GENERAL RULES

• Please remain civil with your fellow players and staff. Harassment, name calling, trolling, and the like are unnecessary and will not be tolerated. 
• Keep in-game chat appropriate for all players at all times. This means that hate speech of any kind, NSFW / sexual comments, talk of harm to yourself or others, politics, and other likewise sensitive topics are not allowed. This includes profile names and pictures. If we have reason to ask you to change either and you refuse, you can be kicked or banned. 

• Pay attention to the chat for requests from staff members. If a staff member has to address you more than twice (and it is clear you are ignoring them) you may be muted, kicked, or banned.  
• Do not disrespect or argue with staff. They have procedures and policies to follow, and if you disagree, you may bring your evidence to a ticket. 

Only staff members should be moderating the server. You can answer questions and inform your fellow group members about the rules, but do not act in a staff capacity.     IE: telling players to drop conversations in global. 

• Rule breaks will not be handled in game, barring extreme circumstances where players are in active massacres or other drastic and chaotic events. If you are rule broken, in order to be compensated, you MUST present your evidence in a ticket on our Discord. 
• Do not ask for an admin to come to your location to “witness” a rule break, UNLESS it is, again, an extreme and ongoing circumstance as stated above.     We cannot help if we are not there to see the entire situation from start to finish to determine what occurred and who is in the wrong. 
• If you cannot produce video evidence and / or chat screenshot proof of the rule break in question, then we cannot assist you.
• If we catch you attempting to mislead staff with false evidence or old recordings, you will be banned. 

Using exploits such as cheats or hacks, game bugs, loopholes within the rules, and meshing are not allowed.     

Meshing is when you clip your dinosaur through terrain in order to hide it from sight, thus gaining an exploited advantage. 

• Do not disclose the location of other players aside from within group chat to direct new group members to you. 
• Do not attempt to learn other groups' locations by exploitative means, such as stream-sniping, VC-spying, taking eggs, or joining groups only to leave and return to your other group.     Stream-sniping and VC-spying are when you watch a player’s / group’s stream of any kind or join their VC to ask or eavesdrop in an effort to find out where they are. 

No Spawn Killing

• You have a 2 minute safety timer upon spawning, during which you should not be attacked / killed / stalked.
  If you choose to engage in combat during that time, you forfeit your spawn protection.
• If you witness a player spawning in, you cannot attack, hunt, or stalk them for 2 minutes.

No Revenge Killing

• You cannot respawn with the intent to immediately attack / kill the group or player that just killed you.

No Targeting

• Repeatedly and knowingly killing the same player / attacking the same group is not allowed.
• Assembling groups with the intent to repeatedly focus and harass another group is also not allowed.

No Self / Group Feeding

• You cannot let your dinosaur die / let your group kill your dinosaur in order to receive body protection in anticipation of a fight.
• You cannot intentionally kill a group member for body protection to avoid a fight.

No Combat Logging

• If you are in an active engagement, you cannot log out in an attempt to save your dinosaur, or otherwise deny your combatants a body or victory.

No Faking Friendly

• When you 2 call another dinosaur or group, you are stating that you are friendly, and you do not intend to attack them.
• When two parties exchange 2 calls, that starts a 10 minute safety timer between them.
• Other dinosaurs / groups are not considered friendly and do not start a safety timer UNLESS they return your 2 call.
• Do not intentionally attack and kill / severely injure your group members. You're grouped for a reason, we hope!

No Trinket Stealing

• You cannot attack a player or group purely to make them drop their trinket so you can steal it.

No Shrine Killing

• There are six large sacrifice shrines on every map; three on land, and three in the water.
• You cannot kill players in the radius of these shrines, where their respective icons are present on your screen.
     Doing so treats the other players death as a sacrifice, and their dinosaur will need to be restored, regardless of auto revive being present.
• You cannot use the sacrifice shrines as a safe zone to avoid being hunted.
• If you are in an active engagement, you cannot retreat to the shrines for sanctuary.

• Water sources cannot be claimed. You cannot attack other dinosaurs with the intent of keeping them from drinking.
• Dinosaurs can still be hunted near and in water. Aquatics who attack on the shore are not automatically water guarding. 

