B  v  stion

Community guidelines apply to any and all services we (BastionRP) provide for our community (unless stated otherwise), but do not apply to IC situations and events. BastionRP services include, but are not limited to: our game servers, forums, Discord servers, Steam groups, and any other places of official congregation for BastionRP community members (such as on personal livestreams).

1.1 - Due to the mature content and themes displayed within BastionRP services, BastionRP requires its users to be, at minimum, 16 years old.

1.2 - All users must have only one forum account, and only one Steam/Discord account can be linked to your forum account. The creation of alternate accounts in order to evade bans applied to your account will lead only to lengthier bans, and/or the removal of your right to appeal your ban(s).

1.3 - We require our members to be polite and mature, and treat each other with respect at all times. It is therefore forbidden to:

• 1.3.1 - Flame, flamebait, or participate in the flaming of our members.
• 1.3.2 - Discriminate against another member, especially regarding their race, nationality, sexuality, gender, age, political views, or disability.
• 1.3.3 - Use racial, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise markedly offensive or taboo terms or slurs.
• 1.3.4 - Leak personal or identifying information belonging to another member without their permission.
• 1.3.5 - Bully, harass, demean, or belittle another member, or their viewpoints, opinions, and ideas, for any reason.
• 1.3.6 - Troll, provoke, or bait our members into situations or conversations in which they feel forced to defend themselves or their views.
• 1.3.7 - Intentionally bypass word filters in place to prevent certain terms or words from being posted.

 

1.4 - When interacting with our services, you should always attempt to adhere to the below guidelines. Some of these apply strictly to the forums (when mentioning “posts”, “threads”, etc), others apply to all OOC services.

• 1.4.1 - Use common sense. Do not make irrelevant, unhelpful, or meaningless posts, especially when the potential to derail ongoing or clearly serious discussions is high.
• 1.4.2 - We ask that all our members refrain from creating or encouraging drama. If you have a personal issue with another user, use the PM function, or bring the issue to a member of the Staff Team.
• 1.4.3 - Do not double post; use the “edit post” function if you want to add additional information to your post/thread.
• 1.4.4 - All threads should have descriptive and accurate titles.
• 1.4.5 - Do not spam. This includes spamming PMs, notifications, or votes.
• 1.4.6 - Do not ask to be given credits for your posts. Similarly, do not encourage your friends to give you their credits in order to inflate your Community Reputation.
• 1.4.7 - Swearing, while generally permitted, should still be kept civil, respectful, and non-excessive.
• 1.4.8 - Refrain from posting spoilers of any kind. If posting a spoiler, use the spoiler function. If not immediately obvious, warn users of the potential contents of your spoiler (e.g. the name of the piece of media your spoiler pertains to).
• 1.4.9 - Do not reply to threads that have been inactive for 3 months (meaning no new posts have been made in the thread for the last 3 months) unless you have relevant content to add. This is referred to as a “necroposting”, or “necro”. This rule does not apply in our Off Topic board, or to status updates.

 

1.5 - If you have been granted access to a private board (such as a private group board) or a private Bastion-affiliated Discord server, you must not leak the content from within these boards/servers.

1.6 - Do not advertise, excessively self-promote, share referral codes, exploit bugs, search for vulnerabilities, or otherwise disrupt the functionality of our services. Similarly, the posting of malicious code, programs or links is not allowed.

• 1.6.1 - Exemptions may be granted to our advertising rule on a case-by-case basis at Administrator+ discretion, and will only appear in the #advertise channel on our Discord.

 

1.7 - All content posted or linked to our services must be Safe for Work (SFW); the only exception to this rule is within the #memes channel on our Discord server.

1.8 - Do not impersonate staff members while using BastionRP services, or attempt to imitate their likenesses (e.g. posting “warnings” or abusing Forum Privilege Packages to change your title, avatar, profile, etc to imitate staff ranks).

1.9 - Do not harbor or assist players who have received a permanent or extended ban on BastionRP services. If you knowingly come into contact with a banned player (e.g. using an alternate account), you are required to report them to a staff member.

