Play Diplomacy Online

This thread contains rules of fair play when playing on Playdiplomacy.com.

It DOES NOT contain the Site's general rules for using Playdip and the Playdip Forum. These are posted in the accompanying thread which is linked to below.

Fair Play Rules links are also provided to different posts within this thread.

The Rules for Fair Play are based upon the original rules written by Diplomat and it is with acknowledgement to him that they are presented.

INTRODUCTION
The Rules for Fair Play state what rules govern playing games on the site. They are in different sections and each section will have its own post:
A. General Rules.
B. Rules Specific to Variants.
C. Game Classes - Rank, No Rank, Friends and Schools Games.
D. Separating of Games from the Forum.
E. Appeals Process.
Addenda.

Please note the intention here is NOT to present the rules of the game or of variants. These can be found using the following links:
Rules of Diplomacy can be found under the HELP tab.
Off-site link to the official published Rules is HERE. These were published in 2000. A later edition exists but it doesn't change the rules at all (and uses much more data): off-site link HERE.
Rules for Variants can be found within this sub-forum.

ETHOS
Some of these House Rules are difficult to enforce. However that does not mean they shouldn’t be enforced! The ideal is that there will be no cheating on site but that, of course, doesn’t mean there won’t be: for whatever reason, some members will seek to break the rules.

The site and its management reserve the right to enforce these rules and sanction any member who breaks them irrespective of whether the individual concerned agrees with or accepts those rules, whatever the status of the member’s account.

HOW MODERATORS AND INVESTIGATORS REACH THEIR DECISIONS
When investigating cheating we use the evidence available. Where this evidence is persuasive actions will be taken without reference to the individual(s) involved. Members will usually be contacted by email (using the address linked to the account) explaining what actions were taken and why.

Where the evidence is inconclusive members may be contacted by email and/or PM so that the situation can be clarified. However, Moderators and Investigators are NOT obligated to do this.

No action will be taken if the investigation is inconclusive and/or there is insufficient evidence.

There will, of course, never be complete proof that cheating has occurred. Decisions are made upon the evidence available. Moderators and Investigators are committed to carrying out a thorough investigation of the evidence; however, mistakes may occasionally be made and individuals may appeal against a decision. Decisions may be reversed where this is felt appropriate.

Moderators and Investigators have been given the freedom to act within certain guidelines. Any decision will be a balanced one, depending upon the circumstances.
Any action that affects games will be posted in the Cheaters forum.

SITE RULES MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND MODIFICATION AT ANY TIME.

See also: RULES FOR FAIR USE.

1. Multi-accounting. Account holders are allowed just one active account at any time (see Multiple Accounts under Fair Use). This means that:
(a) No account holder may operate more than one account in the same game.
(b) No account holder may have access to more than one account in the same game with the exception of any game which requires this.
(c) An account holder is not allowed to give access to her/his account to another player in the same game or to an account holder with whom s/he shares any active or pending games.

2. Substitutes. Account holders are only allowed to substitute for another account holder if they do not share ANY pending or active games.
See Substitute Feature

3. Team and Shared Accounts. All accounts in Ranked or No Rank games must be single-person accounts.
See Adaptations for different Game Categories

4. Players must enter a game aiming to achieve the best result possible from the game. This intention may be modified by circumstances in the game but players are not allowed to enter a game with the intention of drawing with another player or other players, or to lose the game.
See Adaptations for different Game Categories

5. Re-entering a Game. Account holders who open a new account are not allowed to enter a game from which a previous account has surrendered, auto_surrendered or been removed.
See Adaptations for different Game Categories

6. Screenshots. Taking screenshots which allow game information to be passed to other players in the game is not allowed.

Messaging Rules
The following rules are on player-to-player or power-to-power messages in a game. These apply to Ranked and No Rank games only (see Adaptations for different Game Categories). They are necessary as we need to check messages when investigating games.

7. Encrypted/Coded Messages. Messages between players/powers must not be encrypted or coded in such a way as to make the message unintelligible.
NB: Non-English messages between native speakers in games are fine. If we can translate a message and it makes sense, there's no problem.

8. Out-of-Game Communications. Account holders must communicate about a game with other players using the in-game systems only. No out-of-game negotiations or communications are allowed.

Note on rules 7 and 8.
These rules will NOT result in sanctions on their own.
They will, however, be taken as corroborating evidence if there is other evidence of possible cheating. For instance, should a Moderator find evidence of meta-gaming and be unable to discount this by looking at messages between the players or powers, this will add to the evidence that can be seen.
They WILL be taken as a reason to contact account holders so that the practices described stop.

