Diverge Networks - Rules

Diverge Networks Discord Guidelines

Sat, 06 May 2023 20:37:58 +0000

Faction Guidelines and Discord Rules

These are the general rules that will dictate how Discord and other 3rd party out of game communication is considered and handled in the server.
Ensure you also read the server rules and apply them in conjunction with these guidelines.

Prerequisite:

Unless the server is owned by Diverge Networks, anything declared IC in will not be considered such. This is a non-negotiable term as it is required for us to properly moderate and determine the validity of IC communication. If you are unwilling to abide by this term, we will unfortunately be forced to terminate your factions status on our server. We need to have this access for the following reasons.
- To monitor IC communication and ensure no meta-game is being conducted.
- To ensure other server rules are being abided by.
- To improve communication between players and Management by being available to directly answer concerns, whether that be regarding the usage of Discord or other.
- To aid in creating roleplay on the server, and move away from Discord where possible.

Discord Rules:

Due to their unmonitored nature, all voice channels are strictly OOC. Nothing said or done in a VC can be used or considered ICly. Anyone caught using voice channels or anything that isn’t in-game for IC matters will be punished appropriately. Make use of the voice radios or phone systems.

Only official factions are permitted to use a Discord server for IC purposes. This is limited to the one server and will be owned by Diverge Management

The only part of a Discord server that can be used for IC purposes is a text channel. For a text channel to be IC, the channel name needs to have the prefix of “IC” followed by the channel name. It also needs to be under a category of channels which are also all IC. Make it clearer that anything IC placed in channels, such as a log of a purchase, are usable in-game as evidence.

Legal businesses (Law Firms, clothing stores, etc) may register themselves with the Commerce Commission/Unified Court System and, upon doing so, will receive a channel through which they may conduct business. No forms of legal organizational discords are permitted.

Group chats will not be usable for any IC purpose. Anyone found participating in a group chat for IC matters will be punished appropriately. No matter how wide the involvement, all members are culpable. Any faction engaging in this puts itself at risk of removal.

Discord roles are not IC and cannot be used as such. Neither are channels that are used for requesting Discord roles.

Factions may have IC announcement channels (one faction-wide and one per crew) through which they issue information to their members; upon joining, members do not gain knowledge of announcements prior to having joined. They will only be aware of announcements made after this date. They may have announcement channels, radio freq, and documents drop offs. The only way for a new member to have prior knowledge of the faction is if another member with experience tells them in game.

No Faction Meetings are permitted in Discord. It must be in game. (Though coordinating to meet up at locations and times may be done over discord. EX: 'Meeting at 7pm at docks' and nothing else.)

It is the responsibility of the faction leadership to ensure members who are killed, retired, or otherwise removed, have their roles taken. Although they may still participate socially in an OOC context, their involvement in the faction, RP-wise, ends there. Any form of ‘shadow-donning’ will result in bans and faction removal.

Evidence and Undercover Discord Roleplay

Acknowledging the role of the NYPD, NYPD characters that go undercover and infiltrate criminal organizations will be permitted. Any evidence they gain from the IC-Announcements and Radio after the date of joining the discord will be permitted as knowledge in roleplay. Also, members of a criminal organization that “rats” everyone out can only have knowledge similar to the date of joining the Discord. In order to have “prior knowledge” of events for the faction, they must be informed in game by another member with experiences of the events.
- Undercover cops acknowledge that being “found out” will risk a PK by the faction.

Authorizing PKs

In order for a PK to occur, the Faction Leader, or Co-Leader must order the PK in-game for such PK to be valid. For the player carrying out the PK, that individual must remain in game for 30 mins. Discord screenshots of hit approval are not permitted. (You may use in-game screenshots of the order being given IN-GAME)

Discord Channels

The Warrants Channel can be used for arrests and DMs can still be sent. Subpoenas and search warrants may be delivered in-person, in a DM, or via the pager system. DMs are only used for scheduling meetings, so use common sense. You cannot make deals, contracts, or perform any type of services, activity in DMs are generally used to schedule meetings.
VC removal; limited to three per discord.
- You may not have a channel that is used for OOC and IC, it must be exclusively OOC or IC. One or the other.
Trade Discords, legal or illegal, are not allowed, herein referred to as Shop Discords, all deals must be done in-game. Violating this will result in the factions using it being removed from the server. Again, the purpose is that all of this is to be done in game.

Alliance/Commission Discords that comprise many factions will be permitted, with Management owning the Discords.

Diverge Networks: Conflict Rules

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 11:14:56 +0000

Faction Conflict Guidelines

Last updated 13/03/2024

The following document serves to outline the rules and regulations of conflicts between factions, how they work, and information to be aware of. This thread is most relevant to faction leades.

What is a conflict?
A Conflict occurs when two or more factions recognize a transgression or incident which can lead to tensions and possible fighting. Conflicts are best resolved through diplomacy and sit downs to determine what wrongdoings occurred and who is at fault.

For all claims of transgressions evidence would be required. The incident should be recorded with a plethora of context around it. All conflicts must follow the proper escalation steps as described below or their validity will be ignored and users can receive bans for breaking rules in an attempt to press a false conflict.

Alliances and Agreements
Alliances or allied factions can come to the aid or defence of your faction when you find yourself in an active conflict, fighting on your behalf, providing security for sitdowns or filling a plethora of other roles.

Agreements like alliances or conflict resolution agreements can be made with other factions to define the terms of a business dealing. Such as the creation of a district, creation of an alliance, outline of set territory with an enemy or an agreed amount of tax to resolve a conflict. An agreement document is created, signed by both sides and is presented jointly to server Upper Administration to be ratified as binding.

Possible reasons for conflicts
Here are just a few examples of scenarios that can cause a problem between factions.

Disrespect
Disrespect between bosses or capos/made men while being quite minor and would not warrant any real violence can still sour relations between the high commands of competing factions. A sit-down would be effective at resolving this.

Excessive targeted muggins / muggings in territory
Being targeted for muggings or having muggins occur in your faction/alliance’s pre-agreed upon territory could be a clear provocation for escalations in conflict. A sit down and possible tax or a demand to turn over the perpetrator(s) would be logical for such offences.

Extortion
Extortion or attempted extortion could be a reason to cause conflict. The two factions would have to meet and reach a suitable business agreement to maintain the peace. For example if one group wants to control a certain aspect of storefronts within their territory they may put pressure on another faction for 50% of their profits, and after some escalation and sit down negotiations a deal of 20% in exchange for security is made.

Murder
For example, if a man in your organisation left the faction without consent in order to join another faction and you were to murder him for that, his new faction could take issue with the killing and demand repayment for the loss of their earner. A sit down before the hit would clear up any confusion and get you the go ahead to perform the kill.

[And Many more reasons possible]

Sit-downs and meetings
Sit downs and meetings are the most effective way of bringing a conflict under control or even bringing it to an end by defining what occurred and who is owed what in terms of compensation. These meetings are also beneficial for laying out agreements, deals and territory lines BEFORE they become an issue, anticipating problems and solving them through diplomacy is the mark of a good leader, as conflict only brings death and a pause in the business of making money.

All sit downs must occur in-game. DMs, voice channels or any other means of OOC communication is not permitted and not binding. You may only use DMs to coordinate the time and place of a meeting. If you are unable to attend a meeting you set and agreed upon then send a representative in your place, failing to show up to multiple meetings can and will be considered avoiding roleplay.

All meetings should be recorded by both parties and/or should have a member of UA present to observe. The contents of the meetings that are agreed upon terms, i.e. any deal you make should be written into a document, signed by both parties and then submitted to UA in a support ticket in order to ratify it, and confirm consequences for whomever breaks it.

Meetings can/should include an unbiased mediator. This mediator is a neutral unbiased party who generally provides an objective opinion, neutral meeting ground and sometimes security for meetings between two opposing factions. Both parties should agree on a neutral mediator, it can be the boss of another faction (useful for inter-alliance issues) or if no player can be agreed upon to mediate both parties may request a member of UA to act as the mediator. The mediator can help determine the facts, inform factions of who did what and what transgressions were actually committed as well as assisting in reaching a logical and reasonable settlement agreement.
Refusing a sit down is contextual and can lead to further escalations. However, refusing sit downs immediately and making zero attempts to resolve a situation diplomatically is Fail RP.

If no attempts were made to have sit downs or escalate through proper RP and were never logged by UA, your request will be denied.

Escalation
Conflicts that don’t reach an instant resolution can begin to escalate, this is a negative thing for BOTH factions as the longer a conflict lasts, the more it escalates and the more money they both begin to lose.

These are the general ‘levels’ to escalations.
Level 0: Transgression is noted
One faction recognizes a problem/transgression with the other and collects evidence of the incident, they then create a support ticket to inform UA about the possible conflict and contact the faction they have the issue with to organise a sit down to speak about it. A Mediator is not necessarily required at this stage but one may be required if the issue is quite contentious.

Level 1: The first sit-down
Provided the transgression is minor and both faction leaders are good at what they do then most conflicts will not escalate past this point. Both factions will have met and discussed the issue and outlined an agreement to resolve the problem. Should they fail to do so they may schedule another sit down with a mediator to hash it out properly.

Level 2: The simmer
The second sit down will occur with an agreed upon mediator to help hash out the facts of the case and both factions will have support tickets open with UA so they may submit any relevant evidence and keep management up to date on the status of the conflict. During the time between the first meeting to the second the two factions may put their business with the opposing faction on pause, halting trades and other events or niceties until the situation is resolved. 95% of conflicts should be resolved by the second sit down unless the issue is so atrocious that proper settlement terms cannot be reached.

Level 3: Boiling point
A failure of the second meeting is the boiling point and by now bad blood has likely formed, small breakouts of violence are likely to occur, bar fights, obscenities maybe even some road rage or the occasional out of territory mugging. At level 3 or higher sit-downs can occur whenever either side agrees to do one, however the longer the conflict goes unresolved the more money both sides begin to lose. From level 3 and onward either faction can request UA to escalate the conflict in either of their respective tickets. (Failure of sit downs and proof of fault is most effective when requesting escalations)

Level 4: Brothers Spat
At this level target mugging (on your main characters…) the opposing faction is fair game and barring rivals from your establishments is expected. Loitering or graffiti may also become commonplace but tolerating loitering is also less practised. Both sides will seek to annoy and harass the other to the dismay of both the police and your suppliers. While this stage of escalation allows you to openly harass the opposing faction it also strains your business, as your suppliers don’t want the extra heat your shipment arrival times and shipment costs increase 25%. Business is impacted.

