BEHAVIOR
Respect
You are expected to treat other members and the admins of DracoStryx with courtesy and respect. If you are being harassed over group-specific matters or you notice an instance of it occurring, we encourage you to send a note to the group to report it to the Admin Team. Depending on the severity of the situation, offending members will receive one warning, or an immediate ban.
Offensiveness
If you make hateful or bigoted remarks (directed towards a race or ethnicity, LGBTQ+ people, disabled or neurodivergent individuals, religious minorities, etc.) or make use of unacceptable slurs (the n-word, the r-word, the f-word, etc.) you will be banned. DracoStryx is meant to be a place welcoming to all, and virulent hostility will not be tolerated.
Community Safety
If you send sexual content to a minor or solicit sexual material (textual, photographic, or artistic) from a minor inside or outside of DracoStryx, you will be banned from the group immediately.
Hostility
If you display the intention to be deliberately offensive, or display a hostile attitude toward the group and/or its admins (such as engaging in outbursts of profanity or hurling abusive language), you will receive an immediate ban. If you repeatedly act in a way that makes other members uncomfortable and are resistant to correction, you may also be subject to a suspension or a ban. If you are widely known to be a person who causes conflict and problems across the web in general, you may also be subject to a ban. If your only engagement in our community is negative, passive aggressive, or unkind, you may be subject to a ban.
Blocks
If you block any of the official group accounts on any of the platforms we operate on, you are opting out of membership. You will not be allowed to participate in the Discord or the game, and you will have 30 days from the date of the block to make publicly visible posts from the account you own your game items with to transfer your items and characters before they will be considered nullified. This is for safety and due to the mechanical implications of blocking-- requests cannot be fulfilled from behind a block and we cannot communicate information with users who have blocked our admin accounts.
You may appeal your opt-out by unblocking the admin accounts and informing us that you would like to be reinstated as a member by emailing [email protected]. Keep in mind that items and character transfers and decease/releases cannot be undone.
Critiques & Concerns
If you feel some part of the game, or plans for the group are not to your liking, you are always allowed to offer alternatives or solutions, and let us know about those concerns in general. However, do not present present those concerns in an insulting or rude manner. The admins of DracoStryx work very hard to keep the group running. We understand that mistakes and oversights are frustrating, but there is no excuse to mistreat or insult members of the admin team, no matter your frustrations. The team aims to work with you to resolve your grievances where we can, or to politely decline to change what we cannot or will not adjust, so please present critiques constructively and do not lash out at the admins.Cheating
The admin team takes cheating seriously, as it undermines trust and makes the game less fun for everyone else. Don't do it. Depending on your offense, its severity, and your candor when confronted, you may receive a warning, a suspension, or a ban.Getting Help
If you're having an issue with another player, please contact Shyftlock or another group leader listed on our main page. If you're having trouble with an Admin, or you feel you've been unfairly treated by any staff member of DracoStryx please send a note to Shyftlock or another group leader listed on our main page and explain the situation. Please provide screencaps as evidence of the mistreatment as we cannot act on hearsay. Our leads will do our best to address your issue and bring about some form of fair resolution.
ART RULES
Tracing + Copying vs Referencing
Tracing of artwork or photographs by other artists is not allowed. Traced images will not count for any AP or activity. If you submit a directly traced image, we'll likely be able to spot it. Referencing photography is acceptable, however, if you're having trouble with a certain pose, and so on, so long as it is not a direct trace.
You also may not copy designs of other stryx or non-stryx characters when submitting custom designs.
Photomanipulations
Photographs, even stock photos with proper permissions and credit, are not allowed to be used as backgrounds or for photo-manipulations unless they are your own. We will decline any submission that uses photographs that are not your own.
AI Art
Other Stryx
Do not depict another member's Stryx being attacked, maimed, or (especially) killed by your stryx without the owner's permission. Depicting your stryx attacking, maiming, and/or killing an unidentified stryx is allowed. Do note, however, that while you may draw or write about a cannibal stryx if you wish, we will not allow a stryx, owned or nondescript, to count as prey in rollable hunting entries.
Other ARPGs / Closed Species
DracoStryx encourages players to depict their stryx alongside other ARPGs, but you may not depict any other ARPG or Closed Species as prey for your Stryx, either in hunting entries, or general literature. While conflict and violence between Stryx and other CS/ARPG creatures is allowed, depicting your Stryx hunting/killing them may stir resentment between DracoStryx and other groups and we'd like to keep a good working relationship with other CS & ARPGs.
Mature Content
DracoStryx art and literature that contains violent/gorey mature content or mature language should be flagged as such. The group attempts to adhere to a PG-13 rating, so sexually explicit material will not be allowed, i.e. please do not depict your stryx's genitals or stryx copulating, either in art or in literature.
SALES RULES
ADVERTISEMENTS
You may remove and re-submit an advertisement to the group ONCE EVERY TWO DAYS. Any more than that, and we will consider it spam and not accept it. If we see repeated violations of this rule, you will receive one warning. Further violations may be met with a temporary suspension or a permanent ban.
Co-Ownership
Co-ownership in DracoStryx is not allowed. Accounts operated by multiple people are not supported by DracoStryx. If this rule is violated, one month will be given to the involved parties to negotiate between themselves how the assets are divided between accounts belonging to single individuals. During that time, a shared account will not be allowed to participate in any aspects of the game besides requesting item and import transfers to other accounts. Likewise, shared stryx/items will not be able to be used to participate in any group activities while they are being negotiated over.
DeviantART ONLY: Multiple accounts are only allowed to be listed as an owner on a stryx's import if they are alts of the same player. PaperDemon's site rules only allow one account per person, and therefore alts will not be supported on PaperDemon.
