¶ Game Rules
A list of game rules for the server. These rules are subject to change which may include amending existing rules, adding or removing rules from the list.
¶ Table of Contents
- The Golden Game Rules
1.1 Respect & Behavior
1.2 Always Roleplay
1.3 Provoking
1.4 AFKing - Powergaming
2.1 Logging to Avoid
2.2 Property Powergaming
2.3 Frisk & Robbery Powergaming
2.4 Injury Powergaming
2.5 Fear RP Powergaming
2.6 CCTV Powergaming
2.7 Weapon & Tools Powergaming
2.8 Vehicle Powergaming - Metagaming
- Deathmatching
4.1 Brawls
4.2 Rules of Engagement (FMT WIP) - Death
5.1 PK
5.2 CK
5.3 Returning to RP after Death - Character Rules
6.1 Naming Conventions
6.2 Character Development
6.3 Accents
6.4 Special Characters - Anti-Crime Zones
- Robbing & Scamming
8.1 Mugging
8.2 Robbery
8.3 Burglary
8.4 Scams
8.5 General Robbing & Scamming
8.6 Evidence - Property Destruction
9.1 Graffiti Usage - Advertising Rules
- Abusing PFL and/or CCWP
- Offensive Roleplay
- Sexual Roleplay Rules
13.1 Trip Skip - Server Lore
14.1 Theme of The Server
14.2 Lore Branding
14.3 Server Lore Stories - Third Party Software & Modifications
- Bug Abuse
This ruleset was last updated on: December 24th, 2024
¶ 1) The Golden Game Rules
Whilst you are out of character, you are expected to act in a mannerism that is not toxic or creating an toxic environment for those who play the server.
¶ 1.1) Respect and Behavior
You are expected to treat others how you'd like to be treated. In the off-chance that you don't like to be treated fairly and with respect; let us specify further. You are to treat others with respect, you are not to be toxic or call other players names. Regardless if it is in a joking manner, others may not find this funny. On the contrary, players should not report other players for “silly name-calling” in the sense of “he called me stupid”. Please use common sense to define when a player is actively being demeaning towards you rather than reporting for every minor encounter. Severe punishments can be issued if a player is just constantly being demeaning and/or disrespectful towards players and/or staff.
¶ 1.2) Always Roleplay
You are encouraged to roleplay now and report later. Always roleplay means if you are in a public environment surrounded by others, try not to break their immersion by cutting the roleplay by using /b. It is heavily encouraged to use PMs. If a player has asked you not to PM them due to the fact they are mid-roleplay, then respect that decision. If you think a situation is irreversible then it's best to stop the roleplay, report for a member of staff and wait for a staff member to come and assist until the situation is resolved. This can cause less hassle as the situation can be resolved or avoided before it could have gotten messy.
An example of this could be where you are with a group of six people, and someone comes along and drives into you and the group intentionally without any apparent roleplay or reason to do. This would warrant the roleplay to stop, in consideration that the events that may unfold after the mass causalities could snowball. So in this instance, it would be better to contact an admin before police and emergency services get involved which could then lead to an investigation which would then be later voided due to an admin voiding the situation.
¶ 1.3) Provoking
Seeking attention from law enforcement or emergency services by shouting at them, making 911 calls to be chased, etc is prohibited. This includes unrealistic situations where your main goal is to get chased rather than think about your character's development.
¶ 1.4) AFKing
Leaving your computer or in any manner tabbing out or going AFK should not be done in a public area, please use our F10 option going to the character menu for this.
¶ 2) Powergaming
Powergaming is where you are performing actions which otherwise would not be possible in real life. This is not limited through the usage of a /me or /do. You are not allowed to force actions upon other players. You are also not allowed to roleplay characters that are not a player (dogs, cats etc).
Some examples of breaking this rule include;
- The ability to fly using no equipment
- The ability to survive 300 gunshots
- Roleplaying items you do not have
- Running miles without taking a break
- Carrying items on your person that are not visible and are otherwise unrealistic to carry (like doors, couches etc)
¶ 2.1 Logging to Avoid
Logging to avoid roleplay is the action of intentionally logging in situations where you could be found. These are situations where you are considered an important piece of the roleplay.
Some examples are;
- You were chased by a police officer down an alleyway and he loses sight of you for two minutes and you disconnect.
- You were involved in a gang shooting, where the other gang sees you and you know they are going to retaliate and log off to avoid the retaliation.
- You are a police officer that needs to be interviewed by Internal Affairs and you keep logging off every time they try to schedule an interview or come in game.
¶ 2.2 Property Powergaming
Property Powergaming is the action of having hidden rooms, doors or safes that otherwise haven't been roleplayed. This means that items that otherwise could impact the roleplay of others should traceable notes. These are situations that you are required to roleplay and provide the logs to an admin where they can add the logs to the interior's note. This allows for when break-ins or burglaries occur so that the admin can refer to the notes to help aid the situation. This also is true for when installing home security systems.
