Rules

MCLabs strives to create an environment that is welcoming and enjoyable for every player. In order to accomplish that, we have strict rules that must be followed by all players. There are no exceptions to these rules, and trying to find loopholes to get away with borderline violations will result in applicable punishment.

General Rules

Please note that aside from these rules, staff have the ability to take action with their own discretion in necessary situations.

No hacking, cheating, or exploiting. Ask a staff member if you believe something may be an exploit.
* This includes abusing vanilla mechanics/abilities to achieve a result which would be considered an unfair advantage (block glitching, seeing through chunks/blocks, etc.)

* This includes taking advantage of quirks and unintended side effects of custom mechanics with the goal of getting an advantage not intended by that mechanic, such as placing other blocks to destroy deepslate with a Jackhammer.

* This includes joining group chats you have not been given permission to join.

* This also includes particular vanilla mechanics that require going out of your way to gain information (using F3/debug data such as entity count, "pie-ray" (using the F3 debug menu pie chart to locate bases) or any other debug information.)
Chat Guidelines:
2a: Do not flood chat - try to merge short, subsequent chat messages into the same line.

2b: Take one-on-one arguments and discussions into private messages (/msg) or group chat (/group).

2c: English only in main chat.

2d: Do not post malicious links in chat. Links to popular sites (e.g. YouTube, Twitch, etc.) are permitted.

2e: Full-caps are allowed, as long as the message follows all other rules.
Don't be an asshole; use common sense.
3a: Treat all other players with respect. Banter/trash talking is allowed but you may be warned to stop if it becomes excessive.

3b: Excessive hate will not be tolerated and will result in a mute without warning.

3c: Not all rules are explicitly listed here; each situation is unique and will be handled under staff interpretation.
No begging for free items, ranks, money, etc.
Alternate accounts are not allowed.
* Tell us if you have someone else playing on your IP.

* Be prepared to verify with an admin.
Combat logging (logging out to avoid PvP) and police logging (logging out to avoid police) are not allowed.
* Going on runner duty/taking jobs and switching servers without cooldown are considered combat logging.
Scamming is not allowed.
7a: This includes TP trapping, as well as baiting players into PvP chunks in the Town world.

7b: It is the responsibility of the people involved in an agreement to have evidence of the agreement. Agreements that are made without any form of evidence will not be investigated by staff and will be assumed to be void. Proof from both parties agreeing to it is required to uphold the agreement.

7c: Agreements for "investments" (e.g. player-run "coins", "stocks", etc.) or money loans taken with the intent of wagering the money are not protected under this rule. Players will be punished for not fulfilling their end of such agreements, but we will not recover any owed debts.

7d Agreements with the goal of circumventing server mechanics and limitation (e.g. no-raid agreements with a faction that you are not allied with) are not protected under this rule.
Do not impersonate police (wearing blue armour and/or acting like police).
Some AFK machines/mechanics are not allowed:
9a: AFK fishing machines/fish farms are not allowed.

9b: Cobblestone generators are not allowed.

9c: Any macro/mod that allows you to automate actions is not allowed (holding down keys/mouse is allowed).
Do not plant/drop chems on other players.
Do not drop large amounts of items on the ground. Use /bin
Do not impersonate staff.
Do not send fake/trick teleport requests.
Schematica/Litematica are permitted, but their Printer/easyPlace functions are not allowed to be used.

Farm Rules

See Farm Rules

Police Rules

Violating any of these rules may result in not only a ban but also removal of the ability to be a cop for the remainder of the map.

You may frisk anyone wherever you can reach them in the spawn world except in the player shops.
You may not use/harvest farms. You may help build farms, but can not harvest/plant them. See below for exception related to alcohol brewing.
Do not frisk people in the wild world, at warp tutorial, or during a drop party.
Do not frame people by throwing chems on the ground.
Do not take bribes from players (eg. Taking money to let them go, taking "bail" money from them).
Do not use speed, jump, or invisibility potions while on duty.
Do not use /hat while on duty.
Selling chems for other players or selling chems that you had before enrolling into the police is punishable by permanent ban.

Towny Rules

Insiding your town for resources is not allowed.
Griefing any town or unclaimed area that is being developed is not allowed.
Raiding towns or unclaimed areas that are being developed is not allowed.

