to a boat that was set up for you, that'd be acceptable.

Reformatted All Rules:

• Faction Rules
• Snow Rules
• Discord Rules
• Forum Rules
• Prison Rules
   
• All of the above-mentioned rules were reformatted to fit the formatting seen in the General Rules. Minor things such as clarifications & grammatical changes were implemented including small 'blocks' at the bottom to clarify what rule/punishment will be issued per rule which as mentioned, was to better fit the formatting of the General Rules. All of the rules are the same as they were prior to the reformatting. 

Updated, Relocated, Reformatted Lifeinvader Rules:

(Added) IC Clarification:

• "Lifeinvader is an In-Character platform available to the players of Eclipse Roleplay. It is important to note that all server rules apply on the platform as they do whilst playing on the actual server."

• Clarification: The point of this is to have it written down that Lifeinvader is an In-Character platform. This does not alter anything relating to the rules for Lifeinvader, just a small QOL clarification!

(Updated) Bullet Point #1:

• OLD: No illegal activities can be conducted in private groups on life invader, such as sharing radio frequencies used for criminal activities, requesting backup, and selling/buying weapons/drugs.

• NEW: No illegal activities can be conducted in private groups on Lifeinvader such as requesting backup and/or selling/buying weapons/drugs.

(No Change) Bullet Point #2:

• This bullet point remained the same. No changes were made.

(Reworded) Bullet Point #3:

• OLD: Players may not use real-world images depicted as their character or post in-game images not possible to be taken from Eclipse RP.
  - Further clarification; This rule is intended to stop players from using pictures of e.g. celebrities in real life and depicting that as their character by using it as their profile picture or posting images of said celebrity. This rule is also intended to stop players from creating unrealistic sceneries on singleplayer and using that In Character on LifeInvader, such as not limited to: Spawning cars or weapons on singleplayer that your character wouldn't have access to.

• NEW: Players may not use real-world images depicted as their character or post in-game images not possible to be taken from Eclipse RP. A few examples of improper photos can be seen in the bullet points below;

  • Photos of a celebrity being depicted as your own character.

  • Photos of an unrealistic scenario created in single-player or on a private modded server.

  • Posing with weapons/vehicles that you do not have access to on the live server.

Clarifications (Lifeinvader):

• Relocation: We found it to be redundant to have an entirely separate forum section for 3 specific rules for something that isn't considered a 'sub' area of the community like how Factions, Discord, or the Forums are so the decision was made to move Lifeinvader rules into the General Rules; the Lifeinvader rules now being "Rule 16. Lifeinvader".
• Point #1: After the relaunch of Lifeinvader we as a staff team wanted to reevaluate the rules to ensure that they are updated and fit for the current state of the server and the roleplay environment that we aim to provide on Eclipse Roleplay. After discussions about removing this point fully or keeping it as it is, a compromise was made where we believe it is in the best interest of the roleplay environment to keep these interactions in-game rather than on a platform that anyone can use whilst not actually online on the server. The point made about sharing frequencies was removed as sharing a radio frequency in itself is not a crime.
• Point #3: This rule remained the same as before, it was just cleaned up for easier reading.

[Paulius]

15/NOV/2023

Updated DM rule and add Purpose section.
 

Deathmatching is the act of attacking a player without proper IC motive and/or interaction. Prior interaction should include escalation such as a robbery or a report to the police. 

• Players on foot should only be attempted to be hit by a vehicle once with a valid motive.
• Vehicles cannot be used as weapons in active shootouts unless where unavoidable.
• Players must be able to explain their reason and provide proof of prior reasoning if requested.
• If a player informs you that your VOIP isn't working, you must either fix your VOIP using appropriate commands (/vr 1) or use text to deliver your demands and RP.

Purpose: This rule is here to make sure that when players fight each other in the game, it happens in a way that makes sense and is fair. Everyone involved should know why the fight is happening. Also, this rule helps protect players from being attacked for no good reason. Before any fight starts, there should be enough talking and/or action that leads up to it, so everyone knows why it's happening.

[Osborn]

30/DEC/2023

Updated Non-Roleplay Rule and IC and OOC Interactions

Changed in IC and OOC Interactions:

Quote

Roleplay of a non-visible camera object such as a body cam is only valid for 48 hours, or until your character gets killed, until it breaks through RP, or until the player loses IC access to the device realistically e.g., being jailed/prisoned, going off-duty and changing out of your uniform etc. If you are put in jail/prison, it does not invalidate any previously recorded footage, you just need to re-do the RP for further footage to be valid. If players do not have a screenshot of the RP with (/time) then it must be validated by a staff member.

Clarification: Before we required that players must have a screenshot of their RP with a timestamp. While this is still recommended to make your situation as smooth as possible, it is now possible to ask staff to validate your RP. However, submitting an in-game report can still take time and your RP cannot be validated until it is seen and verified, so it is still recommended to take screenshots. 

Removed from Non-Roleplay:

- Not roleplaying effects of tazer. 
- Replenishing body armor in the middle of a gunfight. 

Clarification: Changes to tasers have been made, cuffing is a more efficient process, tackling has been added, there are plenty of forceful options. Replenishing body armor is an IC action and requires player to stand still and not engage in the fight, thus making them vulnerable - it can come with IC consequences. Script changes were also imposed on PD/SD to make it harder to change body armor. 

[Ranger]

19/JAN/2024

Changed under 16. Hacking and Exploits (Modifying Game Files to Gain Unfair Advantages):

• Removed "replacing gun sound mods with more distinct sounds that could grant circumstantial advantages e.g. reaction time, being able to hear clearer over certain weather conditions, etc."

This change was a topic of discussion for a good bit, and after the weapon update, it was brought up again in the form of a community suggestion and general conversation within the Senior Staff team where the discussion's result was that we'd be reallowing the use of these mods as they do not provide a direct benefit to players utilizing them and primarily serve as a modification to improve immersion.

 

[Ranger]

26/MAR/2024

Removed under 10. Non-Roleplay (Non-RP)

• Submerging any vehicle in water intentionally.

Reason: Script changes were made to mitigate people maliciously destroying vehicles to get items from the glovebox/trunk. With this being lifted, this means that players can submerge vehicles if it makes sense during their roleplay.