Community Rules

§ Membership & Member Expectations

• Members must be at least eighteen (18) years old to be granted and maintain community membership.
• Potential members may be granted membership at 17 if they meet our maturity expectations and are approved by the community leadership team — case-by-case only.
• Members must adhere to all rules, regulations, policies, and procedures at all times, and are responsible for staying familiar with them. Failure to comply may result in disciplinary action, up to separation from the community.

§ Leave of Absence (LOA) Policy

A leave of absence lets members step away from their responsibilities for personal, professional, or other valid reasons while keeping the community running smoothly. All members are eligible; terms may vary by role.

• Requesting: submit a formal request to your department's Discord channel or the community leadership team, including the reason, proposed start/end dates, anticipated duration, and any arrangements to cover your responsibilities.
• Duration: personal leave is capped at three (3) months. Longer requires a valid reason to community administration, is subject to approval, and may require proof of necessity.
• While away: community rules still apply, and it's on you to keep leadership or your department management updated on changes to your leave or return date.
• Returning: resume your duties promptly when your leave ends (unless other arrangements were approved), notify your department administration or leadership, and catch up on what changed while you were out.
• Administrators may deny or terminate a leave that doesn't comply with this policy — you'll be notified with an explanation.

01 Good Roleplay

Empire RP thrives on solid, realistic, and fun roleplay. With that in mind:

• Character age must be a minimum of 18. Zero exceptions — you will be asked to change it if discovered below 18.
• No repeating the same behavior in RP scenarios over and over — constant cop-baiting, harassing the same players or groups repeatedly, shooting at police during every scenario or stop, etc.
• No unnecessary escalation of force. A weapon should be the last option. Use your voice and find unique ways to RP out of situations first — constantly resorting to immediate violence is punishable.
• Constant back-to-back violent "code scenes" with little-to-no roleplay in between will not be tolerated. Create scenes with the community — do not treat this server as GTA Online.
• No external voice chats (e.g., Discord) while engaged in active roleplay — use in-game radio, phone, and services only.

02 Random Deathmatch (RDM)

RDM will not be tolerated in the slightest. RDM is killing another player with no or very little interaction.

• Interaction begins by talking to the player: they must be within voice range and must respond before interaction is considered started.
• Animations alone are not enough to begin an interaction.
• If you engage another player while driving, that requirement is invalidated — the person you're engaging may defend themselves if they fear for their life, including when they're in another vehicle.

03 Vehicle Deathmatch (VDM)

VDM will not be tolerated. VDM is driving over another player with the intent to do harm. The only exceptions:

• You are fleeing a dangerous scene and an attacker purposely steps in front of your vehicle, leaving you no choice.
• A genuine accident occurs — and you roleplay the scene out properly.

04 Out-of-Character Communication

Roleplay takes priority over OOC. Stay in character at all times during active RP. OOC must not be used to influence, interrupt, or prematurely end a scene — concerns about the direction of RP go through proper channels, not OOC comments.

• Need staff? Submit a ticket in Discord. In-game staff may also be reached with /report (no guaranteed immediate response).
• Ending a scene or altering its outcome by going OOC is FailRP and may result in disciplinary action.
• Using the "skybox" (game chat) for conversations unrelated to RP is treated as OOC and is not permitted.

05 Combat Logging

Combat logging is any form of leaving the server to avoid RP, including:

• Exiting the server to avoid death or fighting.
• Exiting the server to avoid legal charges.
• Exiting during an active scene without notice through /ooc.

06 Restricted Roleplay

• Racism will not be tolerated whatsoever — including slang words or slurs against your own race.
• Hate slurs or words against any race, nationality, gender, or religion will not be tolerated.

§ Vehicle & Emergency Services Theft Policy

What citizens may and may not steal, and the special protections for emergency, law enforcement, and government assets.

• No citizen may steal any local aircraft, drone taxi, police vehicle, EMS vehicle, or military vehicle.
• No breaking into or stealing from fire stations or hospitals (protected locations, along with police stations).
• Police, EMS, fire, DOT, and other government vehicles are off-limits entirely — you may not steal the vehicle or any items inside or attached to it. All contents of police vehicles are fully protected (previous "unsecured items" allowances were revoked as of 3/1/2026).
• Fire and EMS personnel and equipment inside protected vehicles or facilities are protected from theft.
• Detaining EMS personnel is only allowed under one strict condition: at least 1 EMS on duty AND at least 3 LEOs on duty. All other protections remain in effect.

Examples of what's not allowed: stealing a police cruiser, taking items from inside a police vehicle, hijacking a drone taxi, breaking into a fire station, or removing equipment from an in-service EMS vehicle.

