Hosts

What is a host?
A host is a game administrator. They are responsible for programming, building, helping players with questions or problems, and maintaining the game. Hosts may wish to play the game as regular players to get a feel for problems that need resolved or features that should be added. It's important to realize that a host's player character is just that: a player character. They do not have special powers, abilities, or information, not should they be contacted in game for help. If you need the help of a host, ASSIST. Do not contact a host's player character.

Impersonating Hosts
Telling people that you are a host when you're not is impersonation of a host. This could simply be saying "I'm a host," or going as far as saying you can read whispers or that you are responsible for building a planet when you are not. Similarly, claiming that you have the support of the hosts when you don't is considered impersonation, as you're making statements with the authority of the hosts that you do not actually have. There are a myriad of other ways to impersonate a host, not all of which can be outlined here, but a good way to recognize host impersonation is to ask yourself these questions: Am I lying? Am I taking credit for somebody else's work?

If the answers are yes, it's a good bet you shouldn't do it!

Another common vector for host impersonation is other games or out of game communications mediums, such as Skype or text message. If a player is claiming to be a Miriani host outside of the game, you should absolutely not believe a word that they say. A Miriani host will never contact you out of game (provided you are not already friends), nor do we run around other games using our host names and talking about Miriani. If you're ever in any doubt for any reason, please do not hesitate to ASSIST or e-mail hosts@toastsoft.net to confirm that you're talking with a real host. It's more than likely that somebody is trying to mislead you.

Host's With Player Characters (a.k.a "Host Conspiracy")
Many hosts play the game with separate non-host player characters, or alts, to make it easier to see the game through a player's eyes. It's very important that you make a distinction between a character a host is playing at the time and the host him or herself. If you know the identity of a host's player character, you should keep it to yourself and not advertise it to other players. You should also not ask other players if they're hosts, nor should you ever believe a random player who claims to be a host.

To help clarify, think of it like this. There are three "people" involved with most hosts, and we feel it's important you learn to make the distinction. Hosts and host's player characters are entirely different entities, despite the fact that they are the same in the real world. So for convenience sake, here are the levels:

Host: This character within Miriani deals with administrative tasks. They are an OUT OF CHARACTER ENTITY and should be treated as such. Hosts put the game ahead of their personal feelings and their actions are NOT a reflection of how the person feels, but rather a reflection of how the game's policies should be enforced.

Player: This character within Miriani is a player just like everybody else. These individuals are IN CHARACTER and should NOT be associated with host or person in any way. Player characters are meant for role playing purposes, therefore any actions taken by a player should not be linked with a host or a person. It's role playing for a reason.

Person: This is the person behind the keyboard. Sometimes we have to punish the people we like in order to ensure that Miriani is fair to everybody and that the policies are adequately enforced. Most people in Miriani will not actually get to know the person behind a host.

Treatment of Hosts
It's important to remember that Miriani is a completely free to play game and that the hosts maintain it in their spare time. As such, the only price we ask that everybody pay is a pinch of respect toward us. Engaging us with hostility will not garner a more favorable response. It is, therefore, the prerogative of every host to lock a player out of the game when that player has gone too far out of line in their interactions. We're under no obligation to listen to insults or be dragged into endless debates after we've declared the matter closed. Furthermore, we reserve the right to ban players who demonstrate a prolonged trend of constant negativity, disruption or otherwise criticize for the sake of criticizing without providing valuable input. We feel that this is important to promote a healthy host-player relationship and to reinforce the continued forward momentum of the game with positive change. The golden rule is a good one here: Treat us how you would like to be treated.

Treatment of Players
In the same vein, we will endeavor to provide players with utmost respect. Much like obligatory symbiosis, we depend on you to keep the game moving. It's imperative that hosts hold themselves to the same level of respect that they expect from players. If a host is determined to be persistently disdainful during their interactions with players, appropriate action will be taken to remove them from the game or to stop the mistreatment. If you feel that a host behaved improperly, you are welcome to e-mail hosts@toastsoft.net to file a grievance. If you're more comfortable contacting an individual host, you can typically write an e-mail to that host's first name@toastsoft.net. So if you wanted to send an e-mail to Albori instead of the entire host team, you could send it to albori@toastsoft.net

Enforcement

1. You lose any semblance of privacy and all of your communications, says, and emotes will be logged and monitored for the next year.
2. You lose the ability to use private links and metafrequencies for the next year.
3. You will be locked out of the game for two weeks.
4. You will be locked out of the game for two months.
5. You will be banned. The time frame of the ban may range from one month to permanent, depending on your record to date.

Examples

• You contact a player outside the game (social media, instant messengers, e-mail, etc) and tell them you're a Miriani host.
• You tell people on other games that you run a game called Miriani.
• You intentionally mislead others by taking on the name of a Miriani host and making vague references and suggestions to the fact that you're a host. Even if you don't outright make the claim, the pretense is sufficient.
• You claim to be a host's player character in Miriani, creating the implication that you are that host.
• You claim that you were behind a feature or planet when you had nothing to do with it.
• You contact a host's player character in game to complain about something they built.
• You disagree with how the hosts handle things in general, and make a point to make passive aggressive comments about them on channels you know or think they monitor every chance you get.
• You know, or presume to know, the identity of a host's player character and make comments about that player character when talking about the host.
• You learn who a host's player character is and start spreading their identity around.
• You have a problem with a specific host, and instead of taking it up with them or the other hosts, you tel everyone what a horrible human being he or she is.
• You generally do nothing but spread negativity about the game whenever possible and never suggest ways to make things better.