•  Territory cannot be claimed, and you cannot force other dinosaurs out of an area because “you were there first”.
• Nests can be placed and defended provided the parents are actively nesting. And regardless of active nesting, you can only defend the space directly around the nest. Abusing nesting rights to claim entire areas will not be tolerated. 

A. During an encounter, if a player dies, combat is over.
This includes unintended players, such as those not grouped with either fighting party.
  -If you intentionally kill an ungrouped player to get a body down and save yourself / your group member/s, they can report you, and you can be striked.
B. Body throwing does NOT count, IE. rushing into combat as a juvenile / hatchling to die and save your parents.

C. Once combat is over, an engagement timer starts.

D. The losing party forfeits the player gore and must leave the area after healing bleed / break.
   -If the winning party are Herbivores and they do not have an Omnivore, and the losing party are Carnivores, the Carnivores claim the gore.

A. If you have a player gore, you have body protection and cannot be hunted. You must be contested for your gore, and cannot be body camped (others cannot linger around and wait for your gore to be eaten / rot to attack you). 

B.  If you have a player gore, or your group has a claimed player gore, you are not allowed to hunt. 

C.  Player gore that is not fresh does not give protection. 

D.  Legs taken from player gore do not give protection.  

          -You cannot leg your player gore to make it spoil faster.

E.  If you are contested while carrying player gore, you must answer the contest. 

F.  You must remain near your player gore to be protected, and you cannot leave unless you are getting water. 

        -Leaving to get water means you risk losing protection, and if you are hunted, you do not regain protection by returning to your gore. 

A.  You can contest for gore by 3 calling.
You must be within a reasonable distance of the party you are contesting before 3 calling, but cannot stand on top of them / within injury-dealing range.
   After 30 seconds, if the contested party does not respond, you may attack them (until body down or a 4 call / retreat to forfeit).

B. When Contested You May Do One Of The Following:

  - 3 call to accept, which starts combat until either a body is dropped or a group 4 calls to forfeit, OR, attack to accept, which also starts combat until a body drops or a 4 call / retreat.

 - 4 call to forfeit, which gives the contesting group the gore.
   Some dinosaurs do not have a 4 call. Retreating away from the player gore is also acceptable as a forfeit.

 - 2 call to offer to share. If accepted with a 2 call by the contesting party, neither group has body protection, and both have a 10 minute safety timer with each other.
       [2 calls do not need to be accepted by the contesting party. If they 3 call back, you MUST either accept the contest and fight, or forfeit.]

C. Winner takes all in contests.
If your group has a body and you are contested, and you win by dropping a body, you claim BOTH gores.

D. You cannot contest for a gore that you cannot reach.
    -In example, if a Megaraptor has a gore up on a rock and you yourself cannot jump up there to retrieve it, you cannot contest the Megaraptor.

E. Contests count as an engagement and start a timer.

A. Barring the following specific creatures and circumstances, third partying is not allowed. This means if you encounter players you are not grouped with in an active engagement, you cannot join that engagement for any reason.  

B. For Aquatics, under specific circumstances, third partying is allowed. If you witness Terrestrial or Flying dinosaurs in combat with other Terrestrial or Flying dinosaurs, and any of them enter the water by any means, you are permitted to engage. This is considered an Aquatic opportunity, and if you succeed in killing a dinosaur, you start an engagement timer with that dinosaur / their group.     

    -Aquatics CANNOT exit the water to third party, unless it is to lunge at their potential prey when said prey themselves is in the water. If they miss their lunge, they open themselves up to being attacked by other opportunistic bystanders to the engagement the Aquatic was trying to third party.     

    - Semi-Aquatics (Ichthyovenator and Lurdusaurus) can be third partied by Aquatics, but they themselves cannot third party.  

C. For Flyers, they themselves can be third partied if they are engaged with other Flyers and choose to land beside Terrestrial or Aquatic dinosaurs. Regardless of an engagement still being active, if you land beside a potential threat, provided they are following all other combat rules, they are permitted to attack you. You are not safe from aerial combat purely because you hid beside another ungrouped dinosaur. 

