Community Forums Guidelines

Welcome to the Official Ark: Survival Evolved forums!

All Survivors are invited to join the forums and participate in discussions (not withstanding any VAC bans on Steam you may have). As a member of the community, you must abide by a few short rules:

1. Respect each other. Detrimental behavior such as flaming and derogatory/personalized harassment (outlined further below under 'Warnings') will not be tolerated.

2. Do not incessantly bump threads or spam. 

3. Do not post topics discussing bans or warnings. Please use the Support Ticket Submission to report in-game issues. Forum bans and warnings should be discussed via support ticket only, using the ticket type Forums and Forums Accounts. Posts regarding these topics will be removed by a moderator or staff. 

4. Do not abuse the Forms (linked above) with multiple related submissions, or false reports.

5. No alternate forum accounts. Users found with multiple accounts will be subject to a 30-day forum ban. If you are unable to access your initial account, please submit a ticket on our support site.

On top of these five simple rules, we also have a few guidelines:

Community Officers:
Community Officers (Moderators and Recruits) are the moderators of the Community Forums. They are trusted members of the community, here to keep the peace and help out as much as they can. They largely address issues regarding the Forums, and are unable to officially address in-game issue/bugs or reports against other players. Moderator applications are not accepted, and appointments of moderators are at the discretion of Studio Wildcard.

Posting:
Make sure when posting that your thread is being posted into the correct location. Your topic may be moved without warning by a Community Officer if it is placed in the wrong category. Avoid duplicate topics where applicable. Refrain from using all caps and extremely large fonts in your posts. Limit your topic post tags to a maximum of 10 total tags. Failing to do so may results in an edit from a Community Officer. 

If you would like your own topic removed, please report the topic and ask for it's removal in the description. If you are requesting a server advertisement post to be removed, please await the removal before posting a new topic to avoid receiving a warning for having duplicate advertisements. Topic removal can also be handled through a Forums and Forums Accounts support ticket however this option may result in a delay in processing.

Words or small sentences in languages other than English are allowed only for the purpose of teaching someone, or for clarification. Our Moderators are unable to effectively moderate via a translator.

Warnings:
As stated in rule one, harassment will not be tolerated. It is up to our discretion what derogatory and personalized harassment is. If it seems like what you're about to communicate seems like it's going to really offend or be harmful to another persons ability to be a part of our community without fear of being harassed, don't say it. Employ common courtesy. We understand that there are elements to our game which can cause things to get heated, however we request that you do not go overboard. In these extreme cases we will step in.

Disobeying any of the rules/guidelines can result in a warning. You may receive a warning in the form of "warning points" for: spamming, inappropriate language, signature violation, excessive topic bumping, or generally abusive behavior. Multiple warnings can lead to site restrictions and eventual banning from the Forums. 

Inappropriate usernames:
Racist, sexist, and generally inappropriate usernames will not be tolerated. You should also not use your username as a way to advertise. If deemed inappropriate your username will be changed by a Moderator, and you will be contacted to provide an alternate username which will be updated for you. You will be prevented from posting until your username issue is resolved.

Reporting Posts:
If you feel that someone's post(s) are detrimental to the community, you can report their post and your report will be sent to the Community Officers. Please be aware that we take these reports seriously, and you should report a post only when you feel like it is disobeying the community guidelines. Refrain from mini-modding/backseat moderating and contact a Community Officer where necessary. 

Topic Locking/Deleting:
It is up to the Moderators discretion to remove replies and/or lock threads. Threads that are disruptive to the community and cause more harm than good (including but not limited to: flame wars, fighting, and trolling) will be locked. Reasons for locking the topic are generally provided by a moderator at the time of locking. We usually do not delete forums topics, and employ locking where necessary. However, if there is sensitive information that has the potential to negatively affect the game and it's community that topic may be deleted rather than locked. 

Wildcard reserves the right to change and/or add to these guidelines at our discretion where necessary. 

These rules ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience here. With that said, we hope to see you as an active member of the community!