Silences, Bans, & Related Issues By: Atlas, Lyssa, & Day An update of the 2012 guide Understanding the Rules Spoiler Terms of Use Spoiler The Terms of Use, or ToU, are the set of regulations that all players automatically agree to upon downloading the game. Players are expected to follow these rules regardless of if they have read them. Privacy Policy Spoiler The Privacy Policy explains and outlines what information is collected from the game. FCoC Spoiler The Forum Code of Conduct, or FCoC, is the set of regulations that dictate what content is acceptable to post in forums. Public vs Private Channels Spoiler Public channels are moderated while private channels are not. Public channels include: Campus, Pub, Forums, Profiles, and Walls. The ToU also applies to IGNs, statuses, Pet Names, Club Walls and Club Names. Private messages, gifts, and Club & Tutor Chat are not considered public channels. Who Enforces the Rules Spoiler Moderators and Developers keep players in check. For the current list of Mods and Devs, check out this guide. Silences Spoiler What is a Warning? Spoiler Though rare, warnings are occasionally given by moderators. Warnings are situational and are only given in extremely mild cases. Players who have been warned will receive a pm containing their infringing message with a link to the ToU. Warnings do not always precede a silence. What is a Silence? Spoiler A silence is when a player is muted for a set amount of time when they break part(s) of the ToU. Important Info: Spoiler Silences operate on a tiered system, starting at the lowest duration and moving up for your next silence. The tiers are 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days. After your silence has ended, your silence tier will decrease by 1 for every 30 days without additional silences. In addition to profile status messages, players can also be silenced for IGNs and pet names that break ToU. While silenced, players will not be able to post in public channels or send gifts and their status message will change to show that they are silenced. Faking a silenced status is silenceable. How can I reverse my Silence? Spoiler You can appeal a silence by sending a help ticket to the devs. If the silence is valid, it will be upheld. If it is incorrect, the silence will be lifted. Moderators do not have the ability to lift silences. Bans Spoiler What is a Ban? Spoiler A ban is a full restriction on your device from PIMD and is given in extreme cases. Bans are only given by developers. Contrary to popular belief, mods cannot ban. How can I reverse it? Spoiler You can appeal a ban by sending a help ticket to the devs. If the ban is valid, it will be upheld. If it is incorrect, the ban will be lifted. If support is no longer offered to your account then it is unlikely the ban will be lifted but you can make a new account to send a help ticket if necessary. Moderators do not have the ability to lift bans. Forum Bans Spoiler What is a Forum Ban? Spoiler A forum ban is when a player’s access to forums is disabled for 1 day. In more extreme cases, a player’s forum access can be removed for longer periods of time. How can I reverse it? Spoiler Forum bans can be appealed in the same way silences can, by sending a help ticket to the devs. Moderators cannot lift forum bans. PIMD Discord Bans Spoiler What is a Discord Ban? Spoiler Players who exhibit extreme, negative behavior or repeatedly break the server rules may be banned and cannot rejoin. How can I reverse it? Spoiler These bans are currently unable to be appealed. What does it mean to be muted? Spoiler Getting muted in the server operates on a tiered system, starting at the lowest duration and moving up for your next silence. The tiers are 1 day, 7 days, and 14 days. After your mute has ended, your silence tier will decrease by 1 for every 30 days without additional mutes. Reporting Players Spoiler Support/Help & Mods Spoiler If a violation occurs in campus/pub, ss it, as only reporting it verbally will not give the proper evidence needed for a silence. This ss can be uploaded to an image hosting site, such as imgur, and sent to the devs through a help ticket or shared with a moderator. If a violation happens in other moderated spaces, you can report it to a moderator or send a help ticket and include the usernames, what was said, and where it took place. Identifying Violations Spoiler Account Sharing/Piloting Spoiler Piloting is when someone plays on an account that doesn’t belong to them. ToU states that “you may not use accounts that do not belong to you.” Account trading, gifting, sharing, or responding to ads for these are bannable offences. Age Restriction Spoiler PIMD is a 17+ game. Players who are under the age of 18 are required to get parental consent before installing the game. All players found to be under the age of 17 or soliciting players under the age of 17 will have their accounts immediately disabled. Bypassing With Intent To Harass Spoiler Calling another player derogatory or discriminatory words is not permitted. Campus Specific Silences Spoiler Asking for roleplay or posting any sort of mildly sexual messages are not allowed in campus, only pub. The club ad feature is only to be used for club advertisements, using it for other purposes will result in a silence. Encouraging Abuse Spoiler Encouraging other players to post content that is in violation of the ToU is not permitted. Harassment Spoiler Posting messages or engaging in actions that discriminate, promote hate, violence, or advocate hatred or discrimination against individuals, groups, races, cultures, or organizations. Harassment vs Trash Talk Spoiler Trash talk is not considered harassment until it violates the ToU. If someone is making you uncomfortable with their messages, you should block them. If they continue to reach out to you using alts, that is considered a form of harassment. Impersonation Spoiler This is when a player falsely claims to be a mod, dev, or another player. Inappropriate Conduct Spoiler This is considered to be any content that is obscene, pornographic, excessively violent, harmful/self-harmful, or sexually explicit. This includes using emojis or text symbols to create inappropriate art. Soliciting nudes in any way is not allowed. Public Defamation Spoiler Posting comments or content that is “tortuous, defamatory, libelous or invasive of another's privacy or publicity rights” is not permitted. This includes all