Gamer Dorks Universal Ruleset (GDUR)

Last updated 25 April, 2025.

We at Gamer Dorks strive to create a safe environment for our community and to create games that are fair for everyone.  In order to uphold these standards, the following ruleset will be enforced on all of our platforms.  This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Our website and server store.
  • Our Discord server, Steam group, Hey.Cafe, and other online communities.
  • Our Twitch, YouTube, BlueSky, and other social media sites.
  • Our multiplayer games or game servers, such as Fragmented and DorkNet (Minecraft).

The following is an in-depth and detailed description of our rules.  Regardless of whether you read them, you will be expected to follow them.  Failure to follow our rules could result in suspension or a ban from wherever the infraction took place.  You will likely receive, but are not entitled to at least one warning before the suspension or ban.

Thank you for choosing us as your preferred video games, game servers, or online communities.  Let’s get in to the rules.

1. Support

Gamer Dorks offers support from our community team to assist in keeping the community safe and gameplay fair.  Do not refrain from contacting us if there’s anything wrong.

  • 1a. Avoid sharing too much information.
    • Gamer Dorks will never ask for ANY passwords or multifactor authentication keys.
    • Gamer Dorks will never ask for your IP address.
    • If you ever feel like you’re talking to someone sketchy, send us a new email to make sure that you’re really talking to us.
  • 1b. Sending us an Email.
    • We accept user reports, bug reports, requests, and general inquiries by email.
    • Email us at contact@gamerdorks.net.
    • Describe the issue in your email and include any information the support team may need to help you.
  • 1c. Contacting us on Discord.
    • We accept user reports, bug reports, requests, and general inquiries by Discord ticket.
    • Join our Discord server at https://discord.gg/6jbwjhEw and navigate to the #ticket channel.
    • Scroll to the top of the channel and select the correct ticket.  In general, you’ll want to open “Contact Moderators”.
    • Once the ticket channel was opened, navigate to the bottom of the channel list.  You should have a ping in that channel.
    • Describe the issue there, attaching any necessary screenshots, recordings, links, or timestamps.
  • 1d. Contacting us on Minecraft.
    • We accept user reports ONLY from Minecraft in the Minecraft reporting system.
    • While in any of the servers on our Network, write /report followed by your report message. 
    • Tell us the issue in the report command.  Do not leave it blank.  If you know who is involved in the issue, include that in your report.
  • 1e. How NOT to contact us.
    • ONLY use one of the methods listed above.
    • Complaints and reports are strictly prohibited in the public conversation channels of our communities, games, or game servers.
    • Direct-messages on any of our platforms are not a reporting solution.
    • Pinging our staff members on any of our platforms are not a reporting solution.

2. Respect

All Gamer Dorks members are required to be kind and respectful to everyone, regardless of who they are.  There will be no exceptions.  Harassment, discrimination, and threatening behavior are not allowed here.

  • 2a. No harassment or bullying.
    • Harming the reputation of others is not allowed.
    • Lying or withholding information to hurt others is not allowed.
    • Singling out others for abuse is not allowed.
    • Witch-hunting is not tolerated.
    • Manipulation or Gaslighting are not allowed.
  • 2b. No discrimination or hate speech.
    • Hate toward people based on their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, religion, disabilities, nationality, or any other characteristic that may make them different; is not allowed.
    • Slurs, or other hateful words used to demean or threaten people of a specific group, are not allowed.
    • Respecting a person’s pronouns and honorifics is required.  If you don’t know, ask; or use they/them pronouns.
    • Discriminatory “jokes” are still discrimination.
    • “Disagreeing” with the basis of someone’s identity is not allowed.  Keep it to yourself.
  • 2c. Respect boundaries.
    • Do not share personally identifying information about yourself or others.
    • Do not encourage people to share private information.
    • Avoid any sort of subjects that could reasonably be triggering to people.
    • “Jokes” about subjects which are prohibited by the rules are still not allowed.
    • If someone asks you to stop interacting with them in a certain way, stop.
    • If someone makes it known that they don’t want to interact with you, do not use Gamer Dorks services to attempt to interact with them.
  • 2d. No instigation or retaliation.
    • Encouraging others to break the rules is not allowed.
    • Interacting with others in a way that will likely make them break the rules in retaliation is not allowed.
    • If someone is instigating, call a moderator.
    • “Snitching” is acceptable behavior and encouraged.  Moderators can handle the situation, retaliation can’t.
  • 2e. No threats.
    • Threatening real-world violence is not allowed.
    • Threatening to reveal private information about a person or group of people is not allowed.
    • Threatening digital attacks is not allowed.