1.10 - After posting an application (in order to whitelist, join the staff team or the ISF, etc), it is frowned upon to bother the reviewers of such applications to review your application(s). Please bear in mind that reviewers generally have more responsibilities than only reviewing applications.

Fair Play rules are designed to ensure all of our members play and roleplay fairly, with the interest of keeping the game fun and interesting for as many parties as possible. We do not tolerate an "us versus them" mentality out-of-character; we expect our players to play and roleplay with fairness and respect for the person on the other end of the screen.

 

2.1 - Recent (within the last year) VAC bans associated with your Steam account(s) may be taken into account upon undertaking our whitelist. We reserve the right to deny any user access to our community based solely on this factor.

2.2 - Cheating, hacking, or tampering with local/server files on the BastionRP servers, or any DayZ server, will result in an immediate and permanent ban from BastionRP services.

2.3 - You may not exploit bugs/glitches or abuse gameplay mechanics for any reason. This is referred to as “abuse of game mechanics” (AOGM). Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Loot cycling/farming;
• Duplication of items;
• Map bugs, such as using unintended exits to the city or exploiting “disappearing objects”;
• Placing objects (such as storage containers or a tent) inside impossible-to-reach areas, using them as indestructible cover, or using them to deny entry to a building or location, or;
• Using server or client instability to gain any unfair advantage in RP or combat that you would not normally have had (e.g. flanking enemies in a firefight, abandoning RP, or escaping your restraints because you logged in quicker than your captors).

2.4 - If you crashed or disconnected from ongoing RP/combat for a legitimate reason, you should make reasonable attempts to log back in. If you cannot do so, attempt to notify the individual(s) who you were RPing with either publicly or privately via our Discord.

• 2.4.1 - If you experience a server crash or restart during a firefight, you may continue fighting immediately after logging in, but must adhere to the “unfair advantage” example in rule 2.3.

2.5 - Always remember: this is just a game, and we expect all of our players to be able to differentiate between OOC and IC. Feuding with another character IC is never a reason to dislike or treat the individual playing that character differently OOC. The same rule also applies conversely; your OOC grievances are never a reason to target that person or treat them differently IC.

2.6 - Destroying the gameplay experience for other players by repeatedly killing them just because you can, or needlessly giving them a hard time over their transgressions against you without giving them any opportunity to redeem themselves is frowned upon. Whilst we understand there will always be rivalries and hostilities IC, you should always do your best to ensure that the game is fun for everyone, not just you.

2.7 - If you are on the receiving end of some hostilities, don’t be a sore loser, and always maintain separation of IC and OOC. Gear and items can always be replaced, and characters lost through a permadeath, whilst sometimes painful, can give you the opportunity to try something new, or may create RP for others following your character’s death.

Roleplay rules apply primarily to IC roleplay happening within our game server(s), but contain considerations that must be acknowledged at an OOC level. Attaining high-quality roleplay is our top priority here at BastionRP, and we expect our members to hold the same priority.

 

3.1 - Few limits are placed on what you can and can’t do when in-character on our servers, however, we have a zero tolerance policy towards usage of markedly offensive and/or taboo slurs. This rule stands primarily to ensure that live streamers playing on our servers are not banned from the site(s) they choose to stream on.

• 3.1.1 - Intentionally seeking out streamers (via “stream sniping”) in order to do this will result in extremely harsh punishments imposed against you.

3.2 - We expect all our members to maintain a good quality of roleplay while playing on our servers. Failure to do this falls under the catch-all term “BadRP”. BadRP can be either intentional or unintentional; both breaks use the same term, but more lenient punishments will generally be applied to those inexperienced in RP. Players who should know better but continue to exhibit low RP quality out of choice will receive a standard punishment. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Refusing or ignoring another player’s attempts to roleplay with you without a good IC reason to do so (such as believing you are about to be robbed);
• Providing minimal roleplay to characters attempting to roleplay with you, such as one-word responses;
• Consistently behaving inappropriately in a situation that call for seriousness, or;
• Refusing to roleplay appropriate levels of fear or pain. If you cannot roleplay pain vocally, use text to convey it. Excuses such as “my character was in the military and so is used to this”, or “my character cannot feel pain” will not be accepted.

