Code of Conduct

Last Updated: June 1, 2014

Wizards of the Coast is dedicated to creating the best and most inclusive play experiences. To that end, we have created this Code of Conduct to govern how members of the Wizards community interact with one another. You, as a member of the Wizards community and as someone who visits our websites (collectively, the "Websites") or engages with our games, organized play programs, online and offline communities, forums, contests, and promotions (collectively, the "Services"), agree to abide by this Code of Conduct, the Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, and any additional policies distributed by Wizards.

Violation of this Code of Conduct is grounds for the termination of any accounts you may have with Wizards which includes the forfeiture of all products/content associated with such account, as well as the revocation of your permission to use our online games, services or tools and your suspension or expulsion from organized play. Wizards and its designated parties are the final judges of whether someone's behavior qualifies as inappropriate or disruptive. This Code of Conduct is subject to change at any time Wizards sole discretion. Your continued use of our Websites or Services constitutes your acceptance of such change.

1. Choose your account's screen name and username carefully. Screen names that are deemed offensive may be modified or deactivated without notice. For example:

  • Names of offensive or notorious persons, controversial political figures, references to cultural tragedies or of significant religious or occult meaning;
  • Names containing profanity, obscene slang, graphic anatomical references, racial, ethnic, sexist, or religious slurs;
  • Names with word combinations that produce an offensive result;
  • Names of or references to illicit substances or drug-related paraphernalia;
  • Names with the intent or effect of harming the reputation of another;
  • Names including protocol prefixes and domain suffixes (e.g. http://, .org, .com);
  • Names that impersonate the representation of a specific business or websites, including any business or websites you may operate or represent;
  • Proper names of Wizards staff or their titles; or
  • Misspellings, phonetic, and alternative spellings of prohibited names are subject to modification or deactivation. Variations of a deactivated screen name, as may be evidenced by your declarations under a new screen name that you are "really" the deactivated name, may also be deactivated and the account holder may have his or her account terminated.

2. Do not use, post, distribute or link to obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, graphically or gratuitously violent, derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive, hateful or discriminatory language or content. This includes "masking" language by using alternative characters/spelling /spacing to get around profanity filters or claims of profanity filter "testing".

3. Do not harass, bully, threaten, harm or cause discomfort for other persons, including any other members. For example:

  • Use of hate speech or racial, ethnic, sexist, homophobic or religious slurs;
  • Harassment of a specific person (repeated flaming, personal attacks or posting their private information);
  • Trolling or baiting the community in general with inflammatory statements, such as ones designed to elicit a negative response from the community; or
  • Posting or otherwise disclosing any personal or private information of another person, or any confidential information pertaining to a business, without consent.

4. Do not promote, plan, glorify or engage in any illegal activity or otherwise make available content that would encourage or provide instructions for an illegal activity. These topics include crimes relating to drugs, drug paraphernalia, rape, solicitation of a minor, computer hacking, counterfeiting and fraud.

5. Do not impersonate other persons, including fellow users or Wizards of the Coast staff, by screen name or self-representation, or attempt to obtain sensitive information from other members. For example:

  • Falsely claiming an official title or to hold position relating to the Websites;
  • Falsely claiming the representation of another business or websites;
  • Faking an existing member's screen name by using similar-looking characters;
  • "Spoofing" or "emoting" another member's text in a chat room;
  • Falsely claiming to be a law enforcement officer; or
  • Soliciting passwords or personal information from other members.

6. Do not disrupt chat, forums, blog comments or other communication channels. For example:

  • Spamming through repeated posts, or off-topic content by word or intent to forums or comments (scrolling, flooding, polling, or by "bumping" a post more than once in 48 hours);
  • Making off-topic posts or chat or trades in the wrong forums or chat rooms (casual chat or role play in rooms or forums not designated for these types of activities); or
  • Advertising trades or sales outside of the designated areas.

7. Do not advertise in Magic Online. This includes:

  • Advertising matches that inlcude playing for ante or any form of gambling;
  • Advertising player-run tournaments;
  • Advertising trades or sales outside of the designated online areas;
  • Advertising or promoting a business or commercial websites outside of the designated areas including but not limited to, using account names that reference trading (TIX4CARDS, PaulsKardHaus, etc.) or using account names referring to any business or commercial venture;
  • Sending unsolicited commercial or purportedly informational messages to any members; or
  • Using Wizards' images, artwork, logos or other intellectual property without express written permission.

8. Do not attempt to use or gain access to another's accounts or service, engage another member under false pretenses or otherwise defraud another member. Anyone linking to, posting, distributing or promoting hacks, modifications, viruses, or password mining websites may face legal action in addition to normal account penalties.

9. Do not attempt to artificially alter the outcome of a league, sanctioned event, or organized game. For example:

  • Bribing or offering compensation in order to change the game outcome; or
  • Stalling, spamming, harassing, or behaving in any unsportsmanlike manner that affects the game.

10. Do not violate the terms of any official organized play tournament rules as published and updated by Wizard from time to time and at its sole discretion.

11. Do not intentionally purchase or distributed infringing or pirated copies of Wizards products.

12. DO NOT CHEAT, STEAL OR DEFRAUD WIZARDS OR OTHER PLAYERS!

Explanation of Disciplinary Escalation and Procedures

If you demonstrate that you cannot follow this Code of Conduct, the Terms of Use, or the Privacy Policy, then you may lose access to ALL of your accounts and all associated content, usernames and screen names. You may also be suspended or expelled from organized play and the Wizards Play Network.

Moderators, judges, or other Wizards designees may issue formal warnings, by post, private message or email when a member has committed a Code of Conduct infraction. Depending on the severity of the infraction, Wizards, at its sole discretion, may issue a warning, suspension or expulsion.

This explanation of disciplinary procedures is meant to be a guideline for members to understand what their status may be with regard to the process, but it is only a guideline. Wizards may deviate from this procedure at any time and in any manner, and reserves all rights and remedies available in law and equity. A specific chat, forum, list or online game situation may require other measures to ensure the family orientation of the Websites and Services.

We have updated our privacy policy. Click the link to learn more.

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