07 Powergaming, Metagaming & Stream Sniping

Powergaming is using game mechanics or out-of-character knowledge to gain an unfair advantage — unrealistic actions that force an outcome without letting the other player react. (Example: if someone is handcuffed or zip-tied, you don't need to "/me taking their comms" — they're at your mercy.)

Metagaming is using out-of-character information or outside communications to give you or others an advantage. Even without an advantage, mixing OOC or outside comms into RP is metagaming. Only use information your character received in-character.

• Stream sniping — using someone's live stream to find or interact with them in any way — is metagaming and punishable as such. Any live streaming source outside the game world is covered.
• No using information from third-party VOIP applications (Discord or any external voice/text app).
• No acting on information learned from your other characters (warrants, locations, city features, contacts, etc.).
• While in the city, you may not be in any third-party voice or text communication with people you are currently in the city with.
• Staff exception: moderators, administrators, and developers performing their duties may use external voice for coordination. Members may also stream gameplay to Discord members who are not currently in the server, as long as it doesn't disrupt RP or break other rules.
• Official RP exception: matters handled in Discord in an official RP capacity (department complaints, DOJ court cases) are allowed.

08 Fail Roleplay, Names & Not Valuing Life

FailRP is any extremely unrealistic situation used to gain an advantage. Apply common sense: "Would my character do this in real life?" "Does it match their storyline?" Examples:

• Incorrectly roleplaying injuries (shot by a handgun, but claiming you tripped over the curb).
• Tweeting to police about crime, or selling weapons/illegal items over Twitter.
• Fake hostages (using friends, or arranging a "hostage" in advance).
• Returning to or approaching a crime scene solely to get your friends revived via LEO or EMS.
• Injecting yourself into an ongoing scene with no RP reason, interfering with its progression or outcome.

Character names: be creative — no celebrity names or ridiculous names that aren't realistic (e.g., "Bob Big Schlong" or "Ryan Gosling").

Not Valuing Life (NVL) is responding to a dangerous scene in a way that's completely unrealistic and/or puts you in imminent harm:

• Blatantly not fearing for your life.
• Jumping from a fatal height to flee.
• Fleeing when surrounded by a group that has communicated they will do harm — including law enforcement that has escalated to lethal force.

Unrealistic interactions with law enforcement — acting unrealistically toward police or purposely putting yourself in a position to be arrested:

• Driving erratically near a cop to bait a chase.
• Performing illegal acts in front of cops or in highly populated areas.
• Performing illegal acts purposefully at any police station.

09 Advertising Other Gaming Communities

To maintain the integrity and unity of our community, promoting or advertising other gaming communities is prohibited across our platform — forums, websites, social media groups, chat servers, and in-game communications.

• No sharing direct links, referral codes, or invitations to other gaming communities.
• No using profile information, avatars, or signatures to display or promote other communities.
• Discussing other games is fine as long as it isn't direct advertising; mentioning another community without endorsing it is allowed when relevant.
• Moderators and administrators enforce this rule — warnings, suspensions, or permanent bans for repeat violations. Their decisions are final.

10 Cheating & Exploits

• Do not engage in cheating, hacking, or exploiting bugs or glitches that provide an unfair advantage.
• At no time may you exploit in-game bugs for personal gain. You are required to report a bug if you find one.

11 Interactions Between Your Characters

All personal characters must remain completely independent from one another and may not interact under any circumstances, across either server:

• No transferring money, items, or any other assets between your characters.
• No using a third party to transfer assets or otherwise facilitate interactions between your characters.
• No sharing, implying, or acting on knowledge one character has while playing another (cross-character knowledge), regardless of server.

Violations may include character deletion and/or a ban from Empire.

12 Server Restarts

• A mandatory minimum of 10 minutes must pass after a server restart before any crimes are committed — give everyone time to get situated.
• All crimes should also cease 10 minutes before a server reset so scenes can wrap up.
• All hostage scenes and/or bank robberies must begin at least 30 minutes before reset.
• If a non-scheduled reset happens mid-scene, all players return to the location and finish the scene. Need to pull a specific vehicle from a garage first? Do it and let the others know — this is one of the only times a gameplay message in Discord General is acceptable.

§ Additional Policies

• Gang RP: gang members must visibly display their gang's designated color or "flag" at all times, so affiliation is clear during interactions.
• Crutches: you may not cause harm to players on crutches.
• Chop shop: donator vehicles are not allowed to be chopped at the in-city chop shop.

§ Consequences & Enforcement

• Violations may result in warnings, temporary suspensions, or permanent bans depending on the severity and frequency of the offense.
• Community administrators and moderators reserve the right to enforce these rules and make decisions to maintain the community's well-being.
• Questions? Contact a community admin.