Some examples are;
- Buying a Firearm Safe from Ammu-Nation and placing it under the floorboards without roleplay and saying that it is bolted down.
- Uploading a custom map that includes a bunker with special exits or hidden passages without having any form of roleplay to support the layout.
- Placing down a Level 1+ Security Camera without installing it.
- Placing down a Level 1+ Smoke Detector without installing it.
- Placing down a Level 1+ Alarm System without installing it.
- When having hidden passages/doorways etc they must have a “reasonably realistic” entrance.
¶ 2.3 Frisk and Robbery Powergaming
The following rules apply to law enforcement as well as non law-enforcing players.
When being robbed or frisked, the player must abide by what's on them is one them. Essentially, items that are in the player's inventory must be roleplayed. If the player roleplayed moving the item from their inventory to their vehicle, but never moved the physical item, they still must roleplay the item being on them. This is because the physical item is still present in the player's inventory.
When frisking for items from a player, you are expected to be detailed when doing the /me's and /do's frisking their person.
Examples of good frisking;
- /me puts on a pair of nitrile gloves from their duty belt, and proceeds to pat around John Doe's upper torso.
/me moves from John's torso, down towards the pockets of his hoodie, searching them both before proceeding to search around John's waistline. - /me opens the dufflebag that is worn by John, checking the main and internal pockets of the bag before proceeding to check the side pockets if any exist.
Examples of bad frisking;
- /me pats pockets.
- /me pats all the pockets.
- /me looks for bulges.
- /me searches John Doe.
Players cannot lie about where items are on their person whilst being frisked. If the player has drugs on their person, the frisker can reasonably assume that it's in an obvious place providing that the player did not roleplay hiding it somewhere specifically on their person. If the player specifically roleplayed hiding the item(s) somewhere on their person, an admin can confirm by asking the player. The player should have a screenshot taken of hiding the item on their person so an admin can easily identify this when log-checking to confirm.
¶ 2.4 Injury Powergaming
¶ Knocked Out
When you are knocked out, you can still interact with /me, /do etc. You can also be helped up by another player using /helpup. If a player is able to help you up, you don't need to roleplay any injuries that would impede your roleplay (broken bones, amnesia effect etc).
¶ Downed
When you are downed, you can still interact with /me, /do etc. You cannot be helped up by another player and you require medical attention. These injuries should be treated as superficial regardless of weapon. If you were shot in the torso, it's treated as a graze and non-vital shots that doesn't require long-term care.
¶ Dead
When you are in the dead state, you can still interact with /me, /do etc. You cannot be helped up and medical aid cannot assist you. It's at this stage you need to stay on-scene for the other players to finish roleplaying with you. You should not respawn during this time as it is considered PG. You need to stay on-scene either until all players have finished roleplaying with you and no one is around anymore; or until emergency services arrive (or are passively roleplayed) to remove your corpse. Injuries sustained from these interactions are not required to have long-lasting effects; however you are required to have a description in your /look for a few days with minor injuries present and/or a /status. Refer to Sec. 5 - Death for more details on death.
¶ 2.5 Fear RP Powergaming
It is required for all characters to roleplay fear in situations where you would realistically be in real life regardless of backstory. If you wish to portray a character that has no fear in some areas; it is required for them to undergo a Special Character Application, Refer to Sec. 6.4 - Special Characters for more information. Failing to portray fear in situations that would warrant fear realistically could result in your character's permanent death (CK). Poor escalation and/or trolling is also covered in this rule. If your character dies in a result of poor escalation, the outcome of your character may be a CK.
¶ 2.6 CCTV Powergaming
¶ Government-owned cameras
The city has cameras scattered out, cameras that are not generic items (items that were mapped in and not placed down by a player) are considered to be roleplayed at 60fps at 1080p. These models include the Surveillance Camera Model & the Speed Camera Model. Server-owned buildings, stores or gas station are also assumed to have CCTV covering all reasonable angles and these cameras record 30fps at 720p.
Government Buildings and Police-placed Cameras are assumed to have live feed that can be viewed remotely and they store to an encrypted data server.
Places such as stores, gas stations or general businesses owned by the government only record to the local on-site storage unit.
¶ Player-owned properties
These are not assumed to have CCTV in place by default. Cameras must be physically present using the Security Camera Model. These cameras cannot be mapped in the interior, they must be a physical placeable item purchased in an electronic store. These cameras need to be accompanied by a set of roleplay logs of installing the cameras accompanied by a recorder/base-station which is added to the interior's note by an admin. To see a full list of cameras and storage devices, see Sec. 8.6 - CCTV Cameras.
