Policies of Politeness
NOTE: This is an in-game movement. It is not a Wiki Policy or an official rule of the game.
Officially, there are very few rules for Urban Dead.
Unofficially, there are some players who have tried to figure out ways to make game play and social interaction "easier and safer on everyone". At least, easier and safer for survivors. Polices get created, used, worked out, revised, and established. Much of it is on the wiki, in that hazy Metagaming space that influences Malton without directly being a part of it. These aren't official rules, but many people in Malton follow them, and if you're new you would be wise to at least know what those polices are, even if you decide not to use them.
This list is in no particular order. Polices included here include those that state in their pages that they are designed for "fair play" or "politeness". The descriptions are lifted from the policies' pages.
Survivor Specific Polices
- Coalition for Fair Tactics - The Coalition for Fair Tactics (CFT) is an open organization of groups and players who have pledged to play and operate fairly and honestly. No zerging, spying, cheating, etc.
- Radio - Some of those who use the radios in Malton follow the Radio Transmission Protocols, designed to keep the airways free from clutter.
- Player killing, also known as PKing, is defined to be killing a survivor, not just any player (because a zombie is techinically a player too) and is heavily frowned upon by most pro-survivor groups. Those who are witnessed murdering survivors are often reported on the Rogues Gallery (Brainstock) list, as well as others, and once you're tagged as a PKer, it's often considered "fair" for other players to start killing you, too. However, if you see a murder, it is up to you to report it or not.
- In some cases the policy doesn't really require you to do anything other than stay informed. The Uniform Barricading Policy, designed to make barricading clear and easy to all survivors, usually means that a suburb will have a posted barricade plan, and in order to comply all you need to do is keep the buildings you're in at the posted level. Don't overbarricade, because while it might save you in the moment, it's killing anyone else who doesn't have Free Running or the AP to get to a less barricaded building.
- The Centers of Learning Policy, Artifact Protection Policy, and Fine Art of Malton policies maintain that schools, libraries, and museums are educational and cultural centers and should not be ransaked, and should be used as safehouses. Of course, zombie players may or may not follow these policies.
- The Sacred Ground Policy - The Sacred Ground Policy is a movement to convert ALL cemeteries in Malton to revive points. This will provide several revive points in every suburb that do not require any research or notification per area. Also, these are safe areas where those waiting to be revived are not to be killed. People killing zombies waiting politely at Sacred Ground revive points risk ending up on a Sacred Ground Policy Breakers list, which could lead to retaliatory killings and denial of revives.
- The Random Revive Policy states that random reviving of zombies without checking their profiles means you might revive dedicated zombie players or known PKers without knowing it, and random revives also mean that those players patiently waiting at the revive points (instead of out sacking buildings and killing survivors) don't get revived. Don't combat revive, randomly revive, or waste needles if you are serious about helping the survivor cause.
Zombie Specific Polices
- The politeness policies apply to zombies too, though there are fewer of them. One of the biggest is "Don't be a Zombie spy!" 'Zombie spy' is a term used to describe survivor characters who locate and watch safehouses on behalf of zombies, using in-game communication or metagaming to announce their findings. In some cases, zombie spies tear down barricades, destroy generators, or kill survivors using the increased efficiency of the shotgun. Please note: this policy is meant to apply to those who seek out revivification for purpose of spying, not those who've been combat revived or otherwise revived against their will.
- Most zombie hordes consider higher-level zombies killing survivors as impolite, as younger zombies need the XP more. With the advent of Feeding Drag, most 'old' zombies are advised to drag dying survivors to the waiting younglings outside.
Please feel free to update this list. Note that this list doesn't cover all of the policies established by Urban Dead players, only those designed to make the game fair, consistent, and polite. --Alice Cuinn 06:11, 9 May 2007 (BST)
