[ On Communication | On Cheating] [ On Etiquette | On Gameplay | On Hosting | On Joining ] The Code of Conduct

Locke believed that the natural condition of man was a state of war, a war of all against all, chaotic and cruel. He claimed that we were able to live together peacefully in society because of an implicit agreement between us that we would respect each other's right to life, liberty and property (the right to pursue happiness was added later.) These rights were considered to be basic and undeniable and taken together they comprised a social contract.

Now, bungie.net is also a society, albeit a small society with special circumstances. If we want to peacefully arrange our battles, politely vanquish our opponents and provide the structure which makes victory and rank meaningful, we must also come to an agreement. We must have a set of established and published guidelines. We must, as a group, decide what is appropriate and what is not. The following Code of Conduct is a collection of guidelines created by Myth players that should help you determine what is acceptable behavior and what is disruptive or destructive. Following these rules will make you a better player, it will preserve the stability of bungie.net and it will make it a much better place to play the greatest game ever made, Myth.

If you would like to contribute to, comment on, or help promote this code, please contact us.

Chat Lingo - It is important to know the shorthand used in bungie.net chatrooms if you are going to communicate effectively. Here are a short list of more obscure phrases that you should know.

• afk - Away From Keyboard This means that you will not be at your computer for a moment. It is customary to follow this with "Back" when you return to your seat and are ready to go.
• Bounce - If you have been waiting in the chatroom for a certain game to open up, and during that time you have gotten involved in a conversation or two, you may suddenly find yourself torn between leaping immediately into the game, or taking the time to say good-bye to everyone and risk missing your chance. If you find yourself in this position, simply call out "Bounce" and go! It saves massive amounts of time and people will understand better what happened.
• bbl - Be Back Later
• brb - Be Right Back
• FFA - Short for Free-for-all, a four or five player game without teams.
• Ping - The time, measured in mili-seconds, that a small packet of information takes to get from you to another computer over the internet. Your ping to a remote game is listed next to the game title in the bungie.net chatroom.

Game Name Tags - Lately, there have been many attempts to put important game information into the game names, but these tags are short and often indecipherable. This is our attempt to promote a standard system of tags

• [BLND] - The players in this game have all agreed not to use the overhead map for the duration of the game. The host should remind the players, but if you don't want to play blind, you shouldn't join this game.
• [BOOT] - When this appears in the title of a game it means that it is a private game (such as a match between orders or a tournament game) and you should not join it unless you know that you belong. The host will immediately boot you if you were not invited and will be justified in doing so since you were warned by the game title.
• [CHAT] - This means that the game has been created to be a special chatroom and no games will be played in it.
• [FUN] - A game with this tag will be completely orienented towards having fun in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Talking, radical strategies and interesting game choices will be encouraged, while rudeness and point chasing will not.
• [RAND] - This means that the games will be Multi-team free-for-all's with randomly chosen teams and captains. These games are lots of fun, but if you don't want to captain or you don't work well with others, don't join these games.
• [THTR] - This game will be played as Myth Theater, which means that aside from some initial commands, the players will not control their troops and will just watch the carnage.
• [VAR] - There are numerous unusual variant rules that people have thought up. Myth Theater, Myth Golf, Dwarven Rules Volleyball...and this tag in the game name means that it will be one of those variants.

Do Not Use Two Accounts in the Same Game - Using two accounts at the same time, in the same game, is grounds for an immediate reset of your account and a possible suspension.

Do Not Use Two Accounts at All - If you have more than one account you are automatically under suspicion for cheating. It is unnecessary and you should avoid calling that kind of attention to yourself.

Do Not Drop If You Are Hosting - If you are hosting and you drop, you prevent points from being distributed to the players in your game. This is very unfair. If you are hosting and you drop, you are penalized and you lose more points than if you had just lost, so it also stupid.

Do Not Drop at All - Even if you are not hosting, the game is affected negatively if you drop. Your teammates can lose credit for what you have contributed and the game balance is disrupted. If you start a game, finish it.

Do Not Jumpstart - If you start the game immediately after someone enters, they do not have time to orient themselves and prepare. This is a form of gaining an unfair advantage and can be grounds for punishment. To avoid accidently jumpstarting on someone follow these steps. Wait for enough players, then close the game so that nobody else can join. Make sure everyone is ready and then start the game.

Cleaning Up Bungie.net, One Lamer at a Time - The Admins have a tracking system that allows us to follow the actions of an accused cheater over time, so it does help to tell an admin when someone is behaving in an offensive way or cheating. Before you approach an admin, make sure you have the login name of the offender. You can get this by typing ".score" or from the Leaderboard. It also helps to have a second person that witnessed the event.

Choose an Appropriate Name - Bungie.net follows FCC guidelines for acceptable language and phrases, so if they wouldn't say it on network television, don't put it in your name. People have also been asked to change their names if they are offensive for other reasons, such as including hateful connotations or derogatory terms for some group of people. Your name is the first thing people see when they meet you, and a bad encounter is often instigated by an offensive or inappropriate name. If an Administrator asks you to change your name, do so. Refusing such a request is grounds for a citation.

Use Appropriate Language - Myth carries a "Mature" rating, but there are many younger players, so please be responsible and be careful about your language. It would be a shame if some talented younger Myth player lost his connection because his mother happened to be watching over his shoulder when you lost your temper in a chatroom. You have to think to type, so it is not hard to control your language. Do so.

Never Harass People for Cheating without Proof - Don't rant and rave at someone in the chatroom because you think they did something wrong if you have no proof. Perhaps they really did lose their connection in the final seconds of the game they were losing. It does happen. It isn't worth polluting the chatroom with baseless accusations and argument.