3. Content

Gamer Dorks requires all content to be appropriate for a 13+ audience unless otherwise specified.  We’re avoiding any age-inappropriate, controversial, sensitive, or suggestive content.

  • 3a. Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content is not allowed.
    • Sexual content or behavior are not allowed.
    • Gore or excessive violence are not allowed.
    • Shock content is not allowed.
    • Topics regarding the use or abuse of substances (such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, prescription or illegal drugs) are not allowed.
  • 3b. Controversial content is not allowed.
    • No political or religious discussions.
    • No inflammatory content relating to real-world law or borders.
    • No desecration or burning of knowledge or symbols.
    • Support or glorification of fascism, fascist ideals, or fascist figures will result in an immediate, un-appealable ban.
  • 3c. Avoid sensitive topics.
    • No topics regarding self-harm
    • No topics regarding abuse of other people or of animals
    • No jokes about or depictions of real-world tragedies or human rights violations.
  • 3d. Suggestive content is not allowed.
    • Nudity (including the depiction of such in classical art) is not allowed.
    • Innuendo or sexual jokes are not allowed.  This includes simply saying a suggestive word as the punchline of a joke.
    • “E-dating” or pursuing romantic relationships on our online platforms is not allowed.
    • Recreation of suggestive acts in roleplay or by the use of user-generated content in our games or game servers is not allowed.
  • 3e. Follow the law.
    • Using our platforms to break the law is not allowed.
    • Cyberbullying is a crime.
    • Doxxing or sharing a person’s personally identifiable information is a crime.
    • DDoS attacks or similar online attacks are criminal and could prompt an investigation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
    • Do not share pirated (illegally-obtained) software or promote piracy.  Promoting Pirate Software, the indie game studio, is fine.

4. Proper Conduct

Gamer Dorks expects its community to conduct itself properly and follow common sense.  Here are some guidelines for online etiquette.

  • 4a. English only, unless otherwise specified.
    • Unless otherwise specified, you may only speak in the English language in public chat channels.
    • Requesting support in other languages may result in the support team garbling your message.
    • When otherwise specified (i.e. in a chat channel called “español”), speak only in that language.  Such channels will only exist if we have two or more moderators who can fluently read and write in that language.  We may delete or lock a channel if we at any point no longer have two or more moderators who are fluent in that language.
  • 4b. No spamming.
    • Repeatedly sending the same message, similar messages, or incoherent text is not allowed.
    • Text walls, chat flood, or ascii art are not allowed.
    • Deliberately offensive or provocative content (trolling) is not allowed.
    • Advertisements or self-promotion are not allowed.
    • Advertisement may be allowed if you are an Affiliate.
  • 4c. Keep things on-topic.
    • Keep excessive memes, gifs, or stickers out of the Discord general chat.
    • If a chat channel has a particular set of rules, keep to those rules.  Those may make them more or less lenient.
  • 4d. Follow proper voice chat etiquette.
    • Do not talk over others.
    • Do not play music in voice chat.
    • Do not make loud or repetitive noises.
    • Turn on push-to-talk if you have a lot of background noise, such as children or pets or a TV.
    • Temporarily mute yourself when talking to people in real life, outside of the voice chat.
  • 4e. No impersonation.
    • Do not pretend to be a representative of our staff team, or that of one of our affiliate communities or brands, or of Discord, Mojang, GamerSafer, Minehut, Microsoft, or Valve.
    • Falsely impersonating a representative of any other community or brand is not allowed.

5. Platform Guidelines

Gamer Dorks makes game servers, gaming events, and communities in accordance to the guidelines of the platform.  We expect members of our community to also follow these guidelines.

6. Staff Interaction

Staff members are people too.  They are subject to the same rules and the same protections as any other user.  Show them respect, and they’ll show you respect.

