Covenant

From Extropia

  1. Summary:
    1. Theme: Extropia is a nation poised on the brink of Singularity - technological and social progress is blindingly fast, and we're solving ancient problems every day. The future is here, and it's beautiful and fun!
    2. Conduct: Extropia is an advanced civilization. Our citizens are civilized, and we expect visitors to be civilized too. We're very tolerant of personal, cultural and sexual expression, and very quick to come down hard on griefing and harassment.
    3. Quick Rules:
      1. Extropia encourages roleplaying, but is not an RP sim. All are welcome.
      2. No griefing, sexual harassment, hate speech, littering of objects on public or private land, and no disruption of service or access. We're not obligated to warn you before we eject and ban you. You're on notice that Extropia doesn't allow it. If you've been banned, you can appeal, as described in Dispute Resolution below.
      3. All construction below 3000m, even skyboxes, must comply with the theme. If in doubt, ask the Director of Architecture or the Chairperson. Their determinations are final.
      4. The "Noes": No camping chairs. No security devices that affect anyone outside your building. No ban lines. No commercial activity or items in residential areas. No scamming. No spy scripts. No attempting to thwart or bypass public or private security devices. No refunds on land fees except as described in Termination.
      5. The "Yesses": Be creative. Do things that can't be done in the atomic world. Chill. Cooperate, collaborate and network. Build a better future! Have fun!
  2. Theme:
    1. General: The theme of the sim will be a positive future. In contrast to the many post-apocalyptic and cyberpunk dystopias, our future is one of hope and evolution towards a better world: crystal domes and shiny spires, with human, post-human, and entirely synthetic people living in a technological utopia. Retro-futuristic elements will be welcome, especially from "Golden Age" sci-fi (think Mingo City if Ming had been a benevolent ruler). Any positive sci-fi or high-tech concepts are very welcome.
    2. Options: Theme will be enforced, but we're casting our net pretty wide for ideas, so there are plenty of options. Everything from "Trekkie"-style to The Rocketeer & Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to Sealab & Seaquest DSV to singularity-inspired to cyberpunk (without the slums) will be welcome. Just no post-nuclear-holocaust, please. Mad Max is right out.
    3. Compliance: We'd like Extropia to run without resorting to 100 pages of architectural do's and don'ts. If you have any doubt as to whether your structure is appropriate, ask the Director of Architecture or the Chairperson. Refusal to conform your structures to the theme within 5 days of notice from the Director of Architecture or the Chairperson may be grounds for Termination. Here are some general guidelines:
      1. We encourage you to be creative within the constraints of our theme. As we expand, different sims in Extropia will have their own design theme: mermaid cities, sky cities, far future desert cities, etc. Builds should be appropriate for the sim they're in. If you have a particular design idea, you can work with us to find the best home for it.
      2. We prefer structures that you wouldn't commonly see in present-day First Life, and that reflect a positive - though not necessarily perfect - view of the future. Accordingly, please avoid pre-20th Century builds, or fairly mundane modern builds, but exceptional and unusual modern architecture is very welcome. We also welcome retro-futuristic and art deco builds (see Sky Captain or Flash Gordon for examples of these) -- things that were designed to be futuristic, even if it's a past vision of the future.
      3. In a community sim, your build is as much for your neighbors and sim visitors to look at as it is for you to live in. While we allow a lot of latitude in building design, we ask that you avoid making anything excruciatingly hideous. Billboards and signage in particular should be attractive and subtle. Nobody likes visual spam, and that includes the Board and your neighbors.
      4. We're a spacefaring civilization, so we're particularly proud of our aerospace facilities. Keep your skyboxes in theme, and really spectacular airborne builds are encouraged! The Director of Architecture may issue guidelines from time to time to reflect changes in the physics and client software which may affect building and scripting in Extropia.
  3. Land Parcels:
    1. General: Our land system is a little different from that of the mainland or the land barons' properties:
      1. You'll pay a deposit amount and monthly tier, same as anywhere else, and become a Parcel Owner by the Linden Lab definitions.
      2. You can take ownership as an individual or for a group, set the media streams, and eject or ban individual non-citizens. Group members are subject to the provisions of Occupancy and Subleasing, below.
      3. However, you can't sell the property to anyone else. We prohibit land speculation. Should you ever want to leave, we guarantee return of your full deposit (assuming your tier payments are not past due) no matter the condition of the SL real estate market, with no waiting.
      4. You do not pay any tier fees to Linden Lab for land in Extropia. You do not need to have a Premium account to purchase land in Extropia.
    2. On Purchase: Select the property you wish to purchase. Once you pay the specified amount in full through the land purchase tab, the parcel will transfer your individual or group ownership. You can then set media and other parcel options. The initial payment of the parcel includes both the deposit and the first month's tier; the next month's tier will be due one month from the date of purchase.
    3. Payments:
      1. All payments are to be made in the coin of the realm, Linden Dollars™ (L$). Extropia does not accept payment in the currencies of First Life nations.
      2. You will have to pay the amount listed on the Tier section of the website which applies to your parcel size and location. Check the Tieromatic terminal in the Central Nexus if you have a non-standard sized parcel.
      3. For non-apartment parcel owners: Tier is due monthly by the date specified by the Tieromatic terminal. The Tieromatic system will send you an IM reminder on the day before if you haven't paid by then. It will also send you a reminder on the day after, and at weekly intervals after that if the tier is not paid. If your tier remains unpaid for more than a month, your land may be reclaimed and sold to someone else. Your deposit will not be returned if your land is seized for non-payment of tier.
      4. For apartment renters: Tier is due weekly, though it may be paid in advance. If you more than 7 days delinquent in tier, you may be evicted and your property returned.