Never Harass People for Cheating with Proof - So, you have his login and a film of him discussing how to cheat with his partner. Don't get your revenge by swearing at him in public, since it makes both of you look like fools. If it is serious, find an administrator. If it is not serious, let it go. It is a waste of time obsessing over a cheater when there are so many fun games happening elsewhere. In other words, don't sweat the small stuff. It's all small stuff.

Do Not Overwhelm Prominent Players - If there is an administrator in the room, and you have a question, ask it. If there is a Celestial in the room and you want to know if they will play a game with you, ask them. However, don't overload an admin that is being swarmed with questions. Don't send another private message to someone that is answering people as fast as they can. And don't harass a Celestial, even if they ignore your requests. They are probably hounded wherever they go by point-chasers with dreams of beating a Celestial and getting all of his points when all they want to do is play some fun games.

Spam Is for Sandwiches - Don't sit in a chatroom and repeatedly call for everyone to join a game. Most people will make their decision after the first request, so repeating yourself will only make them annoyed. It is impossible to insult someone into playing in a game, try asking people what kind of game they would join, or look in different rooms for people that you know.

Let People Chat - Social interaction is an important part of playing Myth for many people and they may spend more time chatting than playing. If you are impatient, or if you aren't interested in chatting, that is fine, but they are not stopping you from playing, so don't harass them. They are enjoying themselves.

Do Not Flood the Room - Although it is occasionally acceptable to send yourself a private message to check your ping, flooding a chatroom with nonsense or a repeated post is unacceptable, not to mention annoying.

Play Straight - If you are playing on bungie.net you should be using the standard maps with the standard parameters as bungie intended them to be played. Hex-edited maps, altered tags and other non-standard maps are not allowed on bungie.net and preference bugs like Light vs Dark or playing an unavailable game on a map are not allowed in ranked rooms. Both are grounds for suspension. In addition, enough abuse could cause bungie to take drastic action against all third party developers.

Play to Win - Don't play to hamper another player or to help another player win unfairly. Things like attacking someone in the first few minutes of a game of Last Man on the Hill in order to make them lose or coordinating with another player to achieve a higher placement are not acceptable. If your goal is something other than victory for yourself and death for your opponents, tell them clearly before the game starts. If you are on a team, your actions should benefit the team and betraying your team intentionally is one of the worst things a player can do. Of course, if you are out of contention for first place, but smart playing can still insure you a good placing, it is acceptable to play with your goal as second or third. Just make sure that you play to take the highest place that you can, and not with other, less admirable goals.

Play Friendly - You are not playing against computer opponents, you are playing against other people. It is easy to lose yourself in the anonymity of being miles away from all the people in the game, using a fake name and being completely unaccountable for anything you say or do, but you must resist this temptation. Talk to the other players. Tell them if they did something well or tease them if they screwed up royally and enjoy the social aspects of the game fully.

Play by the Rules - If the host wants to play a variant game, and you don't want to, leave the game. If you agree to play with unusual rules, keep your word and follow those rules. Variant games are fun, but only if everyone plays them correctly.

Play It Out - Don't drop from a game just because you no longer have a chance at winning. Watch the tactics of the remaining players, recite spontaneous poetry or enjoy the spectacle, but stay for the whole game. If you must leave, take the time to offer a quick explanation and apologize for having to drop.

Play for Fun - Don't play for rank, or reputation, or revenge, or even the right to brag. Just play for fun and most of the problems and conflicts will simply fade away. Even if they don't, they will seem much less important.

Host a Variety - Playing the same game over and over will bore your guests, it will limit your skill as a Myth player and it will eventually put you in a position where you will be unable to adjust to new situations.

Host for Your Guests - As host you have the power and ultimately the responsibility to make sure that your guests have a good time. If this means that you occasionally have to play a game you don't like or change preference to suit your players, do it. A good host will be remembered and a few devoted regulars can make a game fill quicker and last longer.

Host Clearly - If you are playing a variant, make sure everyone understand before you start. If you are hosting a private game and don't want other people to come in, put a [BOOT] in the title and explain why you are booting people when they pop in. Warn people that you are about to start the game, and make sure people notice if you change the game preferences. Talk to your guests and do your best to let them know what is going on at all times.

Host Cleverly - A game with a clever title fills faster than a game with a mundane one, and much faster than an insultingly titled game. An entertaining host will be much more popular than a rude one. A host that listens to his guests and lets them choose the games occasionally will have more success than a tyrant. Do not swear or put lewd comments in your game titles.

Host Fairly - The single most important factor that determines the fairness of the game is the host. Don't jumpstart and force people to play before they are ready. Don't set-up unfair teams in an attempt to secure a few points. Don't try to bully people into doing something they don't want to. Watch for cheaters and if you find them, get rid of them. Never drop a game intentionally unless you have made a mistake and the game needs to be restarted. Above all, keep your game clean of cheaters and don't cheat yourself. People will often play games they don't like on maps they aren't good at if the host has proven to be hospitable and safe.

You Are a Guest - Always remember that being allowed in a game is a privilege, not something someone owes you. Don't tell the host what to do, don't tell him when to start and don't be obnoxious. Respond to him when he asks questions and express yourself carefully and respectfully.

Be Polite - If you have to leave, thank your host and briefly explain why you need to go. If the host changes the preferences and you don't want to play the new game, politely tell him so, and graciously leave if they don't want to change. If you think the teams are unfair, ask that they be changed and if you think you are being set-up, politely excuse yourself.

Become a Regular - You will have more fun if purposefully play a game with the same people more than once. If you have been playing with a group for awhile, and they start to play a game that you are not good at, play it anyway. Maybe next time the host will let you pick a game. If you see a game that you enjoyed last time, make it a priority to play in that game again. It will help you develop a community of friends and it will put each game in the context of an extended competition.

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