A.  When an engagement ends, a timer between the involved player / groups begins. 

Timers are as follows:    

First Encounter — 5 minutes   

Second Encounter — 10 minutes   

Third Encounter — 30 minutes   

Fourth Encounter — 30 minutes 

B.  After the Fourth Encounter, the timers are reset, with the next engagement being a First Encounter / 5 minute timer.  

C.  After an engagement ends, the losing party should vacate the area after healing bleed/break. 

D. When Does An Engagement Start?

When an attack is first landed by either party. 

•  When a 3 call to contest has been accepted with a 3 call or an attack by the contested party. If the contested party ignores the 3 call and they themselves are attacked after 30 seconds, the engagement still starts.
•  When an attack is landed in defense of personal space or for nest defense.
• When a Scavenger or Flyer steals food / a hatchling / an egg. 

E.   When Does An Engagement End? 

• When a body drops, even if the body is an unintended player.     

                  In legal third partying scenarios, provided the third party drops the FIRST collective body when they are given an opportunity, that body does not count for the ALREADY ENGAGED parties; they continue their engagement if there are group members left.

• When the hunting party loses sight of their prey for 2 minutes.
• When no attacks have been landed for 2 minutes. 

A.  All dinosaurs, regardless of diet or type, have personal space. 

• This is considered to be the general vicinity immediately around your dinosaur avatar.

B.  If you are approached by an ungrouped dinosaur and receive the Intimidated debuff, or otherwise are uncomfortable with their close proximity, you can choose to warn them away with a 3 call. They will have 10 seconds to leave, and if they do not, you can attack them.     

• If the dinosaur does not attack back and flees, you cannot chase them.

C.  You cannot approach a dinosaur yourself and then claim personal space. 

• You chose to enter their space, it does not become your space.

D.  Herbivores and Omnivores may attack first WITHOUT a 3 call for self defense if they are approached by a Carnivorous dinosaur.     

• This includes Aquatics, Flyers, and other Omnivores — anything with meat in its diet.     
• If the dinosaur does not attack back and flees, you cannot chase them. 

A.  If you alone or yourself and your mate have an active nest, you may defend the nest, the space immediately around the nest, your eggs, and your young, regardless of your diet. Herbivores in mixed packing herds may defend their herd members' nests, eggs, and young.     

• The space immediately around your nest is considered to be the immediate, general vicinity. Different nests are different sizes, different dinos are different sizes, and as such setting a certain dinosaur size reference is difficult. Please use your common sense.

B.  If your nest or your young are approached by an ungrouped dinosaur or group, you may give a 3 call to warn them away. 

• If they do not leave within 10 seconds, you may attack (a body down will still end combat).

C.  If they run away after being attacked, you cannot chase them down to kill them, unless they attack back. 

• However, you can only pursue to a distance where your nest is still in sight.

D.  If the approaching dinosaur does not 2 call and goes directly toward your nest or young, you may attack them immediately, without a 3 call.

E.  You cannot place a nest purely to claim the space around it. 

• You must be actively nesting. 

A. Herbivores :

• Herbivores are not permitted to hunt. They cannot claim player gore. 

However, if you witness a Herbivore / a herd in combat with another group, you cannot immediately engage them when that combat is over.

• If you witness a Herbivore or herd in an engagement, you must wait 5 minutes before hunting that Herbivore or herd once the engagement has ended.    

You cannot stalk them during this time. 

B. Carnivores  And Piscivores :

• In the case of Piscivores, they are permitted to claim one meat gore and one fish gore at a time. 
• Both may choose to hunt in the water, but they risk being at a disadvantage while doing so. 

C.  Omnivores : 

• Omnivores may hunt, but only if they are alone or grouped with other Omnivores. They can contest and be contested just like Carnivores can.
• If an Omnivore groups with a Herbivore for a mixed herd, they must follow all Herbivore rules, with the singular exception that they CAN claim player gore, ONLY if their herd wins an engagement.

If the herd is contested by a Carnivore, they must forfeit the gore. 