¶ Government-issue Dashcams
These dashcams record the front of the vehicle and the cockpit. X-Vision Tru-26 is standard government-issue. These cameras record in 1080p at 60fps with true night vision. These cameras save to an encrypted data server. These cameras only record video and audio when the emergency lighting system has been activated. if a government vehicle does not have a dashcam installed RPly (no item in the vehicle inventory and no vehicle admin note) they cannot RP retrieving the footage or RPly use the footage as it does not exist.
¶ Civilian Dashcams
These are physical items which must be placed into the vehicle's inventory with some brief roleplay of installation. An admin must add the logs to the vehicle's notes and so that they can lock the item in place (meaning no one can steal the item without admin supervision).
¶ 2.7 Weapons and Tools Powergaming
¶ Small weapons
These are assumed to be hidden on the player. The player is not required to write a /me as these are automated by default. If the player is wearing no clothing on their torso, they must roleplay the small arms being visible in their waistline (if no backpack or dufflebag is present).
¶ Larger weapons
These are assumed to be hidden in the player's backpack or dufflebag (or any similar item). The player is not required to write a /me as these are automated by default. If the player is not wearing a backpack or dufflebag (or similar item) these weapons must be stored in storage item as they would be too big to carry. The only exception to carrying these weapons if you do not have a dufflebag (or similar item) is to have the item visibly attached to your person (/togattach).
¶ Spikes by Police
Police are allowed to use /throwspikes (/ts) without roleplaying. This is due to vehicle pursuits happening at a fast rate; meaning PD members don't have time to write out /me and /do to deploy their spikes in a timely fashion. This falls under giving time to react aka not powergaming.
¶ 2.8 Vehicle Powergaming
- Vehicles which are used in way that they were not designed, such as a lowrider off-roading would be considered powergaming. This is due to the vehicle not being able to sustain the conditions without breaking or becoming inoperable. If you find yourself in a situation where your vehicles would unrealistically be able to overcome the terrain (example would be climbing a mountain with a front-wheel-drive lowrider) you are expected to roleplay accordingly.
- Police PITs are not required to have any /me or /do when attempting the maneuver. However, on the contrary if police are deemed to be “abusing” the PIT maneuver they will face punishments.
- During pursuits or any form of getaway, players are not expected to roleplay minor collisions (crashing into wooden fences, metal fences, fire hydrants or payphones etc) in an attempt to not disrupt the flow of roleplay. Players are encouraged to use common sense for other “minor” collisions to determine whether or not their vehicle would become inoperable and/or if they need to roleplay injuries.
- Vehicle descriptions are used to describe what would be visible to the player upon first sight.
- Good Examples
- There is a red light flashing on the driver's door indicating an alarm system is present.
- The vehicle has a scratch that goes the whole way up the driver's door.
- There is a small figurine on the dashboard of a bobblehead dog.
- Bad Examples
- The vehicle has a V8 engine.
- The vehicle has loud banging sounds when it reaches 6,000RPM.
- The vehicle has a modded ECU chip that allows for it to reach higher speeds.
- The vehicle's engine is blue in color with a new manifold in place.
- Good Examples
¶ 3) Metagaming
Metagaming is when you use Out of Character (OOC) information In Character (IC) or information that you otherwise wouldn't know ICly. All characters that you create cannot interact with each other or know each other in any way. You are not allowed to use any third party services to gain IC information from one of your characters to another (or anyone else's characters). You should not reference any of your characters either.
Examples of metagaming include;
- You go to one of your alternative character's businesses and spend money there.
- Your character is a cop and you see a picture from a Faction Thread on the forums that depicts one of the gang members killing someone. You investigate this person and try to arrest them.
- You have multiple characters in the same faction without FMT or UAT approval.
- You PM someone telling them where you are and you ask them to pick you up.
- You use a platform such as Discord to message your friend to hop online because you are getting kidnapped.
- You may use https://finder.ardicgaming.com/ as this is an IC service.
- You may use https://shawnews.ardicgaming.com/ as this is an IC service.
- Police may use TeamSpeak for Tactical Situations to communicate. When the situation becomes “static” they must return to in-game communications.
- You identify someone in-character based on their nametag without ever hearing their name IC.
- You describe someone with a /do using their name. /do Michael describes John Doe.
- You return to an area where you got PKed whilst the scene is still on-going.
- Involve yourself in one of your other character's deaths.
¶ 4) Deathmatching
Deathmatching is when you kill other players without proper reasoning or have poor reasoning to do so. This includes provoking other players followed by killing them after you initiated the provoking. Deathmatching also includes poor escalation that leads to someone being killed when death wasn't the only option for the outcome of the situation.
- You may only run over another player if a character's life is at risk. This should not be done excessively.
