Mafia Guidelines for TBT Mafia

[Chris]

Guidelines for TBT Mafia
​

The Cellar follows the same Rules and Guidelines as the rest of The Bell Tree. Below are the key points we want you to keep in mind when you are participating in a mafia game:

Contents

1. Rule Violations and Reporting​
   1. Respecting Others​
   2. Prohibited Content​
   3. Mafia-Specific Scenarios​
   4. Reporting​
2. Role of Game Hosts​
3. Punitive Action​
4. Game Closures​

Rule Violations and Reporting

Respecting Others​

• Respect other Bell Tree members in your posts, private messages, visitor messages, Wi-Fi ratings, and other conversations.
• If you disagree with someone, please do so in a dignified manner and refrain from using personal attacks.
• Keep your criticism constructive and avoid posting anything that belittles another user.
• Do not intentionally provoke or instigate a negative reaction out of another user. This is also known as trolling.
• If another user is disrespectful or makes a personal attack, do not attack them back. This will create a lengthy series of attacks known as a flame war.
• Publicly blacklisting other users is not allowed.

It is important that all posts made on TBT adhere to Section 1.1. Respecting Others of our rules and guidelines above. There is no excuse for excessive cursing, name-calling, insulting someone's intelligence or personality traits, excessive aggression, and other disrespectful comments. We do not see rude behaviour as a valid tactic in TBT mafia. You should be able to fight your case without resorting to hurting someone else. When this occurs you should report the post in question rather than responding to it yourself.

Please also note that the final section of this rule is the restriction against public blacklisting. People who did not follow the rules in mafia used to be named and shamed, but we have removed this system to prevent bullying and embarrassment.

Mafia games can be frustrating, and when this happens it is better to take a break to calm down rather than respond to the other user right away. This way you can come back to the post a little later in the day with clearer judgement.

Prohibited Content​

• Violence, terrorism, suicide, self-harm, or other obscene content
• Discrimination against any race, religion, or sexual orientation.
• Words or images that purposely bypass the forum censor, including partially replacing letters with asterisks or other symbols.

The important things to take away from Section 1.4. Prohibited Content are: not make violent posts, not to discriminate against another user, and not to bypass our censor. Posts that imply violence toward another user (beyond an in-game elimination) or make discriminatory remarks against another user's character are not permitted on TBT. As for our forum censor, this is in place to catch curse words. You do not need to self-censor bad language. If the word is not allowed to be said then it's the censor's job to catch this word and omit it for you. Any words that bypass the censor, preventing it from kicking in, will be treated as deliberate and warned appropriately. However, we would like to encourage you to use other words where possible rather than cursing excessively - and bad language should never be directed at another player.

Mafia-Specific Scenarios​

To make this easier from a moderation standpoint, we have classified specific mafia scenarios into categories that align with our existing format for handling rule violations:

• We would classify any action taken within a game with the intention of ruining the experience for others as rude behaviour. This will be handled in the same way as rule violations related to insulting other users and criticising/interfering in trading threads. This would include playing against your win condition, trying to get the thread locked, and breaking the established rules of the game - e.g. out-of-thread communication in a no-PM game.
• Excessive spamming of a game thread with unrelated posts would fall under Section 1.2. Post Quality.
• Inactivity or quitting a game will be handled on a case-by-case basis. If a user has a habit of quitting games then a game host can approach a moderator to discuss their concerns. See the section on Role of Game Hosts below.

Reporting​

• If another user violates a rule, report the post by clicking "Report" instead of posting a response to it.
• Please use the report feature if you see a misplaced thread or any other post that requires attention. Responding to this yourself is considered mini-modding and can cause unnecessary confusion.
• Do not use the report system to make demands, sarcastic remarks, or unnecessary reports. This is considered Report Abuse and can earn you a warning alongside removal of the report feature for your account.
• If you have a specific question or concern you'd like to discuss with the staff team, make a thread in our Contact the Staff board.

If you see a post that violates our Rules and Guidelines you should press the report button rather than responding to it. The post will then be reviewed by one or more members of the TBT staff. If we do not feel the post violates the rules then no action will be taken. If the post has been deemed to violate our rules then we will delete it and warn the user appropriately.

Role of Game Hosts​

A host is the person who runs and maintains the game thread. In order for games to run as smoothly as possible, the host should make the effort to report posts that break the rules and encourage users to stay on topic. The table below contains a more specific breakdown of dos and don'ts as a host on TBT:

A host should​	A host should not​
Report posts that break the forum rules.	Attempt to handle rule-violating posts themselves.
Encourage others to report posts that break the rules.	Discourage others from reporting posts that break the rules.
Post to ask users to tone down posts / to not break the rules.	Criticise or minimise the feelings of the players in their game.
Disqualify a user who continues to break the rules.	Disqualify a user who has not broken any rules.
Discuss their concerns about a player with a staff member.	Disallow a user to join the game without staff input.

Please remember that game hosts are not moderators. If you feel another user in the game is attacking you then you should report their posts and speak to a moderator about their conduct; not the game host. If a host has concerns about a player, they should contact the staff with evidence that they feel demonstrates that user's inability to play the game properly.

If a host violates these rules then they should be reported. A host who cannot follow the hosting rules may be banned from hosting mafia games.

Punitive Action​

Punitive action in mafia is at the discretion of the staff team and will run parallel to how we handle rule violations throughout the rest of forum. This ensures consistency in how each user is treated. If a user has been warned or banned then this will be handled in private and the rest of the players will not be made aware unless that user chooses to say something themselves.

Below is the example of a rough outline of how we might respond to someone breaking the rules in mafia, but keep in mind that severity of a rule-break and that user's TBT warning log will be taken into account. If it is a user's first ever warning, or their first warning in a long time, then it would carry out as below. If a user already has recent warnings on their account then more severe action may be taken.

First violation of a rule in mafia:

• The offending post(s) will be deleted.
• The user will receive a formal warning.
• A staff member may post in the thread if the situation needs to be mediated.

Second violation of a rule in mafia:

• The offending post(s) will be deleted.
• The user will receive another formal warning.
• The user may be removed from play at this point depending on the severity of their rule breaks.
• A staff member may post in the thread if the situation needs to be mediated.

Third violation of a rule in mafia:

• The offending post(s) will be deleted.
• The user will receive another formal warning and their TBT account may be banned at staff discretion.
• The user will be removed from play.
• A staff member may post in the thread if the situation needs to be mediated.

As stated above, how we handle a player may be impacted by their history outside of The Cellar and the severity of the rule breaks. In these instances we would take more severe action.

If the staff team feels that a user cannot be trusted to conduct themselves appropriately in mafia then they will be issued a ban from the game.

Game Closures​

In the worst case scenarios, a game thread will be locked. This would be a last resort and is not something we would want to see happen. The instances in which we would lock a thread could include:

• Too many users violating the rules.
• An unnecessarily hostile and aggressive atmosphere.
• Host and staff member attempts to mediate the game thread being ignored.
• No improvement to the game thread after removing problematic users from play.