Meta-gaming Rules
The following rules define what the site considers meta-gaming, ie using something from outside a game to influence the way the game progresses.

9. Pre-game Alliances.
(a) Account holders are not allowed to enter a game with a preset alliance, ie. with an alliance between them arranged before the game started.
(b) Account holders are not allowed to invite a player from one game to another game with an agreement to work together in the second game.

10. Arranged alliances when replacing another player in a game.
(a) Account holders are not allowed to join an on-going game with the intention of helping or working with other players in the game by prior agreement.
(b) Account holders are not allowed to invite another account holder to join an on-going game with the intention that they work together in that game.

11. Coaching/Teaching. Account holders are not allowed to use Ranked or No Rank games to teach the game to others.
See Adaptations for different Game Categories

12. All players in the game should be treated equally. Account holders are not allowed to treat other players in a game specially or differently because of existing or past relationships.
NB: We accept that, human nature being what it is, it may be that it is easier to trust someone who you know and that it is difficult to trust someone who has betrayed you before; what we are looking at here is clear evidence that actions in a game are based on these relationships.

13. Persistent Alliances & Team Play.
(a) Entering several games with the same account holder(s) and creating similar alliances is not allowed.
(b) Playing as a team (that is, consistently working together across several games) is not allowed. This includes working together to eliminate opposition and then ‘fighting it out’.
NB1: The guidelines are that no more than 1 game in 5 should feature similar alliances, have similar outcomes or the same pattern of alliances.
NB2: The above is ONLY a guideline, however. Should an investigation show clear evidence that 12(a) or 12(b) are being broken, action will be taken regardless of the number or proportion of games involved.

14. Cross-game Interactions.
(a) Account holders are not allowed to form alliances across games (eg “We’re in two games together so let’s work together in both of them”).
(b) Account holders are not allowed to exchange favours across games (eg “If you do this for me in this game, I will do this for you in that game”).
(c) Account holders are not allowed to enter a new game, or join an on-going game, with the aim of attacking a specific player in that game in retaliation for events or actions in a past or current game, or in response to events outside of the game.
(d) Threatening actions, reprisals or retaliation in a game for events or actions in a past or current game, or in response to events outside of the game, is not allowed.
(e) Threatening actions, reprisals or retaliation in future games for events or actions in a past or current game, or in response to events outside of the game, is not allowed.

15. Cross-game Information Sharing.
(a) Exchanging any information across active games is not allowed, whether the players involved share both games or not.
(b) Sharing ‘secret’ information from active or archived games on any player in the game is not allowed (eg Player A shares information on Player B with Player C from power-to-power messages in another game that Players A and B shared).
(c) Referring a player to another game using the game’s name or number is not allowed.
NB1: Secret information is any information that cannot be found in Public Press or Stats, eg passing-on information from power-to-power messages.
NB2: Whilst references to specific games is not allowed, general references to another player’s style of play, which could be found by reviewing her/his play in games or stats, is allowed.

16. Threatening to Report Cheating. Threatening to report a player for cheating unless s/he acts in a specific way in the game (eg blackmailing a player so that s/he acts in a certain way) is not allowed.

17. Hijacking a game - joining an on-going game and taking malicious action - is not allowed. This includes:
(a) Entering orders to deliberately disrupt a game and then leaving the game.
(b) Entering orders to attack a specific player in response to events or actions in a past or current game, or in response to events outside of the game, and then leaving.
(c) Sending malicious messages to a specific player in response to events or actions in a past or current game, or in response to events outside of the game, including then leaving.
(d) Sending malicious Public Press, including then leaving the game.

These are supplementary to the General Rules.

1. Anonymous Games.
There are two types of anonymous games: Anonymous Players where everything about the game is anonymous - names of the players involved and the powers they play. Gunboat and Public Press Only games also fall into this category. Anonymous Countries allows players to see who has joined a game but not which power they are playing.
(a) In any anonymous game there may be issues when reporting games for bugs, potential cheating, etc. Players should report these games contacting the SITE HELP! team from your Private Messages window or use the anonymous Dolph Shtoss account
(b) Once the game has started, players may choose to claim a particular identity in Public Press or in-game messaging (if available), but of course they may be lying!
(c) Players must not reveal their participation outside of the game, for example on the Forum.