Level 5: Wave of Violence
At this level the violence is palpable. Shootings of properties and businesses may become commonplace and will not be considered a raid. Shipment arrival times and shipment costs increase by 50% of the original amounts. More attention from police means your suppliers may request cash or certain amounts of drugs / weapons as payment in order to keep operating, failure to meet these payments could see additional vendor penalties apply and possibly have your faction lose access to selling certain drugs. Individuals responsible for the initial cause of the conflict can have hits (PKs) placed against them. (For instance if the conflict stemmed from a certain member target mugging and the offending faction had refused to hand him over. Seek UA approval for these hits.)

Level 6: Defcon 2
This level can be reached if more than 4 sit-downs have occurred and failed. At this level you are basically a few days if not less from hitting the mattresses, your suppliers disappear seeking to wait the impending conflict out. At this level you may firebomb the rival properties to put them out of commission and cause significant financial harm as well as openly target one member of their high command for a PK hit.

Level 7: War
Level 7 is war. You know how war goes. Your factions are fully blocked from selling drugs to any NPC as the sellers aim to not choose sides. War lasts until one side falters or until an agreed win condition must be met. UA has final say if war is approved or not and can end it at any time.

Taxation / Compensation
This will be a loose guide on how to consider and value certain transgressions in the event you decide to impose a tax instead of other diplomatic routes. (Tax is NOT your only option, it’s just common)

Note that tax can also be labelled ‘compensation’ as the term tax can have a more negative and un-diplomatic connotation.

There will also be a max escalation level to help determine the severity of which the transgression can be escalated to, within reason. Everytime a tax is refused and the escalation increases a level you may apply an additional 10% to the pre-proposed tax amount. (Inform UA!)

Disrespect [0 - 10k] - Max escalation Level 1
Disrespect of a boss or made men. No one cares if a group of associates or soldiers are insulted, it’s part of their job. Should someone, capo and above, intentionally go out of their way to insult other made men or bosses a transgression for disrespect can be considered and either a tax or apology demanded depending on the severity of the disrespect [If both men insulted each other it’s also useful to simply squash the beef]. Generally factions you are neutral with or in an alliance with will take this seriously. A faction you are opposed to likely won’t care.

Graffiti, loitering, general mischief [1k - 50k] - Max escalation Level 3
People oftentimes like to annoy members of the opposing faction and should this prove to be an action repeated by the same identified members a faction may take issue and ask for those involved to be taxed or disciplined. An annoying enough slight that warrants beatings but nothing worth damaging business over.

Muggings / Target muggings [Value of items loss + 20% | provable loss] - Max escalation Level 5
Muggings or muggings in your territory that you can prove are being intentionally perpetrated by a member of the opposing faction can be a big problem. You are entitled to demand the individual be punished, handed over for punishment or have punishment sanctioned (Especially if they got someone on your side killed - See Manslaughter) or you may ask for an apology and tax the provable and agreed upon value of the items stolen plus 20% as a fee for the trouble. This has the possibility of escalating hard but after a while it is just items and you’re better off solving it than allowing it to affect your entire organisation’s profit margins.

Territory / Business Violations [100k - 500k] - Max escalation Level 5
Territory violations meaning the faction repeatedly violates pre-set rules both sides agreed to OR violated inherent territory (Like literally ON/IN your property) or place of business. From fucking with your staff / customers or marching in your territory with weapons out or on safety to intentionally violate your security and cause a conflict. I.E. Large coordinated flexing. A serious disrespect like this can escalate the conflict but should violence be kept to a minimum it can be resolved in the end.

Violation of Treaty / Agreement [Depends] - Max escalation level 6
This purely depends on the terms of the agreement both parties signed and UA ratified. Usually the agreement will include what the possible consequences are for breaking the agreement. For example if some faction becomes a district and breaks that or joins an alliance and breaks that alliance they may be taxed a certain pre-agreed upon amount as outlined in the agreement.

Manslaughter [200k to 2.5 million] - Max Level escalation Level 5
Manslaughter is different from murder as it is technically an accidental killing. For example if your member is target mugging and ends up killing a member of the opposing faction, the murder wasn’t the original intention but it occurred. The opposing faction can request they perform a sanctioned hit as retaliation / revenge or demand he be handed over. Should they decide not to seek blood they may attempt to value the killed man’s life based on his rank in the faction. The higher the position the more it may cost to keep the situation hush hush. The lower the position the less money and likelihood the conflict escalates.

Murder [1 million to 5 million] - Max Level escalation Level 6
Murder is different from manslaughter as it is an intentional killing, meaning the person did something to warrant being killed and instead of having a sitdown with that faction you acted without consulting them and murdered their man. The opposing faction can request they perform a sanctioned hit as retaliation / revenge or demand the killer be handed over. Should they decide not to seek blood they may attempt to value the killed man’s life based on his rank in the faction. The higher the position the more it may cost to keep the situation hush hush. The lower the position the less money and likelihood the conflict escalates.

Unpaid Loan [Total Amount of Loan + 10% interest per week unpaid] - Max Level escalation Level 6
Factions with bad management that take out insane loans can be penalised for the amount they owe plus interest via an alliance enforced tax. Should they fail to pay after several weeks the opposing faction may have the right to PK the person who took the loan. (Requires close observation from UA)

Other - Consult UA
Note that Max escalation can be bypassed with stacking reasons of higher Max level and/or if you reach a level where PK is permitted and is actually carried out.

Subject to future changes or updates

Diverge Networks Global Rules

Mon, 18 Jan 2021 05:09:10 +0000

Global Rules

Last updated 12/04/2021

*Violating any of the rules below will result in a Global Ban across all Diverge platforms.

1. Exploitation/Third Party Software: You may not utilise any feature or functionality on any platform that is not intended to exist. You are also forbidden from using any form of third party modification. This includes using cheating software, injectors, etc.

2. Harassment: Whilst we advocate for Freedom of Speech and have very little limitation on what can and cannot be said, Repeated verbal or text abuse to a player of any kind after being made aware is causing them discomfort is considered harassment, know where to draw the line.

3. Privacy: You are forbidden from publicizing any information that is considered private. This includes the information of you personally and that of others.

4. Advertisement: You may not directly advertise services or communities that are unrelated to ours. Discussion is permitted however.

5. External Trading: The only way you can use real currency to purchase additional perks is through our donation store. Any form of external trading, gaining perks such as ranks, in-game currency, items, etc, in return for real life money is forbidden. Both parties will be issued bans across all Diverge platforms.

6. Impersonation: You may not directly impersonate another individual. Attempting to imitate someone regardless of intention is strictly forbidden.

7. Punishment Evasion: If you have received a punishment on any of our platforms, under no circumstances are you to try and evade. If it prevents you from accessing a platform, submit an appeal on our forums or wait it out if it's timed.

8. Spamming: Any form of spamming on any platform is forbidden.

9. Tampering/Vandalism: Tampering, destroying or faking images/videos/documents of any kind to gain some sort of advantage in our community or server over other players or as a means of destroying roleplay is prohibited.

10. Donation Fraud: Attempting to revert any donations you have made to Diverge Networks will not only result in a Global Ban, but in some instances can result in real world legal consequences given that this is classed as scamming which is against the law. Ensure you are aware of our Terms of Service. If you have any problems with donating, contact a member of management.

11. Boycotting: Players may petition for a change to be made, however, OOC unions are not permitted in any circumstances. Any group threatening to boycott if certain demands are not met may be banned indefinitely.

12. Sexual Misconduct: Any players posting images or acting in Sexually inappropriate ways, in violation of our rules, Facepunch Terms of Service or Discord terms of service can and will be banned indefinitely.

13. Extreme Threats: Players can be banned for uttering any extreme threats against the Server, other players or themselves. This includes but is not limited to; Ddos threats, Dox threats, threats of SWATTING or extreme violence, threats of self-harm, etc.

14. Conspiracy: Any conspiracy to break or subvert server rules, cause harm to the server or community, staff/management and/or the spirit of the game can result in a permanent ban from all platforms.

Diverge Networks Server Rules

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 03:36:15 +0000

Legend

For majority of the time common sense applies. Do not try to look for loopholes in the rules.

If you are unsure if something is allowed or not (it probably isn't if you have to ask), feel free to ask an Administrator.

Not all rules are listed here, it would be impossible for us to list every scenario or example. This will be updated as new precendent needs to be set. Staff have final say. If you are told to stop or not do something, do as you are told or risk punishment.

Roleplay Abbreviations:

RP = Roleplay
IC = In-Character
OOC = Out of Character
PK = Permanent Kill/Character Ban

Rule Abbreviations:

Minge = Someone who refuses to follow roleplay
Metagame = Using Out of Character information In-Character
RDM = Random Death Match, Randomly Killing Players
ARDM = Attempted Random Death Match, Attempting to Randomly Kill Players
NLR = New Life Rule
RDA = Random Arrest
NITRP = No intent to roleplay
FearRP = Valuing one's life in a realistic manner.
VDM = Vehicle Deathmatch, Killing People with a Vehicle
Powergaming = Forcing unfair actions against another person using OOC means
FailRP = Anything that would not make sense within roleplay. I.E. using Garry’s Mod features to get out of a situation
LTAP/LTARP = Leaving the server to avoid punishment/role play
POs = Past Offences

The rules are subject to change as the server evolves and new updates come out.

We highly recommend you record situations in order to cover your bases when roleplaying and following server rules. Understand that staff cannot act upon an alleged rule break without concrete evidence or having witnessed it themselves, they will often have to ask for evidence or check logs, 'witnesses' are non admissible. Harassing our staff team will not change this requirement.

The concept of 'down time' or 'low player hours' does not exist. We have a plethora of players from all different timezones who want to experience the server as is. The rules are enforced 24/7, being online when less players are on does not give you permission to break server rules.

