Last updated: 2024-08-02
This page describes various community policies and procedures that are not covered on the Rules page.
Asset Transfers
Assets are anything owned by an MRT member, including towns, buildings, companies, or parts thereof.
Members may voluntarily transfer any of their assets to another player at any time. In order for the transfer to be officially recognized, the original owner of the asset must contact staff via email or #requests-to-staff in Discord informing them of what asset(s) are being transferred and to whom. Staff will NOT accept asset transfer requests from the member receiving the asset, even if they are accompanied with logs or screenshots showing approval from the original owner. This is because such logs and screenshots can be falsified.
Voluntary asset transfers are unconditional and we cannot apply restrictions on a recipient. Members transferring their assets to someone else should ensure it is someone they trust.
For assets owned by inactive members, active members may request such assets be transferred to them through an IAT (see below). A member is considered “inactive” when they have not connected to the Minecraft server for 3 months or more.
- In the event where a member is suspected to be “inactive” but they log in infrequently to prevent being marked inactive (via the /seen command), then other members may ask staff to review their activity and request an IAT for that person’s assets anyway.
- Members who know they will be inactive for a significant period of time may send an email to admins, requesting that their assets to not be transferred. This is sometimes called an “asset transfer hold”. Members should include the reason a hold is requested and an estimated date of return. Admins will generally place a hold on assets that prevents their transfer for six months from the member’s last activity date (three months longer than usual), though the exact timeline and any extensions are determined on a case-by-case basis.
- Cities which have reached the Premier rank are exempt from any sort of automatic transfer, including IATs or deputy mayor successions.
For assets owned by indefinitely or permanently banned players, IATs can only be submitted after 14 days since the ban was issued.
Inactive Asset Transfers (IATs)
Members wishing to take over assets from an inactive member must submit a proposal for staff approval.
Before submitting an IAT, you must contact the owner and ask them to transfer the asset to you, also stating your intent to submit an IAT. If they do not respond within a week, you may submit the IAT request. If the owner declines to transfer the asset and you believe there are extenuating circumstances, you may also submit the IAT.
In your IAT proposal, please state the following:
- The name, location (if applicable), and portion (if applicable) of the asset being requested, along with as much information as possible about who currently owns it.
- The reason the asset is being requested, including plans for the future.
- When the owner was contacted, by which method, and what their response was (if applicable).
- If only a portion of an asset is being taken over or the location is ambiguous, an annotated dynmap screenshot is required.
Inactive Asset Bypasses (IABs)
Inactive Asset Bypasses are requests to build a road or rail project through an inactive town/asset, instead of transferring the town/asset outright. IABs follow much of the same rules as IATs described above, in that you must contact and ask the owner for permission first, and if there is no response you may submit the proposal for staff approval.
One difference is that when submitting an IAB, you must include a dynmap screenshot of how your road/rail project crosses through the inactive towns/assets.
Deputy Mayor Succession
If the mayor of a town becomes inactive or indefinitely banned, the Deputy Mayor may assume control of the town, bypassing the IAT process. It is accomplished by getting staff approval as follows:
- Deputy Mayors should attempt to establish contact with the Mayor first.
- The Deputy Mayor contacts staff via email or #requests-to-staff in Discord indicating that they wish to take over ownership. The request must include the name and location of the town and the name of the current mayor.
Auxiliary Discords
Any MRT member may create their own Discord server for their town, event, company, or organization. A permanent invite link can then be added to our #auxiliary-discords channel on the MRT Discord server.
In general, outside of extreme circumstances (such as harassment), MRT rules will not be enforced on auxiliary Discords. However, if the behavior in any of these discords is found to be especially objectionable, then staff reserve the right to remove the link from the #auxiliary-discords channel. Furthermore, if any behavior or situations associated with these discords spreads on to official MRT services such as the Minecraft server or Discord server, this behavior would be subject to the MRT rules.
Non-MRT members (including guests and banned players) are allowed to join auxiliary Discords.
Given the above, please note that joining an auxiliary Discord may result in a different experience or rule enforcement than what is done on the MRT Server, and joining such Discords is at your own risk.
Canals
All canals outside of a city must have a proposal submitted for staff approval. In your canal proposal, please state the following:
- Map of route – Hand drawn or phone formatted maps will likely be rejected. Please use an image editor when creating this. Label the route clearly as well as any registered towns you will be passing within 500 blocks of.
- Route permissions – For all towns the canal passes within 300 blocks of, list them and confirm you have the mayor’s permission (If the owner is inactive, consider an Inactive Asset Bypass).
- Short explanation – Describe the project.
Command Blocks
Command blocks may be requested from an administrator and given at their discretion. Command blocks are typically used for the resetting of spleef arenas, or to ensure the operation of games or special events.
Companies
Companies owned by more than one person can divide ownership in any manner they choose, so long as all owners agree. If there is a situation where multiple players cannot agree on the ownership of a company, then staff members will intervene and help mediate the conflict.