2. Gunboat Games.
No explicit communication is allowed in a Gunboat game, including out-of-game communication.

3. Public Press Only (PPO) Games.
In these games, the only explicit communication allowed is through the Public Press box (or Shoutbox).

4. Fog of War Games.
In these games, players are not supposed to know what is happening in areas of the map that are “fogged”. Whilst information may be passed on within the communication rules of the game, if those communication rules are broken, or if there is evidence that a screenshot has been taken and passed on to other players in the game, action will be taken.

These are modifications to the General Rules.

RANKED GAMES.
Full General Rules apply.
NB: There is nothing to prevent a group of friends playing in any game, regardless of category PROVIDING THE HOUSE RULES ARE FOLLOWED. The only guidance to add to this is that, should a player drop out of the game and a replacement enter the game, then it is extremely important all players observe the General Rules. For instance, should a new player enter a game and be seen to be targeted by the existing players, especially when an alliance is changed to allow this to happen, this will possibly be seen as meta-gaming, dependent upon other evidence available to the Moderators.

NO RANK GAMES.
Full General Rules normally apply with the following exceptions:
(a) Role-playing games or games set-up with specific situations.
These games (eg WWI simulations) are allowed, even if they contravene normal General Rules. However, to set-up such a game the person arranging the game MUST specify what is happening in the game description.
(b) Games between friends.
It may be that a group of friends want to play a full game but don't have enough in their group to do so. In this case, where normal General Rules may be infringed in some way, it is allowed that a No Rank game be set up. Again, the situation MUST be explained in the game description so that members joining the game are aware that they may be entering a game where expectations may be different. We suggest also reminding players in the game of that situation using Public Press. If the players intend to follow the full General Rules this is not necessary, as per the note in (1) above.

NB: In both RANKED and NO RANK games, setting a password is not enough to allow members to break site rules. Passwords in these games only prevent members who do not have the password from joining the game at the start; should a player leave the game, the position is advertised openly and any site member can join the game.

FRIENDS GAMES.
(a) These games are not routinely investigated for cheating and they will not be investigated if reported for cheating.
(b) These games are exempt from investigation for Team Accounts and meta-gaming (rule 3 and rules 8-17 of the Fair Play Section A rules).
(c) Should accounts involved in a Friends game be found to be break any Site Rules in:
- a Ranked game,
- a No Rank game, or
- any way which does not involve game play
this may affect the Friends game.
(d) Accounts removed from a Friends game are allowed to re-enter that game once any sanctions have been taken.
(e) Passwords in Friends games last for the duration of the game. Only players with the password can enter the game at any time.

SCHOOLS GAMES.
Schools games are used as part of a class-based project or to as part of the mentoring programme.

(a) These games are not routinely investigated for cheating and they will not be investigated if reported for cheating.
(b) These games are exempt from investigation for Team Accounts and meta-gaming (rule 3 and rules 8-17 of the Fair Play Section A rules).
(c) Accounts removed from a Schools game are allowed to re-enter that game once any sanctions have been taken.
(d) Passwords in Schools games last for the duration of the game. Only players with the password can enter the game at any time.
(e) Teachers are not allowed to play in a Schools game. To do so would require setting up a multiple account, which is not allowed under any circumstances other than for official Schools accounts.
(f) The site allows Teachers to create official Schools games and accounts to play in them. Information for this can be seen here. Accounts created this way are official Schools accounts. These accounts will never be disabled or investigated.
(g) Any other system used to create accounts to play in a Schools game does not prevent site action taken against these accounts. These accounts are Personal accounts and must work within the Site Rules. Should any action be taken against these accounts, this will affect Schools games.
(h) Any person who uses an official Schools account is allowed to open a Personal account also.

These are supplementary to the General Rules.

1. Games should not be avoidably influenced by actions or events on the Forum. Account holders must not deliberately (in the opinion of site management) use the Forum to influence a game.

2. If a Moderator clears any member of cheating, further accusations must not be made without new evidence. Further requests may only be made on the Forum or via Private Message if new evidence develops.

3. Members are not allowed to use a Forum investigation to explicitly influence the game, including an investigation which has been resolved and the game or members cleared.

4. Members are not allowed to falsely accuse other players of cheating in a public format - on the Forum or via Public Press. If site management feel that an accusation has been made to deliberately affect the game, action will be taken.

5. No discussion of cheating should ever be raised in Public Press.
NB: Should an accusation of cheating be raised in Public Press, members should report this by using the 'Report Inappropriate' button in the Public Press box.

