Rule change again

[DeletedUser2]

After a lot of discussion and some careful consideration of the issues with the team and the players, we have decided to once again change the rules, especially the account sitting rules.

The New rules have already been uploaded and can be seen here. The parts that has been changed are mostly the rules about account sitting and merging.

We have stressed more that account sitting is supposed to be a holiday replacement or a way to watch an account while the player is away. Playing an account permanently where the owner will not return is not intended and will not be accepted anymore. Every account has to have an account owner, and if it becomes clear that the owner will not return, a different solution has to be found. Please don't forgot to follow the merging rules in cases of giving up the account though. If an account is played as a multi account, and especially if an account is created just for that reason, we will treat it as a multi account!

We have also decided to add that an account sitter may not attack the same player with both accounts while account sitting lasts, even if the attacks are more than 24 hours apart. The same person may not be attacked until at least 24 hours after the sitting has been ended.

We have also added more clearly that both account sitters and owners are responsible for what the account does. If the account sitter breaks the rules with an account he is sitting, both the account of the sitter and the sat account will receive a punishment.
Account sitters should play the account in the way the account owner intended. We will not step in for every small thing a sitter does, but if we feel that the account sitter intentionally destroyed or seriously damaged the account he was sitting, the sitter will get punished for this. In general we will not be able to repair the damage done, so it is really essential that players choose their account sitters well!

The gifting rules for account sitters have been removed. Villages may still not be taken by account sitters or previous "permanent" account sitters.

I have now explained MOST of the changes, however, there are small changes to other parts of the rules as well. Every player should please read all the rules through carefully.

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The new rules are effective immediately, however, players may still be punished for offences that have occured under the old rules.

 

[DeletedUser2]

I believe that a lot of people have misunderstood the rule change, therefore I decided to write another explanation.

First, about the gifting rules.
When I said the rule has been removed, many people seem to think that the rules have been made stricter, that now villages cannot be given away at all.
This is the exact opposite of the change though. Sitters can give away villages after the owners quit, no ticket is needed for permission.
It is however not allowed to abuse account sitting. If a player left clear instructions and the sitter does the opposite, the sitter may be punished.
It is also not allowed to use account sitting as a way to play multiple accounts.

The merging rules have NOT been made stricter either. Those rules have been put in place to prevent people that are using account sitting or shared internet connection to play multiple accounts to benefit from them.
If accounts have been played from the same internet connection exclusively or almost exclusively in the past, they may not noble each other.

I will just give a few examples, maybe this will help:

sitter abuse:
A player goes on vacation for a week and sets a sitter. He tells the sitter that he will be back in a week and to please make sure everything is good when he comes back. After a week the player returns as promised and the sitter suicided all the troops and all or most of the villages have been taken by the sitter's tribe.
The sitter in this case has abused the sitting and will be banned/punished. Knowingly taking villages in a case like is this also not allowed.

Multi accouting:
A player has an account on a game world. He then asks a friend to create an account also and to set him as sitter right away. The player now plays both his own account and the account of his friend permanently. This is nothing other than multi accounting and will be treated that way. Both accounts will be banned.

A player decides to quit the game and sets a sitter with the words "do whatever you want with the account". The sitter decides to just keep the account and plays it as a second account. This is also nothing other than multi accounting and will be treated that way. Both accounts will be banned.

A players serves in the US military and is deployed abroad for 6 months. He leaves a sitter in charge to play the account until he gets back. The sitter plays the account for the 6 months in the interest of the account. The player returns 6 months later and takes back his account.
In this case sitting has been done for a very long time, but this is exactly what account sitting is for, just a very intense case. It is perfectly fine to do this.
(This example and the one before show why we cannot give a time frame for what is considered multi accounting. It becomes illegal when it becomes clear that the account owner will not return to the game and that the account by that becomes the sitters "second" account.)

gifting:
Allowed: A player decides to quit the game and sets a sitter with the words "do whatever you want with the account". The sitter uses the troops for the benefit of the tribe and lets members of the tribe take the villages. After that he drops account sitting and the account becomes inactive.

Allowed: A player goes on vacation for a week and sets a sitter. He tells the sitter that he will be back in a week and to please make sure everything is good when he comes back. The sitter does as told, but the account owner does not return. After a few weeks the player has still not returned and every effort to try to contact him fails. At that point the sitter decides that the player is not likely to ever return to the game and that it would not be ok to keep the account under these conditions. He decides that the player would have wanted his villages to go to the tribe, so the troops are used for the benefit of the tribe and the villages are taken by tribe members.
(I wrote a few weeks, as it is important that the sitter waits a reasonable amount of time. If someone sais he's gone for a week and then the gifting starts after 9 days, that could get the sitter into trouble.)

merging:
Allowed: A player leaves the game and sets someone as sitter. The players are just friends and have not shared an internet connection other than the occasional account sitting. He tells the sitter to take the village. The sitter then organises another sitter, so he can take the villages from his own account.

forbidden: 2 friends start the game together. One of them plays properly, the other one is barely around. The active player sits the account most of the time. At some point the friend loses interest completely and tells the friend to do whatever he wants with the account. The friend now passes sitting to another player and starts taking the villages.
This is not allowed because the account was basically his second account all the time. The villages were taking by him during account sitting and everything else was done by him.