Rules

Basic Game Stuff

1. Account in Question. We assume that you are not cheating or trying to get around any of our rules. If we receive a report of cheating or meta gaming that involves cheating, then we will ban all relevant accounts until its sorted. This is not to be a jerk, but rather to handle problems when they arise rather then deal with it all before hand.
2. One Account. You, yourself, are allowed only one account on our shard and in RPCSS. If you have more then one account and we find out that its not your spouse, roommate or house elf we will ban your accounts until we sort it out. We reserve the right to request voice verification.

Basic Behavior Stuff

1. Transparency. Our community has always been a place of transparency. Even from day one we have expected players to use their real names, to have only one account, and to be upfront and honest about which characters they are playing or which nicknames they are using. This has not changed, and we expect honest and upfront transparency. If you are known to our community, we expect you to be clear about that with us.
2. Adult Age Behavior Required. We do not require players to be 18 or older, however we expect adult behavior from all players regardless of age. The World Map is ESRB's "Adults Only" content, players are advised.
3. Don't Cheat. Private shards have custom scripts but rarely do they have enough good testers, consequently, players are expected to report any possible cheats immediately and then not use them!
4. Harassment. We have a strict rule against any type of political, racial, religious, sexual or gender harassment. This includes but is not limited to provocative meme's and jokes.
5. Rage Quitting. If you rage quit, expect us to consider that your final exit and ban your accounts right then and there.
6. Private Chats. There is one official Sanctuary Shard discord chat, and one official forum. We have no control over privately created chat rooms, group discussions or other private means of ooc communication, but we do not officially support them, nor do we allow them to be posted or advertised on our official formats.
7. Death. We consider ourselves to be a role-play shard with PvP, we are not a "PvP Shard". PvP is intended to be part of the shard storyline progression. Players are expected to role-play before PvP conflict and followed the documented rules of engagement. For an overview of PvP on Sanctuary please read more ..

Role-Play, Required?

1. The World Map and Summer Isle are always in character. Under Hill is RP Optional.
2. Summer Isle and Under Hill are rated PG and the World Map is ESRB's "Adults Only" content material.

Sanctuary Shard is an Ultima Online Private Server dedicated to role-play, however we do not require everyone to be role-playing at all times everywhere. You may speak OOC in any location where you can reasonably expect privacy such as in your own home, when out hunting with friends, or anywhere on the Under Hill (Ilshenar) Map.

If you simply want to play our game we ask that you do not disrupt on going role-play, do not speak OOC in public spaces, don't use emoticons and please avoid running over other players on your horse -- role-players hate that.

Role players please be advised that if there are characters who are not role-playing, but are not disrupting anything, leave them alone to play. If you want to make friends, message them privately.

Code of Conduct

We expect all players to abide by our Code of Conduct. Failure to do so may result in restrictions and bans.

1. Wheatons Rule: Don't be a Dick
2. Practice good role-play etiquette as outlined below.
3. Disability Respect: If you suffer from any form of mental, physical or emotional disability you have both our understanding and our sympathy. If that disability may effect how you interact with the community and you need allowances made please let an admin know privately so that we can advise the staff team as to how best to support you.

Role-Play Etiquette

Metagaming

Metagaming is defined as using out of character information in character. Metagaming can not be circumvented by the use of backstories or "all knowing" deities. Metagaming is further classified as a role-play etiquette and is thus managed along with other breaks of our Code of Conduct. Read More ...

Forceful Roleplay or Godmodding

Do not force actions on another player. This is referred to as GodModding. For example, in an RP scene do not grab someone and throw them against a wall, if you would like to do something like that, emote "grabs and attempts to slam them against a wall". Leave the decision as to whether or not the player will allow you to do this up to them.

Turn-based posting

Ultima Online does not support paragraph role-play, therefore, turn based posting is only needed in role-play combat situations.

Multi-line Posting

Players are allowed to post more than one consecutive line of role-play as part of their scene, however, other players are not required to wait on additional posts. It is helpful to let others know you are continuing onto a second line using something like -C at the end of the line.

Role-play Punctuation

It is considered good manners to differentiate between dialog, emotes and ooc comments. Please use quotes around dialog, asterisks around emotes, or parens around ooc comments when necessary to indicate a change of format within a single post. Obviously, UO has a built in speech and emote formats that are also usable.

Negative Thought Emotes without representation

The use of negative thought emotes is considered questionable, but when they are done in such a way that the target doesn't have a valid way of responding, its down right rude. All players have permission to respond to negative thought emotes as if they were spoken outloud.

Offline is Offline

It is considered bad manners to accuse a character of failing to do something or failing to be somewhere when the player is off line. This is especially true when the accusation has a serious impact on the character's storyline or reputation. It is advisable to set realistic expectations and deadlines for characters who's players have jobs, families and a need for sleep.