  • 6a. Staff members are held accountable to rules.
    • If you see a staff member breaking the rules, contact us via email or “Contact Management” Discord Ticket immediately.
    • Do not publicly call them out on any infractions.
  • 6b. Respect staff.
    • Ignoring staff or continuing to break rules after a warning will result in increased punishment.
    • Insulting staff for punishing yourself or other rulebreakers will result in increased punishment.
    • Follow the other rules when interacting with staff, just as you should when interacting with anyone else.
    • Do not worship staff.  Treating staff members with excessive reverence should be avoided.
  • 6c. Respect the rules.
    • Do not attempt to find loopholes in rules to abuse them.  If there is a significant loophole, alert us and we will patch it.  Abusing it may result in increased punishment.
    • “Minimodding” or acting as if you have the authority of moderation staff without actually having that permission is not allowed.  Making reports is not minimodding.
    • Make an effort to make a report infractions whenever you can.

7. Child Safety

It is ultimately the responsibility of the parents or legal guardians of any children (users under 18) using our services to make sure their children are safe, however we will do what we can to make sure that children remain safe on our platforms and that nobody accesses our platforms below the minimum age requirement.

  • 7a. Age requirements.
    • Underage participation in any of our services will be met with an immediate ban, which you can appeal when you are of age, accompanied by a trusted adult.
    • Unless otherwise specified, the minimum age for ALL of our communities, games, and game servers is 13 years of age.  Even if the minimum age requirement of one of our services is lower than 13 years of age, you must be accompanied by a trusted adult to participate.
  • 7b. Child endangerment.
    • Any predatory behavior will result in an immediate ban and will be reported to the local and national authorities where applicable.
    • Sharing, requesting, or discussing inappropriate images of minors is not allowed.
    • Making sexual comments or posts directed at minors is not allowed.
    • Any posts made by you that may make you appear predatory will be investigated.  Avoid expressing inappropriate interest in children.
  • 7c. Stay safe.
    • No matter your age or the age of the person you’re contacting, NEVER share inappropriate images of yourself online.  Use of our services to send these images will result in a ban.
    • If you ever feel unsafe or see anything suspicious happening on our platforms, report it immediately.
    • Children should not reveal their age or any other personally identifying information online.

8. Exceptions

We will make exceptions to the rules when necessary.  These will mostly be to deal with people who are harming our community without expressly breaking the rules, or to deal with people who have a significant chance of harming the community.

  • 8a. Loopholes.
    • Administrators and Senior Moderators may intervene in situations not expressly covered by the rules.  They will do so in situations where there is harm being done to the community and the people within it.
  • 8b. Off-platform behavior.
    • We reserve the right to ban users for matters of extreme off-platform behaviors, such as violent extremism, child endangerment, or otherwise criminal activity.

Minecraft Rules of Play (MRP)

Last updated 1 May, 2025.

These rules apply to the Gamer Dorks Minecraft Network and all the servers within the Network.  They are in addition to or override the rules from the universal ruleset.  In general, you will need to follow the Gamer Dorks Universal Ruleset as well as these when in Minecraft.

1. Parental Guidance

We allow users under the age of 13 in the Minecraft server, with some restrictions.  Firstly, they will need permission of a trusted adult to play the server.

  • 1a. Parental Guidance rules apply to all users under 13.
    • Users under 13 must be accompanied by a trusted person above the age of 13 in the Minecraft server, or have the express permission of a parent or guardian.
    • Users under 13 should not use chat or join the Discord server.
  • 1b. The server is designed to have little objectionable content.
    • The “Skirmish and Siege” game mode has some unrealistic firearms.  If you object to fantasy firearms, we suggest avoiding this mode.
    • There is a chat filter in-game which censors bad language, which is turned on by default.
    • Please email us about any concerns about objectionable content on the server.

2. User-Generated Content

User-generated content within the server (i.e. builds, skins, signs, books) must be respectful and appropriate for all ages.

  • 2a. Builds must be appropriate.
    • Building hate symbols is not allowed.
    • Building sexually explicit structures is not allowed.
  • 2b. Skins must be appropriate.
    • Having hate symbols on your player skin is not allowed.
    • Having nudity on your player skin is not allowed.
    • Having skins of extremist historical figures is not allowed.
  • 2c. In-game text must be appropriate.
    • This applies to signs, books, holograms, and any other ways to put text into the game.
    • In-game text must follow the Gamer Dorks Universal Ruleset, just like chat.
    • In-game text cannot have any bad language – even mild language.