Table of Contents

■ General Rules
■ Character Rules
■ Life Rules
■ Fear Rp Rules
■ Mugging Rules
■ Killing Rules
■ Metagaming Rules
■ Powergaming Rules
■ Vehicle Rules
■ Robbery/Raiding Rules
■ Faction Rules
■ Warrant Rules
■ Media Player Rules
■ Prop Rules
■ Property Rules
■ PK Rules Link
■ Police/Government Rules
■ Corruption
■ Arrests
■ Prisoner Rules
■ Undercover & Plainclothes Rules
■ Judges/Courts

General Rules

Use common sense, if something seems like it would be wrong, don’t do it.
Do not RDM/CDM/RDA/Minge/Metagame/FailRP
Do not abuse/exploit
Do not use any 3rd party software. This includes Macros; to bypass or abuse AFK systems or any other systems that give you advantages.
Do not abuse any in-game systems or functions that give you unfair advantage. If you find a server glitch that can abused to obtain an advantage or item/money with no effort it is your obligation to report the issue as opposed to abusing it. If abused this can result in serious punishment.
Anything that you say in mic or chat/do in-game actually happens in roleplay
Do not bait someone to shoot/RDM/RDA you
Do not bait Police to shoot/arrest you. Do not make 911 bait calls.
Don't punch minge or initiate arguments to harass someone.
Staff Members word is FINAL if you have a dispute with a staff member’s decision. Bring the complaint up with higher staff or via forums
Micspam is prohibited. You may only ever do play music from your mic if you are in a vehicle and it is time period appropriate.
Don’t not abuse your flags or other donator perks. This can result in removal of flags and a ban. Donators are not immune to the rules
Do not LTAP/LTARP. If you initiate an RP situation or are in an Admin sit you may be punished if you decide to leave the game/switch characters to avoid punishment/roleplay. If you crash be sure to message the handling admin or type in the discord. Otherwise try and reconnect right away, admins may wait up to 5 to 10 minutes for someone to reconnect.
If you're unsure if it's LTAP/LTARP wait a minimum of 10 minutes before disconnecting or switching character.
Do not impersonate others, or lie to staff members for ingame ranks/items.
All protest/Riot events require pre-Admin approval. Unapproved events will be considered minging as it causes issues with the police factions preventing them from roleplaying.
If you are punished/banned do not attempt to evade the ban by joining on an alternate account. This will cause your ban to be extended to permanent. All bans are appealed on our forums, following the appeal formats.

Character Rules

You must have chosen a roleplay name (First name , Last name. Nickname/middlename is optional) If an Admin deems your name to be fail they may change it with discretion at any time. (Fail names include, slurs, non name nouns/verbs, having only a single first name, names of famous characters/persons)
You may have up to 2 characters. (Donators receive more)
Your description must be serious, and describe your character
You cannot use IC info in OOC scenarios and vice versa. (META)
You must remain in Character at all times; and may not break character to avoid an RP situation, this can be considered LTARP.
You may not create a new character with the name of an old character that was PK'ed. Nor are you allowed to roleplay as the son/brother/father/family member etc. of any of your past characters. Your characters should have zero relation to each other.
Likewise you may not transfer money or items between any of your characters in anyway. Nor are you allowed to act as the middleman for someone else's item or money transfer. Transferring items or money between two of your characters is not permitted under any circumstance.
You may not have more than one character that's prominent in both criminal and legal organizations. What constitutes being prominent will be applied at staff discretion.
You cannot use a second character to assume a role you were just pk'ed/removed from. (Mob boss, commissioner, etc)
You may not remake your character with the same name in order to change your appearance / description to avoid Identification. This is considered Meta/powergame.
You may not have a minge/non-serious character for 'messing around'
If you're roleplaying as a corrupt Police Officer who is working with a Crime family you may not have a second character in that family as that could lead to metagame/using a cop char solely for the benefit of the crime family.

Life Rules

You must value your character’s life. This means that you naturally do not want your character to die. (FearRP) Breaking this can result in a PK at the Staff’s Discretion
You MUST follow NLR after every death. You will not remember anything from the last 15 minutes before your last death in RP. Nor can you return to the same RP situation.. You are not actually dead unless it's a PK and is otherwise put in the hospital and will recover.
Any footage / IC evidence like photos or video from a camera from the last 15 minutes from your point of death are also wiped and invalidated, UNLESS the area is covered by valid CCTV and the tapes are properly retrieved by someone who did not die in the situation. (See Evidence Section Rules for detailed information)
When Police are killed in a situation or Police operation, like a traffic stop, shootout or hostage situation, they must also abide by NLR and not return to the area for 15 minutes, only in cases where AFTER their 15 minute timer is up and the situation is still ongoing and other Officers who have not died in the situation request additional backup, they then may return. (This does not apply to criminal gangs)
The radius or size of the NLR can vary but generally it means do not return to the same building / area you were killed. Do not loiter just outside the area and do not go seek the same players to create another situation. Do not spawn and take the exact same route to find them either. Attempting to abuse the NLR system or skirt around the rule is not permitted.

FearRP Rules

While under fearrp it's recommended you oblige by the commands of your captor, if you attempt to escape or pull out a weapon to fight back but are killed that would display a disregard for your own safety, a calculated risk you took which failed, resulting in your PK. (In some circumstances a PK does not apply, view pk rules for more information.)
Breaking FearRP or showing disregard for your own life which results in death; this means if you kill yourself in an attempt to avoid an arrest or mugging, intentionally drowning or falling to your death to avoid detainment, or even having a friend or faction member kill you while you are detained are all considered a 'disregard for your own life' and can lead to a PK.
If you're holding someone under Fear RP and issue them orders/warnings not to do something and they disobey you may kill them. However, one single warning/order will not suffice, multiple warnings in a very short time span will also not suffice, you have to give them adequate time to react.
You must have a valid reason to place someone under fear RP (Valid Mugging, Valid Kidnapping or any Valid Kill reason); placing someone under Fear RP without reason or just in order to bait a PK is not permitted and may result in a ban or character removal (This can include any mugging or kill reasons. When doing this you are at risk of possible PK if killed)
You must have a valid reason to kidnap someone. A valid kill reason (see killing rules) is required to kidnap someone / ransom someone. You may not randomly kidnap or ransom people, it will just be considered a mugging and you then must abide by mugging rules. Kidnapping someone follows the mugging initiation rules meaning you are subject to a possible PK if killed during a kidnapping.
If the person with the weapon puts it away or turns his line of sight (Meaning the user has turned completely away and is not even slightly facing you. Usually an angle of larger than 90 degrees), fearRP becomes null and you may take the window of opportunity to retaliate with little to no risk. (Does not apply if multiple weapons are pointed at you)
Continually putting yourself into fearrp scenarios in order to to PK people, or 'PK hunting' / being 'PK hungry' is not permitted (Mass Muging, baiting, shootouts on alt characters). If an Admin feels like you're doing things intentionally for no regard for actual roleplay they may deny your PK requests or issue according punishments.
For FearRP to apply with a knife the perpetrator must be within stabbing distance.
If you are holding a weapon actively in your hand then fearrp does not apply and you may retaliate (even if it is on safety, E+R)
If you are at a more than a reasonable distance you may escape without risk. (Generally measured as about a block away, or any other reasonable distance where you could duck into cover.)
Fearrp no longer applies when you shoot and damage the victim, they may retaliate without risk.
Breaking Fear RP while being detained by Police. If the police are detaining you for a crime and you break FEAR rp by pulling a weapon on them the NYPD are still within their right to react in self defense. This can and will be considered initiating a violent confrontation with police EVEN if you never managed to fire the weapon.
When attempting to FearRP a driver or passenger inside a vehicle you must be within 5 feet of the car, your weapon must be pointed at them as you issue commands for them to exit, and the car must be imobilized, either pitted, unable to move or in a parked position. FearRP does not apply to individuals in a fast moving car.
FearRP applies to cops differently than other players. Cops are routinely put through situations where they must draw their weapon, therefore fear RP applies differently to them; FearRP is only applicable to cops if they are incredibly outnumbered. It is reasonable for a law enforcement officer to attempt to reach for their weapon if there is only a few individuals. However we are aware of individuals attempting to mug or PK cops using FEAR rp, as a result most instances of fear RP against a cop will not result in their pk. It would be illogical to pk cops for doing their job or being targets of fear rp or mugs as it is not realistic to be mugging police officers, especially when players do it from the safety or luxury of alternate/mugging characters. As a result pking a cop for fearp is VERY rare, and only applies if the officer shows a MASSIVE disregard for their life, it's ultimately up to the handling administrator but do not go into a situation against an officer expecting them to be pk'ed.

