Thread: BF2 Rules and Policies

#1. Play with your team.

BF2 is an objective based, team-oriented game. It's a shame that so many servers are full of one-man hero's and the idea that the only time to play as a team is in a match. This server exists to end all of that. If you want to be a rogue, or you think you “play better alone", then go buy a single-player game, and go do that. On our server, you WILL play WITH your team, or you WILL be punished. Use your mic, follow the your squad leader and commander (or be the squad leader/commander), and get your objectives completed. Those in positions of leadership WILL BE subject to these same rules. If you, or the group of people you play with on our server are the kinds of people that disregard orders from commanders, deny assitance to those requesting it, or honestly just don't care about anyone else on the server but yourselves......you are in the wrong place, and will learn quickly that you are not only unwelcome, but prohibited from playing here.

We have issued more bans for non-teamplaying than we have for hacking or abusive conduct.

All we ask is that you play the game as it was designed: as a coordinated army of air, armor, and ground forces tasked with occupying and holding enemy territory. Note the emphasis on the word coordinated.

#2. Communicate with your teammates.

There is more to do in an online game than to simply trudge through it solo or with only your clan mates. If you want to play by yourselves, without saying, typing, or responding to anything....why are you doing that in a public MULTIPLAYER SERVER? If a request is made of you, answer. If you are being spoken to, respond. If you want to talk with your friends through external VOIP to the detriment of communicating with your team, go play somewhere else. If the only communication skills you can muster are insults to your teammates, mutiny against the organization of the team, or to purposefully cause conflict, such as spamming your microphone with music or singing, be prepared for punishment by the admins. Nothing is taken more seriously than an insult to the team and spamming your microphone with “Shut up! You guys are noobs" is about as bad as it gets.

#3. Pursue your objective, or die trying.

The objectives are pretty simple:

A. Cause your opponents tickets to decrease by capturing territory.

B. Destroy Enemy Assets, Vehicles, Radar, Artillery and UAV Equipment.

Increases in rank and gaining combat awards are secondary to the primary objective of winning.

Keep in mind, we are NOT asking you to run off into your deaths just because the commander told you to do so. But we ARE asking you to play BF2. That means forming squads, following orders, and working together. This is not Quake. This is not Doom. This is not Unreal. If you want to stand around and just shoot at things, I'm sure there's a “facing worlds" map open somewhere out there for you to sit around on.

Definitions and Rules on "Camping":
It is difficult to define camping in the context of battlefield games, since the game requires complex strategies of defending and holding territory, stealth, and timing, so it will be judged on a case by case basis. Camping, by definition, is remaining in a specific area only to take enemies by surprise, however offering no strategic advantage to the team, other than to pad your personal KD. And, as said above.....KD's don't win games. Flags win games.

Some examples of camping would include:

- Being in a position to take a flag, especially when if it is not taken your team will lose, and NOT taking it, simply because you are worried about being seen, or dying. Even worse would be if it is a multi-person flag capture point, and you are in a position to assist other players asking for your help, but do not. Worrying about LOSING should come BEFORE worrying about dying.

- Remaining in an area of the map that provides you with great cover and fire zones, but provides NO strategic benefit to your team (such as your spawn). Unless a flag is in your immediate fire zone, and you are justifiably protecting it, you know damn well that sitting in the backfield isn't helping anyone but your KD. Find a similar place, with great cover and fire zones, but that ALSO provides your team with a strategic advantage, and you are in the clear as far as the rules go.

Camping is NOT simply sitting in one place for a long time. That is a definition for simpleton games like Unreal and Quake. It's an outdated definition that does NOT apply here. If you are able to hold your tank, gun-emplacement, or sniping position for an extended time period because you have teammates guarding your flanks, offering you ammo, and keeping you supported, then you go ahead and give the enemy hell. So long as you are not directly disobeying your commander's wishes, you and your team's coordinated efforts are shutting out the enemy's ability to advance and take territory, which thus corresponds to your team's ability to hold territory and win.

