RULES
Community Guidelines
[1.1] We do not tolerate extremism, racism, insults, personal attacks or discrimination.
[1.2] We are a politically neutral community.
- Do not discuss current conflicts.
- Do not discuss extremist groups.
[1.3] Behaviour that has a negative impact on the gaming experience and ensuring smooth gameplay is to be avoided. This implies "trolling", "ticket wasting" and "griefing".
Admins
[2.1] In addition to the following rules, admin instructions must be followed. In borderline cases of rule violation, the judgement rests with the admins present.
- If you would like to appeal an admins decision, please open a ticket in the # channel.
Reporting
Reporting violations of our ruleset is encouraged so we can maintain a neutral playing environment. Reports are handled in a private setting with members of our admin team, failure to report issues in the correct manner may result in your report being overlooked or thrown out. Use the # channel to open a ticket.
- Reports should be made in our community discord server.
- You are required to provide evidence along with your report, ideally in the form of a short clip or screenshot.
Balancing
[3.1] It is prohibited to shoot at and destroy enemy vehicles or infantry leaving main. Main camping is not allowed.
[3.2] Firing from vehicles from the border of your own main base is prohibited.
[3.3] Rushing your opponent's first flag is not allowed.
[3.4] Intentional team kills are prohibited.
[3.5] To ensure smooth gameplay, guest clans should respond to balance requests / are encouraged to actively balance.
Squads
[4.1] Infantry Squads can only be locked from 4 players. If there are no open squads for unassigned players, Squad Leaders must be open their squad.
[4.2] Squads should be accurately named for their intended purpose (e.g. T-90A, LAV-25, Logi, TOW etc).
[4.3] Squad Leaders must use a Squad Leader or Lead Crewman kit.
[4.4] Squad Leaders can kick anyone from their squad for any reason.
[4.5] Resigning from the Squad Leader position immediately after opening the squad is prohibited.
[4.6] Specialized infantry squads can be locked below 4 players, but must be clearly named for their intended purpose.
- Examples: [EN] MORTAR, [DE] CMD, [FR] TOW, [IT] Logi - Command and Local chat should be kept in English at all times.
Vehicles
[5.1] All vehicles, with the exception of unarmed troop transports, may not be used as purely disposable means of transport.
[5.2] Vehicles that require a crewman kit must be manned by at least two crewmen at all times.
[5.3] Specialized vehicle squads can be locked below 4 players, they must be clearly named for their claim, 1 claim per squad.
- Examples: [EN] RWS Kord, [DE] RWS M2, [FR] BM-21 Grad, [BE] Tech SPG9.
[5.4] Vehicle claiming is done via squad name, the name should be exactly the same as listed in the vehicle legend. The first squad to correctly name the vehicle has a claim over that asset.
[5.5] Helicopter ramming is prohibited.
[5.6] Do not asset hog, you cannot consistently claim the same vehicle each layer.
Communication
[6.1] Squad leaders are required to have a microphone and communicate with their squad and command chat.
[6.2] Language specific squads are allowed, this should be indicated by a country code in your Squad name. Command and Local chat should be kept in English at all times.
Naming Schemes
[7.1] Players and Squads must have neutral names consisting of at least 3 latin characters.
- Example: [EN] Infantry, [DE] T90-A.
Cheating
[8.1] It is forbidden to exploit bugs and glitches.
[8.2] Any use of hacks and cheats is strictly prohibited.
[8.3] Conveying sensitive information to and from the enemy team is prohibited.
- Examples: Saying "GG" because you're low on tickets - Switching during a live match - Streaming your map and movement without a delay.
Recruitment and Advertising
[9.1] Recruiting members is prohibited for non-DZ clans.
[9.2] It is prohibited to advertise on Dark Zone.
[9.3] Having 'DZ' in your tag if you are not recognized as an official member of our community is prohibited.
Recording and Streaming
[10.1] It is encouraged to record your gameplay on the server. This can be done with tools such as Nvidia Shadowplay, AMD Relive or OBS Studio.
[10.2] You are allowed to stream the contents of the Dark Zone server publicly with a 300s delay. If streaming in Discord you are responsible for ensuring that only your team members are present.
Seeding
If the server player count is lower than 46 players, the following seeding rules are also in effect. Once there are more than 46 players on the server, a broadcast will be put out stating the game is live. The point of seeding is to fill the server, don't engage in activities that hurt people's interest in the game, such as camping at the edge of map borders killing any enemy attempting to cross over to the main gameplay area.
[11.1] Destroying RADIOS & HABS is prohibited.
[11.2] Firing in and around your own HAB is prohibited.
[11.3] Placeable, stationary weapons are prohibited.
[11.4] Armed vehicles are not allowed to be used.
- Players that actively seed the server will be rewarded with free whitelist once they hit a certain threshold of hours.
- This can be tracked via an in-game popup upon joining the server.
- Players must link their discord account by using the slash-command /profile in order to receive seeding rewards.
Data Collection
Whilst playing on the Dark Zone platform you may be subject to data collection via third-parties. This includes recorded gameplay, chat-logs, networking-logs and other types of analytical data. In this case, third parties include admins, other players and members of Dark Zone. Your in-game name and Steam ID will be recorded as soon as you join the server.
Final Remarks
This list is not exhaustive and the assessment of the rulings is always at the discretion of the respective admin present.
Admins can be called upon to immediately stop rule violations at any time; there are no exceptions. Instructions must then be followed immediately.
The first violation of the rules will result in a warning, then a kick. If the rules are repeatedly violated, there will be a 2-day ban, a 1-week ban for the third violation and then a permanent ban.
If violations are serious enough or if there is a lack of insight, rulings will be discussed with an independent admin team and/or the game developer.