3. Clients and Mods

To ensure the fairness of gameplay, disallow certain mods and clients in our servers.  Using any of these will be considered cheating and may result in a temporary or permanent ban.

  • 3a. Hacked Clients
    • Using a client that gives you the ability to perform cheats is not allowed.
    • This includes, but is not limited to; ESP, X-Ray, Flight, Speed, Timer, Autoclicker, Killaura, Aimbot, Baritone, Autominer, Reach, Dolphin, and Wall-Climbing.
  • 3b. Client Mods
    • Using any mods that grant you a distinct advantage over other players is not allowed.
    • Freecam is not allowed in Skirmish and Siege.  It is allowed in other modes, so long as you can’t use it to see underground.
    • Inventory management mods interfere with our anticheat and so should be avoided.
    • Optimization or visual effect mods are allowed.
    • Minimap mods are allowed, but you must use a “fair play” version.  Xaero’s Minimap Fair-Play version is available here: https://modrinth.com/mod/xaeros-minimap-fair
    • If you’re not sure if a mod is allowed, feel free to contact us to ask!
  • 3c. Resource Packs
    • The server has a built-in texture pack which is recommended for all users.  It gives all custom items and UI elements a unique texture that you would not have otherwise.  It also has some quality-of-life improvements such as less obtrusive fire, particles, and utility items.
    • Age-inappropriate resource packs are not allowed.
    • Resource packs that provide a distinct advantage over other players (such as X-Ray) are not allowed.

4. Exploits

To keep the gameplay fair, abusing exploits is considered cheating and is not allowed.

  • 4a. No unintended item generation.
    • Duplication (“dupe”) is not allowed.
    • Trading for items that were generated illegally is not allowed.  You should throw them out and report the user.
  • 4b. Report bugs.
    • If a feature is unintentional, don’t abuse it.
    • Report any bugs you find.  If you abuse them and then report them, you still abused them.
    • If you’re unsure whether something is fair, ask a staff member.
  • 4c. No vanilla exploits.
    • “Pie-ray” is not allowed.
    • TNT duplication is not allowed.
    • Sand duplication is not allowed.
    • Piston-related duplication is not allowed.

5. Automation

Auto-farms are allowed so long as they do not require artificial player input, and have an easily located off-switch.

  • 5a. Automated Actions
    • You may not automate actions which would otherwise require a player input.
    • Macros and auto-clickers are not allowed, whether they’re done with software or with physical objects (a rock placed on the spacebar is still an auto-clicker).
  • 5b. Farms should not affect server performance.
    • Automated farms cannot cause the tick rate on the server to decline, whether this is intentional or not.
    • Your automated farms should have a clearly visible on/off switch that could be used in case it overloads the server.
    • We reserve the right to delete farms that affect the server performance.
    • Intentionally affecting the server performance through means other than automated farms is also not allowed.

6. Your Accounts

You are limited to one account on the server at a time, and a mute or ban on one account should be treated as a mute or ban on all accounts.

  • 6a. You must own your account.
    • You cannot join the server with a cracked or pirated Minecraft account.
    • You must use an account which belongs to you.  Account borrowing software is not allowed.
    • Account trading is not allowed.  If you do not have an account, purchase one from https://www.minecraft.net/
  • 6b. Use of alternative accounts is restricted.
    • You may only use one account on the server at a time.
    • Switching to a different account is allowed, but you may not have them online at the same time.
    • You are responsible to transfer items to new accounts, we are not.
  • 6c. Punishment evasion is not allowed.
    • Using alternative accounts to bypass mutes or bans is not allowed.

7. Real Money Transactions

We sell packages from our server store to keep the server running.  Players are not allowed to trade items using real money.