Faction Rules

Overview

Insiding a faction is not allowed (See "Insiding" below).
Faction hopping is not allowed (see "Faction Hopping" below).
Reasonably "unraidable" base defenses are not allowed (See "Base Defenses" below).
Buffer claims for other factions are not allowed (See "Faction Claims" below).
You may not use faction titles and/or colour codes to obscure or fake the names of the people in your faction.
Faction names must generally follow the same rules as chat and nicknames. If your faction name is vulgar, derogatory, racist, or references another player without their permission you will be asked to change it.
You may not log out in another faction's base with the intent to log back in and raid it at a later time.

Insiding

Insiding a faction on MCLabs is defined as taking advantage of knowledge, permissions, or abilities that come with being a member in that faction to aid in any malicious action that is performed with intent to disrupt, harm, or otherwise impede the faction (and, by extension, allied factions) you are or previously were a member of.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Forcibly entering claimed faction areas they have not been granted explicit access to.
Stealing items/materials/etc. from claimed faction land.
Creating intentional vulnerabilities in defenses or otherwise tampering with the base layout.
Teleporting other players into claimed faction bases without permission (This includes homes in faction land you are no longer a part of. Faction related homes must be deleted regardless if you left the faction or were forcibly removed).
Giving out private faction information that you would not have had access to without being in the faction (i.e. group chat passwords or specific base information like coordinates or information about the internals of a base).
Not leaving a faction's group chat, Discord, etc. after leaving or being removed from the faction.
For faction leaders/officers: exploiting faction members (e.g. inviting a member for the sole purpose of taking items and then kicking them from the faction) or causing harm to your own faction intentionally.

A quick test to find out whether an action would count as insiding is to ask, "Is this action only possible due to the fact that the player is a member of the faction?". If the answer is yes, it is most likely that it would be considered insiding.

Players outside the faction who are complicit or made an accessory to insiding without the knowledge that the player they were assisting was insiding will not be punished, so long as they comply with staff. Any attempt to mislead staff or withhold items or information will result in the player being punished up to a permanent ban.

This definition of insiding is the default that is applied to every faction. However, if a faction wants to define their own further restrictions on insiding, they may, so long as they are clear and can reasonably be followed by a regular player. In the case of a report, the burden is on the faction to prove that the reported player was aware of these unique restrictions.

Update 16/06/22: Insiding rules apply to both claimed and unclaimed land/bases/vaults/etc.

Reporting Suspected Cases of Insiding

To create a report of suspected insiding, a ticket must be made on our Discord. From the #open-a-ticket channel in the Support category, click the "Create an insiding report" button. A channel will be created below where you can fill out the required information.

Creating the report is the responsibility of the faction leader or officers. If the person being reported is the leader or officer, the next highest ranking member of the faction must make the report.

If you think you have been insided physically (base tampering or stolen items) please include the exact location (coordinates and world name, or home) in the report.

For situations where the damage is related to leaked faction information or other cases that cannot be confirmed via in-game logs, it will be the responsibility of the person making the report to collect evidence, and provide the name of the insider if possible.

Inactive Faction Members

If a faction member is automatically kicked from the faction for inactivity (after 30 days of not logging in) without notifying their faction leaders, their items within faction lands and bases will be considered forfeit, and may be taken and/or disposed of, at the discretion of the faction leaders.

If a faction member is kicked from a faction for inactivity, they are not allowed to abuse their previous faction access upon their return.

Insiding Punishment

For insiding leading to physical harm to the faction, of the type that can be rolled-back, the punishment is a 7 day ban on the first offense. For insiding causing the leak of private faction information and/or other things that cannot be rolled-back, the punishment starts at a 14 day ban, and may be up to a permanent ban depending on severity.

Beyond a ban, first offense punishments may also include the resetting of the offendor's balance, rank, and/or items, based on the situation and up to the disrection of the admin(s).

Second offenses for insiding will always be punished by a permanent ban.

The rules and restrictions on insiding are relatively new, and unconsidered situations are bound to happen. These restrictions are a guideline on how to question whether something is considered insiding, and may be updated as it becomes clear that more specific restrictions are required.

Faction Hopping

Faction Hopping is broadly defined as leaving a faction, making a new faction, or changing your faction status in any way in an attempt to avoid the restrictions imposed by the Factions plugin. This notably includes, but is not limited to, leaving a faction to avoid the limitations imposed by your relation to another faction or player.