Mugging Rules

Be cautious! If you are killed while committing a mugging you have the possibility of being PK'ed (Permanently killed)!
You may not mug in a public place, you can, however, pull a weapon on them and bring them to a secluded area to rob them (This can only be done when there is no one else around. EXAMPLE: The victim is alone at night in the middle of an empty street. You initiate a mugging with your firearm and take them to an alleyway so no one stumbles upon the crime. You may not perform the mugging in the street, which is a public area.)
- You may only pull them a reasonable distance. Forcing them to follow you / pulling the victim long distances or crossing into public areas / streets is illogical and can be seen as fail mug. Your secluded location should not be more than a dozen meters away, within reasonable distance.
Secluded and non public areas include; Alleys, dark corners, abandoned buildings and areas void of other players or NPCs.
You may NOT perform mugs in the Hospital, Police Department or Town Hall buildings as these are government buildings and considered public areas.
You may NOT mug in front of NPCs as they are considered witnesses in RP. You may not bypass this rule by attempting to 'pull them away under fearrp' infront of an NPC. Do not target people using NPCs/ATMs. This includes camping NPCs.
In a similar vein you may not camp shipments to mug the owner, using the name on the box is meta knowledge.
You may only kill the victim if they DO NOT comply with your demands. Victims that comply are to be left unharmed.
-Likewise you may only make realistic demands, this means you can’t demand something unrealistic that the victim cannot deliver in order to kill them.
-This includes asking them to drop sums of cash they don't have, or ordering them to drop items from their inventory, as the mugger you are responsible for bringing the necessary restraints to steal items with. Forcing users to drop clothes/items because you're unable to tie them is not pk'able
You may mug one person / singular group of people every 15 minutes. Mugging again immediately, before allowing the timer to expire will be considered Mass Mugging. Realistically you must lay low after mugging someone.
There are several ways you may initiate a mugging, the following actions can be considered initiation of a mugging:
- Attempting to Zip tie someone [Does not apply if you BAIT people into tying you by saying they may or by stealing their items, therefore forcing them to tie you to retrieve them.]
- Holding someone at gunpoint with the intention of mugging them
- Holding someone at gunpoint to pull them to a secluded location for a mugging
- Holding someone at gunpoint and ordering them to drop cash / items
Note that you must have a valid reason to place someone under FearRP (See FearRP rules), initiating a mugging is a valid reason to hold someone under fear RP. That being said, you may not avoid punishment of dying in a mugging by claiming you were only holding them at gunpoint and not mugging them; since that would then invalidate the fear rp reason and become fail RP, at which point you'd be subject to the same punishment as if you died in the mugging.
Mass mugging in order to to PK people, or 'PK hunting' / being 'PK hungry' is not permitted. If an Admin feels like you're doing things intentionally for no regard for actual roleplay they may deny your PK requests issue according punishments
You may not make a character for the sole purpose of mugging, for example if you are pk'ed for mugging and simply create a new character and continue the same actions. It shows you have no regard for actual roleplay.
You may not kill or attack people for stumbling onto your mugging or witnessing it. Mug in secluded locations to avoid being seen.
You may tie the victim and rob them of the items in their inventory.
You may NOT mug AFK users who are busy interacting with an NPC/ATM. There is an AFK script that will prevent truly AFK persons from being mugged. IF you go AFK in the middle of an alley and get mugged before the script kicks in that is your fault.
Once you have finished mugging a user who has complied completely with the mugging you must flee the scene and abandon them.
-This means you may NOT kill or cripple them unnecessarily. (Shooting them once is not crippling. But leaving them to bleed out is)
-And you may not take them as hostage/kidnapping without a proper RP reason; mugging is not a valid reason for ransom.
You may not mug the same person more than once within a span of 30 minutes.
You may scam people in a deal (Taking their item / Money and running away, stealing it). You are subject to the PK rules and mugging rules. You may not kill them to scam them.
If you disconnect within 15 minutes after you scam/mug, or disconnect in order to scam you can be PK'ed or banned by staff for LTARP.

Killing Rules

You may not randomly kill someone without proper reason. (RDM)
You may not kill someone or escalate a confrontation to murder just for verbal disrespect/argument.
-However if someone continues to disrespect you, you may physically intimidate or hit them. (Fists, melee weapon) As continued disrespect could realistically start a fight. The user then has free choice on how to respond/retaliate. If they choose to flee you may not kill them.
a. If the user is attacked they may flee and return later to exact revenge on the assailants as described under killing rule 5.
b. If the user is subject to an active threat via knife or gunpoint they can choose to retaliate or instead leave peacefully. However they may not return later to attack them without sufficient reason as the previous situation had already ended.
In regards to how a user is allowed to react to verbal threats.
There are two types of threats, an 'Active Threat' and a 'Idle threat'. Users may kill for an active threat but they may not kill for an idle a threat.
The difference between the two is situational but will always pertain to if the person making the threats has a weapon in their hand.
For example, someone pointing a gun at you and threatening to kill you. This is an Active threat.
Someone saying they will kill/beat you in an argument or conversation. (Unarmed, weapon on safety etc) that is an idle threat.
You are allowed to react to an Active threat in that moment (Not later when the situation is over) but do be aware that breaking fearrp to kill them and dying can sometimes result in a PK. (PK is circumstantial. View PK rules for more info)
If someone is loitering/following/harassing you you may give them warnings to leave you be, if they ignore several warnings and continue you may attack/kill them. (One warning will not suffice, multiple warnings in a very short time span will also not suffice, you have to give them time to react.)
You may kill in self defense or in defense of your partners/faction/property. When you've been attacked by an aggressor and survive (you did not aggravate or bait them to hit you) you may return with a weapon to kill them.
You may not attack/start confrontations with people in order to kill them when they defend themselves. This is considered baiting.
You may kill someone in self defense if they have refused multiple requests or commands under gunpoint to leave your private/faction property. (See Laws and Penal Codes)
You may perform hits/kills for cash provided that the REASON for the hit is a valid killing reason; listed in these rules. Hits may not be placed or performed for no reason, nor may it involve any metagame or NLR. For a valid hit to be placed the person placing the hit must have a valid kill reason against the victim. The person accepting or performing the hit needs to ensure there is a valid reason to the hit or else it is considered RDM. Both the person placing the hit and the person doing the hit may be punished for RDM if the hit is fail or for an invalid reason.
You may not kill people for witnessing you commit a crime. You can threaten them to ensure they do not report it but you have to be 100% certain that a user has ratted to the police before you can take violent action against them.
-Likewise you cannot kill someone for looking like the person you meant to kill/you cannot kill innocent bystanders. Be 100% sure you are shooting the right person
Initiating a shootout or violent confrontation with Police can lead to a PK. Killing or attacking an Officer after initiating a violent confrontation leaves you PK active from officers for about 15 minutes. Generally we want people to not immediately go for the gun when dealing with Police, as a result if you escalate a situation to a shootout and lose you can be punished via PK as your character was killed. This does not apply if it is the Police that fired first or escalated to a shootout.
You may not kill/escalate against someone based on Inventory sounds, there's no way to know if a user has equipped a gun, unequipped a gun, loaded ammo, equipped a fishing rod or even who that sound came from without it being considered a form of meta.
In regards to criminal on Police violence. Criminals who open fire on police and are killed in the shootout can be subject to a PK. This is to instill a realistic consequence when engaging in shootouts with Law Enforcement as well as to encourage more users to RP or utilize Law RP to avoid legal trouble instead of immediately resorting to violence.
In the same vein there are still times when you can't shoot police and it would be considered RDM. You may not KOS Police for no reason. They must be specifically targeting you or a faction member for arrest/takedown. You may not kill Officers for simply pulling you over or writing you a traffic citation. You may not kill Officers for giving you a lawful order. (Leave the area, put that away, Identify yourself, etc)
You may attack Officers if they attempt to Arrest/Detain you or a member of your group, knowing that an arrest or detainment would lead to a FELONY charge (Having illegal guns/drugs/etc.) You are PK active after shooting/killing an officer.

-What is considered an attempt to arrest / detain you:
- Attempting to handcuff you
- Verbally telling you, you are being detained / arrested ("You are being detained", "You are under arrest")
- Firing their tazer at you
- Pointing their gun at you and ordering you to surrender/stop moving/get down/turn around. (Fear RP basically) (Telling you to LEAVE is not an arrest/detainment)
Asking you for ID / Licenses is NOT a detainment / arrest; nor is simply questioning you, giving you a lawful order or threatening to arrest you. ("Leave or you will be arrested") (etc.)

A Group member is defined as the following:
- They are a member of your faction
- They are rolling with you. (You MUST have their F3)
You may not attack Officers or interfere when they are detaining someone you do not know.

This does not apply to Officers inside PD or if your group member is detained inside PD cells as that constitutes a PD raid which are not permitted. (Prison breaks are unrealistic and are not allowed)
Generally you shouldn't invite conflict then try to hide behind the rules when you're killed. This can also be considered baiting as described under killing rule 6. Intentionally instigating someone or goad them into breaking a rule.

Metagaming Rules

Do not speak of in game matters in OOC
Do not use OOC terms in IC
Discord is generally considered OOC unless it is owned by Diverge Networks, and has the channel clearly stated as IC. I.E: [IC], [In Character]

All Discord Voice Channels are considered OOC.

For more information on our Discord Guidelines and rules check the following thread:
https://divergenet.works/forums/showthread.php?tid=5774

Any 3rd party Voice / VOIP program is considered OOC while in the server. In order for you to communicate with other players you must use in game chat or voice functions, we added radios for this exact reason. Coordinating anything IC in a third party voice program is metagaming and will lead to a ban and/or a void of an RP situation.
You cannot call for help while being mugged/held under fearrp in discord or any other 3rd party service as you would not realistically be able to contact others while under fearp/tied.
You cannot use an OOC reason to PK someone. Leave beef on the server, this is a video game.
You cannot use OOC things / terms as a means to get out of an RP situation. Anything on mic is IC.
Use /looc or /ooc when you need to speak of ooc matters ingame.
Anything said in game (not in /ooc or /looc) is IC and must be treated as such.
You cannot use/pass IC information of one character with another one of your characters, that is meta.
Criminal factions are known about and often high ranking members of these organizations are very recognizable, the name and structure of these organizations is often known about through local rumours and news reports. They are an open secret and knowing the name of a faction or who the leader is is not necessarily metagame.
Admin sits are not considered IC and any information obtained and used in RP can be considered META.
It is considered Meta for Police to attempt to arrest people for talking to blackmarket/illegal NPCs. Police do not "have knowledge" the NPC buys drugs and it's not a reason to detain or arrest users approaching it. (Camping the NPC).
Ways to Identify someone IC'ly:
-You have their F3
-They Identify themselves to you, verbally giving you their full name / unique nickname
-Someone who has their F3 Identifies them to you
-You have viewed their ID card or searched their person (See Police rules section)
-If someone has committed an offense against you (Act of violence, mugging, etc) you may recognize them based on their voice, character descriptions and clothing for up to 20 minutes afterwards. Players may change clothes or lay low during this time to avoid recognition.

Powergaming Rules

Powergaming is described as forcing a scenario or roleplay onto someone against their will, usually in violation of the rules. Using other game mechanics to powergame can include, attempting to force players to do things outside of the server, forcing players to commit suicide, forcing players to commit crimes, forcing players to RP or /me's against their will, forcing players to give their f3, etc etc,
Being removed from a situation or being critically involved only to return on a second character and utilize a rank or position to continue the roleplay. If you were removed from an RP situation on one character or are involved on a character do not return on a second character in an attempt to continue or influence it.
You may not invent evidence to force a roleplay nor may you take OOC matters into IC
You may not abuse the /roll to powergame situations.
Forcing someone to drop items at risk of PK is not permitted, if you are mugging someone it is your responsibility to bring restraints to search their inventory.

