Paleo Gaming is meant to be an inclusive community. We accept people regardless of gender, race, religion, nationality, age or sexual orientation. We welcome highly competitive players, and casual players. We welcome players of all skill levels. We do not expect everyone to feel the same way, but we do expect our members to abide by the following rules outlined below:

General Community Rules

No Cyber Bullying or Hate Speech - We will not tolerate members verbally abusing other members for reasons that go against the inclusive nature of our community. Furthermore, even if members have a disagreement unrelated to this mission statement, it should be taken to a community moderator, not hashed out on the forums or in any of our social platforms including twitter, teamspeak, etc. This includes not berating one another for failing to perform up to your standards. Criticism should always remain polite and constructive.

No Trolling - We do not condone "trolling", be it in games or on forums. It is one thing if everyone on a given team decides to try something out of meta, or to have a silly conversation or make jokes with one another during games, but please refrain from ruining another members experience by trolling. This includes but is not limited to: threatening to feed/afk, making troll picks in ranked games (Sona jungle is not a thing), or friendly kills in FPS games.

Stealing From Members is Strictly Prohibited - This obviously does not apply to every game we play. However, some games allow players to "own" property or items in game that can be stolen or destroyed in game (EVE Online, ARK: Survival Evolved and Archeage being some examples). Members are STRICTLY prohibited from stealing or destroying the property of fellow members. If you are caught intentionally doing this (mistakes are an exemption), you will be ejected from the community. This also includes "Awoxing" (if it is proven that you led members into a trap where people outside the community perform the theft or destruction, you are just as guilty).

Guard Trade Secrets - We will try to be fairly transparent with our members in this community. This involves teaching less skilled members to help them improve. We may share strategies used by our higher ranked e-sports teams with you. If and when this occurs, it is expected that these secrets will remain within our community, and not be shared publicly- especially with regard to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. 

Team Membership - Team members must be at least 17 years old to participate in tournaments (with the exception of in-house community tournaments where age restriction is lifted). In addition, team members must be in good standing with the community, and must abide by all rules and regulations both of the community, and of the developer for the game in question according to the end-user-license-agreements.

Cheating/Hacking - Cheating and/or hacking is strictly prohibited. Win with dignity. Lose with grace. A victory won by cheating is not a victory. Win by skill, strategy, teamwork and intellect. Lose while doing your best and applying the aforementioned traits and your community will still be proud to represent you.

Live Streaming - Streamers must abide by all rules and regulations set forth by the stream providers and hosts (ie- Twitch.tv, etc.) and must behave in a way that is consistent with the values of Paleo Gaming. If mature language is used regularly, the streamer must indicate the stream is not suitable for younger audiences. Cyber Bullying and Hate Speech is not allowed, as it is always in violation of our community and company values. While streaming, you represent our community, and we expect you to represent the community in a professional manner.

Server Specific Rules:

ARK: Survival Evolved

No PVP - The Paleo Gaming server is PVP enabled for logistical reasons, but pvp is currently not allowed on the server. This may be conditionally altered in the future, with an announcement to follow, but until then- no pvp.

No Base Raiding- This includes: not killing other peoples tamed dinosaurs, and not destroying other players' structures.

No Stealing- This is a reiteration of the general community rule. You may not take items that belong to other players, whether from their sleeping body or from storage structures.

Tribal Dinosaurs- For tribes on the server that are Player Owned/Tribe Ridden, you cannot ride, access the inventory of, or alter dinosaur follow/aggression/etc. without the explicit permission of the dinosaur's owner. Individual players can make standard procedures for when to step in without permission (to save their dinosaur from wandering carnivores, etc.) on a case-by-case basis, but without such an agreement, there are no exceptions to the above rule.

Claiming Baby Dinosaurs- With the new breeding system released in patch v.219 the following new rules apply: Fertilized eggs belong to the owner of the dinosaur that laid the fertilized egg, to do with as they please. Baby dinosaurs (and eggs) list their parents, so if you think you can just steal an egg while no one is looking, it won't take long to figure it out. Once an egg hatches, and the baby dinosaur emerges, it arrives unclaimed, and must be claimed (imprinted) by its would-be owner. Only the owner of the fertilized egg may decide who may claim the baby dinosaur (and if they do not specify an alternate player, they are always assumed to be the owner of the baby dinosaur).