Typically, if you are camping in a manner that does not benefit your team, you will know by the complaints and insults hurdled your way by your squad, squad leader, or commander. If you know something that your team/squad/commander doesn't, such as WHY you feel you are JUSTIFIED in holding that position, all you have to do is speak up, calmly, and explain yourself. Your team, if they are true teammates, have a responsibility to listen to your goals and ideas just as much as you do to theirs. Teamwork is a two way street, so be sure to communicate, and do so often, especially if you think you may be considered a camper. If you are communicating and justifying your actions to your team, then you are immune from punishment from the admin. If the team feels that you are wrong, and a majority of them agree, and most especially if you are disobeying your squad leader and/or commander.......then you will will be dealt with accordingly. The admin is about making the server happy. Not individual players like you. Keep that in mind.

In addition, if you are consistently camping, promoting camping, and losing while camping, expect the admin to take notice and become involved. The admin will become involved immediately when outbreaks of unjustified camping occur, and will do what admins do by issuing warnings, slapping, slaying, and perhaps including kicks or bans. Though we are reluctant to punish any one player for doing as his team does, we will identify and persecute the chief campers quickly, and move down the ladder from there.

Get out there and play. Take those flags, get on the offensive, or hold your ground. Call out desperately for reinforcements, set up your defenses, and win. Above all things, win.

A note on the definiton of "SPAWN CAMPING":

As has been highly discussed in our admin circles, it may be found that some definitions of camping that are legal, such as controlling choke points and suppressing the enemy's ability to move freely, could be stretched or construed to mean that the server and admins encourage spawn camping/suppression. This may or may not be true, but it is irrelevant. The server encourages winning. If a spawn is penetrable, and thus camp-able, it is that team's responsibility to ensure that it is protected. It is NOT the enemy's moral, ethical, or honorable responsibility to NOT attack it, even if it is uncapturable. If it is left exposed, and winds up with enemy MG's, vehicles, or snipers cutting down everyone that is spawning......yes, it's horrible. Oh, the agony. Oh, the suffering and gnashing of teeth. Yes, you are going to lose.

But before you cry out spawn camping, spawn raping, and asking the admin to save you.......think about what you are asking:

"Admin, kick these spawn campers!" in reality means, "Admin, please help me survive by slaying my enemies, so I can fight back, take enemy territory, and win."

This is something an admin can not do. It is not our job to help either side win or lose, or to perpetuate a game indefinitely by punishing the winning team and releasing the losing team from it's clutches.

If a player(s) is exploiting bugs and hacks, that is a different story, and the admins will punish these players before you probably even notice it is happening. Stacking players to climb fences and being creative in your negotiation of obstacles blocking a spawn entrance is NOT an exploit. It's a sign that the developers should have made a higher fence, since the developers are WELL AWARE of player abilities to jump, climb, and stack on one another. Don't blame the admins. Blame the map and game designers.


#4. Abusive conduct cannot be tolerated.

If you are an abusive player, a team killer, or use insulting communications with your squad, purposely playing to lose, expect to be punished very quickly and harshly. However, since we are a server of zealous teamplayers, occasionally it will be the responsibility of members of the team to speak out against slow acting, weak, or ignorant players (such as those monopolizing air vehicles when they do not know how to fly or commanders playing as soldiers, not paying attention to squad leaders requests and team needs). The admin's would GREATLY APPRECIATE the squad/team to take care of it's own problems rather than having to step in and start banning and kicking problem players. All players are encouraged to speak clearly and calmly to get their team on the same page, issuing mutinies and vote kicks when necessary; however the server understands that some people just don't listen. In these cases, some yelling and screaming may be involved. The admin will make a judgment depending on the circumstances for any case of abuse resulting in a hostile playing environment. Should you feel that the admin is the cause of the abuse, feel free to post such comments in our abuse forum.

If you are a player being berated by your teammates, instead of jumping up and shouting back, listen to their complaints. Did you just pilot the Cobra off the deck and into the water? Did you ignore your squad leader or commander's orders? Are you ignoring your teammates requests? Are you not using your mic?

Yes?

Then you deserve to be criticized, and you should modify your playing style to help the team rather than defending your non-teamplayer attitude. The admin can always solve the problem easily in this situation. The problem isn't the yelling and cursing....the problem is you, the non-teamplayer, and you will be removed from the server.

#5. Punkbuster doesn't do everything.