D. Scavengers :

• Megaraptor, Pteranodon, Tropeognathus, and Velociraptor are considered Scavengers and can steal from nests.
• Each player / group can only steal two (2) eggs at a time, and stealing counts as an engagement and starts a timer.
• The eggs' parents are permitted to pursue, but must return to their nest if they cannot see it.
• Scavengers can also attempt to steal legs from claimed player gores at their own risk. Doing so counts as an engagement and starts a timer, and only one (1) leg may be stolen at a time. 

E. Aquatics : 

• Aquatic creatures can hunt in water and also on land. They risk being at a disadvantage on land.
• Aquatics must still follow all other engagement and body protection rules. 

They cannot remove a player from their protection to drown them. 

F. Flyers : 

• Pteranodons and Tropeognathus can steal hatchlings without player gore protection.
• The hatchlings' parents are permitted to pursue, but must return to their nest once they cannot see it.
• Stealing a hatchling counts as an engagement and starts a timer with the hatchling’s group. 
• Only one (1) hatchling may be taken at a time. 

A. Grouped dinosaurs are encouraged to use VCs or in-game group chat to communicate. This helps to prevent confusion and rule breaks. 

A.  Grouped dinosaurs should never be roaming across vast distances. You do not need to be within direct line of sight at all times, but you should not split up over multiple locations.     

• Flyers are allowed to be further distances apart.
   

B.   If you have recently joined a group, you are expected to migrate to them immediately.  

• You may heal bleed / break before going to them.     
• If you had a gore before joining the group, that gore becomes the group’s gore.     
• You do not have body protection while carrying a gore to your group. 

C.   If you wander away from your group members, and combat begins, you can only join if you can reach them within one (1) minute. 

A.   If you join a group that was already in active combat before you joined, you cannot join the fight. 

• Distance yourself from the area and wait until combat is over to physically join your group. 

A.  If you wish to remove a player from your group, you must inform them in chat, and 3 call them. 

• Unless the group member is obviously afk, you must give them 30 seconds to leave the group and begin relocating. 

B.  If they do not leave, and are clearly not afk, you may attack them after the 30 seconds are up. 

• However, if they begin to leave, and do not attack back, you cannot chase and kill them. 

C.  Leaving a group by any means, whether choice or force, gives the departing player/s a 10 minute safety timer.     

• They cannot be stalked or hunted by their former group during this time. 

A.   Carnivores and Piscivores CANNOT mixpack, period. 

• Each may only group with their own species. 

B.   Herbivores may mixpack with each other and with Omnivores (Coahuilaceratops and Pachycephalosaurus).     

• Omnivores cannot hunt while grouped with Herbivores. 

C.   Beasts of Bermuda has built-in comfort debuffs for groups that overpack. 

• For the exact numbers per species and mixpacking herds, please see the Pack Limits channel in our Beasts of Bermuda category. 

A.   Warnings are for lesser and first time offenses.

B.   They are only noted for future reference to indicate a player has already been spoken to and given a warning in the past. 

A.   The next rule break after a warning on file results in a strike.
 

B.    Strikes fall off after 30 days. 

C.    If you accumulate 3 strikes in a 30 day period, you receive a ban. 

A.   Certain circumstances may result in immediate bans, rather than a ban after 3 strikes. 

• Anything that constitutes as infringing upon the safety and wellbeing of our community and players, such as racism, sexism, or anything that violates the Discord Terms of Service, can qualify for an immediate ban. 

B.   Bans increase in time as players accumulate them without strikes / prior bans falling off. 

• They fall off after 30 days, the same as strikes. 

Ban lengths are as follows:    

First Ban: 24 hours  

Second Ban: 3 days   

Third Ban: 7 days   

Fourth Ban: 30 days 

C.   After a 30 day ban, if you make another rule break within a week of returning, you will be given a permanent ban, pending appeal after an additional 30 days. 

A.   Both strikes and bans can be appealed. 

B.   All appeals are monitored on a case-by-case basis. Some offenses, and repeat offenders, may be handled more sternly than others. 

C.   You must attempt an appeal within 24 hours of the strike / ban being recorded or it automatically sticks.