- You may use a vehicle at low speeds to ram a player on-foot or on a bike using a door and the door opening must be roleplayed.
- Law enforcement may not be murdered if there is no active situation which involves a threat to life or if there is no dispute that your interaction with the officer(s) will not lead to life or serious prison time.
Examples of deathmatching and poor escalation include;
- You start a fight with a player for the sole reason to pull out your gun and shoot them.
- You poorly escalate a situation where you then kill someone, where other means could be used such as beatdowns or intimidation. This includes situations that started out as a fist fight and you pull out a gun and shoot them just to win the fight.
- You are approached by a group of people with melee weapons in your car and you get out to shoot them.
- You are approached by a group of people with melee weapons in your car and you try to ram them all in an attempt to kill them.
- You are approached by a group of people with melee weapons whilst on foot and you pull out your gun to shoot them all rather than try to get to safety.
- You kill a police officer on a traffic stop just because you didn't want to receive a ticket.
¶ 4.1) Brawls
The standard procedure is to fight in an RP manner, however, players can OOCly agree to perform a fight in a brawl done with GTA Physics and no /me or /do. This must be agreed by all players involved. Brawls should stop when the opposing player has either been knocked out or put into the downed state. Brawls cannot happen if there are more than 5 players involved.
¶ 4.2) Rules of Engagement (WIP)
Rules of Engagement must be abided by at all times by members of illegal factions and by extension are considered apart of the deathmatching rules. You can read up on the entire Rules of Engagement on The Forums at; https://forums.ardicgaming.com/en/topic/sonnyb-and-fmt-do-this-please
¶ 5) Death
There are two types of death in the server. Player Kill (PK) and Character Kill (CK). It is important to note which one your character chooses in situations. Some situations will dictate your character's outcome and you may not have a choice to choose.
¶ 5.1) Player Kill
A player kill is when your character has been killed but your character is still playable. When your character has been player killed (PKed) they are assumed to have been brought back to a medical center to receive medical attention. a PK is treated as your character falling unconscious but wasn't able to be brought around without the intervention of medical assistance. When a PK occurs, your character will have amnesia as to what happened them. The amnesia effect will blur your character's memory of that particular roleplay scene, meaning you remember nothing at all from the scene where you died. It is advised for the player to roleplay appropriate minor injuries if necessary. You are unable to retaliate if the only reason for retaliation is surrounding your death.
¶ 5.2 Character Kill
A character kill is when your character has been killed and your character is no longer playable. When your character has been killed it ends their story. Character kills are not taken lightly - so players who request a character kill on someone else should have very good reasoning to do so. You can choose to CK your own character if you wish to do so without much scrutiny providing the reasoning is realistic. There are no specific situations that warrant automatic character kills, however if someone reports your character for any particular reason, UAT will discuss whether or not your character's actions warrant a CK or not.
Note: Roleplaying your death as intentional (jumping off a building knowing you're going to die, drowning yourself or otherwise self-harm is considered CK-worthy).
¶ 5.3) Returning to RP After Death
Players who have died and are looking to return to roleplay in the same location or with the same group of people must wait until the situation that resulted in their death has been concluded.
- After your character has been PKed you are required to have some sort of minor injuries to describe the effects that happened. Depending on the situation, some injuries only may last a few hours whilst others may last a few days. Please use common sense to figure out which would be more relevant to your situation.
- There is a cool-down as to when you are allowed to return to the area of your death. You are not allowed to return to the area you were PKed if the situation is still active, or if ramifications of your death are still being dealt with.
- If you are a law enforcement member, you may not return on duty if you were killed until the initial on-scene investigation has been concluded. You are also not allowed to participate in any situation involving your death.
- If law enforcement members are low however, you are to treat your PK as an unknown officer killed in the line of duty, as if you were never on-scene.
This is heavily reliant on players using common sense to ensure that the injuries they sustained in situations are treated in a realistic manner. If your character was rammed down by a car, you probably wouldn't be out walking after ten minutes, so we are to treat these situations as if days have passed and you completed rehab etc. Players should heavily rely on their common sense to ensue what outcomes are most realistic for the injuries they sustained.
¶ 6) Character Rules
We try to follow a specific set of rules for our characters to help retain immersion and a sense of realism when portraying the character we've created. These rules include;
- No character is allowed to be portrayed as anything less than sixteen years of age.
- Character descriptions must describe the character's general appearance and demeanor for players to get a sense of how your character looks. Your /look should not be used to sexualize your character and should be fairly general.
- Each of your characters should not be a copy and paste. Each character should have separate goals and should be unique from one another.
- Characters can undergo a name-change if their character has less than 15 hours played and does not have a criminal record.
- Characters cannot undergo a name-change if they're currently being investigated for a serious crime or if they are a crucial part to a roleplay scenario.
