I'll start by apologizing to the players, I didn't intend to upset anybody. There was never any intention to target any specific players, or anything of the sort. I had a miscommunication with the rest of staff about this issue, and that is entirely my fault. I am sorry.

I'm going to ease up on enforcing rule 1.1 in side chat. I'd like to be clear about what the players can expect from myself and the other VH going forward.

Single dots will no longer be punished unless it becomes excessive. Excessive means, at the bare minimum, that a good rule of thumb would be to make sure another dot isn't visible in the expanded chat history. If a single player is posting a dot several times a day, that will also be considered excessive. I'd still encourage players to just send an emoji instead; our GFX artists worked hard on designing them and we all enjoy seeing them used.

I need to acknowledge that I've been using the term "spam" when messaging players about this, and what I meant by that was "flood" or "flooding". I did not initially make a distinction between these terms and found them to mean the same thing, but I think this has caused some additional confusion with the players. To be clear, the issue in side chat is flooding, not spamming.

Spamming, however, is not allowed in the forums, even in private clan forums.* There was recently an issue with this that was addressed by another VH, but if this continues then I will be forced to shut down and delete any offending clans, and issue the appropriate punishments to any offending players. Consider this the final warning about spamming in the forums.

Flooding, will also be punished. In the past, dot trains have fallen under this rule, and they will continue to do so. I want to be as lenient as I can be, but the text of rule 1.1 makes it pretty clear that this type of thing isn't allowed. Encouraging other players to break the rules in an organized fashion is a violation of rule 5.0 and will be met with accordingly more severe punishments.

I know that I may sound like a tyrannical dictator when I say these things, but I hope you can appreciate that really I am trying to help you. Staff have discussed this issue collectively and the above reflects how the entire team will be responding to any situations that arise.

* - I've got a funny personal anecdote related to this topic, message me if you'd like to hear it.

Okay, a few things to go over with this one.

First and foremost: hopefully everyone is having a safe and fun holiday time!

Second (and first notion of official business): as some might already be aware, myself and a couple others have been working on the Game Rules. More accurately, the ones that apply specifically to Legacy itself outside of the Hunted Cow Studios Terms of Service. These rules have already been updated and are available for you to read at any time at the bottom of Legacy.

https://portal.legacy-game.net/tos.php

Next up: on a more personal note, I am fully aware that my absence has been all but unnoticed this previous year. I have been dealing with a lot of things in my personal life and just have not had a lot of time to be around as much as I should be. A lot of that has changed already and will allow me to once again be actually around.

That said on the previous note, I also feel that I should mention that if at any point an issue arises with my Volunteer Helper team, the first course of action should be addressing the issue with myself first. If at that point a resolve to the issue cannot be reached, then you should reach out to Legacy Affairs. Which I realize a lot of people have skipped this step because I have not been around. To which, I will point back to my previous point.

Meanwhile, Legacy Awards is live in the Main Forum, Double Gains is live until Jan 1st, 2022 is right around the corner, and I think I have taken up enough of your time already.

Stay safe and we will see you in 2022!

We’d like to expand, elaborate, and introduce more considerations to the previous blog.

Although done so under a different context, the Radiation Cannon was once again used in a manner that meets the interpretation of the Game Rules, specifically Rule 2.0, Farming/Funding Accounts: “You also are not allowed to help enemy gangs gain warfare points or territory in the wasteland. All participants in such activity will be punished”. This leads us to begin considering a few things that I’d like to share.

1 - The Radiation Cannon and its place in Gang Warfare - Where we have now encountered multiple uses of the Radiation Cannon that have fallen under grey areas of the rules, the question begs to be asked as to whether it should be included in the roster of available objectives for future Wasteland Map use. I am not saying it is going to be removed, however there will be discussion regarding its place.

2 - Game Rules - There are portions of the Game Rules, with an emphasis on Rule 2.0, that have not stood up to the test of time, and this has made it difficult to properly enforce. Voluntary Helpers, Legacy Affairs, and Zorg himself will be reviewing the games current rules and will attempt to clear as many grey areas as possible so that we can better enforce them.

3 - Dealing with Gang Concerns - This is more of a reminder than anything, but we please ask that if there is something regarding Gang Warfare that you’d like to have investigated, that you reach out to your directed Gang Rep as a starting point. That’s what they’re there for, and we ask that you use them for the resource that they are.

A coinciding Thread will be put up in the Main Forum to allow for some constructive discussion regarding the above. We value your opinions, stances, and expertise and ask that you kindly and calmly communicate any concerns or suggestions you have.

Thank you,
Matt

We'd like to address an issue that took place on Friday.

For those who are unaware, the Radiation Cannon was used wholly on the Cannon-controlling gang's land on one of the three islands in the Wasteland. The Phase Disruptor was also used at the same time, thus avoiding any potential enemy gang member taking advantage of the self-inflicted Cannon damage. The player who used the Cannon then sat and regained the territorial control on these squares. This allowed the uninterrupted gain of Warfare Points while the control of the territory was regained.

The use of the objectives in this way falls into a potential grey area of the rules. The entire volunteer team has discussed this issue, and have concluded that this usage falls under Warfare Point farming i.e. cheating. We'd like to remind everyone that using game mechanics to engineer a situation in which you can gain an unfair advantage amounts to cheating, which is forbidden by the "Game Bugs and Cheats" section of the HCS Terms of Use. If a way to gain Warfare Points (or any other in-game currency or resource) seems too good to be true, it's probably cheating.

We want to take this opportunity to remind you all of the rules, and to ask you to think twice before engaging in any questionable behavior that could put you in breach of the Terms of Use. While we can't list each and every situation that would count as cheating, we hope this post clears up any potential confusion that may exist as to the sort of actions which would fall under that umbrella.

Any further questions you might have can be directed to the Voluntary Helpers.