Vehicle Rules

Traffic laws are enforced by the NYPD. Being pulled over for ticket is not a valid reason to shoot and kill cops.
Do not randomly VDM.
Do not intentionally run over users for no valid reason, targeting people on sidewalks, cross walks or in traffic stops for no valid reason is VDM. If you accidently run someone over in the street it won't be considered VDM if the staff member deems the opposing party at fault. If you see someone in the street and intentionally aim to run them over or fail to attempt to avoid them it will be considered VDM regardless of them being in the street or not.
Do not intentionally minge your vehicle by targeting players or cars at random for ramming. This also includes running around parking lots damaging cars/tires for no reason other than to bait.
Do not prop abuse cars to destroy them.
Do not intentionally explode cars in order to kill people. Blowing up a car that kills a large group of people is still Mass RDM.
Do not blow up vehicles without proper reason. This includes randomly shooting and exploding parked cars / parked police cars. This can be considered baiting or just general minging.

Robbery/Raiding Rules

If you are killed during the robbery it will result in a PK.
A robbery is defined as forcing your way onto a property with the intention of burglary or theft, lockpicking a door open or barging in with weapons while there are occupants inside or when the occupants step out. Squatting on a property is not considered a robbery.
You may enter stores/domiciles you believe have items inside in order to steal them. You may access the doors using lockpicks. Any occupants inside fall under the mugging rules section.
You cannot attack/rob the same person/location/store for at least half an hour
You can only rob a new place every 15 minutes. (From the end of the previous robbery). This is to prevent people from mass robbing with no RP. If staff notice you are mass Robbing / locker rolling they may deny you or even punish you depending on context.
You may rob stores/homes without staff approval
If you start a shootout with any responding police officers, you become PK active.
You cannot rob the Police Station.
You cannot raid the Police Station.
Police cannot raid without a warrant
-Exceptions apply if they have witnessed a severe felony, or someone is in distress, then they may use probable cause beyond a reasonable doubt to raid.
-A report of a potential crime isn’t enough to warrant an armed police raid unless Officers obtain evidence of a crime or life threatening situation is occurring on the residence.
-An anonymous tip, or a tip of any sorts does not warrant a raid. You need to get a warrant before entering any property unless you have direct observation of a crime happening.
-Senior Admin+ can approve a non warrant raid (if there are exigent circumstances)

Faction Rules

If after acceptance, your faction falls below a certain number of active people, or you yourself become inactive, the individual in charge of factions may remove your faction at their discretion, the least active faction is always at risk of removal.
Factions not following server rules will be terminated.
Factions may only own up to a maximum of two properties. Properties can be seized by police or government within RP reason (Crime scene/raid/failure to pay taxes/etc)
If we notice properties or fronts not being used we reserve the right to notify you of such and take the property away. Don't own the maximum amount if you don't have enough active men to hold the property. A faction with 10 active people doesn't need to own 2 properties.
Faction changes/rebrands can be requested and processed in support tickets, however these rebrands and restructures will incur a massive cost due to the underworld changes that must take place.
Factions that are newly accepted and added to the server will have a 2 week grace period where they may not be taxed or war'ed. This is to prevent metagame/powergame and general abuse to give all players a fair chance. (This does not apply if the new faction demonstrates provable aggressive behaviour towards a particular faction)
If you are in a legal faction you may not openly commit crimes, if you want to do that get a criminal character.

Warrant Rules

A District Attorney / Judge must sign the warrant
-If it is urgent, a high ranking official may sign in the DAs place.
Warrants are required to raid unless specified under raiding rules
Warrants last as long as they are listed on the official document, after this expires, a new warrant must be issued
If a warrant is assigned for search and seizure, police and government have the right to remove humans from the premises in order to secure the area, then they may seize the property and ask staff to switch it to the NYPD faction signifying a crime scene.

Media Player Rules

Media Players are in-game TVs and Screens that users can interact with to view and play videos on.
Users can gain access to Media Flags if they donate for the Media Flags.
You cannot use anything that does not fit into RP for the 1980s. Certain things that go into the 1990s is also acceptable (Music and such that fits the 80s theme but was made in the 90s is acceptable)
Do not play any inappropriate or sexual content. This WILL lead to a permanent ban.
Be mature and responsible with it, if you are found abusing it, it will be removed
If staff says not to play a certain video, do as they ask. If you have an issue, appeal to a higher staff member. Refusing to listen may result in a ban.

Prop Rules

You may not propkill, propsurf, prop block or prop climb.
Prop block includes blocking perfectly reasonable entrances or back entrances to buildings / doors.
Players may not block or obstruct streets or major traffic ways without proper reason.
Prop climb includes spawning props out of nowhere in order to reach areas you wouldn't be realistically able to get up to.
When building dupes or decorating properties the props must be realistic and aesthetic.
Players may slightly extend their property with props by a reasonable amount (Admin discretion)
Breaking these rules will result in a ban or removal of PET flags.
Extensions to buildings can be done in RP if you seek building permits from government Officials.
Do not spam or place unrealistic/floating 3D text screens.

Property Rules

Do not prop block perfectly reasonable entrances or back entrances to buildings / doors.
When building dupes or decorating properties the props must be realistic and aesthetic.
This is NOT DarkRP. We don't build elaborate prop 'bases' to defend against raiders. As such any 'DarkRP' type prop builds can be removed at Admin discretion (shooting slits, one way props, floating barriers, elaborate hallways, kill zones, force crouching area, forced jumping area, non obvious no collided entrances/props or anything unrealistic to a legitimate property)
Players may slightly extend their property with props by a reasonable amount (Admin discretion)
Extensions to buildings can be done in RP if you seek building permits from government Officials.
Extensions may not block or obstruct streets or major traffic ways.
Factions may own up to a Maximum of TWO properties.
Faction buildings may be passed down upon owner death (pk).
Property taxes are collected weekly by the Planning Department. Failure to pay means the building can be seized.
Roleplay centered buildings will be subject to activity checks, this means RP centered buildings (LeGrande, club, shops, bars) must be used by the factions to generate RP, if not they will be seized and given to players who can.
The NYPD and Federal agencies can serve search and seizure warrants signed by a judge, when a property is seized the doors are changed and the owner must go through a court of appeals to regain control of the property.
When a building is firebombed it is taken by the city for repairs. The owner then pays the repairs to gain access to it once again.
To firebomb a factions building you must have proper reason and proof of reason. (Transgressions against your faction, rival racket, Attempted Murder /Murder , failure to pay tax) Minor reasons like disrespect, empty threats or warnings, etc is not enough to firebomb a building. Firebombing a building is an escalation of conflict and can lead to PK attempts which can lead to faction wars. (See PK Guidelines).
Firebombings are not a secret. They are an open challenge of power and territory, the faction you firebomb will be aware you did it.
Only UA can approve a firebombing as it is a direct escalation to potential war. Make a Support ticket in the Discord.
All property ownership is displayed as final here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d9Ahvdqqaig04xlLHQlKK0HxAkicjy9NH9asbSq5jpU/edit#gid=0

PK Rules

https://divergenet.works/forums/showthread.php?tid=4

Police/Government Rules

You must remain in character at all times
Giving guns/cars to criminals will result in a permanent ban from the server
If you are a corrupt cop/government, it does not give you justification to RDM other members of the police/government .
Being Corrupt does NOT mean you are doing criminal acts, that means working on the inside of the PD with criminal factions. You cannot just openly commit crimes on that police character. If you want to be a criminal, make a criminal character. As soon as you put yourself in a corrupt situation it is possible to be PK'ed.
Officers may not execute suspects, they must make an effort to arrest a suspect when possible render aid to a bleeding suspect. You can't kill someone if they are no longer an active threat between a reasonable pause.
If you believe an Officer isn't doing their job correctly this isn't always a staff issue. You may join the NYPD Discord in order to file a complaint against Officers to their superiors, or sue the the Police in RP for compensation.
You may not plant evidence on people to have them arrested without Admin approval. This requires corruption rp in conjunction with a criminal faction who have proper reasons to frame or PK that person.
Police Officers are to NOT investigate or participate in RP situations that they are involved in, witnessed or reported on a second character as any inter-character cross over can be viewed as Meta.
You cannot use your IC position in order to OOCly harass someone.
Abuse of Power/Guns/Arrests will result in removal from your job and possibly a ban.
State Officials like the Governor or state Senators may not be corrupt under any circumstance.
Important positions like the Comptroller may not be corrupt either, the comptroller represents a larger array of property infrastructure and management who's corruption would be a detriment to the functionality of the server, therefore the comptroller may not be corrupt.

Initiating a gunfight or violent confrontation with the police and dying will result in a PK. When you kill Officers you are PK active for 15 minutes

This does not apply to players who hit officers with their fists (Unless they Murder them)
This applies when a person shoots / melee weapons police for a valid reason or for a non valid reason (Traffic Ticket/insults/escaping a felony chargeetc)
This does not apply if the Officer initiates the gun fire or escalates the situation to violence.
Officers may not execute suspects, they must make an effort to arrest a suspect when possible render aid to a bleeding suspect.

Police Corruption:

Being Corrupt does NOT mean you are doing criminal acts, that means working on the inside of the PD with criminal factions. You cannot just openly commit crimes on that police character. If you want to be a criminal, make a criminal character. As soon as you put yourself in a corrupt situation it is possible to be PK'ed.
You may not false arrest people or invent crimes they didn't commit.
You may not plant evidence on people to have them arrested without Admin approval. This requires corruption rp in conjunction with a criminal faction who have proper reasons to frame or PK that person.
You may not enact vigilante justice.
You may not perform hits.
You may not mug people or commit any other obvious general crime as stated in the first line of this sub section.
You may beat suspects or use excessive force. (At the risk of potential PK retaliations if it's continued or targetted) (Do not beat them to Death, this is RDM)
You may accept bribes, letting people into areas or scenes they shouldn't and other undercover corruption that may apply. (IA may investigate and suspend / Fire Officers)
You may not distribute confiscated weapons/drugs/contraband or anything obtained from your police locker for reasons of balance, powergaming and metagaming
Officers ranked Captain+ are considered NYPD High Command and are not permitted to be corrupt
You may not act corrupt for a faction you are apart of or are allied with on different characters. Using your rank to abuse or meta for a family you are apart of or are allied with on other characters is strictly forbidden and can result in severe consequences for anyone involved.

