[Ele]

Might as well list what they can and can't do. Exception Incidents (Section 8, as identified in the Velious edition) covers a lot of stuff.

8. Exception Incidents

8.1 Abuse

8.1.1 Abuse is defined as any activity that is exercised with the intent of disrupting the over all
play environment of one or more players.

8.1.1.1 Things that are Abuse:
.
• Hate Mongering – participation in or propagation of Hate literature, behavior, or propaganda
related to real –world characteristics.
• Sexual Abuse or Harassment – untoward and unwelcome advances of a graphic and sexual
nature. This includes virtual rape, overt sexual overtures, and stalking of a sexual nature.
• Attempting to Defraud a CS Representative - Petitioning with untrue information with the
intention of receiving benefits as a result. This includes reporting bug deaths, experience or
item loss, or accusing other players of wrongdoing without basis for it.
• Impersonating a Customer Service Representative – falsely representing yourself to another
player as a Guide or a SOE employee.
• CS Personnel Abuse -- sending excessive /tells to a CS Representative, excessively using
say or other channels to communicate to a CS Representative, making physical threats, or
using abusive language against a CS Representative.
• Using Threats of Retribution by GM Friends – attempting to convince another player that they
have no recourse in a disagreement because favoritism is shown to one of the parties by the
SOE or Guide staff.
• Fraud - falsely representing one’s intentions to make a gain at another’s expense
• Ninja-looting - when a player, disregarding the players or player who killed a mob, loots an
item that is generally regarded as significant or valuable from the mob they did not kill.

...

8.2 Disruption

8.2.1 Disruption is defined as any activity that is disruptive to the game play of others, though
not necessarily with the intent to do so. Disruption has been sub-categorized into major and
minor types.

8.2.1.1 Examples of Minor Disruption:

Non-Fantasy Names – Names that are not appropriate for the fantasy genre of EverQuest
Excessive Spam – Continued overuse of /ooc, /shout, or /auction over time such that many
players complain
Offensive Names – Names that are profanity in some form, including homonyms and anagrams
Kill Stealing – The killing of a mob for any reason that is already aggravated onto another player.

8.2.1.2 Examples of Major Disruption:

Foul Language – excessive use of foul language in an inappropriate context, including swear
words, real–world racial slurs, and other language that is not consistent with the fantasy
environment and designed to hurt.
Harassment – targeting another player, or group of players, to harm or inconvenience them
Zone/Area Disruption – monopolizing most or all of the kills in an area rather than stealing from
a specific player or group of players, deliberately blocking a doorway or narrow area so other
players can’t get past, refusing to cooperate with the other parties at a contested spawn site after
having been instructed to do so by a CS Representative

...

8.5 Exploitation

8.5.1 Exploitation is defined as abusing weaknesses in the game system to the advantage of
one or more players with the intention of profiting from them in some manner.

8.5.2 Examples of Exploitation:
• Duping – creation of money or items from nothing.
• Farming – using broken spells or spell effects to kill monsters, thus gaining experience from
them.
• Safe Zones – using areas of bad data in the game that have monsters behaving erratically
(such as running in place, running around, standing still, or any other behavior that has the
monster not defending itself) to kill said monsters with minimal danger to the attacker.
• Price Gouging – finding items that have anomalous pricing and abusing them, such as items
that sell for more than they cost to buy.
• PvP Switch Avoidance – Using in-game methods to work around the PvP switch and allowing
non-PvP players to kill other players, such as hall blocking, dumping of monsters, or spell
effects that cross that boundary due to a bug.

8.5.3 Things that are not Exploitation:
• Twinking – giving money or items from one character to another is not an exploitation, unless
the money is derived from one of the above activities. This activity will exist and is not
controllable by any reasonable means
• Camping – sitting in one spot to await the spawn of a monster or item.
• Slumming – hanging around in lower level areas and killing monsters there.

Kunark Era:

5.6.2 Acceptable CSRep Presence in Customer Service Limited Zones

The presence of Customer Service Representatives in Customer Service Limited Zones creates two undesired situations. First, players are more likely to ask for assistance in gameplay issues from the CS staff if a CS Rep is in the zone. Second, players are more likely to blame CS Representatives for any inconvenience they may experience if a CS Rep is in the zone. For these reasons mentioned above CS Reps must not be in Customer Service Limited Zones except under the following conditions:

They are investigating a possible Exception Incident (Abuse, Disruption, or Exploitation) at the request of a player.
They are investigating a possible bug at the request of a player for documentation purposes.
They are removing a corpse from an object such as the ground, a wall, a tree, etc. according to Corpse Recovery Procedure (See 7.3 Corpse Recovery)
They are unsticking a player stuck on the geometry (in an object, in a wall, etc). The player should be moved the minimum amount of distance necessary to unstick them from the geometry.
They are summoning a corpse from a verified inaccessible area listed in 5.6.2.1 to a position of the player's choice within the zone.
They are summoning a player from a verified inaccessible area listed in 5.6.2.1 in the Customer Service Limited Zone to a non-PvP area of Arena and then back to either the zone-in point of the Customer Service Limited Zone or to another player of the player's choice in the Customer Service Limited Zone.
They are following Policy and Procedures concerning an Under the World Case. (See 7.13)