Server Specific Rules:

The Isle: Evrima

No Carnivore Mixed Packs - Carnivores cannot join herbivore herds and carnivores cannot have more than one species in a pack (for example, Raptors can only pack with other Raptors). Herbivore mixed species herds are allowed. Scavengers (such as Pteranodons) can follow carnivore packs of another species and can coexist peacefully if the carnivore pack allows it, but cannot assist the other species pack in combat.

 Max Pack/Herd Size- Max carnivore pack size is 15 adults, max herbivore herd size is 20 adults. Hatchlings and juveniles do not count towards pack/herd size. Limits for Apex dinosaurs (once they are re-introduced in Evrima) may be more restrictive, but any changes to this rule will be communicated prior to the rule changing.

 Body Down - When a fight is initiated, the fight must stop once a dinosaur (herbivore or carnivore) involved is killed. Carnivores may claim the down body as food, but must eat the body before hunting again, and even after consuming the body cannot hunt the same pack or herd again for at least 5 minutes (the carnivores must allow the herd to leave line of sight).

 Log-In Rules- When a player first logs in, if they log in next to a carnivore (or aggressive herbivore herd) they are to be allowed to leave line of sight before they can be legally hunted.

 Aggression/Hunting Rules- Carnivores may hunt any species other than their own without 3-calling to declare their intentions but must follow certain rules when hunting their own species (see Cannibalism Rules below for details). Herbivores are not allowed to kill other herbivores, except when challenging for territory as described below. If no nests are present, and no unique food source is present, herbivores cannot show aggression to other herbivores of their own or other species. Herbivores can be aggressive towards carnivores, as long as they threaten (3-call) the carnivore first, at which point the carnivore can either 3-call (or simply attack without 3-calling) to initiate a fight or can 4-call and immediately leave the area. If the carnivore 4-calls and leaves, the herbivore cannot chase them to initiate combat. However, this only applies prior to combat starting. If the carnivore accepts the challenge by 3-calling or attacking, they cannot surrender with a 4-call to try and avoid a loss (unless the herbivore is feeling generous).

 Cannibalism Rules- Herbivores are not allowed to kill their own species except when challenging for Nesting Grounds or Unique Food Sources as detailed below. Carnivores are allowed to cannibalize their own species, but only if they threaten (3-call) them first to declare their intentions. Carnivores are never allowed to cannibalize another player they are grouped with, whether or not they 3-call. The aggressive carnivore would need to leave the group first, and 3-call to declare their intentions prior to attacking their former group mate.

 Territory (Nesting and Food) Rules- Nesting grounds and food (either unique plants for herbivores, or carcasses for carnivores) can be contested by 3 calling a rival pack or herd from their nest or the food source. If the nesting/eating dinosaur 4 calls in return, the contesting pack/herd must allow their members to leave peacefully. If the contested pack/herd 3 calls back or refuses to move on after 5 minutes, the contesting pack/herd can attack them. Body down rules apply. If the contesting pack/herd gets the first body down, the defending pack/herd must leave the nest and/or food source. If the defending pack/herd gets first body down, the aggressors must move on.  The one major exception to contesting for carcasses is for scavengers (currently Pteranodon only)- as their playstyle revolves around stealing food. However, these flying reptiles must steal food at their own risk, as carnivores can attack them without 3-calling if their meal is being stolen.

Rule Enforcement

First Offenses - Minor first offenses result in a warning. Moderate to severe first offense may result in restricted rights to access voice communications, temporary server bans, etc. Offenses related to live streaming, interviews, or with other avenues of widespread exposure are always considered more serious offenses.

Repeated Offenses - Repeated minor offenses can result in restricted rights, temporary server bans, etc. Continued offensive behavior will result in permanent bans from servers, and potentially removal from the community depending on the nature of the offense. Repeated severe offenses will result in immediate permanent bans from applicable servers, and potentially removal from the community.

Offenses by Competitive Team Members- Offenses by players on competitive teams associated with Paleo Gaming can result in- removal of certain privileges (ie- being allowed to sit in on interviews), forfeiture of prize winnings or fines (if stipulated by their contract), temporary suspension from tournaments or team activities, and/or immediate expulsion from the team based upon the severity of the offense(s) in question, and the history of previous offenses.

Server Specific Offenses - Some rules are server specific, and apply to people in a guild/clan/tribe/etc. on a specific game server, but do not necessarily infringe upon community rules. Infringement of server specific rules will be enforced by the leadership of the guild/tribe/clan or server admins individually, as they see fit. Certain enforcement can be challenged with the community admins (to determine if the enforcement ruling was unduly strict) on a case-by-case basis.