The intention of the BadRP rule is not to punish players new to roleplay. We understand that this is just a game, and thus, roleplaying is just a hobby. We do, however, want to ensure roleplay quality within our servers is as high and as immersive as possible.

3.3 - You may not go OOC while in-game over voice communications. In emergency situations, or situations that require permissions or clarification, you may begin a text message within the server with either “OOC” or “.//” to signify your OOC communications. Going OOC through text is not intended for casual discussions of any kind. For example:

• Typing “.// AFK 3 minutes”, or “OOC I need to go soon” is acceptable.
• Saying “OOC I need to go AFK” is unacceptable.
• Typing “OOC did you see the new John Wick though?” is unacceptable.

3.4 - You must, at all times, value the life and general well-being of your character. Failing to do so is referred to as “no value for life” (NVFL). Do not place yourself into immediately fatal yet easily avoidable scenarios. Examples include, but are not limited to: 

• Trying to win an open gunfight while being heavily outnumbered and/or outgunned;
• Excessively insulting your captors, or refusing to comply when noncompliance has a high chance of leading to your death;
• Attempting supreme feats of athleticism or parkour where risk far outweighs any benefits, or;
• Running into an ongoing firefight between two sides you have no affiliation with, especially with the intention of looting corpses.
• Failure to value the life of your character, when decided by staff in a report verdict, will result in your character’s permanent death alongside any other punishments.

3.5 - You may not act in a trollish manner while in-character. Trolling can be differentiated from BadRP by looking at the intentions of a player’s actions; trolling is always intentional, is performed in order to elicit a negative reaction from another player for the “entertainment” of the troll, and is sometimes motivated by OOC reasons. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Upsetting or annoying players for the sole reason of upsetting or annoying them;
• Shooting someone in the leg or knocking them unconscious without an IC reason to do so because you know it will frustrate them;
• Getting shot and running around in circles while saying “fuck you” or “your aim is garbage” repeatedly, and;
• Consistently being unnecessarily difficult or uncooperative towards ISF officers, such as talking extremely slowly to waste their time.

3.6 - You may not metagame. Metagaming can be defined as “purposely using or relaying any information that your character did not learn or cannot otherwise know IC”. An example of this would be acting on any OOC information discovered via a live stream, Discord chat, TeamSpeak channel, or on the forums. We ask that all our users take extreme care when considering what IC information to publicize, as metagaming can very easily be acted upon subconsciously.

• 3.6.1 - When using OOC communications, such as Discord or TeamSpeak, while in an active RP situation (including firefights), you must "double-mic", or say everything you are saying through OOC communications in VOIP. You may set your in-game voice range to “whisper” while doing this.
• 3.6.2 - If unconscious, restrained, dead, or in any other situation where it would be impossible to use your radio (such as having your hands up), you may not transmit any OOC communications to anyone via any external application(s).

3.7 - You may not powergame. Powergaming can be defined as “forcing an action, reaction, condition, state, or attribute on another character without their written consent”. Written consent can be acquired by using OOC communications while in-game - e.g. “.// Do I have permission to permanently scar your character’s cheek with the word ‘RAT’?”. The opposing character has the choice to either grant or deny your request. Powergaming does not apply to injuries applied by in-game mechanics, such as firearms, tasers, melee weapons, fists, etc, where the victim has full control over the extent and effects of their injuries. Examples of this include:

• Permanently scarring another character, or removing a part of their body, such a finger;
• Force-feeding another character an item that will cause them negative effects (such as a disease or illness). A list of all items that cause these negative effects can be found here, and;
• Killing a character, and then bringing up the fact that they should be dead the next time you meet them.

We ask that our players think of creative and unique ways to punish or torture other characters. Any injuries you inflict should not be excessively debilitating (unless you have consent to do so), and should not seek to make a character “unplayable”. While all players have the option to decline such injuries, there should always be a reasonable amount of openness and negotiation to receiving an injury or scar. Repeatedly and unreasonably declining such injuries is not acceptable, and may be deemed BadRP if reported.