Corruption PKs:

You are found guilty by court via evidence
A faction/rival faction PKs you with rightful reasoning

You must have a reason to arrest/kill someone; you may not kill/arrest for these following reasons:

Disrespect
Minor Traffic accidents
Defamation
Spamming
Jaywalking
Littering
Non violent actions/Non serious crimes. It's a video game man

Arrests:

If a weapon is drawn, the police have the right to detain you until they confirm that the weapon is legal, then they have to let you go.
The arrest must be for a valid reason.
If they take your LEGAL weapon for no just reason, this is stealing and is against the rules.
You may not be arrested for things that would be simple traffic tickets or warnings, jaywalking, littering and other small petty crimes are not detainable. Nor may you be arrested without reason.
Officers may not execute suspects, they must make an effort to arrest a suspect when possible render aid to a bleeding suspect. You can't kill someone if they are no longer an active threat between a reasonable pause.
Not all arrest procedure failures or mistakes / wrong doing done by a Police Officer is a violation of server rules, most actions can be handled IC in a court of law or reported to the IA who may dismiss the officer in question.
Miranda rights do not have to be read the moment you are detained. Police may choose to read them later at the station. (Failure to read rights is an IC issue)
Police must charge a suspect within 30 minutes of detaining them. If they have failed to do so the suspect must be released
-The Officer has 30 minutes, from placement into cells, to read off the charges to the suspect (the crimes they are being charged with) and offer them a plea deal. From that point the suspect may choose to accept a plea or take it to court. Once the suspect is transferred into the prison faction they may disconnect sans repercussion.
-This does not apply if the suspect refuses to talk / acknowledge the charges being given to him. (Going AFK, minging, etc)
-This timer is extended when there is discussion or interrogation, with council, to include the questioning. Example: Lawyers may not argue the charges and/or talk to the cop and prevent them for listing the charges by speaking over them or distracting them in order to game the system and hit 30 minutes
-Police may charge a suspect whether a lawyer is present or not, the presence of legal council is not required to charge someone and the officer should present the charges, preferably via chat, as quick as possible.
-After the suspect chooses and is transferred the Officer has 24 hours to file a criminal complaint and hand it to the DA's office who will prosecute, at which point a judge ticket will be made with the defendant.
-If a judge ticket has not been made after 24 hours of your arrest please inquire with the DA's office or through a staff support ticket
-Suspects who refuse to give their discord ID for coordinating a trial may have their lawyer represent them over discord instead, they must confirm that they want this as the lawyer will have full control
-Suspects who refuse a plea deal, then refuse to give their discord nor do they wish for a lawyer to represent them over the discord ticket waive their right to fair trial (as it then is impossible to schedule one). The DA's office may present the evidence to the judges, present the suspect's refusal to participate in the court process and a decision can be made by the judge based on evidence then and there. (Refusal to accept plea is still entered as a not guilty plea but refusal to participate in a trial or trial scheduling removes their ability to defend themself)
Police may not force you to sign a plea deal. A plea deal is your choice and can only be signed with consent. (include a /me signs plea deal)
Police may not sentence you with the jailer NPC if you have not signed a plea deal or been sentenced by a Judge in a court of law. Officers who do so are committing RDA and should be reported to staff.
It is considered Meta for Police to attempt to arrest people for talking to blackmarket/illegal NPCs. Police do not "have knowledge" the NPC buys drugs and it's not a reason to detain or arrest users approaching it. (Camping the NPC).
In a similar vein they may not camp shipments to arrest the owner, using the name on the box or the fact that they use meta knowledge knowing the shipment has drugs/weapons is not permitted.

Ways to Identify someone IC'ly for an arrest:
-You have their F3
-They Identify themselves to you, verbally giving you their full name / unique nickname
-Someone who has their F3 Identifies them to you
-You have viewed their ID card or searched their person.
-If someone has committed an offense against you (Act of violence, mugging, etc) you may recognize them based on their voice and clothing for up to 20 minutes afterwards. Players may change clothes or lay low during this time to avoid recognition.
-You have probable cause to give a lawful order for the person to identify themselves. (Ex: You are searching for a "Jimmy Ken" and you ask a man on the street his name. He replies "Jimmy" You now have probable cause to order him to Identify himself and check his ID)
-The person has a past arrest / criminal record making them identifiable to law enforcement. (Known to police)
-They match a suspect description or partial name in a local granting you permission to order them to identify themselves. (This DOES NOT mean you may search everyone around a crime scene)
-If you feel you were wrongfully searched or identified you may file a ticket with a judge.

Evidence:

Police will often collect evidence via screenshot. In order for this evidence to be usable in IC you must use the Camera item which automatically prints a message in chat. (To Include the message in the pictures you may have to take multiple photos)
In order to record with a camera item you must perform a /me. Once performed any footage recorded for the next 15 minutes by the camera can be considered valid IC evidence. Once the timer expires another /me must be performed to start a new recording. (spamming /me's can invalidate the validity of the evidence.)
When recording with a camera item any footage recorded by the camera when physically in your hands is admissible IC evidence. If you switch weapon (to keys) while recording anything that happens while the camera is not out is not considered valid. Once you switch back to the camera item the recording resumes and the footage from that point is valid again.
If killed any footage / IC evidence like photos or video from a camera from the last 15 minutes from your point of death are also wiped and invalidated, UNLESS the area is covered by valid CCTV and the CCTV tapes are properly retrieved by someone who did not die in the situation.
When killed a recording captured by a camera item is considered destroyed and the last 15 minutes of footage is lost forever, it may not be recovered.
The Police Department/Town Hall/Hospital/ATMs all realistically have CCTV cameras. This means any individual's recording taken from these areas would be admissible IC CCTV footage evidence.
Independent Business owned CCTV holds footage up to 7 days before being overwritten on, unless deleted
CCTV located on NYPD/Town Hall/Hospital/ATMs holds footage up to 31 days before being overwritten on. It is stored offsite by the State and DOP and cannot be deleted.
Audio is recorded within the visual range, but whispers (/w) are not captured
CCTV footage can only be deleted by the property owner's faction (Unless restricted)
A proper /me is required in order to delete or retrieve footage. Example: /me Deletes footage from 3/19/87 16:00:00 EST-20:00:00 EST
-CCTV may be accessed if you're inside the property / the proper area
CCTV angles are defined by the Department of Planning. To see all active CCTV angles or to apply for installation contact the DOP directly.
In the event an officer is searching or removing evidence off a person inside the holding cell area in the Police Department, CCTV would realistically capture what items are being taken off the defendant making most, if not all, videos/images from within the cells to be IC admissible.

Court Discord NY: https://discord.gg/4fecwReaWA
Evidence can be deleted with Admin approval (before you attempt to delete it) if done properly in RP. Provided that it isn't password protected and no backups exist. (Players must make a backup in RP)

Prisoner Rules

When you are arrested you must endure the arrest process. If you disconnect before you either; sign a plea and are sentenced with the jailor NPC or are given a court date and transferred to the prison faction and do not return within 10 minutes, this will be considered LTARP and you can be banned/pk'ed for it. If you don't have time to roleplay the lengthy law side of things don't commit the crime. If you crash you should message your arresting officer, you can contact them in the NYPD discord.
You may contact a lawyer or receive a public defender to represent you. It is permitted to use discord to contact a lawyer while incarcerated provided that they meet and discuss your case ingame.
You may not be sentenced without a plea or guilty verdict. Contact staff if this occurs.
If you disagree with your arrest reason or view it as some form of corruption this can be handled IC. Staff should only ever get involved in arrests if the officer in question is actively breaking server rules.
You must be charged within 30 minutes of being arrested (Read the Arrest rules in the Police Section). This does not apply if you are speaking with your representative or are AFK/stalling to run the timer.
You may disconnect / switch character one you have been sentenced or are transferred into the prison faction awaiting trial, ask the officer to untie you or a staff member to charkick you.
You may handle most law roleplay, such as launching lawsuits or appealing a felony in the court discord.
If the officer never added you to your court ticket contact staff to have the issue sorted.
Once you have been arrested/sentenced/are awaiting trial there is no being broken out of prison. Prison breaks are not a thing here as it breaks the natural flow of law RP.

Undercover & Plainclothes Rules

Being undercover is defined as your police character being moved out of the NYPD faction in order to perform investigations, usually to infiltrate a criminal organization.
You may not make a second Character to be undercover/your own informant as this is metagame/powergaming.
When collecting evidence undercover you must demonstrate you did it correctly in RP. You will be expected to provide proof via things like '/me hides recording device under my shirt' or '/me takes photograph' etc etc.
When you infiltrate a faction while undercover you can be PK'ed at anytime.
Factions may PK you after you have left your undercover position if they are able to prove that it was you who infiltrated them.
It is recommended to notify the appropriate staff with proof when you have properly infiltrated a faction. This is to reduce the claims of metagame and allows us to verify your secondary characters to make sure you are following the rules.
Plainclothes is defined as being in the NYPD faction but not wearing any clothes that identify you as a NYPD from a distance. (No uniform/badge visible)
The only bureau actually permitted to engage in plainclothes operations is the Detective Bureau. All other bureaus must be in a uniform when conducting on duty policing, or are permitted to a one time plain clothes use for a special operation by PD high command.
Detectives must have a valid reason to engage in plainclothes operations, otherwise they should not be patrolling in plainclothes, they should equip their badge or a regular uniform.
Officers / Detectives in plain clothes or identifiable plain clothes (wearing a suit with the badge item) should wear reasonable clothing. Meaning eccentric, expensive or custom suits that look silly or unbecoming of officers can be considered a uniform/dress code violation. IC issue.
Officers from other bureaus may only wear plainclothes if they are off-duty. This is an aspect of police RP where officers go perform other passive RP that is not policing.
Off-duty officers may not respond to calls less they be considered plainclothes, note that violating the plainclothes directive or any uniform guidelines outlined here is an IC issue, but there are some OOC implications.
As such, Officers who are patrolling in plain clothes or respond to a situation in plain clothes may have certain restrictions on their ability to PK. For example if you a plainclothes officer attempt to confront a suspect from a distance and they open fire on you without the knowledge you are a cop (as you are not identifiable from a distance) and you kill them, it will not be a PK.