- Characters can undergo an identity-change regardless of hours played or criminal record in special circumstances approved by FMT or UAT. Some examples listed below.
- Witness Protection
- Undergoing plastic surgeries and purchasing high-end social security numbers etc
- Fake credentials purchased (Special Character perms are required)
¶ 6.1) Naming Conventions
When naming your character you must consider the following;
- Names cannot be famous or similar to a famous person's name.
- Names may not be the same or similar to characters in video games, movies, TV show or any other form of media.
- Names should match the character's background story.
- Names should exist in the modern day and be assumably common or acceptable.
- Names should not be comical or reference memes and/or pop culture.
- Names may not be nicknames and should be full names as they would appear on government-issued IDs.
- Names that are gag names such as Jack Inabocks (Jack-in-a-box) or Mary Kristmas (Merry Christmas) are not acceptable.
Admins will have the final say of whether a name is considered to be valid or not. Players who have been instructed by an admin to choose a new name and refuse to do so will result in the admin changing the name for you to something random.
¶ 6.2) Character Development
Character development plays a vital role in what is considered Powergaming. A character that goes to the gym and works out regularly may be in better physical condition than others involved in the situation who don't do physical exercise. Character development can be passively roleplayed - This can be done through IC means, by interacting on the social media site putting up photographs, status’ or checking in at locations. This is encouraged to do, as it takes a different toll on roleplaying. Character Development should include a Character Story that has been posted on the Forums and is regularly updated. You can find the Character Story Section at https://forums.ardicgaming.com/forum/4-character-stories/. If players choose not to post their character background and character development stories; you can make a ticket to have your story and development remain private if requesting certain things such as special character permissions.
¶ 6.3) Accents
Accents are used in game to distinguish a character's origins as to where they may be from. Accents are a script-wisely used feature and can be determined in in a character's /editlook. Accents can vary from Eastern European to Southern America. Some of the more defined accents such as Irish, Scottish, Russian and some US state-wide accents may be determined more precisely in the character's portrayal if and when necessary through the usage of /do. We advise for characters to use the accent feature if their character would be of non-native to to the locals of the neighboring districts as they would potential pick up on this unfamiliar dialect.
Examples of good terminologies to utilize the accent feature;
- Chicago
- Scottish
- Cockney English
- Northern English
- Texan
- Brooklyn
Outcome:
[Texan Accent] John Doe says: Howdy.
[Cockney English Accent] John Doe says: Good day.
[Chicago Accent] John Doe says: Hello.
Examples of bad terminologies to utilize the accent feature;
- American
- Heavy American
- Typical Russian
- Is speaking very good American interpretation.
- CIA
Outcome:
[Heavy American Accent] John Doe says: Howdy. ← Not very specific.
[Is speaking very good American interpretation Accent] John Doe says: Hey there. ← Wrong way to use the accent feature.
[CIA Accent] Jason Hudson says: Mr. President. ← Wrong way to use the accent feature.
[Typical Russian Accent] John Doe says: Yes, hello. ← Not very descriptive for people who may be able to identify certain Russian accents, it would be better use just say “Russian”.
If someone roleplays knowing a certain dialect and "/do Mike knows accents, in what Russian accent would John Doe be speaking?" Then John Doe could reply giving them more specifics if required.
¶ 6.4) Special Characters
Special characters are characters that are otherwise not typically available to players when they initially create their character. Special characters include but not limited to;
- Terrorists
- Serial Killers
- Arsonists
- Spec Ops
- Assassins/Hitmen
- Celebrities
- Skilled Martial Artists
- Mentally Disabled
- Physically Disabled
- Characters that otherwise have an unfair advantage over “average” characters.
Requesting special characters can be done via the Ticket Center. The requester must provide an extensive character background story with a character that is established in the server (more than 15 hours). The extensive story must include all aspects of the character's life including the special abilities the character has (skills/abilities you are looking to obtain for the character). The requester also has to provide valid and sufficient reasoning as to how their character gained these abilities/statuses. The requester then must detail the reasoning for having/wanting these abilities/statuses and what their intended purposes are. The application is then reviewed by the UAT and/or FMT to which the requester will have their application accepted or denied.
¶ 7) Anti-Crime Zones
Anti-Crime Zones are split into three zones. These are zones that typically don't allow for criminality to occur dynamically within the areas.
¶ No Crime Zone
No crime zones are areas where crime is not permitted at all.
These zones include but might not be limited to;
- Airports & Airfields
- Government buildings (city hall, hospitals, police stations, fire stations etc)
- Banks (ATMs not included)
- NPC Dealerships
- Clothing Stores
- Gun Stores
¶ Restricted Crime Zone
These are areas where crime can be committed with previous approval from admin+. These zones include but not limited to;
- Tourist areas such as beaches
- Freeways, highways and bridges
- Downtown areas
- Note that these areas only restrict muggings or kidnappings without prior admin approval via reporting. Players who are discreet and creative are allowed a little more freedom in illegal roleplay in areas such as these.
