Banishments and Volgaria

Getting Banished

Banishment

Effects of Banishment

Why am I banished?

Three Strikes and You're In (Trouble)

Volgaria: A Time-Out Realm for Unruly Players

Volgaria in the Lobby

Volgaria in a Game

What spells won't work well in Volgaria?

Getting Reinstated

How long does a banishment last?

How do I get reinstated into good standing?

Getting Banished

Banishment. Banishment is an intermediate-level punishment that NIOGA reserves for significant violations of our Usage Agreement. Rude or abusive behavior, cheating, exploiting bugs, or other transgressions that affect other players' enjoyment of the game are generally banishable offenses.

Effects of Banishment.

• All of a banished player's accounts are restricted to the Volgaria lobby realm.
• A banished player can still play Sanctum, but may play only unranked games on the Volgaria map, and only against other players who visit them in Volgaria.
• A banished player is forbidden from creating new Sanctum accounts during his or her banishment.

Why am I banished? You must have violated the Usage Agreement. More specifically, you violated one of the steps described below.

Three Strikes and You're In (Trouble). To ensure impartiality, NIOGA adopts some firm guidelines in handling banishments.

1. Empowered accounts. Magistrates and NIOGA members are empowered to issue warnings or direct banishments.
2. Request to desist. When a player's behavior starts to violate the Usage Agreement, any empowered account can send a request to desist. If the player complies, the incident ends there without further penalty.
3. A warning (is like a strike). If a player ignores a request to desist, or if the violation is severe and urgent, any empowered account may give the player a warning. Each warning remains on the account's record for 30 days, then expires automatically. Warnings are cumulative.
4. Three strikes and you're out. A 3rd warning within 30 days results in an automatic banishment.
5. Banishment. For severe violations, a player may be banished directly.
6. Volgaria. When a player is banished, all of the player's accounts are immediately sent to the Volgaria lobby realm. Also, NIOGA sends an e-mail to each account's current e-mail address with instructions for getting reinstated.
7. 1 more strike and you're back in. When a banished player has been reinstated, then any warning within 30 days of reinstatement results in an automatic banishment.

Volgaria: A Time-Out Realm for Unruly Players

Volgaria in the Lobby. If you're not banished, then Volgaria is a standard lobby realm with a few special rules. If you are banished, then Volgaria is like a penalty box.

• Unbanished players may join and leave Volgaria freely, just like any other realm.
• Banished players must stay in Volgaria. They can't switch to any other realm.
• All games in Volgaria are always unranked, and must use the special Volgaria map.

Volgaria in a Game. The Volgaria map is almost identical to Veldt. They both have 5 towns, and exactly the same terrain distribution, except that Volgaria uses barren land instead of plains terrain when generating the map. Some spells fare poorly in Volgaria because of this.

What spells won't work well in Volgaria?

• Golden Grove, Itrokos Gate: These spells explicitly state “Cast on plains.” You wouldn't be able to cast them at all until you first cast some other spells that create some plains terrain.

Getting Reinstated

How long does a banishment last? The length of a banishment depends on the severity of the offense. Most banishments last about 1 week. Banishments for severe transgressions can last longer. When you are banished, you will be told the duration of your banishment.

Note that a banishment does not expire automatically. A banished player must explicitly request to be reinstated at the proper time. Hence, all banishments have the potential to be infinite in duration! Mnemonic: “The first week is up to us -- the rest of it is up to you.”

How do I get reinstated into good standing?

• When an account is banished, NIOGA sends an e-mail message to the account's e-mail address.
• This message informs the player to reply to support@playsanctum.net to request reinstatement.
• Reply to that e-mail! If you do, then at the end of your banishment period, you will be reinstated to probationary status.
• If you don't reply to this e-mail, NIOGA will assume that you don't wish to be reinstated, and the banishment will remain in place indefinitely (or until you reply).

When a banished player is reinstated, his or her accounts are under a 30-day probation. Any 1 warning during this period results in an automatic banishment.

If this 30-day period passes without further incident, then the player is automatically restored to good standing.