- This does not apply if you are close enough for them to see your faction name and made the conscious choice to open fire afterwards.
Otherwise issues with plain clothes are quite rare. Simply do not patrol as one. (It is cringe)

Judges/Courts

Judges are an unbiased object of Justice meant to be able to enforce the law via sentencing that can amount to a PK.
Judges must be 100% unbiased and operate their trials by reviewing evidence and procedures as dictated by the Chief Judge. (Unified Court System)
Judges may not be corrupt without UA+ Approval.
Judges may not commit crimes on their government characters, if you want to be a criminal make a criminal character. Those that do may be removed from their position at any time by staff.
You must obey the judge in the courtroom
Interrupting a court session by minging/not using common sense will result in a Contempt of Court or other punishment by staff.
A Judge may deny court if the user requesting has broken server rules. In these cases you should contact staff.
If a Judge begins a trial that can result in a PK they must notify an Admin beforehand to ensure someone is online to do the PK.
The Judge may decide if it is a Jury court or not. They may also decide if the trial is public or private.
The DA or (District Attorney) and ADA (Assistant District Attorney) is also a core function of the Justice system and is not permitted to be corrupt. This includes dropping valid charges / creating fake ones or leaking information.
Judges/DA/ADAs are expected to disclose a list of their alternate characters and associations and must excuse themselves from cases or prosecutions of people or factions they may be associated with on those alternate characters to ensure their is no bias at any point in the legal process.
If you are not involved in a private court case, you are not allowed to attend, unless specifically asked by the prosecution, a judge, or the defense.
To practice as a Lawyer you must have passed the DVN BAR exam.
Any and all Successful lawsuits against the Police Department / City / State Governments may not exceed a maximum possible court awarded compensation of $100,000

In regards to compensation. Staff are not required to give compensation to players who lose items to accidental deaths or rulebreakers. Players run the risk of losing items and accept that fact when they hit the EQUIP option on the item / weapon.

Players are only ever entitled to compensation if the reason for their item loss was due to a server bug/glitch at which point Upper Administration will step in to approve their compensation

Playing on the server means you agree to our rules and ToS.

Punishments are to be issued at the staff member’s discretion.

You are responsible for securing your account, 'my friend/brother did it' is not a permissible excuse.

Diverge Networks PK Guidelines

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 01:40:30 +0000

PK Guidelines & Regulations

Last updated 30/08/2023

PK - Permanently Killed, also known as a Character Ban. This is a term used when your character has been killed off permanently in roleplay, no respawning. This usually happens as a consequence of an action within roleplay, below is a set of guidelines that explain what can constitute a PK. Different organizations have different rules on how they can PK someone, this is due to how it would be conducted realistically.

It is HIGHLY recommended that during conflicts, PKs, or situations leading to PKs you are recording almost 24/7 as all PKs require PROOF.

PKs must be pre-approved and be overseen by an admin. Retroactive PKs occur only when certain requirements are met.

Note that a PK is not time sensitive, the staff should not be rushed or pressured, PKs are serious as it puts a characters life at risk and staff are not at fault for taking time to consult with others to approve/deny it.

Your character can be PK'ed / banned by staff at their discretion if you break server rules, such as but not limited to; fail corruption / Minging as a Police Officer, metagame/powergame, item transfer/character abuse, etc.

Retroactive PKs
These are possible scenarios which may validate you to be PK'ed retroactively. (Retroactive PK is when a request for pk is made after situation which no admin oversaw occurred)

■ Initiating a violent confrontation with Police Officers and being killed. (Conditions apply, read further down)
■ Breaking FearRP or showing disregard for your own life which results in death. (Specific Examples of when this applies below)
■ Being killed during a PK attempt.
■ Being killed during a raid attempt.
■ Being killed during a mugging attempt.

Note the key term during, this means it's not retroactive if the situation has ended. For instance, if you were mugged and the mugger escapes away from you, and you need to try and hunt them down to find them again? That is no longer retroactive. You instead need to make a staff ticket, present to them your evidence as well as how you can identify the individual and THEN go after them for a pk to be valid.

Fear RP PKs
These are possible scenarios which may validate you to be PK'ed retroactively because of a FEAR RP break. However you may not place people under fear RP just to pk someone, there must be a VALID reason to place someone under fear rp with the possibility of a pk. These are the examples as follows.

■ Breaking Fear RP while being detained by Police. If the police are detaining you for a crime and you break FEAR rp by pulling a weapon on them the NYPD are still within their right to react in self defense. This can and will be considered initiating a violent confrontation with police EVEN if you never managed to fire the weapon.
■ Breaking FearRP or showing disregard for your own life which results in death; this means if you kill yourself in an attempt to avoid an arrest or mugging, intentionally drowning or falling to your death to avoid detainment, or even having a friend or faction member kill you while you are detained are all considered a 'disregard for your own life' and can lead to a PK.
■ Breaking Fear RP during a mugging or raid. If you are being mugged and break fear rp and die you may subject to a pk. (See fear RP rules on server rule page to understand when fear rp begins and ends)

There however are circumstances where you may not PK someone for fear rp.

■ Pulling a weapon and ordering them to leave a property or business/to stop following you. If they refuse and you shoot them (or they break fear rp to shoot you) neither person is pk'ed. It's just a regular kill.
■ Lockpicking or stealing a vehicle; in situations such as the former where the victim of the crime is not at risk of a PK nor are they at risk of losing large sums of money killing the offender generally is not a PK for that person, it's simply a normal kill.
■ This applies to other scenarios not stated above. As stated you must have a valid reason to put someone under a life threatening fear rp situation, we will not pk for small fear rp infractions that occur daily in regular gameplay.

That being said the admin and staff have final say in deciding if a fear rp pk is valid. If you disagree with a pk appeal it in character appeals.

Using OOC means of communication to perform a PK will invalidate it / the evidence for a PK.

Using OOC terms over Mic, (Such as yelling "thats a pk, thats a pk!" After killing someone) may void the PK entirely. Remain in character at all times.

You may accept payment to perform hits for criminal factions. You must ensure the hit you are performing is valid.

You may not perform hits for a faction that you have an alternate character in. (Do it on the main character)

Permanent Kill Valid Reasons:

● General
You must be able to prove your claims to the Administrator, either by video/pictures or if an Administrator witnessed the reason itself.

Reasons:
● A valid reason is required for all PK’s. A PK’s approval is entirely dependent on the reason given, if you give a weak reason such as “he disrespected me” then your PK will not be approved. A list of some valid reasons, but not all are as follows:

Kill
■ The person in question, must have repeatedly done something to directly harm you, your family, or another member of your family OR unwarranted harm in a financial (+7,500$) or SEVERE physical way, there has to be tangible damages, disrespect is not a reason to kill someone. This also means you cannot PK someone JUST for being part of an enemy faction. Having continued gunfights, scams or warnings about territory, money or other continued violent disputes can cause escalation to a PK. (Be sure to record all encounters/transgressions)

■ ALL non-inner faction PKs require direct proof, rumours and witnesses are invalid without video/text proof, or an Admin who has witnessed it, this is to ensure stories are not being manipulated to look like they fit PK criteria

■ You may not bait someone into a PK. This means that starting a confrontation in order to escalate it then use that as a reason to PK someone, this is not permitted.

You must have a valid reason to place someone under fear RP (Valid Mugging, Valid Kidnapping or any Valid Kill reason); placing someone under Fear RP without reason or just in order to bait a PK is not permitted and may result in a ban or character removal.

■ Acting recklessly can cost you your life and result in a PK. This includes, in some circumstances, not valuing your life (breaking FearRP), Intentionally committing suicide or intentionally putting yourself at risk. (See FearRP section on server rules page)

■ If you are attempting to PK someone, during the hit you are also PK active. Meaning if you're attempting to kill or have just killed the victim but you were also killed you are subject to a PK, so don’t be reckless when carrying out these serious murders.

This includes being killed by a third party who is acting in defense of the victim, or a police officer trying to apprehend you, moments after the hit itself takes place. As the hitman your goal is to carry out the hit and escape the area to hide out for next 30 minutes. [You may not disconnect until this minimum timer has expired. You will be PK'ed for LTAP'ing to avoid death]

If you are the one acting in defense of the PK victim you yourself are not PK active in that situation. (Unless you are also the target of an Admin approved PK) You are only subject to a pk in a situation like that if you break FEAR RP. If the perpetrator escapes before you can retaliate and you then try going after them 10 minutes later, that won't be a PK, in that instance you will need to seek approval from an Admin like a regular PK request.

■ Initiating a shootout or violent confrontation with Police can lead to a PK. Killing or attacking an Officer after initiating a violent confrontation leaves you PK active from officers for about 15 minutes. Generally we want people to not immediately go for the gun when dealing with Police, as a result if you escalate a situation to a shootout and lose you can be punished via PK as your character was killed. This does not apply if it is the Police that fired first or escalated to a shootout.

This does not apply to players who hit officers with their fists (Unless they Murder them)
This applies when a person shoots / stabs police for no reason or for a non valid reason (Traffic Ticket/insults/etc)
This does not apply if the Officer initiates the gun fire or escalates the situation to violence. (Note: In the server the tazer is non violent as it cannot physically kill or damage the player.)
Officers may not execute suspects, they must make an effort to arrest a suspect and when possible render aid to a bleeding suspect.

■ Any sentence above a certain minimum amount of years delivered with a guilty verdict in a court of law by a judge or signed and consented to in a plea deal is a PK, verdicts above 45 years are PKs.

■ Corrupt Government Officials are also subject to PKs if arrested or killed by rival gangs they are working against. (Must have directly harmed/affected you)

Family Member Kills

When joining a criminal faction all users understand and partake in the risk of being PK'ed as is the nature of being a criminal. Members of a faction who break their IC code of conduct or run risk to the faction can be ordered killed by the faction leader. See below.