  • 7a. Server-to-player transactions
    • When purchasing packages from our server store, review our Store Policies.
    • Notably, we do not issue refunds, and chargebacks will result in a permanent ban.  Make sure that you are allowed to make the purchase that you intend to make on our server store to avoid this.
    • We want all people who support the server to do so with their own money.  If you are considering using someone else’s money to support the server, we recommend waiting until you don’t have to.
  • 7b. Player-to-player transactions
    • Real money transactions between players are not allowed!
    • Trading exclusively with in-game items is allowed, so long as no real money is involved.

8. Survival-Specific Rules

These rules ONLY apply in the “Survival” game mode.  We want survival to be a chill, low-conflict experience for everyone involved.  These rules are meant to reflect that.

  • 8a. Respect new players.
    • Do not encourage other players to skip progression, such as by equipping new players with Diamond Armor the minute they join.
    • Do not bully new players.
    • Do not mislead new players about how the server works or how it is meant to be played.
    • Let people play how they want to.  Leave them alone unless they ask for help.
  • 8b. No griefing.
    • Destruction of other players’ builds or intentionally ruining land is not allowed.
    • Lavacasts are not allowed, except within your own claim.
    • Claiming around the land of others in order to obstruct it is not allowed.
    • Claiming land that someone else is building on and intends to claim is not allowed.  However, try to settle it peacefully between yourselves before involving a moderator.
  • 8c. No theft.
    • Taking other players’ items without their permission is not allowed.
    • Taking valuable blocks from a player’s build is not allowed.
  • 8d. No unfair PvP.
    • PvP is toggled off by default and is entirely optional.  If you do not want to participate, you don’t have to.
    • PvP should only be between players who have toggled it on.
    • Bypassing PvP toggle to attack players while their PvP is off is not allowed.
    • Teleporting players into traps is not allowed.
    • Creating trapped player warps is not allowed.
    • Do not pressure players to turn on PvP.  Let them choose for themselves.

9. Hardcore-Specific Rules

These rules ONLY apply in the “Hardcore” game mode.  We want hardcore to be a semi-anarchy experience for competitive players.  These rules are meant to reflect that.

  • 9a. Conflict of all sorts is allowed.
    • Griefing and destruction of other players’ property and of public property is allowed.  There are no land claims to prevent this.
    • Fighting and traps are allowed.  No need to make it a fair fight.
    • Theft is allowed.
    • If you pick a fight and lose, that’s on you.
  • 9b. Other rules still apply.
    • Follow chat rules.
    • No cheating or exploits.

10. Creative-Specific Rules

These rules ONLY apply in the “Creative” game mode.  We want creative to be first and foremost a place where you can build whatever you want, however you want.  These rules are meant to reflect that.

  • 10a. No griefing.
    • Gaining access to other players’ plots in order to grief them is not allowed.
    • Gaining access to plots beside those of other players in order to make their builds look worse is not allowed.
    • Do not claim plots in order to grief them.
  • 10b. Use your tools responsibly.
    • You have access to some very powerful building tools in the Creative server.  Do not use them to destroy or to cause the server’s tick rate to drop.
    • If you need to move your build, you can copy it with worldedit.  This is the best way to resolve a plot conflict, such as if you want to merge with nearby plots but those plots are claimed by other players.

11. UHC-Specific Rules

These rules ONLY apply in the “UHC” game mode.  We want UHC to be a fair and competitive PvP experience.  These rules are meant to reflect that.

  • 11a. Client modifications are restricted.
    • Freecam or other mods that would allow you to unfairly locate players are not allowed.
    • Try to only use QOL and performance mods.
  • 11b. Alliances are allowed.
    • Building alliances between players is allowed and encouraged.
    • Players are also encouraged to break those alliances and betray one another.

12. Skirmish and Siege-Specific Rules

These rules ONLY apply in the “Skirmish and Siege” game mode.  We want Siege to be a fair PvP experience for everyone, whether they’re in free-play or competitive mode.  These rules are meant to reflect that.

  • 12a. Client modifications are restricted.
    • Freecam or other mods that would allow you to unfairly locate players are not allowed.
    • Try to only use QOL and performance mods.
  • 12b. Play the game as intended.
    • Do not side with players from the enemy team.
    • Do not refuse to play while in-game.
    • Free-play mode is very relaxed.  You are encouraged to enter or leave games at your convenience.
    • Competitive mode is meant to be played seriously.  Leaving games early may result in a competitive ban.