Zenbia Rules
These rules apply in the game, on the website and in all official channels. They exist so that everyone gets a fair and enjoyable game. Every rule below matches a reason a gamemaster can select when issuing a punishment, so a ban always names the rule it was given for. Punishments range from a warning (notation) over temporary bans to permanent account deletion, depending on severity and history. Gamemasters decide case by case and their decision is final.
1. Names
- 1a. Offensive name: names that are insulting, racist, sexist, obscene or otherwise offensive are not allowed.
- 1b. Invalid name format: names must consist of real words; no random letters, no repeated characters, no numbers, no attempts to imitate staff (e.g. "GM", "Admin", "Tutor").
- 1c. Unsuitable name: names that refer to real persons, brands, drugs, religion or politics, or that are chosen to be misleading (e.g. impersonating another player), are not allowed.
- 1d. Name inciting rule violation: names that suggest, promote or advertise rule violations (cheating, account trading, real-money trading) are not allowed.
2. Statements
- 2a. Offensive statement: insults, harassment, threats, racism, sexual content and hate speech are not tolerated, no matter the channel.
- 2b. Spamming: repeating the same message, flooding a channel, posting nonsense or excessive use of capital letters is not allowed.
- 2c. Illegal advertising: advertising other game servers, websites unrelated to Zenbia, real-money trades or any illegal service is forbidden.
- 2d. Off-topic public statement: keep public channels on topic. Trade offers belong in the Trade channel, help requests in the Help channel.
- 2e. Non-English public statement: public channels are English only so everyone can follow and moderate them. Any language may be used in private messages and guild or party channels.
- 2f. Inciting rule violation: encouraging, instructing or helping others to break these rules is treated as breaking them yourself.
3. Cheating
- 3a. Bug abuse: exploiting a bug in the game, the website or the client instead of reporting it is forbidden. Report bugs to the staff; abusing them means a ban and the removal of everything gained.
- 3b. Game weakness abuse: abusing a weakness in the game mechanics that is clearly unintended (e.g. trapping players or monsters in unreachable spots, abusing safe zones) is forbidden.
- 3c. Using unofficial software to play: bots, macros, cavebots, auto-healers, packet editors, modified clients and any other tool that plays the game for you or gives you an unfair advantage are strictly forbidden. Our server-sided anti-cheat detects these automatically; the punishment is a permanent ban on the first offence.
- 3d. Hacking: attempting to gain access to another account, the server or the website, or to manipulate game data, results in a permanent ban of every account involved and may be reported to the authorities.
- 3e. Multi-clienting: playing with more than one character at the same time from the same person is not allowed. Players sharing a household or connection should tell a gamemaster in advance to avoid misunderstandings.
4. Accounts
- 4a. Account trading or sharing: an account belongs to one person only. Selling, buying, giving away, swapping or sharing accounts or characters is forbidden. Selling in-game items or currency for real money falls under the same rule.
- 4b. Account security: keep your account number and password to yourself; the staff will never ask for your password. You are responsible for everything done with your account, so a "my friend did it" defence does not lift a punishment.
5. Gamemasters
- 5a. Threatening a gamemaster: threats or blackmail against staff members because of their actions as staff are punished with a permanent ban.
- 5b. Pretending to have influence on rule enforcement: claiming to be a staff member, or to be able to get someone banned or unbanned, is forbidden.
- 5c. False report to a gamemaster: deliberately reporting a false rule violation, or spamming the report system, is a rule violation itself.
6. Gameplay
- 6a. Destructive behaviour: deliberately ruining the game for others outside normal player versus player play, such as luring monsters onto other players, blocking respawns or quest paths for hours, or trapping players, is not allowed.
- 6b. Excessive unjustified player killing: killing other players is part of the game and handled by the skull system. Killing the same players over and over with no reason other than to drive them off the server is not, and may be punished additionally.
- 6c. Kill trading and skull abuse: arranging kills to farm frags, or abusing the skull system to bait innocent players into becoming skulled, is forbidden.
7. Website and forums
- The statement rules (section 2) apply to the forums, polls and guild descriptions as they do in the game.
- Do not post personal information of other people, including real names, addresses or screenshots of private conversations without consent.
- Poll manipulation with multiple accounts is treated as multi-clienting (rule 3e).
8. Punishments
| Level | Punishment |
|---|---|
| Notation | A warning on the account. No further consequence, but it counts as history. |
| Namelock | The character must be renamed before it can log in again (rules 1a-1d). |
| Temporary ban | 1, 3, 7 or 30 days without access to the account. |
| Permanent ban | The account is closed for good. Used for cheating, hacking, account trading and repeated violations. |
| IP ban | Issued together with an account ban when we expect the person to come back on a new account. |
Punishments on record can be seen on the banned accounts page. To appeal a punishment, contact the staff on the forums from an account that is not banned, or by e-mail. Appeals are answered once; repeated appeals of the same ban are ignored.
9. Changes
These rules may change at any time. Changes are announced in the news and apply from the moment they are published. Not having read the rules is no excuse. By playing Zenbia you accept these rules and the terms of service and privacy policy.