5.6.2.1 Inaccessible Areas in Customer Service Limited Zones

Currently the only verified inaccessible are in a CS Limited zone is caused through an anomaly that often occurs when a player has gone linkdead in the Plane of Hate. When this anomaly happens a player can become stuck in an inaccessible area of the second floor of the Plane of Hate. As mobs can also sometimes become stuck in the area, players can also die here. This area can be verified by using the /loc command. The z coordinate of this area is approximately 110.

5.6.2.1.1 Retrieving Players in Inaccessible Areas of Customer Service Limited Zones

A player character in an inaccessible area of a Customer Service Limited Zone can inadvertently become added to the hate-lists of mobs in the zone. Therefore, to retrieve players from these areas without indirectly causing the deaths of players the following procedure should be followed:

Confirm that the Player Character is in an inaccessible area of a Customer Service Limited Zone (see 5.6.2.1)
Summon the player to the zone named Arena
Summon the player to a player character of their choice in the zone in which they were stuck, to a Player zone-in point of the zone in which they were stuck, or to the Customer Service /zone-in point.


5.6.2.1.2 Corpse Recoveries in Inaccessible Areas of Customer Service Limited Zones

If a player has a corpse stuck in the inaccessible area of a Customer Service Limited Zone, summon the corpse to a player of their choice who is in the zone or to any other location of their choice in the zone.

Velious Era:

5.6 Customer Service Limited Zones

Some zones in EQ have been designed with extreme rewards and risks. Because of design and
tuning issues, Customer Service intervention in these zones is restricted.

5.6.1 List of Customer Service Limited Zones

Sleeper (sleeper)
Temple of Veeshan (templeveeshan)
The Plane of Fear (fearplane)
The Plane of Growth (growthplane)
The Plane of Hate (hateplane)
The Plane of Mischief (mischiefplane)
The Plane of Sky (airplane)
Veeshan’s Peak (veeshan)



5.6.2 Acceptable CSRep Presence in Customer Service Limited Zones

The presence of Customer Service Representatives in Customer Service Limited Zones creates
two undesired situations. First, players are more likely to ask for assistance in gameplay issues
from the CS staff if a CS Rep is in the zone. Second, players are more likely to blame CS
Representatives for any inconvenience they may experience if a CS Rep is in the zone. For these
reasons mentioned above CS Reps must not be in Customer Service Limited Zones except under
the following conditions:
• They are investigating a possible Exception Incident (Abuse, Disruption, or Exploitation)
at the request of a player.
• They are investigating a possible bug at the request of a player for documentation
purposes.
• They are removing a corpse from an object such as the ground, a wall, a tree, etc.
according to Corpse Recovery Procedure (See 7.3 Corpse Recovery)
• They are unsticking a player stuck on the geometry (in an object, in a wall, etc). The
player should be moved the minimum amount of distance necessary to unstick them from
the geometry.
• They are following Policy and Procedures concerning an Under the World Case. (See
7.13)
• CS Representatives may travel to CS Limited zones to assist players with binding death
loops (refer to 7.2.2).

5.6.3 General Customer Service Limited Zone Policies

5.6.3.1 Exploring and Adventuring

CSReps should not use their CS characters to explore Customer Service Limited Zones. If a
CSRep is in one of these zones for a reason approved above (see 5.6.2), they should leave
immediately after addressing the issue they are there for and should not stay in the zone any
longer than necessary.

5.6.3.2 Reporting CS Actions Taken in Customer Service Limited Zones

A GM+ should report any action they take in a Customer Service Limited Zone to their direct
superior. Senior Guides should report any action they take in a Customer Service Limited Zone
to the rest of the Server Management Team, including the GM of the server or the Lead GM of
the server if the server is not currently assigned a GM, and include a detailed account of any
Customer Service action taken in a Customer Service Limited Zone on their server in the server’s weekly server report. Any Full Guide or Apprentice Guide who takes Customer Service action in a
Customer Service Limited Zone should report a detailed account of it in their Daily Status Report
and/or in a designated section of their server board.

5.6.3.3 Resurrections in Customer Service Limited Zones

CSReps are not to provide resurrections in Customer Service Limited Zones under any
circumstances without specific authorization from a GM+ as directed by SOE Management.

5.6.3.4 /Kill Restraint in Customer Service Limited Zones

The killing of any mob in Customer Service Limited Zones (see 5.6.1) is considered to cause
a significant change in game play. Therefore CS Reps should not /kill in these zones without
specific authorization from a GM+ as directed by SOE Management. (This Policy can also be
found at 7.10.7.6)