Harassment
In UO, certain forms of harassment is prohibited. This is broken up into two categories: verbal and physical. If a player is being harassed they can Petition a Gamemaster to deal with the offending player. Players found violating the harassment policy can have their account Suspended or Banned.
Verbal Harassment
Behavior that is always considered harassment includes derogatory and/or hateful comments that are sexual, racist, religious, or related to gender or creed. Origin has a zero tolerance policy towards harassment of this kind, as stated in our Terms of Service, and violation of the above can result in immediate and permanent account suspension on the first offense.
Behavior that is dependent on circumstance and how you attempt to resolve the situation include most other verbal harassment situations such as name calling. Before you submit a complaint be sure you understand what constitutes harassment and that you have followed these steps:
- You have asked the player to "please stop", and they have continued to repeat the offending behavior.
- You have tried to remove yourself from the situation, for example, by recalling away or moving several screens.
- You have done nothing to instigate or further encourage the harassment.
- You have added the player to your ignore list, which is located in your UO options, under Filter Options.
- You have read and understand Electronic Arts' definition of harassment, and Electronic Arts' Terms of Service.
- Your account information is up to date, including a current email address.
Please note that profanity itself is not prohibited, as Ultima Online is a teen rated game by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. However, this does not permit a player to harass another player with profanity.
Physical Harassment
The following information applies primarily (not exclusively) to the lands of Ilshenar, Malas and the Trammel facet of Ultima Online. While you have the ability to attack other players freely on the Felucca facet, players are generally not able to defend themselves against physical harassment in Trammel, Malas and Ilshenar.
We'd rather not go into the specifics of all the actions we consider physical harassment, but we do want to make it clear that it is not okay to ruin the fun of UO for other players, specifically when that is the intent behind your actions. It is important to realize and accept that everyone plays this game differently, and everyone has different expectations from the game and from the other players. Ultima Online is a social setting, and as such, we expect our players to treat one another with the same respect and dignity they would use in any other social situation.
If your sole purpose and intent in any action is to continually upset, aggravate, or otherwise annoy another player, you may be a "grief player." Using game mechanics to cause grief to others can also be seen as exploitation, and will be treated accordingly by game staff.
If someone is using grief tactics against you, please report it to a Game Master using the Help button on your Paperdoll. Once the Help menu appears, choose the Harassment option, and enter the exact name of the other player, and a brief description of his actions. For example: Jody keeps luring these Poison Elementals to us and hiding. Clearly luring!
The following are NOT considered physical harassment:
- Res killing
- Stealing or Kill Stealing
- Legal player killing, such as takes place in Guild and Faction wars
- Refusal to take turns at spawn points
- Refusal to resurrect another player
- Blocking a Recall location
- Area Peacemaking
Before you submit a harassment complaint, be sure you understand what constitutes harassment and that you have followed these steps:
- You have asked the player to "please stop" (and then they have continued to repeat the offending behavior).
- You have tried to remove yourself from the situation, for example, by recalling away or moving several screens.
- You have done nothing to instigate or further encourage the harassment.
- You have added the player to your ignore list, which is located in your UO options, under Filter Options.
- You have read and understand Electronic Arts' definition of harassment, and Electronic Arts' Terms of Service.
- Your account information is up to date (including a current email address).