3.8 - If your character is killed but is not permadeathed, you are expected to use the New Life Rule (NLR). NLR seeks to avoid any awkward IC situations that may arise due to your character’s death. Upon respawning, the events that led up to your death, including the person/people responsible for your death, are not remembered. 

• 3.8.1 - Returning to an active roleplay situation you died in (either as the same or another character) is prohibited. If the situation has concluded, you may return to that location after 30 minutes of OOC time have elapsed.
• 3.8.2 - Returning to your body in order to retrieve your gear is not acceptable, at any time. If your friends manage to secure your gear, you may retrieve it when the cooldown timer on your dead character has elapsed. You may not retrieve your gear on any other character you play.

3.9 - Erotic roleplay (ERP) of any kind is not allowed. Erotic roleplay defines roleplay of an overtly sexual nature, performed via text and/or voice communications. If you wish to partake in a sexual act with another character, both players must consent, and you may:

• Fade to black (F2B), by typing “// F2B” or “OOC Fade to black” to signify the act’s occurrence. This should always be something that is done privately, with as few users as possible able to see the OOC text chat, or;
• Use an external communication application, such as Discord or Steam, to ERP however you wish.

Hostilities are interactions where the lives, well-being, or property of you or those close to you are being threatened. Hostile actions are complicated; making sure that hostilities come off as roleplay-enriching instead of detrimental and mean-spirited should be the top priority of anyone seeking to engage in this type of behavior.

4.1 - If you want to begin hostile actions against (and potentially gain the right to kill) another player or group of players, you must demonstrate your intentions to do so towards the opposing player(s) by using an “initiation”. Initiations must be clear and unambiguous, and must consist of a demand and a consequence. Consequences may also be inferred from some hostile actions. 

• A demand must be verbal. Examples of demands include: “put your hands up,” or “leave the area”.
• A consequence can be verbal, or can be inferred from actions. Examples of verbal consequences include: “or I’ll shoot you”, or “or I promise you’ll regret it”. Examples of consequences as actions include raising one’s weapon or fists at the opposing player(s).
• Assisting or participating with someone else's initiation in any way, such as providing clear overwatch or restraining someone, will be considered as an initiation in its own right. Anyone who wishes not to be associated with an initiation should immediately leave the scene of the initiation.
• Theft and vandalism of your own property is considered an initiation. This includes raids on a property you have access to (through the BastionHousing mod) or own.

Players subject to an initiation must be provided a reasonable amount of time to comply with the initiation before they can be killed for noncompliance.

4.2 - Kill rights can be gained on any player involved with an initiation on you, as well as any player who is noncompliant to your initiation. Additionally, kill rights can be shared between allies who can reach the scene of the initiation and engage the opposing party within 30 seconds of the initiation. Kill rights are not granted on hostages who comply with the demands of the initiator.

4.3 - Kill on Sight, or KoS, is strictly prohibited. KoS occurs when a player shoots another player entirely at random, without abiding by any of the rules laid out in this section of the rules.

4.4 - In the event that potentially lethal force is exchanged (a firefight or melee with the intent to kill), everyone associated with the initial initiation will have 30 minutes of kill rights if the hostile exchange happens inside the walls and 1 hour if outside the walls. This timer is reset every time potentially lethal force is exchanged again. However, characters not associated with the initial initiation must be initiated upon in order to gain kill rights. After the 30 minute or 1 hour timer is up, re-initiation is required.

4.5 - If hostilities are initiated and both parties leave the situation amicably, all rights to use lethal force based on the initiation are void.

4.6 - Rights to lethal force does not give you explicit permission to use them at all times if it does not make in-character sense to do so.

4.7 - In the event that an initiation of a hostile action leads to you capturing and restraining another person, be it physically or through the threat of violence, that person has become your hostage. You must do everything in your power to keep them alive (unless you are able to execute them, as detailed in rule 4.8), however, you are otherwise permitted to treat your hostage however you wish. If you intend to release your hostage, you must leave them with a realistic chance of survival. If you are outside the Bastion, you may not leave your released hostage without a gas mask, food and water, and anti-radiation medication.

