Freethedice.com Site Policies and Guidelines (rules)
Registration
Freethedice.com is not only an online yahtzee game site, it is also an online community, so we require players to register (for free) in order to join in the fun. Only one registration is permitted per person at any one time.
All users must be at least 13 years old to be able to register with freethedice.com as per the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.
Community Etiquette
There is really only one requirement of the site and community: please be civil to each other :) Players who are not civil may be suspended from chatting in games hall and games and/or removed from the community altogether in extreme cases.
The words "be civil" are really open to interpretation, so we have put together a list of guidelines of CANs, DONOTs and HOWEVERs:
| CAN | be funny, witty, instigate chat, tell jokes, make discreet innuendos |
| CAN | chat about almost anything |
| DO NOT | use offensive or abusive language or strong profanities |
| DO NOT | insult others, put others down, make clear sexual/dirty jokes |
| DO NOT | discuss intimate, sexual details that are not appropriate for children to hear |
| DO NOT | make racist, sexist, discriminative comments |
| DO NOT | threaten anybody |
| HOWEVER | if you want to share dirty jokes with your friends or share adult-talk, then start a new game and mark it as an "adult only game" |
| DO NOT | use retaliation as an excuse to be offensive or abusive to other players - Report others to admin if they are bothering you |
| CAN | make jokes among friends, tease your friends |
| DO NOT | attempt to antagonise, insult, defame, put-down other players in any way |
| IF IN DOUBT | ask yourself, "could this upset that person?" If yes, don't say it |
| CAN | chat in any language you like, provided it is not offensive in given language |
| CAN | dominate if nobody else is chatting, feel free to get things moving |
| DO NOT | flood the chat areas if it means that others cannot participate |
| DO NOT | purposefully circumvent the language filter to display offensive or abusive language |
| DO NOT | consistently write in ALL CAPITALS (it is considered to be shouting) |
| HOWEVER | it is ok to SHOUT occasionally if appropriate to the situation |
| CAN | lightly discuss politics, religion, life views |
| CAN | discuss your own personal life experiences, misfortunes, hobbies, sadnesses, happinesses, bad luck, successes, good luck, achievements, etc |
| CAN | disagree with or contradict other peoples views or stories |
| DO NOT | discredit, mock, ridicule, insult others for their beliefs or views |
| DO NOT | aggressively promote any religious or political organisations |
| DO NOT | ask for personal donations of financial or other means |
| HOWEVER | if a discussion begins to get heavy then take responsibility and either stop debating/discussing OR if everybody involved agrees, you may create a game to continue your debate there or continue via PM |
| EXAMPLE | It is OK to say "MrX, I thought you were going to your Dad's birthday party today, but you're playing Yahtzee, I am surprised to see you!" but NOT OK to say "MrX, you are a liar!!" |
| EXAMPLE | It is OK to say "MrsZ, you resigned from our game, is everything ok?" but NOT OK to say "Never play with MrsZ she always resigns!!" (if that's the case, report it to admin) |
| EXAMPLE | It is OK to say "MrT, I don't agree with you that cats are wonderful, I don't like cats, their wee wee kills my flowers!" but NOT OK to say "MrT, you are a cretin for liking cats!!" (Kal likes all animals, except ones that bite him) |
| CAN | discuss your games, the results, the players and how they played |
| DO NOT | attempt to discredit, mock, ridicule other players |
| DO NOT | accuse others of cheating (discuss it with admin!) or negatively affecting your game |
| DO NOT | pressure/hound other players if you were kicked from a game |
| HOWEVER | if you feel others are playing discourteously or negatively affecting your game somehow, please report it to admin |
| CAN | of course make friends and get to know others away from the site IF both people want to |
| DO NOT | push other people to give out their personal details, respect their privacy |
| DO NOT | share any sensitive, personal, contact details of other people |
| HOWEVER | WE STRONGLY ADVISE TO NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL CONTACT INFORMATION |
| CAN | discuss (positively/negatively) other websites/businesses as part of a conversation |
| DO NOT | actively promote/advertise/insult other websites/businesses |
| HOWEVER | if you would like to engage in promotion of other websites/charities/organisations, please contact Admin and we will arrange an advertising package for you |
| CAN | send private messages to other players without discrimination |
| DO NOT | continue to send private messages to players who have expressed that they do not wish to be contacted |
| CAN | create your own games with your own game names and choose who to accept into your games |
| DO NOT | accept or decline a player based on their affiliations outside of freethedice.com |
| DO NOT | create offensive, antagonistic or abusive game names |
| HOWEVER | it is strongly recommended if you have somebody in mind for your games, either create a private game or state this in the game name (i.e. this game is for Admin Kal only) |
| CAN | create a game with your own variation of the rules or using alternative rules |
| IN WHICH CASE | you should explain the rules fully and get agreement of each player in the game creation screen BEFORE accepting players into your game |
| DO NOT | publicly chastise for not following the rules, please report it to admin OR politely discuss it through private messaging with the player directly |
| CAN | create your own player-run tournaments for everybody to join (this includes creating Royal Yahtzee Games) |
| DO NOT | discriminate against individuals by preventing them from joining the tournament (or Royal Yahtzee game) |
| HOWEVER | if you wish to set up a friends-only tournament then set each game up as a private game and invite players individually, so that others players are not discriminated against, except with Royal Yahtzee Games which must always be publicly accessible |
| CAN | kick anybody from a game if the kick timer has been set, whether you are the host of the game or not |
| DO NOT | react angrily or aggressively if you are kicked from a game |
| HOWEVER | it is possible to create games with up to 5 minutes per turn in a game or even with no kick timer at all |
| BEAR IN MIND | kick timers are there not as a punishment but to allow a game to continue smoothly, everybody will be kicked from a game once in every while, it's part-and-parcel of playing online games |
| CAN | seek out new players and welcome them to the community, set up games against them and help them in...we were all first-timers to the site at one point or another :) |
| CAN | discuss/criticise freethedice.com and make suggestions for improvements |
| HOWEVER | if you have a dispute with us please contact us so that we can discuss it with you directly. |
| CAN | Leave games early if you are not able to complete them because of some practical reason or lost connection or some personal interruption |
| SHOULD NOT | leave a game just because you are losing or having bad luck |
| CANNOT | publicly shame or harass other players who leave games under any circumstances |
| HOWEVER | players who consistently and repeatedly leave tournament games early, because they are losing, may be suspended from entering tournaments for a short time* |
Community Moderation*
We do moderate the site, but if you feel somebody has gone against the above site rules or if you take issue with anything somebody else does please do report the incident or the player to admin so that we may resolve it as soon as possible.
Please go to Help->Moderation Policies for more information on how we moderate the site.
* Please note that anybody who is repeatedly suspended from using public areas of the website may also be suspended from tournaments as part of the chat suspension, if it is deemed necessary.
* These rules and policies apply to all players on the website, including subscribers. Players may buy subscriptions to support the site and to obtain additional features and game types to further their enjoyment of the site ONLY. Subscriptions do not guarantee players the right to abuse others or the site policies.