Base Defenses

Certain base defenses are not allowed. This specifically includes:

Waterlogged blocks that are reasonably unraidable or cannot be destroyed by explosions.
Kelp walls
Magma Blocks and soul sand

Bases found to be using these defenses will have them removed. Multiple offenses will result in ban for the players involved.

Faction Claims

Factions are responsible for the protection of their own bases. Making buffer claims for any faction base besides your own is not allowed (Sister factions are not considered to be the same faction in the context of this rule, and must have their own claims).

Faction land that is side-by-side must have at least 2 chunks of space between the claims, except for the purposes of raiding. Any players who attempt to circumvent this rule by "enemying" a faction they are helping to protect will be punished, and result in all relevant chunks being unclaimed.

Buffer claims and side-by-side claims are permitted for raid bases and cannon defense, as long as the claims are temporary, and it is clear that the intent is to protect a temporary cannon, not a permanent base protecting loot and/or farms.

Faction Tags

The use of the "&k" format code is not allowed in Faction tags/titles.

Player Shops and Auction House Rules

Player Shops

These are some basic rules for shop owners. For more information please see Player Shops

Shops must be selling 3 different items minimum, and be restocked fairly regularly. VIP, VIP+, MVP, MVP+, and MVP++ Kit items do not count towards the 3 item minimum.
Storing items in your shop is not allowed. Valuable items may not be used as decoration.
Scamming or other tricks in shops are not allowed. Items sold cannot be intentionally misleading about their use or affect, whether that is by their name or how they are advertised.
Seeds and lab materials that do not appear in /chems can be sold in shops (The exception to this rule is Cocobinide and Cactium, which is not allowed to be sold).
Shop decorations must stay within your shop region (the area you can build in), including but not limited to beacon trails, water and lava.
Once your shop is set up it must be accessible at all times. Do not wall off your shop, or build it in a way that can cause a player to get stuck inside it.

Scamming, item storage, or abusing the build region in your shop in any way will result in a ban and the loss of your shop.

Auction House

Violating any of these rules may result in you losing the ability to sell on the Auction house

Scamming on the Auction House is not allowed under any circumstances.
Items listed on the auction must be reasonably priced.
You may not list renamed items to serve as advertisements.
Seeds and Lab materials that do not appear in /chems can be sold in the Auction House (The exception to this rule is Cocobinide, which is not allowed to be sold).

Advertisement Rules

All advertisements in chat must be kept to once every 5 minutes.

/advert Rules

Violating /advert rules multiple times will result in losing the ability to use advertisements

You must be advertising some kind of in-game item, service, Faction, etc. (do not use /advert for miscellaneous messages)
You may not repeat the same message in a single advert.
The text around your advertisement must be directly related to the item, service, faction, etc. that you are promoting.
Advertising an unrelated message and then including what you otherwise would be allowed to advertise is still against the rules. (ex. Goodchum is big smell, buy boss souls at A1, or advertising something that doesn’t have to do with buying/selling or a service/feature on the server)

Discord/Teamspeak Rules

Soundboards are not allowed in public channels.
No voice changers in public channels.
Mic Spamming is not allowed under any circumstances.
Do not add fake tags to your name.
Do not spam in any way.
Avatars must not be - Porn, Gore, Advertisements (use common sense).
If you go afk for a prolonged period of time use the AFK channels.
Don't be an ass.

Website Rules

Do not spam. Excessive use of capital letters, colors, etc is also included in this rule. Do not excessively bump threads, or create multiple identical threads.
Do not disrespect staff. The staff are here to help, don't make their jobs harder.
No advertising. Do not post the IP of other TeamSpeak servers. Do not post fake IPs or player IP addresses. Do not attempt to advertise for self gain.
No racist, homophobic or excessive offensive language or harassment.
Do not release glitches/exploits. Do not release information on how to do an exploit/glitch. Report it to staff right away.
Only one forums account per player. Do not have more than one forum account.
Do not post private or personal information. Any information including Skype names, IP addresses, family information, Facebook pages, etc. If you have any doubt if rather what you are about to post is personal information, contact an admin before posting.
Do not post inappropriate content. Do not post disturbing links, pornography, shock links or anything that may be deemed inappropriate. We choose rather or not the content is inappropriate, do not post questionable content without asking an admin beforehand.
No Abuse of Rating System. Do not spam like your friends or your own account.
Low quality / Low effort posts will be removed. Do not create threads for the only purpose of a joke.
Do not post on a report if you are not staff. (Unless you are the one who is filing the report or involved with it)