    4. Terraforming: Terraforming is permitted only with the supervision of the Director of Architecture or the Chairperson. They will not permit terraforming to create moats or walls along your property lines or to disrupt the overall look and feel of the sim.
    5. Occupancy and Subleasing: Subleasing is allowed only with explicit permission of the Extropia Board or Chair. You may share your property with others.
    6. Construction: If your build is taking a while to finish, please raise it up past 3000 meters altitude while you work on it. Your neighbors didn't pay to live on a construction site!
    7. Use Restrictions:
      1. General:
        1. No obstructive signs or billboards. The Director of Architecture may require signs be changed if they are deemed to be overly large, disruptive, or violating theme standards.
        2. Please comply with requests from the Director of Architecture or the Chairperson to manage lag for everyone's benefit.
      2. Commercial Properties:
        1. No selling of goods violating intellectual property rights.
      3. Residential Properties:
        1. No shops or clubs.
        2. No commercial signage. No listing of parcels under "stores", "meeting places", or similar categories.
    8. Security: We understand the need for security, but at the same time, the rights of travellers in the sim must also be respected, and they should not be inhibited, harassed or have their vehicles disabled for merely flying by. Thus, these rules are established for the use of security scripts and parcel options:
      1. General ban lines are prohibited. You're welcome to ban and eject individual non-citizens from your parcels. If you have a dispute with a citizen, use the Dispute Resolution Procedures instead. This applies to objects as well as people -- you can return objects over you land, but may not disable object entry in general, and auto-return must be five minutes at minimum.
      2. Any security devices must be strictly limited to the interior of your building only. People who simply walk by or fly over your land must not be menaced.
      3. Any place protected by a security script must have other security measures that would have to be bypassed in order to reach the security zone. For example, if getting to an area merely requires walking through an open archway, the other side is forbidden from having a security script, but a room that can only be gotten into by bypassing a locked door is allowed to have an aggressive security script to eject anyone who does bypass the locked door.
      4. Other user's scripts should be disabled only during events as required. Under no circumstances should a parcel be left unattended with scripts disabled.
    9. Lag Control: If you have objects or scripts which significantly harm the sim's ability to operate efficiently (such as causing time dilation) we will ask you to cease using the items. This also applies to objects which can cause regions to crash, or cause frame rates for viewers to drop to a significant degree.
  4. Citizenship:
    1. Citizenship by land purchase: Any owner of land in Extropia is automatically a citizen of Extropia. For land held in a group name, we will ask the group to designate one avatar to hold Extropia citizenship. We will not automatically confer citizenship benefits on more than one member of a group holding land.
    2. Citizenship without land purchase: The Extropia Board of Directors or its Chair may extend citizenship to other individuals at their option.
    3. Citizens Group Membership: Membership in the "Extropia Citizens" group is not required of Extropia Citizens, but it is necessary in order to take advantage of the following Extropia Citizen benefits:
      1. Exclusive use of the Extropia sandbox
      2. Ability to book the Salon Room, the Reading Lounge and other public facilities for events
      3. Ability to participate in Citizen-only events, discussions or polls
      4. Ability to have any events they host in Extropia included on the Extropia Calendar, Notices and in official promotional listings
      5. Discounts at Nebula and other participating stores in Extropia
  5. Dispute Resolution:
    1. If you have a problem with a non-citizen: Feel free to mute and/or ban them from your property. If you're on public property, or the problem doesn't go away, contact a Director by IM immediately.
    2. If you have a problem with a fellow citizen: First and foremost, relax, take a step back, and talk out the problem with them. If and only if this does not work take the issue to a Director for reconciliation.
    3. If you don't like the answer you get from the Director: First, take it up with your community on the web forums. We're much more likely to be sympathetic to your appeal if you've gotten community support. Then, submit an appeal by notecard to the Chariperson, who'll contact you to work out a date for a public appeal hearing. She's not obligated to hear your appeal. If she chooses to, she'll contact you to set a date for a public appeal hearing. Her decision is final.
    4. If you're a non-citizen looking to appeal a ban: Send a notecard explaining the circumstances around the ban to the Chairperson, who will take the matter up with you personally by IM.
  6. Termination: On termination, all your rights to the land are immediately revoked and all objects you own returned to you. You can be terminated for the following reasons:
    1. Failure to pay tier when due. Although as a matter of policy we generally do not reclaim land until it is over a month past due, we reserve the right to reclaim it at any time if it is past due.
    2. Refusal to pay changed tier amounts at the beginning of any contract renewal period.
    3. Breach of any of the terms of the covenant.
    4. Any deposit held by Extropia will be refunded if and only if your tier is not past due at the time of termination.
  7. Other:
    1. You need a valid Second Life account to be able to visit your land. Should your account be suspended or cancelled for any reason, payments already made are not refundable. Contact the Chairperson through the website for a response to your situation.
    2. We do not issue refunds on tier fees. We will prorate your last month's tier if you notify us ahead of time of your intention to move out, and you are not past due on your tier payments.
    3. Land is provided as is. We do not guarantee look, frame rate, map location or specific sim settings, other than a mature rating.
    4. The term of your contract with us is for the period of each tier payment. Tier fees are subject to change, and we do not guarantee tier rates beyond the current period.
    5. We assume no liability for future changes to Second Life by Linden Lab, nor for the effect such changes may have on your land ownership or our ability to comply with these covenants.

Significant changes to the covenant will be announced on the main page of the Extropia website. A complete record of all changes and historical versions of this document will be accessible here.

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