Updated Code of Conduct

Okay, here is the central question:

Do you think that players should face no possible official sanction for playing in a way which is disrespectful to their team-mates?

Things I am NOT asking:

- anything about whether the other players in the game should also police this, as well as anything official
- exactly what constitutes disrespect to one's own team
- exactly who makes such a judgement
- whether such sanctions would be consistently applied

If the answer is that "no, moderator action against a player who is disrespectful to their team is sometimes justified" then we can quibble about under what circumstances and what form such action should take.

If the answer is "yes, moderators should not take action against a player who is disrespectful to their team" then I guess we can welcome back the legion of Anteep smurfs...

I think there is a misunderstanding here about the scope of banning strategies. To clarify: the only people who have a say about the strategy used by a team are the members of that team. Opposing teams, or the larger community, cannot ban strategies for being 'cheap' or OP. They cannot ban strategies at all. The majority of players do not have a say in whether a particular team uses a strategy.

The "high risk strategy" paragraph only talks about strategy decisions within a team. The intention is to make players able to legitimately call someone out when they take agency from their teammates by implementing a particularly risky strategy. This is because the strategic decision making process within a team has an asymmetry which allows it to be dominated by those who want to do highly risky things. A single player is able to risk the game on a move when the rest of the team wants to do something else. This can suck fun out of the game for the rest of the team.

This has no bearing on what strategies a team can possibly perform. Risky strategies can be fun and if a team agrees on it they can have a great time implementing one. Even if nobody explicitly agrees then doing your fun, risky, thing is probably fine. The problem cases arise when most members of a team gets sick of these risks (whether they involve an early rush or early construction of something big) and want to play a more normal game.

quote: ... These strategies may or may not work. Generaly, the game end very fast. Strangely, people are incoherent. If it works, Firepluk is a big star (lol ca with ramp, Firepluk is so good, etc...). And if it fails too much, Chesti become mad, people blame Firepluk and democracy kick him So, what is the point with all of those strategies? Example : if a com nap fails in a 2v2 after 30sec (+resign just after because game is really over at this point), does it break the coc? Thanks to clarify

This depends heavily on the order of events. If Firepluk does something (not entirely stupid) and people complain afterwards then they should have voiced their complaints when he embarked on the risky move. On the other hand if he is going to do a crazy move and the rest of his team would rather he doesn't then they should get a say. A single player should not control all the important decisions of a team.

so when a new player makes an air factory near the front and an admin adds the label "lobster lobs", are we still supposed to take all of this code of conduct seriously? I'm talking about a game from a few hours ago.

Doesnt that already break the COC on so many levels?

1. Respect other players


Zero-K is a multi-player community and as such we should attempt to create a positive, welcoming and friendly gaming environment at all times. When questioning others actions or opinions, do so respectfully and thoughtfully. Do not blame others for a loss or insult other players.

Above example breaks this.


2. Help newbies


Offer new players friendly advice and help them with any issues they may have. It is encouraged for you to take on a mentor mindset and teach them how to play. Be forgiving to players who have trouble pulling their weight and try to give them advice on how they can best help the team and improve their game.

Above example breaks this.


regardless of the 1v1 server or experimental, the COC was broken and to make matters worse it was by an Admin.

heres the replay http://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/412935

quote: I think the code of conduct is inadequate

I think what words excactly are in the rules does not matter much because most should be common sense.
"Do not cheat / Do not insult / Help newbies / blabla" : All that should be obvious and natural.
I wonder what kind of people need such things written down?
You can further detail it and mix the words, but the text is not the problem.
Enforcing the rules is the problem, and admins fail on three points:

1) So much talk about "risky strategies", but matches are ruineds by behaviour that can not be defined as strategy at all.
High-level-players suiciding Commander(s) in most obvious ways, on purpose not helping allies while constantly putting "lolol" markers, such stuff are not "risky strategies."
That is shitty griefing and throwing the game, nothing else.
Stop calling it "risky strategy" because it is the same downplaying as when teamkilling got called "trolling" instead of "griefshit."