Pricing
Some rules regarding the prices for items:
- You may sell genos, slots, and imports and imports for whatever price you feel is fair.
- You may sell items gained via activities like hunting, fishing, scavenging and quests for whatever price you feel is fair.
- Items purchased from the group (Breath Stones, Starter Slots, Add-Ons, Unused Semi-Customs, etc.) may not be sold for more than their original purchase price.
- The only things you may not sell for USD are Tokens. They may only be traded.
Requiring Changes
The only changes you may require a buyer to make when selling an import are changes to the personal information (Name, Nicknames, Age, Personality, and the like). This information is non-essential and free to change. In order for us to enforce this change, though, you need to state the requirement explicitly up front when selling the import.
You may not require the buyer to change things like the design or to add or remove markings. Such changes require the use of items and we will not enforce such changes.
You may not require the buyer to change things like the design or to add or remove markings. Such changes require the use of items and we will not enforce such changes.
Selling Imports w/ Slots
When selling an import that has its EOG and some remaining breeding slots, once you have agreed with your buyer to sell the import you should not write out the remainder of the breeding slots to other people unless you have notified the buyer ahead of time. This is both terrible etiquette and against group policy.
When buying an import with outstanding art for slots deals, the buyer is required to honor prior deals made by the former owner. The exception is with "Unlimited until" deals. "Unlimited until" deals are not sanctioned by the group, and in the event a stryx is sold, the new buyer is not required to continue to honor an "Unlimited until" deal.
Play the Game Defensively!
It's sad, but true, that some people will make breeding/art/trade deals and then not deliver to you what they owe. Take screenshots or Archive/Wayback the proof comments when you've made a deal with someone, and if the time comes that you've made payment, but the other party has not given you what was promised, send a note to the group, and admins will deal with the situation.
The team will only step in, however, when a payment or half of a trade is made and the buyer/trade-partner does not receive the item paid/traded for. This DOES NOT refer to making a deal where either partner pulls out and cancels the deal before anything is exchanged. If your deal partner cancels the deal with you before they receive the thing of value from you, we will not step in and force them to uphold the bargain.
AP Payment Shortfalls
If you make an AP payment with someone and you make an effort to complete the payment in full, but your artwork or literature is deemed by the AP Team to as failing to measure up to the agreed upon amount of AP, your deal partner is within their rights to expect you to make up the payment, either by editing the older art/lit or adding new art/lit on top of it. If you do not compensate them for the shorted AP, they are within their rights to revoke an item within two seasons (6 months) of the deal closing, but may not use any of your art/lit to ascend their stryx unless you otherwise agree to it. We will enforce these sorts of situations if they are brought to us within six months. After two seasons (6 months), we will no longer step in to handle them. Players who are repeatedly deficient when making AP payments may be barred from making any further AP deals until they have managed to satisfy their prior commitments to the satisfaction of the AP Team.
Fraud
Please do not engage in financial fraud, such as stealing someone's bank card to make purchases or engaging in chargeback fraud. This kind of behavior threatens the real lives of players and can leave them unable to pay vital bills. If you're found engaging in such behavior, we will ban you. We have no leniency for this kind of fraud.
Group Liability
DracoStryx is not liable for any financial losses you my incur during player-to-player deals that go wrong. We will step in when and where we can, as we see fit, to help you resolve deals gone wrong, but we cannot and will not compensate you monetarily.
Bans
If You Have Been Banned
If you have received a notice that you are banned from DracoStryx, you have one month to trade, give away, or sell off your imports, genos, baubles, items etc. After the month is over, any remaining imports belonging to you will be released and your Vault, Inventory, & Add-On Bank accounts will be wiped clean. Depending on what you did that led up to your ban, we may give you until the end of your month before we block you, or you may be immediately blocked from DracoStryx, AlphaStryx, & EyeOfGalyx and banned from the server. If you are immediately blocked, you will need to write out transfer permissions on your own personal sales journal as proofs of ownership. The buyers will then use these proofs to request transfers to themselves on your behalf via the standard queues.
Once you have been banned by the group...
...You MAY NOT... Submit any new breedings
Submit to design approvals
Submit to any activities
Offer any new design commissions
...You MAY... Write out slots to honor previously made deals
Complete design commissions made prior to your ban notice
Receive rolls for activities posted prior to your ban notice
Transfer items, genos & imports within one month
Complete design commissions made prior to your ban notice
Receive rolls for activities posted prior to your ban notice
Transfer items, genos & imports within one month
Inventory and character transfers from banned users to other users must be brought to ownership transfers and the vault in order to be validated if not originally posted in those queues.
If a character or item transfer from a banned user is dated before the grace period to transfer ends, it will be honored even if posted to the queue after the grace period expires and the characters and inventory are voided.
Ban Evasions
If you create a new account or use an unknown alt in order to evade a ban and return to play DracoStryx, when you are found out, your imports will be immediately seized and deceased. You will not be given the chance to resell anything you have acquired while evading your ban. You had no business acquiring them in the first place.
If you engage in the game or the Discord on behalf of a banned player, you may be subject to a ban yourself.
May I Ask if/why Someone Was Banned?
The short answer is no.The long answer is that the list of names of players banned for behavioral problems or for breaking of game-play rules will not be made available to the members at large. We will on occasion inform players in private of the status of a member as banned if it is relevant (such as if the banned member attempts to continue offering design commissions). Please do not, however, just straight up ask the team "is so-and-so banned?" or "why was so and so banned?" The exception to this is when players have been banned for financial fraud. We do not make a point of withholding the names of those we've banned for fraud due to the immediate danger they pose to anyone selling to them, and we keep a publicly accessible list of players banned for fraud here.