4.8 - Hostages can only be executed in the following scenarios:

• Hostages do not comply with your demands after repeated requests, or they attempt to escape.
• Hostages pose a direct and immediate threat to you or the rest of your initiating party - for example, if they pick up a weapon when not told to do so.
• Hostages do not value their life - for example, if they repeatedly talk back to you or insult you despite being told to stop.
• The hostages' allies refuse to negotiate, refuse to comply with (reasonable) demands, or openly retaliate on you or the initiating party.
• If all criteria in section 5 have been fulfilled, hostages may be executed with the intent of permadeathing the hostage.

4.9 - A reasonable standard of RP must be upheld in all hostile situations. Do not perform quick, run-of-the-mill robberies that involve little to no interaction with your victim. This works both ways - as a victim, you must participate in the RP with the initiating party, and act with value for your life.

4.10 - Combat logging/respawning, or logging out/respawning to avoid the consequences of someone else's rights to lethal force on your character, is strictly prohibited. After a situation involving lethal force has ended, you must remain in-game for at least 20 minutes if you are inside the Bastion and 30 minutes if you are outside the Bastion. This rule can be ignored if the players involved in a situation give you permission to log out beforehand.

4.11 - Baiting, or attempting to blatantly provoke another player into initiating on you, is strictly prohibited.

4.12 - The ISF FOB (SEC-0) cannot be entered or attacked by non-ISF characters except in direct retaliation to an initiation by the ISF against you or an ally.

 

Permanent kills (PKs) are a mechanic used to achieve multiple goals. Firstly, PKs serve to keep stories constantly moving forwards, and prevent them from stagnating when they reach an impasse. Secondly, the threat of PKs are intended to provide realistic and harsh consequences to situations that normally result in, at most, the player simply respawning, regearing, and repeating their actions.

In order for a character to be permanently killed, all criteria outlined within this section of the rules must be fulfilled. Failure to adhere to even one of these criteria will result in an invalid PK. Invalid PKs will always result in the overturning of the PK, regardless of all other factors involved.

Criterion 1 - Your character must obtain a valid IC reason to kill another character. This reason must serve a substantial purpose; it should be more than simply ‘getting rid of’ someone. What does, and what does not constitute a valid in-character reason is entirely subjective based upon all circumstances and characters involved in any given situation.

The questions below may be useful in deciding whether or not you have a valid IC reason to PK another character:

• Does your target’s prior actions or behavior warrant their permanent death?
• Is your behavior proportionate to the amount of harm or potential harm they have caused, or could/will cause towards you?
• If you are able, have you attempted to resolve the situation at hand by other means prior to seeking a PK?
• Are you acting realistically, as an actual person in real life would?

If your answer to all of the above questions is “yes”, then your reasoning is likely valid. You may also wish to consider how you would feel if the situation at hand was reversed unto you - if you were in your target’s shoes, would the PK make sense? Would it be a fair conclusion to your story?

The most common situations that may put a character at risk of PK are:

• Committing certain crimes (as detailed in the ISF’s Penal Code), and then getting killed or executed for committing that crime by the ISF;
• Falling to X class, and then getting killed or executed by the ISF specifically for being X class;
• Being found to be a snitch, especially if already confronted and told to stop;
• Being killed while actively attacking another character with the intent to kill them;
• Going ‘rogue’ within a faction (with permission to do so from your faction leader), and;
• Being a member of a group ‘at war’ with another group.

Criterion 2 - You must perform the action of killing your target yourself. While you can be accompanied by any allies you choose when seeking to PK a character, you must be the one to ‘pull the trigger’. No other characters can act on your behalf in order to perform a successful PK.

Criterion 3 - All PKs must be conducted fully within the rules, and without any ulterior or OOC motives present. In other words, keep it clean, and keep it IC.

Criterion 4 - The IC reasoning behind a PK cannot be revealed OOC to the target by any involved party until after the PK has been accepted and administered by staff. 

If you believe that your PK request is valid, you should create a ticket in the #pk channel of our Discord and explain your reasoning using the template outlined inside of the Discord ticket. Include any and all reasoning you have for wanting to PK your target.

If you choose to, you are permitted to create a ticket prior to executing the PK in order to explain your reasoning.