2) On other hand, harmless stuff gets turned into hyperboles.
A player says he made a widget that prints 1 (one) chatline at gamestart: Mute he, and justify it with "spam scripts."
Player resigns and says something about game which is clearly over, nobody cares, but someone uninvolved needs to make a fuzz about "spec cheat."

3) Admins chat is sometimes just as bad as trolls:
Troll says: "I am going to do resign troll shit today looool"
Admin says: "Lets look what resign troll shit XYZ will do today looool"

quote: heres the replay http://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/412935

An admin sees his ally put a "wtf" marker on a new (first match) teammate. What does he do? Puts his own marker.

And afterwards:
-"lobster team"
-"too much nabstack"
What else to expect when all commanders are named "Resign Lobsters!"
This is a small troll for sfireman, but a huge troll for a mapfeaturer. sfireman might never become admin but his spirit already is.

The other problem of enforcing the rules, is not having clear objective data, or taking into account proportionality, terms get fuzzied and distorted into things they are not.

Problems get defined by the shrill minority rather and the consequences of the solution are generally not considered.

Rules are a double edged sword, a badly defined rule or one that has other unintended consequences is worse than no rule at all. Atleast then the matter can be left to the mods discretion and he can make an appropriate decision, a rule forces you into a dogmatic approach that may serve to undermine your position.

Zero-K Code of Conduct (proposed)

Zero-K strives to create a welcoming and friendly gaming environment. This Code of Conduct outlines our expectations for members of the Zero-K community. We ask that you abide by this code in public games, in public chat, and in the public forums.

1. Respect Other Players

Be mindful of your language and tone when talking with others. Good-natured banter is tolerated; being hostile and abusive is not. Be especially polite with new players: do not insult them or otherwise make them feel unwelcome.

Don't be hostile or abusive when other players play poorly or ignore your advice. Don't blame others for a loss. Don't direct your frustration at others.

When spectating, respect the players' right to play without disruption. Do not heckle. Avoid excessive public commentary, and avoid all public commentary if the players want you to stop interrupting. When playing or in a battleroom, do not excessively call votes. Do not flood chat with messages or otherwise attempt to annoy others or disrupt games.

We do not tolerate language that is abusive, bigoted, racist or sexist.

2. Help New Players

Offer new players friendly advice. Help them with any issues they may have. Mentor them and teach them how to play. Be forgiving of their mistakes and be sympathetic when they fail to perform well.

When playing with new players on your team, offer them advice on how they can best help the team and improve their game. However, do not expect or demand that they follow your advice, and do not insult or abuse them if they do not listen to you.

3. Cooperate With Your Team

When playing in a team game, do your best to coordinate with your teammates and to work for the mutual success of the whole team. Communicate your intentions. Ask for help when needed and offer it to others when they need it. Understand that not everyone on your team will be willing or able to communicate and cooperate to the same degree; have patience with them and do your best even so.

Do not pursue all-or-nothing strategies without the consent of your team. Gambling the game on a risky move without their consent robs your teammates of their agency. You're free to try any strategy as long as you inform your team and they agree to it. The more risky, extreme, or unusual the strategy is, the more important it is to obtain your team's agreement before you start.

Do not resign just because an early risky strategy failed. Such failures are often salvageable. If the rest of your team wants to try to salvage it, resigning would be disrespectful; they are counting on the whole team to play the full game.

Do not grief. Do not teamkill. Do not try to make your team lose. Do not sabotage your team or any of your teammates. Do not do things in a game just to cause problems for other players. Do not deliberately play poorly in order to ruin the game. Note that using strategies or tactics that others disagree with is not griefing and is allowed, as long as you are attempting in good faith to play well and are not trying to ruin others' enjoyment of the game.