¶ 8) Robbing & Scamming
Below is a set of rules that players should abide by when committing certain crimes that falls under the classifications of any of the following. Please bear in mind that it is hard to cover all types of situations and discretion from an admin may be required to approve or overturn the roleplay.
Classifications & Rules:
¶ 8.1) Mugging
Taking or attempting to take anything by force, threat or inciting fear into the victim. This is done on-foot with no usage of vehicles. Players cannot mug someone in vehicles for basic muggings. This also includes using a vehicle to travel to a new location in order to mug someone there.
You may NOT mug if:
- If you have less than 5 hours on your character.
- Other characters with less than 5 hours.
- On-duty law enforcement officer's equipment without administrative or FMT permission.
- Faction badges or identification cards.
- Automated teller machine cards (unless the player agrees).
- Private custom skins (unless the player agrees).
- More than 13% from someone's bank account utilizing their stolen automated teller card (unless the player agrees).
- Property or vehicle keys (unless the player agrees).
- You kill them before/after/during you mugging them.
- You are using a rented vehicle.
- You are using scripted job vehicles.
- You are using a vehicle in an unplanned petty mugging for quick cash.
- You travel miles away from where you normally roleplay just to mug someone and go back.
- You've baited the player using a scripted job as a cover (such as taxi).
- You are unsure if there is a rule-break.
- You may however /report to perform the aforementioned situations where an admin can accept or deny.
¶ 8.2) Robbery
These are situations that require a /report with a description of what you (and others) are attempting to rob. These are for situations that do not have excessive previous planning. So, an example situation that would be acceptable is when you report that a group of teen hoodlums want to snatch and grab some alcohol or cigarettes.
- Holding up gas stations, convenience stores or something that involves you requiring to mug someone in a vehicle or using a vehicle to go to the location to rob someone.
- Goods collected during a robbery will only be paid out after a successful attempt. A failed attempt will not pay out and if caught by police, an admin will just document a list items (passive items) that “would have been found”.
- Shoplifting without the demand of any items or cash does not require admin approval if the sole reason is for passive roleplay, character development etc.
- These robberies can only be attempted once per 24 hours per character involved. Each attempt gets logged in your character's note.
- Players cannot perform robberies if they have less than 10 hours on their character.
At least one Local Law Enforcement must be on-duty when the attempt was initiated (not when it was reported) if only one robber is present. If multiple robbers are present, at least two Local Law Enforcement is required to be on-duty.
¶ Heists
Heists are larger pre-planned events that require excessive previous planning, members involved, exact expectations of what it is you want to be rewarded with. These events include but not limited to;
- Banks
- ATMs (is the only exception where an Admin+ can approve)
- Ammu-Nations
- Evidence Rooms
- State Archives
These all require both FMT Leader and UAT Approval in order to go proceed. This can be done via the ticket center. Restrictions and regulations vary from each heist attempt and will be unique to each request. If the heist gets signed off by UA and/or FMT, then they will outline the rules, requirements and restrictions.
¶ 8.3) Burglary
Breaking and entering another person's property (vehicle or interior) regardless if items were stolen or not. Properties cannot be broken into if there is a player logged out in the interior within the last 7 days. Burglaries include the stealing of a vehicle. Similar restrictions apply in what you can and cannot steal in Sec. Robbery - 8.1.
- At least two Local Law Enforcement must be on-duty when the attempt was initiated (not when it was reported).
- Burglaries can only be attempted once per 24 hours per character involved. Each attempt gets logged in your character's note.
- Goods collected during a burglary (not including vehicles stolen) will only be paid out after a successful attempt. A failed attempt will not pay out and if caught by police and an admin will just document a list items (passive items) that “would have been found”.
- Players cannot perform burglaries if they have less than 10 hours on their character.
¶ 8.4) Scams
Scamming is any form of deceitful roleplay, or fraud in order to obtain any legal item from a player through legal services/systems. This does not include the scamming of illegal items. Scams can occur if no usage of legal systems were used i.e. Finder or the Ads System in order to obtain the information required to commit the scam.
¶ 8.5) Evidence
All actions may leave traces behind from the roleplay. Such as, but not limited to:
- CCTV Footage
- Fingerprints
- Tire Treads or Shoe Imprints
- Broken Locks / Doors
- Glass Fragments
- Civilian Witnesses
Etcetera
Notes or /createscene should be used indicating what happened. Fingerprints and other less visible evidence should be left on the vehicle or interior's note by the overseeing admin.