Events & Event Funding
Players wishing to host an event and give away in-game money as a prize may submit an Event Funding Request, which if approved will allow funding to be provided by the server. In your proposal submitted for staff approval, please state the following:
- Requested funding – State how much money is requested from the server, and what the allocation of this will be.
- Any external funding – If the event is generating other server revenue for instance through sponsorships, you should provide details
- Event description – Describe the event in as much detail as possible.
- Dates – Detail when the event will take place.
- Judging – How will the event be judged, and how will personal biases be removed? (As a guide, the event organiser must not compete in their own event, and if there is a dedicated judging panel then these members must also not compete).
- Community Interest – Demonstrate the community’s interest in your event. Typically this will be the result of a poll in the MRT Discord.
If an event is approved for funding, event hosts are responsible for notifying administrators of who should be paid what amount when the event ends. Funds will then be distributed by administrators directly to each participant. Staff reserve the right to revoke funding grants at any time, even if the event has passed. Potential reasoning for this include but are not limited to:
- Operating in violation of the MRT rules
- Not run in a fair and honest manner (for instance organisers and judges of a contest should not be allowed to participate themselves)
- Events being run in a manner significantly different than proposed.
Events will not be funded retroactively. You should aim to submit a funding request at least a month before the event is scheduled to start.
General Staff Meetings (GSMs)
GSMs are major events on the server where all staff gather to discuss important topics. Held once per month, usually on the 2nd weekend of each month on alternating Saturdays and Sundays, they take place on the MRT Discord Server. The GSM typically takes 1-2 hours to complete, depending on the topics and discussion involved. The GSM has a private portion for staff only, and a public portion where members can listen in on the discussion.
The following topics are discussed in the private portion:
- Premier City Reviews
- Redacted Topics (for privacy reasons)
The following topics are discussed in the public portion:
- Moderator and Conductor Nominations
- Community Issues
- Other Topics, including project proposals that have been specifically deferred to a GSM
Map Uploads
Members can create their own custom maps with images by generating the appropriate map .dat files and uploading them through the File Server.
For instructions on how to do this, follow these steps:
- Go to the #get-passwords channel in our Discord.
- Run the command =password get files to receive the username and password for the File Server.
- Login to https://files.minecartrapidtransit.net with these credentials.
- Go to the “Upload Maps” page and carefully follow all instructions there.
Moderator Nominations and Feedback
Any member may submit a moderator nomination to the staff e-mail address. The nomination will be published publicly on to the next GSM agenda. If a candidate receives:
- Two or more nominations, OR
- A single nomination submitted by two or more authors (where each author contributes at least one piece of evidence or testimony to the nomination)
…then the candidate will be considered and voted upon by the current staff members at the next GSM.
All moderator nominations and candidates will be published on a “Moderator Nominations” document starting 1 week before the GSM. Members may then submit feedback (both positive or negative) on the candidates to the staff e-mail address. This feedback will then be posted to the “Moderator Nominations” document for consideration.
Any submitted nominations or feedback must be detailed enough to be accepted by staff. Please follow these guidelines to ensure acceptance:
1. Avoid general or vague statements about a candidate.
Examples:
- “Candidate X is very friendly, polite, and helpful.”
- “Candidate Y has been a very good friend and would make an excellent candidate.”
2. “Witness testimony”, that is specific statements about a situation the candidate was involved in are allowed, even if there is no “hard evidence” to prove that it happened.
Examples:
- “I witnessed that Candidate X helped resolve a conflict between these two people, but I don’t remember when it happened / can’t look it up through Discord.”
- “I’ve seen Candidate Y always try to help other players out numerous times, like giving building advice or placing water.”
3. “Hard evidence” such as screenshots, chat logs, etc. are allowed.
MRT Line Construction
Any new MRT lines, line extensions, and modifications to existing line alignments are subject to the following conditions are to be submitted for staff approval. In the proposal, you should include:
- Staff Sponsor – All MRT line modifications and extensions must have a staff sponsor to supervise the project and manage the required worldguard and dynmap changes.
- Map of modification/extension – Hand drawn or phone formatted maps will likely be rejected. Please use an image editor when creating this. Label the route clearly as well as any registered towns you will be passing within 500 blocks of. Show where all stations, including interchanges with other MRT lines, will be.
- Route permissions – For all towns the MRT line passes within 300 blocks of, list them and confirm you have the mayor’s permission (If the mayor is inactive, consider an Inactive Asset Bypass).
OpenTTD Server
The OpenTTD map is reset upon request by multiple players. Announcements for the settings of the next map will be made in Discord on the #openttd channel and to anyone that has the OpenTTD role.
Companies that do not have any vehicles are automatically deleted by the server after 12 in-game months.
PVP Arenas
PVP Arenas are player-versus-player fighting arenas using the PVPArena plugin. They are accessible using the “/pa” command. “/pa list” lists all playable arenas. All arenas are assigned a name. The arena operates in a “Free-For-All” game mode.