Cheating is rampant in any multiplayer game. Though not as rampant in the Battlefield franchise.....they didn't add punkbuster functionality for nothing. Though PB is hopefully catching and banning a significant portion of hackers, that doesn't eliminate the need for admins to make their own judgements. Of course, obvious hacks that increase speed, or exploiting the game in order to move through walls or under buildings are easily detected and dealt with by admins. However, occasionally you meet a player who not only cheats, but knows how to do so without being very obvious. Though you may not know who the admins are, you should know that there is rarely a moment that the server is populated without at least 1 admin present. Should you feel someone is cheating, feel free to say so out loud, so that an admin can find and remove the player from the server.

Our decision to ban someone is based on a variety of things. Principally, it's based upon the opinions of SEVERAL admins, and at least all admins present on the server at that time. Rarely will anyone be banned by the decision of any single admin. Also, our bans are usually held off on until a larger investigation can be made into the suspicious player's statistics. Once enough information has been gathered, either by admins spectating the player, questionable anomalies in the player's statistics, and other issues, a decision to ban will be made.

It is important for us to point out that we don't want to ban anyone. We are not some punk server run by children who are here to pwn noobs and speek leet. We are here to play and manage the game. If we banned everyone that was good, we'd have to ban half our admins. If you get banned, and you think we're crazy, by all means, make a post in the banned forums about it. We'll listen. In fact, we've unbanned dozens players who made legible, clear, and open explanations or statements about their bannings.

Things to do that can get you punished, kicked, and/or banned on the server.

#1. Cheat, or refuse to reasonably explain yourself when questioned about cheating.

#2. Say nothing but insults in the chat and mic, especially about teamplay.

#3. Repeatedly refuse to join a squad or follow a commander/squad leader's reasonable orders. Keep in mind: our admins are typically those squad leaders and commanders.

#4. Blatantly challenge the authority of the admin.

#5. Team Kill & Exploit (i.e. working with members of the opposite team to kill/revive for medic points, damaging vehicles only to repair them, purposely destroying team vehicles, such as those in spawns.

#6. Outing an admin in game. Our admins are to always remain anonymous.

In the event that your account is banned by VAC, Punk Buster, or any other third party software installed on our servers, you will be required to appeal to those developers. Only then, if your ban is lifted you will be granted an appeal and be required to submit an unban request in the banned forums. If you are not able to resolve this issue with those developers, you are to remain banned from all TeamPlayerGaming property indefinitely. TeamPlayerGaming has zero tolerance for people that choose to cheat.

http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg...?p_faqid=14865

Online Conduct

Players are expected to abide by the EA Online Terms and Conditions (available at http://www.ea.com/global/legal/tos.jsp ) while playing on ranked Battlefield servers. You agreed to the EA Online Terms and Conditions when you established your EA Account.

The purpose of these Rules of Conduct is to illustrate how the EA Online Terms and Conditions apply when you play on ranked Battlefield servers. Multiple or critical violations of the Terms and Conditions may result in the loss of online play or stat/award reset. Violation may also result in the termination of your EA Account and the loss of anything associated with it (such as points, tokens or in-game items).

The following are examples of conduct that is not permitted by the EA Online Terms and Conditions:

-You are not permitted to use offensive soldier names or clan tags. Also, you may not actively encourage other players to violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions while in-game.
-You may not organize any Clans or groups that are based on, or espouse, any racist, sexist, anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-gay, or other hate-mongering philosophy.
-You may not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any data streams or transmissions to or from EA or IGN services, or use any application or software while using the Battlefield services which are not approved by EA or IGN.
-You may not exploit any bug, or abuse any game system (such as the scoring or award systems) in an EA product or service. You may not intentionally use or share any bug found within any Battlefield games, real or fictitious, regardless of whether or not it grants an unfair advantage. You will not directly or indirectly communicate the existence of any such bug to any other user of EA’s games or services.


Examples of abuse include, but are not limited to:

-Playing on restricted kit servers (knife, shock and pistol only)
-Taking turns killing, reviving, receiving ammo etc.
-Abusing world geometry to your advantage with out risk.
-Exploiting vehicle damage to repair indefinitely.
-Creating a play environment which by definition or action creates an inflated scoring scenario.


Ranked Server Administrators:

If you are an administrator of a ranked Battlefield server (referred to below as a “Server Administrator”), you must also comply with the EA Online Terms and Conditions.

