GM Rule book from Kunark/ Velious - Limited CS Zones

[Vandy]

Kunark Era GM Guide book

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us

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

The Plane of Fear (fearplane)
The Plane of Hate (hateplane)
The Plane of Sky (airplane)
Veeshan's Peak (veeshan)


Velious Era GM Guide book

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...D8lcWnuWktzBhg


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)

[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)

[Captain Faceplant]

Interesting that "training" appears nowhere in there. Since it's obviously a huge CS issue in EQ, it must have been left out for a reason. I mean, "sexual harassment" is still in there.

[Splorf22]

Originally Posted by Verant

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

[Danth]

Training wouldn't have to be in there; it falls under disruption.

My experience with Sony Guides and GMs was that they applied the rules in an extremely inconsistent manner to the extent that the published rules were almost useless anyway.

I'm glad P1999's rules are a little different. The P1999 player base, by and large, feels generally a bit more aggressive and less willing to work with each other than that of EQ-live. The rules therefore ought to be a bit tighter. I suspect it's a symptom of the smaller server population (on live, ~30-50 people in a popular dungeon was the norm, so folks got accustomed to sharing right from the start).

Danth

[Enygma]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Training wouldn't have to be in there; it falls under disruption.

My experience with Sony Guides and GMs was that they applied the rules in an extremely inconsistent manner to the extent that the published rules were almost useless anyway.

I'm glad P1999's rules are a little different. The P1999 player base, by and large, feels generally a bit more aggressive and less willing to work with each other than that of EQ-live. The rules therefore ought to be a bit tighter. I suspect it's a symptom of the smaller server population (on live, ~30-50 people in a popular dungeon was the norm, so folks got accustomed to sharing right from the start).

Danth

It's because the same expansion has been out for over two (2) years leaving very little content for the entire server who is outgrowing the current system. On live it would take people FOREVER to get level 60 where as here most people who played hardcore got it within a couple weeks.

Now that it has been out FOREVER... every end game camp is constantly on lock down and EVERY raid encounter is contested.

[Splorf22]

A bit part of the problem with 1999 is everyone wanted to relive their something they did 10 years ago, but, and this is the key point, just a bit better. The people that just got to 40 wanted to be 60 and explore some new zones. The people that got 60 and were in casual raid guilds wanted to be the hardcore badasses with all the pixels they never got to have. The people that were in hardcore raid guilds usually didn't come back as they had already beaten the game the first time around. I met a new Ranger today (low 20s or something), and what did he say "Oh yeah, I played on live, gonna be 60 in a few months".

Plus content is released more slowly (we'll probably have 2-3 years of Kunark on this server, compared to 8-9 months on Live). I'm not blaming Nilbog here, but it's a fact. In addition we don't have any AAs in classic to waste people's time.

Finally everyone knows all the strats exactly. So the epic quests are released and we have someone finish a rogue epic within like 24 hours instead of weeks. I've read the text for stuff like the warrior epic (give me 4 gems, and if you give me the wrong ones you're fucked). It would have taken months just to figure stuff out. And that effect just snowballs, because when your group has two epic rogues and monks and an enchanter with stacked charisma and a pet with tash/malo and so on your xp rate is pretty good, even in the Kunark levels.

Put those three things together and suddenly you have a server where the hardcore players have 2-3 max level max geared chars (hell, I have two. Zeelot has an epic SK and an epic SK alt) and even the 'casual' players have some char 50+. So suddenly we have a server with a world designed for players spread out over all levels where a huge fraction of the population is close to max level. So everyone follows their biological programming and fights over the scarce resources.

It's funny listening to Miley talk about her days in FoH. For most of classic they were literally the only guild on the server capable of killing stuff. So they just crawled around 'oh vox is up. Cool'. Unfortunately I don't have a good solution. Instances/spawn tokens would be nice, but then people would get tired and leave when they maxed their pixels. Banning account sales would probably help but would hardly be a panacea. Getting Velious would be great, but tbh I think it'll be more of the same: I'm already on record as saying Velious will be a giant clusterfuck as everyone abandons stale Kunark content. Probably the only thing that would really 'fix' the server from a population standpoint would be the simultaneous release of Velious, Luclin and PoP [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It'd suck for me but I think it would be great for the server to just limit people to 1 char over L50. It might also be interesting to see some sort of minimally effective but hugely timeconsuming set of AAs. Perhaps a set of AAs which each increased any particular stat/resist by one. Not classic so obviously it won't happen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I'd also be curious to see a 'purple' server: something with pvp in dungeons only. I think there are a lot of positives to pvp (much less retarded than variance) but the potential for griefing and annoyance is just too high when there are no safe zones at all.

[Vandy]

Just wondering what is the information out there that the current VP rules are based off of? Where did it state that a non-CSR zone would give players in said zone the ability to train others?

[Metallikus]

Originally Posted by Vandy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Just wondering what is the information out there that the current VP rules are based off of? Where did it state that a non-CSR zone would give players in said zone the ability to train others?

these are custom rules for this server to keep the status quo. tmo doesnt want anyone else in there, so their server staff keeps it that way.

whatever intention there was at the beginning to make it a non-csr zone, is irrelevant now and has been ever since IB and TMO stopped rotating dragons.

[Metallikus]

to clarify, no one likes to grief and train other players except for TMO. Therefore, no other guild can stomach the nonsense of training/griefing tmo long enough to force a more peaceful system. therefore, status quo...vp was built and rules are maintained for tmo.