Sony Online Entertainment Community Policies

This policy covers all Sony Online Entertainment content including premium games, message boards, Sony Station chat, Sony Station name selection, Sony Station Grams, and any other form of written expression on the Sony Station and its Premium Games.

General Policy

As part of the Sony Station community, all Sony Online Entertainment Members must respect the rights of others. We expect that every member will share this view. If these simple guidelines cannot be followed proper action may be taken to protect the rights of our members.

These guidelines will be enforced in the judgment of the Sony Online Entertainment's Employees.

The member is liable for all activities conducted through their Sony Online Entertainment account, and parents or guardians are liable for the activities of their child.

1. To ensure every user's rights are respected, Sony Online Entertainment will not tolerate the following:

1.1 Harassment of another member, including threats, unwanted contacts via chat or message boards.

1.2 Participation in abusive, defamatory, threatening, or offensive language or behavior.

1.3 Participation in bigoted, hateful, or racially offensive statements.

1.4 Participation in antisocial, disruptive, or destructive acts. This includes but is not limited to, "flaming", "spamming", and "trolling". "Flaming" is defined as: Making insulting criticisms or remarks to incite anger. "Spamming" is defined as: Sending numerous and or unwanted and disruptive amounts of messages. "Trolling" is defined as: Stirring up trouble to incite disruption. An example of trolling would be posting to a thread without the intent to provide positive suggestions or comments and instead making negative and or disruptive comments.

1.5 Participation or discussion of illegal activities.

1.6 Impersonation of others, including, but not limited to, officials of The Sony Station, other Sony Station Members and Sony Station moderators.

1.7 Posting or transmission of sexually explicit images.

1.8 Posting or transmission of unauthorized advertisements or promotions.

1.9 Posting or transmission of chain letters or pyramid schemes.

1.10 Offering or solicitation of unauthorized copyrighted material.

1.11 Offering or solicitation of material that might be deemed illegal, indecent, or obscene.

1.12 Disparages any religion, race, nation, gender, age group, or sexual orientation.

1.13 Defrauding a Customer Service Representative, Sony Online Employee or Station Member. Fraud is defined as falsely representing one's intentions to make a gain at another's expense. Examples of this activity include but are not limited to offering to drag the corpse of another player to safety but instead hiding it deeper in the dungeon as well as using flaws in a secure trade window to deprive someone of one of their items.

1.14 Solicitation of other Station Members' passwords and/or credit card information.

1.15 Posting or transmission of any virus, Trojan, or worm file.

1.16 Inappropriate and/or obscene Station Names or Chat Handles.

2. For all offenses the following action may be taken:

An email or in game verbal warning may be issued to the member at the discretion of the CSR.

2.1 Editing, deletion or closing of the post, thread or message.

2.2 The closing of the member's Sony Online Entertainment account.

2.3 Suspension (results in a 7 to 10 day suspension and email notification to the member).

2.4 Banning (results in a permanent banning of the members account and an email notification. User will no longer be able to access their account or any part of the Station with that account.)

2.5 Permanent banning of the member from all accounts and future accounts. At the discretion of the CS Director a Station member may be permanently removed from the use of Sony Online Entertainment offered games, including any and all future accounts held by that member. In the event that this decision is made the Director will contact the member.

3. The following can result in the notification of proper legal authorities by a representative of Sony Online Entertainment:

3.1 Threat of physical harm.

3.2 Offering or solicitation of material that might be deemed illegal, indecent, or obscene. This includes but is not limited to, child pornography, illegal drugs and pirated software.

3.3 Harassment of a Sony Online Entertainment employee or contractor.

4. Premium game policies

4.1 Some premium games may have special policies that apply only to that game. For more specific information, see EverQuest Game Policies (http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=16204 ), and EverQuest Online Adventures Game Policies (http://everquestonlineadventures.station.sony.com/content.vm?page=Rules%20and%20Policies).

5.Terms of Service

5.1 The Sony Online Entertainment Terms of Service can be viewed at: http://www.station.sony.com/en/termsofservice.vm

5.2 The User Agreement and Software License can be viewed in the directory the customer has installed the Sony Online Entertainment game to. This file can also be viewed upon first logging into the game. Currently, the EverQuest User Agreement and Software License can be found in the file 'eqlicense.txt'. The customer agrees to abide by the User Agreement and Software License every time they enter the game by clicking on "I Accept". The EverQuest Online Adventures User Agreement and Software License can be found here (http://everquestonlineadventures.station.sony.com/content.vm?page=License%20Agreement).

5.3 Upon creating a Station account the member must agree to the Sony Online Entertainment User Agreement and Software License. Failure to abide by any of these terms can result in the suspension or banning of a Station and/or Premium game account.

6. Filing a grievance, suspension/banning questions, and feedback

6.1 The Sony Online Customer Service department is responsible for investigating, processing, and reviewing legitimate complaints of harassment on the Sony Station and its Premium services. When a member wants to file a complaint about another member's activity, please submit an in game report by using the command: "/report" in the chat interface. Provide the information the form asks for. Members can also call us at 1-858-537-0898 Monday through Friday 9:00AM to 6:00PM Pacific time.

6.2 Suspension or banning questions regarding Premium games should be directed to the following.

(Note: This email may change at a later date. As of now EverQuest EverQuest II, EverQuest Online Adventures, Planetside, and Star Wars Galaxies are the only premium games that handle suspension/banning issues).

6.3 Customer feedback is very important to us in maintaining the highest level of Customer Service possible. We would appreciate feedback on the level of service provided to our members. Please share your concerns by sending an email by using the E-mail Support Form. Please select the Game within the product field, General within the Category field, and Feedback in the Sub-category Field. Please include information for all required fields and submit your questions or comments. ** Please Note** It is important that you choose Feedback so when we get your comments we know that it is feedback you are sending.