Our Social Contract
1. Real Life Comes First.
Family, health, work, and other real life responsibilities always come before gaming. Star Citizen is a game, and it must be understood that there are other priorities before it. We won’t kick you out of the org if you take a vacation, or even a long-term break from the game (as long as you are still contactable).
2. Have fun!
It’s a game! Of course, bugs will occur, battles will be lost, and friendships will be tested, but in the end, we’re all here to have a good time. Your efforts to help encourage a positive environment goes a long way towards that goal. When you inevitably incur losses of credits and time due to bugs or other unfortunate circumstances, the org can absorb some of those losses and help you get back on your feet. During the Alpha, we’re focused on increasing game knowledge and team bonding rather than pinching pennies.
3. Show Respect to All Members
The concept of “free speech” is not a protected right in online gaming communities. See this relevant XKCD comic. If our rules feel too restrictive to you, you’re welcome to find a different community.
Racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, homophobic, politically incendiary, or otherwise offensive material will be immediately removed from chat. Additionally, chat spamming and frequent irrelevant image / meme sharing are grounds for suspension.
Some members have pronouns which may not match your assumptions based on your perception of their voice. Be mindful of corrections if you refer to them wrongly, and respect their requests.
Problematic words
These kinds of words and phrases contribute to an unwelcoming gaming environment for many individuals, and will turn away members wanting to participate in the org. When this language is used, expect to be publicly called out on it—even in the context of "jokes". Repeated use of these words is grounds for expulsion from the org.
Raped — say wrecked / “rekt” / dumped on / dunked on instead.
Gay, used negatively: “that’s so gay” — say dumb/stupid/frustrating instead.
Retarded (say ridiculous/dumb instead) — even if you’re referring to yourself.
Gypped (here’s why)
Slurs: faggot, trap, tranny, n-word
“Females” used as a noun. Using the word as an adjective is fine: “female players” is okay, “females who play” is iffy.
Just say women/ladies instead: “a female” is closer to how you’d refer to an animal (or a baby) than how you’d refer to a woman, so it’s objectifying and infantilizing to refer to a woman as “a female”. We have women in the org, don’t be weird about it. Under no circumstances is “Whoa, I never thought I’d see an actual female playing Star Citizen!” okay.
Asking for support
Gaming is only a temporary escape from real life issues—if you need relationship therapy, guidance, grief counseling, or trauma therapy, please get professional help. Everyone is fighting their own battles. This is not to say that you cannot seek support or advice from trusted friends you’ve made in the org—as it’s a natural thing that happens between friends, asking friends for support is normal. However, asking for help from strangers and acquaintances in an online gaming community may not be handled in the appropriate way, and you may get harmful, joking, or incorrect advice.
If you’re experiencing a crisis, please reach out to a professional. For the United States, here is the list of crisis hotlines and resources. While we are aiming to make Sol Armada a safe environment, we are not qualified to help with personal crises.
Zero Tolerance Topics
These topics are better left away from an online gaming community. This is not the place for you to debate these topics.
Religion
Sexual acts
Abuse and trauma
Gender theory
Abortion
Politics
Gun control
Immigration
Human rights issues
Involuntary celibacy "incel"
Gambling
Financial advice (we play Star Citizen, don’t take financial advice from us)
Medical advice
4. Undermining Leadership
Commanders and officers are instrumental in building group cohesion and enabling smooth operation as an org. Respect their commands during operations, even if you think there would be a better plan of action, as plans are difficult to modify once they have been set into motion. You are welcome to voice your thoughts on decision-making and management successes/failures after an operation is finished, and your suggestions will be taken into consideration during subsequent event planning.
5. Be a Team Player
Don’t go off on your own during operations or break from the role your team has assigned for you. More broadly: although many will pursue solo work in game, it will be far more rewarding to work with fellow members and allies to achieve common goals. Safety in numbers applies to space travel, too. It helps when someone is there to watch your back when you can’t.
6. Voice Communication is Required
We use Discord for most active communication and organizational purposes. English is the primary spoken language. We cannot rely on reading chat messages on Discord (or even in-game) - many have Discord muted, and the in-game chat turned off. If you do not have a microphone, use your cell phone to join the call if you need to.