○ Inner-family issues should be handled by the Don of the family and should not always result in murder.
○ If they’re in your family, they must have done something to directly harm the family, yourself, or another member of the family.
■ (Ex: Harm in a physical, or financial way. There has to be tangible damages)

■ The order must be given in-game by the Don or trusted High Command member of the family. Staff will not accept discord screenshots of orders. The person receiving the order must have the identity (f3) of whomever is giving the order, they need to know who their boss is, they can't receive an order from someone they don't know.

■ The person in question, must have repeatedly done something to directly harm you, the family, or another member of the family. Unwarranted Harm in a financial (+7,500$) or repeated physical way, there has to be tangible damages, disrespect is not a reason to kill someone. This also means you cannot PK someone JUST for up one time. Having continued issues or warnings about behaviour or disputes can cause escalation to a PK. (Be sure to record all encounters/transgressions)

■ Collaborating or potentially collaborating with Government / Law enforcement agencies to take harm the faction.

● Examples: They knowingly assaulted a fellow member, siding with a rival gang to harm yourself or your gang, or knowingly bring harm onto another member.

■ Financially harmed yourself or another member of the gang (+7,500$)
● Examples: If they withheld money, robbed a fellow member, or did something to directly harm the gang in a financial way.

■ Actively betraying the gang.
● Examples: Intentionally ratting to the police, Intentionally setting the gang up to be attacked by rivals, or intentionally giving away gang secrets to a rival in an attempt to profit.

■ As a means of self-preservation
● If the member knowingly causes an issue with a larger gang, or other organized crime group, and you desire to avoid a war you may work it out with said rival gang or organized crime group to instead kill the cause of the strife. This is not an opportune reason, but it is a valid reason.
● If they have left the gang/family without approval from the leader, while holding the position of made man+ (or appropriate equivalent), they may be subject to a PK. Entry level associates who are not made or deeply committed to the organization may leave without harm as their position is low and they know very little. (Security, waiters, doormen, drivers, etc) This does not apply if they have partaken in criminal actions, drug manufacturing/murder/robbery/etc. (However these actions may have to be proven). Generally under most don's orders.

However this reason is only valid for 2 weeks after the individual leaves your organization. If you failed to notice or care before those two weeks expired then clearly this person was not important enough to warrant going after. (Exceptions made if they snitch, falls under a different pk reason, or if they simply had not logged on during the 2 week period) However note that the target not logging on does not affect your ability to place the hit in-game. So give the in-game order before the 2 week expiration, regardless if they log in or not.

You may be asked to provide proof of these claims. However a Don/Boss is able to order his subordinates to be killed without much oversight.

■ Attempted Mutiny or ‘takeover’ of a gang must be approved by a member of UA

Killing a rival gang/mob member

○ If they’re not in your family, they must have done something to directly harm the family, yourself, or another member of the family. To acquire this PK you should first speak to your don, and then the Commission to get the hit sanction. If you Kill another made man without it being sanctioned there is a steep penalty.

Note: If the request to murder a rival gang/mob member is directly related to escalating conflicts between your faction and the rival faction you need to ensure that proper escalation steps have been taken by your leaders before continuing.

■ You should seek a sit down with the leadership of the opposing family/gang and work out some sort of deal. Either reparations through money or possibly have a sanctioned hit against the accused party in order to maintain a diplomatic relationship without causing conflict.
■ The person in question, must have repeatedly done something to directly harm you, your family, or another member of your family. Unwarranted Harm in a financial (+7,500$) or repeated physical way, there has to be tangible damages, disrespect is not a reason to kill someone. This also means you cannot PK someone JUST for being part of an enemy faction. Having continued gunfights, scams or warnings about territory, money or other continued violent disputes can cause escalation to a PK. (Be sure to record all encounters/transgressions)
● Examples: Repeatedly hurt you or another member of your gang, resulting in disability, crippling, or death (PK'ed a member of your faction).
● Examples: They have attempted to muscle you out of the drug trade entirely, not just took your corner but have attempted to take you out of the “game” entirely, Or if they have done something like mugging or robbing you a multitude of times.

■ Knowingly operating in your area / Violating Agreement
● Examples: Knowingly and intentionally violating an agreement made between your faction and theirs (ex: selling drugs on territory you have claimed). You have to establish that they are knowingly doing it, if they did not know then you may assault them or threaten them, but if it is both knowingly and intentional then you have a valid reason. (Murder should be a last resort, often sitdowns can resolve this. Killing someone can start a conflict.)

■ If you intend to retaliate for a PK against your family by another’s you must prove you have 100% certain IC knowledge that it was that family that attacked you, you then may retaliate an equal amount of PKs. Ideally you go after the hitman himself. (EVIDENCE MUST BE PROVIDED)[/size]

You will be asked to provide proof of these claims.

Killing a non-associated civilian

■ You cannot PK a civilian for simply witnessing or reporting a crime, it's natural for normal civilians to call the Police or report incidents, while you may attack them for this it is not considered a valid PK reason. You may only PK a Civilian if they are actively collaborating with a government agency to take you down, this means they have signed some form of Affidavit or witness statement and/or have the intention of testifying against you or your faction in court. You may also threaten people to make sure they don’t snitch. Murder (PK) is a last resort.

Killing a don or leader of a faction
Killing a don or leader of a faction is a serious undertaking that has several stipulations.
○ If you are killing your faction leader
○ If you are killing an opposing faction leader
○ Direct Aftermath of a kill

■ Killing your leader [ COUP ]

A coup is the forcible transfer of ownership from one party to another internally. In order to perform a coup, the initiator must have a simple majority (or 51%) of faction leadership backing them. A valid RP reason must exist in order for a coup to take place. Upon approval by UA, through the creation of a UA ticket, the coup leader and faction leader will be set PK active.

As an example, if there were six total members of faction leadership (three capos, a street boss, a consigliere, and an underboss), four members would need to be involved in a coup for it to be approved.
For example, let's say a Caporegime wants to coup the Don. Currently there are:
three capos, including yourself, street boss, a consigliere, and an under boss. You would have to convince out of the 6 people, you need to convince 3 other leaders, totaling 4 out of the 6.
Once you have the 51%, you then need to make a UA ticket and explain why you are leading this coup and the RP reasons behind it. If UA deems this coup as legitimate, we will allow the coup to occur.
Once the coup begins, both the Faction Leader and Coup Faction Leader will be set PK active.

● You must have more than half of your faction's high command support to overthrow your current leader.
● Once you've made your move against your don the rest of the faction may choose a side, this can plunge the faction into civil war
● The civil war ends when one side concedes or is wiped out.
● These PKs still need pre-approval [ Make a SUPPORT ticket in the main discord]

■ Killing an opposing leader
● Killing an opposing leader is difficult as it's much more difficult to kill a boss.
● You can either kill them via a war or if you have made a deal with a group within the faction who will take over once the boss is killed. (Assisting a coup)
● There are no 'Silent don kills'. Killing a don is a public secret. This can cause a war if the Internal Coup you assist fails.

Government and Police Kills
○ Any murder of a police officer or politician must be weighed with the cons. To murder an officer or government official is a serious matter. Due to this, the reasons needed to kill an officer or politician are raised. They must have harmed your family in a significant way. We implore you to also pursue and exhaust all legal options before resorting to murder, else the entire NYPD will be impeding your business during their investigations.
■ (Ex. Performing several targeted or illegitimate raids on your establishments)
■ (Ex. Falsely arresting your members in an attempt to harm your group)
■ (Ex. Reported a crime to their superior after taking a bribe)
■ (Ex. Intentionally siding with another family to harm you, such as arresting the men guarding a don as to make him open for a hit. I.E. Corruption.)

Police Officers may not be simply PK’ed or punished for doing their job, they represent a vast Government agency with large state funding who’s job is to take you down, being investigated doesn’t mean you’re being targeted, and there are other legal ways to block police from messing with your business other than murder. Murdering a police officer will likely get the entire NYPD/Feds down your back and lead to your downfall, bribes or going after officers in court are usually more effective non lethal solutions.

Corruption
See server rules on Corruption
When you are acting as a Corrupt Police Officer or Government Official (in accordance with our rules) you are at risk of PK. Being corrupt is incredibly secretive and dangerous and there are several ways this can harm you:
-Being arrested and sentenced by IA or a Federal Agency.
-Being killed by a Rival gang/mob you are working against.
[Acting recklessly and not valuing your life/job.] etc

As a criminal, in order to PK a corrupt Officer/Government Official who was working with you or your faction you must show proof to staff that the user had accepted some form of bribe or done something illicit with/for you and then proceeded to either harm your faction or break your alliance/bribe by ratting or working with a rival gang instead.
Police Officers and other Government Officials may not murder another corrupt official. Only criminals / Criminal factions may do such. Vigilante PKs against corrupt LEOs or Officials are not permitted.

Being a corrupt police officer does not mean you may kill/pk people. When corrupt you leak and feed information to the criminals you are working with in RP to give them information. This includes reporting snitches to them, you may not kill the snitches yourself, you report it to the crime family who use you to get to the informant.

Aftermath

You've just killed someone and either need to make a quick exit before a rival gang member or Police Officer catches you; or you need to clean all the blood off your new floor. There's a plethora of evidence left at the crime scene and it can be used to imprison you for life!

Forensics

As with actual murders a slew of evidence can be left behind after a killing. If your killing was done in broad day light, or the body was discovered and reported the Police will likely respond and investigate the crime. Using forensics based roleplay overseen by the handling Administrator/GM to ensure the investigation into the murder is both fair and challenging. This however isn't always a sure way to be caught, criminals can roleplay and prepare for a PK in anyway they see fit. Including but not limited to, cleaning of stains, casings or disposal of the body if possible.

For War rules see: https://divergenet.works/forums/showthread.php?tid=1181

Conclusion:
Generally PKs are to the Discretion of an Admin and a PK may be shortly followed by a /event (orange text) in chat explaining how the body was found and who is deceased. (Not always required)

If you feel your PK was unjust you may appeal it here. Don’t delete the Character! https://divergenet.works/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=37

You may not transfer the money or items of a deceased character to a new one under any circumstance.

You may ask the Admin for the reason you were PK’ed but certain specifics like ‘who did it’ may be withheld to protect the perpetrators for reasons of Meta.