4. Maintain Fairness

Do not cheat. Cheating includes using any method that would give you information that is usually obscured by the fog of war. Helper widgets that control your units, sound warnings, place marks etc. are fine. If you make a particularly useful widget it is nice to release it to the community. Zero-K is built on open source and this is one of the ways we receive improvements.

Avoid giving out information while spectating unless you are sure that all participants in the game would not mind. If you resign and begin spectating, leave your former team to play out the remainder of the game without your input. Even innocuous-seeming information can sway a game, so it is best to be cautious. Feel free to discuss the game in spectator chat (Alt + Enter).

5. Abide by Moderator Actions

Moderator arbitration is intended to resolve disputes, not prolong them; as such, we expect you to respect and abide by their decisions. Do not try to avoid penalties such as mutes and bans by using other accounts; mute/ban dodging of any kind is punishable by immediate banning of any alternate accounts used and an extension or increase in the original penalty.

Moderators use their best judgement in deciding when to impose penalties and how severe to make them. They consult with each other to ensure their judgement is appropriate and fair. When reviewing potential violations of this Code of Conduct, moderators apply the spirit rather than the letter of the law. Warnings are preferred over penalties, but penalties can and will be applied where warnings are ignored or the severity of the violation warrants it. New players are given the benefit of the doubt; repeat offenders and verbally abusive players are not.

If you feel a moderator has acted unfairly, you should bring it up through the appropriate channels [NEED EXPLANATION OF WHAT THOSE CHANNELS ARE]. Please be respectful to all parties when discussing the issue. Do not make forum threads complaining about the penalty, the moderator, or the rest of the moderation and administration team.

In the OP, GoogleFrog said

quote: This version is longer than my ideal end result.

My proposed version is even longer, but I think it should be. Here's why.

The CoC is primarily a tool for the moderators. It lets them know what the community standards are so they can determine when someone has violated them and should be warned or sanctioned. It is only secondarily for the players, for two reasons: a) most players will never read it, and b) most players will never run afoul of the community standards anyway. As Knorke pointed out elsewhere, the CoC is mostly stuff that everyone already knows they shouldn't do.

There are some edge cases, though. Things where some people might reasonably have different expectations as to what is allowed or forbidden. Things where moderators have to use their judgement, but their judgements might reasonably differ. Those are the cases where the CoC needs to provide additional guidance, so that moderators can be consistent and correct in their application of the community standards.

That doesn't mean that the CoC needs to explicitly make a ruling on every possible thing. As many have pointed out over the years, taking that approach is simply an invitation for bad actors to find new and previously unconsidered loopholes to excuse their bad behavior. Moderators still need to apply their judgement and use the CoC as guidelines, following the spirit and not the letter. But the CoC can and should be more of a body of guidelines than just having the one rule of "don't be a jerk".

In particular, where the CoC should provide the most explicit guidance is in exactly those cases where there has been disagreement, misunderstanding, or controversy in the past. Those are the cases that most need clarification, and that clarification should live (in as concise a form as possible while still providing clarity) in the CoC. I've tried to do that in my proposed version. Most of what's in it is stuff that has come up time and time again in the forums, as the admins and players discuss and dispute them amongst themselves. If I included it, it's because I firmly believe it needs to be included.

Feedback welcome.

Possible improved TLDR:

Summary

• Be respectful to others.

*

• Be polite.
• Help new players.
• Be patient with new players.
• Cooperate with your team.
• Respect players when spectating.

*

• Don't cheat.
• Don't grief.
• Don't rage.
• Don't spam.

*

• Don't be disruptive.
• Don't go all-in without your team's agreement.
• Don't resign without your team when your all-in fails.
• Don't reveal information when spectating.
• Don't dodge your penalties.

I suggest the "Here's the CoC" popup that you get when the lobby installer runs should just display this summary, and say "The full Code of Conduct is available on the Zero-K website" or something similar.