¶ 9) Property Destruction
Semi permanent destruction of another player's property requires approval from an in-game administrator. this only applies to significant destruction that would cause an unfair advantage. Minor destruction is allowed and examples are specified below;
Examples of good minor destruction;
- /me drives over the lawn and cuts up the grass. - You then proceed to do a /createscene or drop notes describing *tire marks are visible on the grass as if someone vandalized the area.
- Adding graffiti to a wall, door, window etc.
- Breaking a fence.
Examples of bad minor destruction;
- Smashing windows.
- Busting open doors.
- Driving your vehicle through someone's wall.
- Keying someone's car (because it needs to be added to the /checkveh notes)
- Arson attacks on properties are allowed within reason if there are a minimum of two Firefighters on-duty. An admin can also void the requirement of firefighters present if it's reasonable to do so.
Aforementioned scenarios would require an administrator to oversee the situation to ensure everything was fairly done with no advantages.
¶ 9.1) Graffiti Usage
The Graffiti System is a system that allows you to draw/tag on essentially anywhere in the map. You can create your own graffiti within the menu, or you can upload one from a URL. Graffiti can be used specifically to help determine a certain part of the city to help indicate who the block belongs to. However, it can also be utilized to express artistic design by art-lovers alike! With that being said, there are a side of rules to using this system.
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
1. Must obey server texturing rules (disgusting, insulting, criminally chargeable accordance to local law etc).
2. Must not go around every other wall and spray tags everywhere.
3. Must roleplay their actions BEFORE spraying the tag.
4. No trollish tag behavior.
5. Must obey general server rules in relevance to offensive materials and other potentially related rules (use common sense).
6. Must not contain backgrounds;
Good Example
Bad Example
7. Failure to abide by server rules or graffiti rules may result your graffiti permissions being revoked, you could even be blacklisted from ever using the system again; or it could result in a temporary/permanent ban from the server depending on the severity.
¶ 10) Advertising Rules
The advertisement system we use is considered to be a fully legal and fully regulated system. The service is there to supply convenience for players selling their items. When an advertisement appears on your screen or you use the advertisement menu, you are assumed to be doing so through a smartphone, computer or newspaper. Illegal advertising is strictly prohibited even if the intent behind them is hidden or attempted to be hidden. Players are expected to use other IC mean to distribute illegal services and items. Gambling may only be advertised if the establishment in question is fully licensed.
When advertising you can only use in-character terms;
- You cannot sell a car as maxed out, fully upgraded, slammed, decked or any other terms to describe modifications. You need to specify the modifications with descriptions and statistics about the car.
- You cannot sell a property and advertise it as “custom mapping” or how it was changed. You can use terms like “modern design” or “recently refurbished”.
More detailed advertisements should be posted on the forums under the internet section, found here; https://forums.ardicgaming.com/forum/7-internet/. For when you're advertising your business with some information and screenshots, or if you are a dealership selling multiple vehicles etc.
You may NOT use the /ads system for the following under any circumstances;
- Illegal advertisements
- The buying or selling firearms (or firearm related items)
- The buying or selling of taboo items (batons, machetes, knives)
- Asking for lifts
- Asking questions
- Escorts
The ads system must be used in a professional manner. This means you shouldn't use short-text such as “hey, u need a drink? Call dwn to Misty's!”. You should structure your advertisement as it would be in real life. Any other marketing strategies should go to the internet section on the forum.
¶ 11) Abusing PFL and/or CCWP
Firearm licenses are issued by the main law enforcing agency within the server. However, there are still restrictions on how these systems can be used. Below are some considerations you should follow;
- PF or CCWP cannot be used for any illegal activities.
- PF or CCW weapons and/or ammo cannot be sold to anyone else without going through the PD system.
- You need to follow the firearm rules set forth by the main law-enforcing agency. These rules by the agency are also considered by extension, apart of this rule. You can find the ruleset and regulations at https://pd.ardicgaming.com/viewforum.php?f=14.
¶ 12) Offensive Roleplay
The main purpose for this rule is to ensure a balance so that players are comfortable when roleplaying. The roleplay that is restricted under this rule falls under the broad term of “Offensive Roleplay”.
Offensive Roleplay includes but not limited to the following;
- Torture
- Dismemberment
- Graphic Injury Descriptions
- Sexual Acts (See Sec. 13 - Sexual Roleplay Rules for more information)
To engage in offensive roleplay you must meet the following criteria;
- You have agreed that everyone involved has consented for the roleplay to take place. If you do not wish to participate you must make it known and the roleplay may cease and/or Trip Skip (see Sec. 13.1 - Trip Skip for more information). Players can withdraw their consent at any time resulting in the situation ceasing or being Trip Skipped. This does not necessarily void the roleplay that happened before consent was withdrawn.