6. Members must not post false bug reports in the Bugs forum in an attempt to change the course of the game or to support dis-information provided in a game.
6.1 Members needing to post possible bug reports relating to draw proposals in Secret Ballot games. If members feel that there is a possible bug, they must send a Private Message to the SITE HELP! group rather than posting on the Forum, or use the anonymous Dolph Shtoss account.

7. When posting in the Strategy or Rules forums players should not provide a link to an active game, or provide specific game information such as name or number.

8. In the Strategy forum players must not refer to an active game situation.

9. In the Rules forum, players must not ask questions linked specifically to an active game situation. Questions should be limited to questions requesting clarification of the rules of play and not be requests for help in a game situation.

10. When advertising for replacement players on the Forum, members must not give instructions as to what a prospective replacement should do in the game or suggest a possible alliance as an incentive.

11. No post on the Forum should describe actions within an active game. After Action Reports should only be made when the game has ended; similarly, comments on players and their actions in games should not be made for active games.

12. Members are not allowed to threaten players who they suspect of cheating with reporting them and use this to blackmail players to affect the game.

13. When needing to report an anonymous game, including Gunboat and Public Press Only games, players must send a Private Message to the SITE HELP! group rather than posting on the Forum, or use the anonymous Dolph Shtoss account. This is to prevent anonymity being unnecessarily broken.

14. Members are not allowed to use the Forum Private Message (PM) system to discuss any matter relating to a game, except when requiring assistance from site management. Exceptions to this rule are:
- sending relevant information (eg password) BEFORE the game starts;
- relevant information sent between a member in a game and a potential temporary substitute;
- relevant information sent between a mentor and members in an official Mentor game.

There are rules posted within sections of the Forum where care needs to be taken over what is posted; please take note of them.

See also: Forum Rules and Guidelines under Fair Use.

If an account holder feels that a decision has been made in error, there is an appeals process.
1. Reply to the email and state the case. This should include all relevant evidence to explain why you were NOT cheating. This may lead to further contact so be prepared to explain the situation fully and for more email exchanges.
2. Alternatively, if the result of the investigation has been posted in the Cheaters forum you may be able to state your case there. This may lead to site management contacting you by Private Message on the site’s Forum system or by email.
3. If the investigator wishes to get a second opinion, s/he may ask other Moderators or Administrators for advice.
4. If you feel you want an Administrator (or other Administrator) to review the situation, you may request this. The investigator will pass on the information and ask for the investigation to be reviewed.
5. Once an appeals decision has been reached, however, that decision is final.

Remember these points:
- The status of your account – whether you are a Premium member or a non-Premium member – does not matter: everyone is expected to follow the site’s rules. The site is under no obligation to refund a member who has taken out a Premium account if site rules are broken.
- Ignorance of the rules is no defence. There is a summary of them on the games site with a link to the full rules on the Forum. It is the member’s responsibility to be aware of them; they are the conditions you implicitly agree to when playing on site.
- At any point, if you are abusive towards an investigator this will be passed on to an Administrator. All communication between you and the investigator will cease. The Administrator will investigate the situation and take any appropriate action.

Any additions or changes to the above rules will be placed in this post, with the date from which the modification is effective.

30 December, 2015
Section D. SEPARATING GAMES FROM THE FORUM
Rule 6.1 added:
6.1 Members needing to post possible bug reports relating to draw proposals in Secret Ballot games. If members feel that there is a possible bug, they must send a Private Message to the SITE HELP! group rather than posting on the Forum, or use the anonymous Dolph Shtoss account.

Rule 13 amended:
13. When needing to report an anonymous game, including Gunboat and Public Press Only games, players must send a Private Message to the SITE HELP! group rather than posting on the Forum, or use the anonymous Dolph Shtoss account. This is to prevent anonymity being unnecessarily broken.
Previous version:

13. When needing to report an anonymous game, including Gunboat and Public Press Only games, players should send a Private Message to the SITE HELP! group rather than posting on the Forum ,or use the anonymous Dolph Shtoss account. This is to prevent anonymity being unnecessarily broken.

Rule 14 added:
14. Members are not allowed to use the Forum Private Message (PM) system to discuss any matter relating to a game, except when requiring assistance from site management. Exceptions to this rule are:
- sending relevant information (eg password) BEFORE the game starts;
- relevant information sent between a member in a game and a potential temporary substitute;
- relevant information sent between a mentor and members in an official Mentor game.