If you have had your character PKed and are unsure why you were PKed, make a ticket in our Discord and ask us. If you disagree with the reasoning behind a PK, you are free to make a PK Appeal via our forums. If the PK on you is found to be invalid, or the player who PKed you did not have a valid IC reason to do so, the PK on your character will be overturned.

Players who consistently get other players PKed for inadequate reasons may receive warning points and/or bans. Always remember: PKs should be your last resort.

 

The Internal Security Forces (ISF) are a server function that is required to uphold the law, apply pressure against IC misconduct, and regulate “criminal” groups of all kinds. Without the ISF, our concept would cease to exist. Because of this, certain leniencies are afforded to the ISF to ensure they can fulfil their function as effectively as possible.

6.1 - The ISF shares kill rights across the entire map. This works both ways; if the ISF initiates hostilities on you, you and any of your allies who were involved with the original initiation gain kill rights on all ISF across the entire map.

6.2 - The ISF may immediately intervene to attempt to stop situations or crimes perpetrated by civilians that are actively putting other civilians' lives at risk. The ISF are not required to initiate or announce their presence in situations of this nature. This rule is generally applied solely to ongoing firefights (e.g. the ISF still require an initiation if you are just carrying a gun), but can be extended towards other potentially life-threatening actions dependent on Risk Evaluation Degree (RED) level.

6.3 - Risk Evaluation Degree (RED) is an in-character method used to reflect the general danger level of the city. RED ranges from 5 (normal) to 0 (complete chaos); ISF Command may change the RED level at will. RED levels result in in-character, on-the-fly alterations in conduct for the ISF, as well as alterations in OOC rules applied to the ISF. RED levels are detailed below:

• RED 4 - Lightly-armed ISF, no random searches, no detainment without reasonable suspicion, and the use of non-lethals as a first response. Punishments do not diverge from the penal code.
• RED 3 - Moderately-armed ISF (increase in firepower), reduced criteria for searching civilians.
• RED 2 - Heavily-armed ISF, general activation of Direct Action Response Team (DART). Civilians advised to head towards the muster station. Random searches permitted.
• RED 1 - Citizens in the streets can be met with lethal force from the ISF. Any order can be met with lethal force if not carried out in a timely manner.
• RED 0 - The situation is irreparable, and all citizens in the Bastion must be purged.

6.4 - If plainclothes members of the Strategic Intelligence Unit (SIU) are a part of a firefight led by other divisions of the ISF, they do not share kill rights gained from mass initiations from the ISF, civilians shooting at and/or initiating on ISF officers, or from RED levels. They must initiate on civilians individually if they wish to gain kill rights.

6.5 - Any existing combat log timer against an ISF trooper is void as long as they are inside of SEC-0 (the ISF base). Please note, however, that abuse of this rule (e.g. logging out for 10 minutes and then logging back in to void the timer) will result in a heftier punishment than the combat log punishment.

 

Character Rules apply OOC to our Character Pages, and IC to regulate players utilising our MultiCharacter mod to play multiple characters.

7.1 - All characters created via our Character Pages and played on our server must adhere to certain rules:

• All sections of the character page should be written seriously and with realism in mind;
• Character photos must be pictures of humans, and should be reflective of your character’s nationality, age, etc;
• Backstories must be, at minimum, 150 words in length. “Work in progress” backstories are permitted for a period of one week, and;
• All characters must be, in some way, flawed, and adhere to acceptable limitations.

7.2 - Characters made and played by the same individual are forbidden to be:

• Related by blood to one another;
• Friends with one another in any capacity, or;
• Aware of one another’s existence.

If you wish to play a character that breaks the above guidelines, you must seek approval from a member of staff holding the rank of Administrator or above. Similarly, if one of your characters is permanently killed, your new character cannot be made with the intention of “avenging” your previous character. Approval requests for this kind of character will be denied.

• 7.3 - The usage of “throwaway” characters is strictly forbidden. Throwaway characters are characters that are generally created to fulfil a specific purpose (usually causing trouble) while avoiding any meaningful repercussions for their actions.
• 7.4 - Players are not permitted to pass items between their own characters by dropping an item on one character and then logging in as another to retrieve the item.