Prohibited Roleplay includes the following;
- Incest
- Cannibalism
- Bestiality
- Necrophilia
- Paedophilia
- Rape/Forced
- This also includes allegations or character portrayal and/or character backstories which reference any of the aforementioned.
¶ 13) Sexual Roleplay Rules
The purpose of this rule is to ensure a fair and safe environment for all of those involved. This rule is to restrict and avoid predatory behavior.
For simplicity, we have divided terms “Character” and “Player” as two separate entities to specify clearly.
Player - This refers to the person behind the screen.
Character - This refers to the character created by the player and exists within the game world.
- Players under the age of 18 cannot participate in any form of sexual roleplay.
- Characters under the age of 18 cannot be involved in any form of sexual roleplay.
- This includes entering strip clubs or any other form of erotic environment.
- Sexual roleplay may only happen if all affected players involved consent.
- The roleplay must follow the offensive RP rules and it must be done in private areas where other players couldn't accidentally stumble upon you.
- Any player can ask for the roleplay to stop or withdraw consent at any time they wish to do so.
- Players must inform another player in OOC if they do not want to continue the escalation of sexual roleplay. This must be done before a report is submitted as it is up to the players to manage OOC consent amicably.
- Rape roleplay (which includes all the sexual acts defined as rape by US or EU laws, forcing "third base" onwards, aka sexual stimulation touching) is fully forbidden on the server.
Characters and or accounts that solely exist for the purposes to engage in Erotic Roleplay (ERP) are forbidden. Every character needs to participate outside of sexual activity in order to not be in breach of the rules.
Notes: Sexual roleplay in a public location can be defined as anything from engaging in sexual activity in anywhere that isn't in an interior to engaging in sexual activity in an interior that is easily accessed by several other players (such as a business or property with lots of players renting).
- Businesses that have sexual roleplay occurring inside (such as a sex shop or a club with exotic dancers) should be clearly advertised as such in order to warn players of that type of roleplay occurring.
¶ 13.1) Trip Skip
Trip Skip is the term given to choosing to skip a roleplay scene involving sexual acts. Typically, the involved parties who opt for a trip skip can agree in a brief scenario as to what the outcome would be. This may include details such as if the characters had intimate relations or kissed etc.
¶ 14) Server Lore
In an attempt to keep an immersive environment for players to enjoy, we have defined an IC lore for the server. The server takes part in present-day and the theme of the server is what makes the city we play in unique. As we move more into a lore-friendly environment, we have set out some rules and information you can follow to help protect and preserve the lore and theme of the server.
- Anyone wanting to take over or open a lore business(Cluckin' Bell, Burger Shot etc) will have to go through FMT approval.
- Anyone wanting to take over or open a lore faction (Gruppe Sechs for example) will have to go through FMT approval.
Players are required to follow all lore outlined in the Server Lore section on the Forum https://forums.ardicgaming.com/forum/134-server-lore/.
Please note, the following real life events are prohibited from being mentioned ICly.
- COVID-19
- Ukraine-Russa conflict
- Israel-Palestine conflict
¶ 15) Third Party Software & Modifications
Any type of modification or software which gives the player any form of advantage over another player is forbidden. This includes but is not limited to binds or hotkeys using programs such as AHK (AutoHotKey) or macros on a keyboard and/or mouse.
Client-side modding to give an advantage is also prohibited. We have tried our best by enforcing server settings to check for modified image files on the client's machine to help protect you and others playing the game. Anyone found in breach of willingly giving themselves an unfair advantage will face severe punishment.
Whilst MTA does not natively have controller support; there are third-party workarounds which allow players to use controller. This is not prohibited, players are allowed to user controllers as their preferred method of play.
Examples of breaking this rule:
- You use a vehicle mod that has collisions that block you from being shot.
- You use a trainer to spawn in giving yourself god mode or items.
- You use keybinds or hotkeys to replace roleplay or give yourself an unfair advantage in a roleplay scene.
- Further examples of this include binding a /me to run up and jack someone out of a car, speeding off after getting them out.
- Exceptions include having a singular line of roleplay copied to your clipboard, ready to paste at any reason.
¶ 16) Bug Abuse
Any form of bug found by the players are to be reported to an administrator and/or developer via the Ticket Center, Discord and/or in-game /report. Exploiting the script for personal gain or mass gain in an attempt to sabotage services or the server in general is considered severe and can lead to permanent bans without the chance to appeal.
Examples of breaking this rule:
- You come across a bug which spawns you money for no reason and you don't report it.
- You are aware of a bug that someone else is using and you don't report it.
- You find a bug that allows you test-drive dealership vehicles with the timer not running out.
- You exploit a reported bug, or a bug that someone else has told you about.
- Finding properties that cost less than they should and purchasing it.