accusations directed at other players regardless of if true or false. The most frequent occurence of public defamation is when players are called scammers in a public channel. Real World Currency Transactions Spoiler RWC for in Game Items Spoiler Transactions of any type involving any non-game currency (including, but not limited to real-world currency, gift cards, credit transactions, and cryptocurrencies) is not permitted. Buying/Selling Accounts Spoiler Buying and selling accounts, or responding to ads for this, breaks the Virtual Currency Transfers/Transactions part of the ToU. The selling/trading of accounts is forbidden and is subject to a ban once discovered. Bento Anchors Spoiler Bento anchors are placed in a player's showcase by a developer when they are being investigated for selling/buying bentos with real world currency. The anchor makes it impossible to trade or gift bentos and chibis until it is removed. If no account abuse is found, the anchor will be removed and the items can be used normally. If the investigation determines there has been misconduct, it will result in the anchor being permanent and/or an account ban. SFW & Farming Spoiler Farming (hitting repeatedly) and hiring tutors are not against the ToU. If a farmer fails to give CF terms (cease fire terms) you may be able to report them. This will only require them to set CF terms and does not stop them from farming. Items that have an ec value cannot be used as a CF and may be able to be reported via help ticket if stated in public channels. As of November 23rd, 2020, farmers can no longer request entering/breaking an RS or name changes as a ceasefire. For more specifics and details pertaining to extortion, check this thread. Sharing Personal Information Spoiler Sharing or exposing the personal information of others is not permitted. This includes claiming to be below the age of 17, and soliciting individuals under the age of 17. Failure to specify age while soliciting for teens or “younger” players is also restricted. Players are allowed to post their first name, gender, age (17+), city, state/region, and country. These rules were updated in October 2019. Spam Spoiler Spam is no longer silenceable unless it intentionally disrupts chat. Club ad spam is considered 10 posts in 5 minutes. This rule was updated in October 2019. Third Party Information Spoiler Posting links or mentioning third party apps and asking for/giving usernames is silenceable. Account Issues Spoiler Recovering Your Account Spoiler By selecting ‘Recover Account’ on the login screen and inputting your ATA ID, an email will be sent to the verified email you used when first setting up your account. This link will let you recover your account without needing a password. You can find more information on this here. Email, Facebook, and Apple Linking Spoiler The options to change your ATA account email/password or link to Facebook/Apple can be found by tapping the gear icon in the top left of the home page and selecting “Account.” To change your email, you will be prompted to enter your current email and password, then type the new email you wish to associate with your ATA account. You can link your PIMD account to Facebook and/or Apple in the same Account tab. This can be used as an alternate way of logging in. Players who connect to their Facebook and/or Apple account receive 1 free DN. Shown below, Android is on the left and iOS is on the right. Resetting/Deleting Spoiler The ability to reset accounts was removed in August 2015 after being determined to have a negative effect on the community. Gameplay Issues Spoiler Game Lag Spoiler Temporary server issues can cause the game to lag. This can lead to delayed drops from parties or even the inability to access the game. These issues will usually be solved in a short period of time and players often receive small compensation for the issue. If this is a personal device issue instead of a widespread server issue, you may need to clear your app’s cache or re-install and make sure your phone has sufficient storage space. If problems continue, you should send in a help ticket. Party Item Issues Spoiler Vehicles and Amps Spoiler If you complete a party, then yacht, and complete the second party before the first set of notifications, you will need to wait for 2 sets of notifications before you are able to use a vehicle or an amp. This issue often occurs at flashes due to how fast the parties are started and completed. A ‘set’ of notifications is shown below: Jets Spoiler Jets often run into issues such as delayed drops and a delay of the jet effect if you try to use a vehicle on the following party. It is advised to not use a vehicle then for the jet to work properly. Threads Referenced in this Guide Account Recovery Information Extortion Information Forum Code of Conduct Guide of Mods/HS/Devs Policy Update: October 2019 Privacy Policy Regarding Account Resets Terms of Use You can learn more and find other helpful links here
Gonna ask the stupid question ever. Can you get banned for using the wrong gender avi ? And what are the rules about catfishing. We are talking about it in the club I'm in and someone said they were told 3 per were banned for using the wrong gender. It doesn't sound right tbh
You can use any avatar you'd like regardless of your gender. Calling someone a catfish would be considered public defamation, but other than that, there are no other ways you'd be silenced or banned in relation to this issue. Feel free to lmk if you have any other questions or if you need further clarification ❤️
It's considered public defamation of character, which is silenceable. Try saying the person isn't trusted instead.
That’s true! But anything that could potentially damage another player’s character could be deemed as defamation, so it’s best to be careful.
Adding on to what Atlas said, impersonation of a developer is not permitted either. I’d advise a name change.
Ign Rnie selling me bentos for the payment of real currency. also alts abused use her alts account to easy earn bentos so that account can easy sell the in the black market. check out the wall that account is using other langguage for the transaction
Please read this guide thoroughly. You cannot defame people in public channels. If you want to report a player, send evidence to a moderator or upload to an image hosting site like Imgur and send the links in a help ticket. Forum is not the place for this.