Server Administrators will violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions if they enforce server rules on ranked servers that prohibit or severely limit players from using any roles, kits, weapons, vehicles or other features of the game while playing on their server. Examples of such rules that would violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions are:

-Preventing players from being Commander or Squad Leaders.
-Preventing players from using certain vehicles such as jets, helicopters or tanks.
-Running knife / pistol only servers.
-Preventing players from using all commander assets (artillery, vehicle drop, UAV or scans). If using Infantry only server-side option, this should be clearly stated in the game load screen.
-Preventing players from using certain weapons or items (such as flash bangs or C4) or enforcing a “pistol only” or “knife only” server rule.

Server Administrators may implement and enforce rules that result in minor changes to game play behavior or styles as long as these are clearly stated before a player starts playing on a server. These rules typically introduce minor or limited restrictions on how a certain aspect of the game can be used, but do not create or promote an environment that would allow abuse of the scoring/award system. Examples of such rules that are acceptable are:

-Limiting movement of combat assets, such as Titans, Ships, Aircraft and Vehicles during game play. – Disallowing all aircraft for example is not acceptable.
-Disallowing repeated main base camping/attacking of un-captureable bases. However, in such cases, attacking the base with reasonable intent to take out assets (artillery, command outpost or radar) are acceptable.
-Limiting the use of artillery, or any other single commander asset to a particular region of the map.

Server Administrators will also violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions if they (i) use offensive server names, server art or clan tags; or (ii) encourage other players to violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions while in game.


Exploit/Abuse Reports

To report players who are cheating or intentionally violating the Terms and Conditions, including scoring abuse, exploits or map errors, use the following link: http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg...?p_faqid=11549

You can also report unapproved software or applications which provide an unfair advantage or manipulate the game in a way it was not meant, to the Punkbuster staff at: research@evenbalance.com

In all cases, please provide as much information as possible when making reports. EA’s support staff will be the final decision makers regarding investigations. Intentional submissions of misinformation or false abuse reports can be considered a violation of the EA Terms and Conditions.

http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com....php?id=141219

We wanted to update you all on our ongoing efforts being taken to punish cheating and padding players and deal with servers that support such activity.

In the month of July the EA tech support team processed 103 reports of Battlefield 2 servers breaking the ROC, such as knife and pistol servers. 310 reported cheating or padding players were processed with many of them subsequently being stripped. We’ve also implemented an improved system for actively targeting knife and pistol servers which should speed up the process of shutting them down.

12 Battlefield 2142 servers were processed as were 150 players, again with a number of those players being stripped when it was determined they were exploiting, padding or cheating.

We process every report of cheating that we receive however we feel that there are many more out there to catch. As such we'd encourage Battlefield players to report any cheaters or rule-breaking servers they find while playing online. We want to see the above numbers go higher as much as you do - the fewer cheaters out there the better the game is for everyone.

If you believe a player is cheating, padding or exploiting, or that a server exists with rules or admins that support such activity, please report it to the EA Customer Support where it will be investigated and dealt with as appropriate.

http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg...ted=1140042523

The official TeamPlayerGaming stance on cheats, hacks, glitches, exploits, scripts, and macros:

Originally Posted by Bunni

3.1 Definition of hacking

3.1.1 players changing (hack) any core game files or effectively change game settings by employing external programs or cheats for the purposes of giving themselves an unfair advantage over other players.

Originally Posted by ***COMMANDER***

Scripts are a No GO. Added software is a No GO. Alternate programs are a No GO.

Pretty simple. Here is the short version.

You have an operating sysytem, video card, motherboard, keyboard, mouse and joystick, soundcard, hardrive and onboard memory and a power supply,,,,,and an operating system to run all that, via windows, linux, and etc.

Then you have all that running and working properly and you buy a acquire a video game that has it's software and support that you recieve when you buy it or as a gift you might acquire.

Whatever comes in all the above package, give or take maybe a little bit, that is what you work with. People don't accidentally study or buy hacks, scripts, programs, etc.

Pure and simple, You work within the parameters of what has been provided and only that. Then everybody that has any integrity, works with that.

You know if you are in the good.