The arenas are currently managed by MinecraftYoshi26. New PVP arenas using the plugin must be approved by MinecraftYoshi26.
Roads
Roads that connect between cities are assigned a classification of “A” or “B” along with an identifying unique number.
“A” Roads
“A” roads are major artery roads that run between far-away cities and allow for high-speed traffic. All “A” roads require a proposal submitted for staff approval. You should include the following in your proposal:
- Map of route – Hand drawn or phone formatted maps will likely be rejected. Please use an image editor when creating this. Label the route clearly as well as any registered towns you will be passing within 500 blocks of. Show where any junctions/interchanges will be.
- Road number – Refer to https://wiki.minecartrapidtransit.net/index.php/New_World#Wards to pick an appropriate road number (i.e. a road starting in ward 1 should have a number starting with A1).
- Route permissions – For all towns the road passes within 300 blocks of, list them and confirm you have the mayor’s permission (If the owner is inactive, consider an Inactive Asset Bypass).
“B” Roads
“B” roads are smaller roads that run between nearby towns, from a town to a nearby “A”-road, or run through more scenic areas of the world. “B” roads that are longer than 500 blocks in length require a proposal submitted for staff approval. You should include the following in your proposal:
- Map of route – Hand drawn or phone formatted maps will likely be rejected. Please use an image editor when creating this. Label the route clearly as well as any registered towns you will be passing within 500 blocks of. Show where any junctions/interchanges will be.
- Road number – Refer to https://wiki.minecartrapidtransit.net/index.php/New_World#Wards to pick an appropriate road number (i.e. a road starting in ward 1 should have a number starting with B1).
- Route permissions – For all towns the road passes within 300 blocks of, list them and confirm you have the mayor’s permission (If the owner is inactive, consider an Inactive Asset Bypass).
Submitting proposals for staff approval
Proposals that require staff approval are to be submitted through the MRT Discord Server. Members that are not a member of the MRT Discord Server may instead submit a proposal via email to Staff. Staff will then put it on the Discord on their behalf.
When a proposal is submitted they are voted upon by Staff members. For a proposal to pass more than 50% of staff members must vote, and more than 50% of those voting must be in favour.
Proposals generally are voted on for 7 days, at which point an Admin will formally declare the result of a proposal. Proposals remain open until an admin formally declares a result. As well as being approved or rejected, proposals may be extended or deferred to a general staff meeting.
Town Naming Standards
Town names must be unique and recognizable. Staff reserve the right to refuse to register towns with objectionable names on the Town List.
Town names will be rejected if they:
- Are a single letter long
- Are exclusively formed of numbers
- Contain punctuation (other than periods, dashes, apostrophes, etc in grammatically appropriate locations) or characters outside of the Latin alphabet with basic diacritics
- Contain or reference anything that is against the server rules (for example, slurs or explicit language)
- Are annoying or spammy as determined by staff (for example, an unpronounceable string of random letters, or attempting to circumvent the spirit of the naming standards)
- Are identical to an existing in-game town name
If a town name is rejected, the mayor must choose a new name before the town can be registered on the Town List. Remember that towns must be registered on the Town List in order to receive rank-restricted perks such as airfields, count towards your player rank, or receive protection under the 300- and 500-block rules.
Town names may be translated or transliterated to other languages, however the official registration must be done using the Latin alphabet.
This policy was enacted at the GSM on January 8, 2022 and is not retroactive. Towns incorporated and registered on the Town List prior to this date are permitted to keep their names, however we encourage towns not in compliance to change their name to follow this policy.
Voluntary Bans
Members can request that a ban be placed on their account at any time, subject to the following procedural notes:
- Requests to place or lift a voluntary ban should be submitted by email to the admins, as moderators can’t place or remove these bans.
- Players can request a temporary voluntary ban, which automatically expires after a set time, or an indefinite voluntary ban, which must be manually lifted. Admins will generally not set temporary bans with expiration dates more than six months in the future.
- Players can request a voluntary ban to be lifted at any time, even if it’s a temporary voluntary ban that has yet to expire on its own.
- Players are asked to not excessively switch between banned and unbanned status. Admins may deny requests to lift bans early for players who submit an excessive number of ban and unban requests.
- The placement or removal of a voluntary ban has no impact on a player’s warnings or eligibility for rank promotion, however voluntary bans will be listed on membership records. Players who have active warnings will continue to serve the appropriate penalty regardless of whether or not a voluntary ban is in place.
- Standard “activity” timers and asset transfer eligibility rules continue to apply even if an indefinite voluntary ban is in place. Players wishing to request an asset transfer hold should include that with their voluntary ban request.
- Players who request a voluntary ban are not automatically kicked from Discord.
If you suspect that your account has been compromised, please report it to Mojang/Microsoft and request an indefinite ban as soon as possible.