7. Profile Visibility
All Sol Armada Members must mark Sol Armada as Primary and Visible on their RSI profile. No Sol Armada Member or Affiliate may have any Redacted organizations in their RSI profile (unless that org is EVOCATI - proven with a profile screenshot). No Sol Armada Member or Affiliate may also be a Member or Affiliate of any organization involving pirates, piracy, infiltration, or any activity that goes against the best interests of the Sol Armada Organization.
our Policies
REGARDING PVP
As long as Sol Armada is visible on your RSI profile, your actions within Star Citizen and its communities can reflect on the org as a whole.
What you do with your alt account(s) is none of our business, unless you make it our business.
We want to maintain a positive, lawful reputation as an organization among both the player base and the in-game reputation systems. If someone witnesses one of our members being an ass in-game, then identifies that member’s Sol Armada membership by looking at their RSI profile, the Sol Armada name becomes associated with that member and their behavior.
Regarding piracy: we respect, but will not participate in legitimate piracy. “Legitimate Piracy” involves negotiation between the pirates and the pirated. If a pirate requests a toll / fee in order to pass unharmed, we pay the fee if we can. If the pirates then attack anyway, they’ve broken the agreement they set forth. Escalation is not recommended.
Regarding escalation: you will never truly know how many allies an aggressor may have. We will do our best to secure and protect the assets belonging to our members. This does not mean that we can always send a force to go kill a griefer who killed you. Escalation breeds war, and war is expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. We want to avoid becoming enemies with organizations, especially due to misunderstandings or miscommunication.
Regarding in-game Exploits
If you find an exploit, report it to CIG via the Issue Council.
If you abuse exploits, you risk an account suspension/ban from CIG.
Do not teach other members how to perform exploits, unless they are also reporting the exploit to the Issue Council. Aim to make other players’ gameplay experience as genuine and positive as possible. Don’t make other people feel bad for playing the game the way it was meant to be played.
In Sol Armada, members should expect to experience the game “as intended”. We value learning the game loops that CIG provides, and grouping up to experience these game loops together. We prioritize fun and cooperation with a “mission-first” mindset, and when members need credits, we help them earn those credits.
For some players, being rich in-game is a primary motivator to play. If credits are gained in an unorthodox manner, especially through exploitation, much of the experience of the game is bypassed, and those who spend hours grinding money legitimately feel cheated and devalued when others brag about getting millions through exploits. This creates two camps of players: one that throws money around without care, and one that will staunchly refuse to play with ill-gotten gains. Arguments strike up, and people start debating the morality of cheating. It’s not a good time.
Why group up and run Money-Making events at all, when everyone has tens or hundreds of millions of credits? We value the experience of grouping up and learning game mechanics together, finding ways to make our processes efficient.
If a new player, eager to learn how to make money in the game, finds that all of the intended game loops for earning credits can be skipped by exploiting, they could easily make the decision to do so. What happens when the exploits are patched? They may have now played the game for months, and might not know how to legitimately make credits.
Sol Armada does not condone exploitation because of these negative effects on other players' gameplay experience. We do not tolerate teaching other members of the org how to exploit the game. If you are caught, we will take reasonable action against you as we see fit.
REGARDING CRIMINAL GAMEPLAY
DURING THE GAME’S ALPHA: We recognize that unlawful PvE missions can be engaging and fun. We will not punish you for participating in unlawful gameplay against NPCs. If you acquire a crimestat, you accept all responsibility for clearing it (or serving your prison time). We do not, as an org, “play red”, and in order to participate in our regular events, you must not have an active Crimestat. We don’t want bounty hunters interfering in our operations.
Offense-oriented PvP while red (murder-piracy) is not allowed in Sol Armada. If you want to practice PvP, go play Arena Commander Free Flight and practice against the skilled pilots there.
THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Eventually, a reputation system may exist that tracks the org’s reputation within the UEE. If unlawful gameplay affects the org’s reputation, we may need to implement policies that are more restrictive.