Community guidelines

Treat other players and staff with respect, whether you are in character (IC), out of character (OOC), in-game or on Hardline's community platforms.

• Personal conduct: Do not bully, harass, threaten or repeatedly target someone with personal abuse.
• Discrimination: Hate speech and discrimination are banned. This includes abuse about someone's race, sex, gender, sexuality, religion, disability or background.
• Roleplay boundaries: An in-character disagreement must stay about the characters and the scene. Do not use it to attack the person playing the character.

Calling something a joke or part of your character does not excuse a breach.

Do not use software, game modifications or unintended mechanics to gain an unfair advantage.

• Cheats and modifications: Aimbots, ESP, wallhacks and unapproved modifications that give an advantage are banned.
• Automation: Do not automate gameplay to gain an advantage or bypass normal participation.
• Exploits: Do not duplicate items, bypass limits or repeat a bug for rewards. A system allowing an action does not make it permitted.
• Reporting: Stop using a bug when you find it and report it privately to staff. Do not share the method or keep exploiting it while waiting for a response.

Play a believable character with their own identity, background and reasons for their actions.

• Name: Use a realistic first and last name. Celebrity, meme and offensive names are not allowed.
• Behaviour: Your decisions must make sense for your character and the situation. A backstory does not excuse breaking another rule.
• Separate characters: Keep each character's knowledge and relationships separate. Information learned on one character is not available to another.

You need a working microphone to take part in voice roleplay.

• Audio quality: Your voice must be understandable, with minimal background noise.
• Normal communication: Text-to-speech and soundboards cannot replace your voice in normal roleplay.
• Exceptions: If you cannot use a microphone, open a staff ticket and arrange an exception before playing. Do not assume that an exception has been granted.

Report rule breaches through a staff ticket or the report system. Staff will assess the incident using the information and evidence provided.

• During the scene: Continue roleplaying. Do not stop the scene, retaliate or break rules because another player has done so.
• Your report: Identify the players involved, the time, what happened and the rule you believe was broken. Include evidence showing the full context.
• After reporting: Let staff handle the dispute. A report does not give you permission to punish the other player yourself.

Reports missing the required information may be closed.

Metagaming means using information that your current character did not learn through in-game roleplay.

• Outside information: Do not act on information from streams, Discord, out-of-character chats or other external sources.
• Your other characters: Do not transfer knowledge between your characters, directly or through another person.
• Stream sniping: Do not use someone's stream to find them, follow their movements or help yourself or others during a scene.

Knowing something as a player does not mean your character knows it.

Powergaming means using unrealistic actions or game mechanics to gain an advantage or force an outcome on another player. Give others a fair chance to respond.

• Hearing: Do not use conversations heard through solid walls when your character could not realistically hear them.
• Camera angles: Do not use third-person view to gather information your character could not see.
• Menus and animations: Do not abuse commands, menus, emotes or animation changes to gain an advantage.
• Fighting: Shift-punching and other unrealistic combat advantages are not allowed.
• Forced outcomes: Do not decide another player's response for them or use an impossible action to remove their opportunity to roleplay.

Your character must act as though their life matters. Being armed, outnumbered or involved in a conflict does not remove this obligation.

• Immediate danger: Comply with reasonable demands when a weapon or overwhelming force puts you in immediate danger.
• Fighting or escaping: Do not attempt an escape or fight that your character could not realistically survive. Having a weapon is not, by itself, a reason to ignore the threat.
• Avoiding consequences: Do not kill your character or use suicide roleplay to escape a robbery, arrest or other active interaction.

Play out the scene and its consequences.

The New Life Rule applies after you respawn from death or are revived by EMS.

• Memory: Forget the 15 minutes leading up to your death.
• Return to the scene: Stay away from the place you died for 10 minutes after respawn or EMS revival.
• Revenge: Do not seek revenge or rejoin the same incident using forgotten information.
• Other players: Do not use another person to pass that information back to you so you can return to the fight.

After a conflict-related death, Underground section 19 also applies. The combat sling has a separate timer; its expiry does not end your NLR obligations.

Drive in a way that suits your vehicle, the terrain and the danger to your character.

• Off-road routes: Use a suitable off-road vehicle. Do not treat every car as capable of the same routes.
• Jumps and stunts: These are allowed only when they remain believable and comply with Rule 8 (FailRP).
• Active scenes: Do not use impossible routes, repeated stunts or unrealistic driving to escape a pursuit or avoid roleplay consequences.

Your vehicle's ability to perform a manoeuvre does not automatically make that manoeuvre realistic.

Roleplay injuries in a way that reflects what happened to your character.

• Serious injuries: Being shot, downed or seriously injured requires believable treatment and recovery.
• Crashes: Roleplay the effects of a serious collision before continuing as though nothing happened.
• After treatment: A revive, heal or medical item does not erase the injuries from the scene. Do not immediately resume normal activities while ignoring them.

Hospitals, police stations and other designated safe zones are protected from hostile roleplay.

• Prohibited actions: Do not start or continue attacks, robberies, kidnappings or threats in a safe zone.
• Zone boundaries: Do not attack into a safe zone or use one as a position to attack people outside it.
• Escaping a scene: Do not enter a safe zone to avoid an active hostile interaction or its consequences.
• Another player's breach: If someone abuses a safe zone, disengage and report them. Their breach does not permit you to continue the hostility inside.

Random Deathmatch is attacking or killing someone without a valid in-character reason and proper roleplay escalation.

• Before violence: Make the reason for the confrontation clear and give the other player a chance to respond. Use threats, negotiation and other roleplay before lethal force.
• Compliant players: Do not kill someone who is complying. Killing must remain a last resort.
• Memory: Do not attack or kill someone to erase their memory.
• Conflicts and events: A declaration or scheduled event permits combat only within its participant, time and area rules. It does not allow attacks on bystanders or override safe-zone, NLR or robbery restrictions.

Vehicle Deathmatch is using a vehicle to deliberately ram, hit or kill another player.

A single controlled PIT is permitted only when all of these conditions are met:

• Authority: It is performed by police or a participant authorised for that manoeuvre.
• Situation: It takes place during an active pursuit or staff-approved event.
• Speed: It is performed below 100 km/h.
• Location: The area is safe and has no pedestrians or heavy traffic.
• Frequency: It is one controlled manoeuvre, not repeated contact.

A conflict declaration does not authorise ramming or remove these conditions.

Scamming is deceiving someone to obtain money, items or services. It is banned in-character and out-of-character.

• Sales: Do not misrepresent an item or take payment without intending to deliver what was agreed.
• Payment: Do not promise payment you have no intention of making.
• Loans: Borrowing a weapon with the intention of stealing it is a scam. The loan-risk rule in Underground section 17 does not excuse deliberate deception.

Staff will restore proven scam losses and punish the offender.

A player robbery needs a valid in-character reason and proper interaction. Finding someone with valuable items is not a substitute for roleplay.

• Police requirement: At least 1 police officer must be online and on duty before the robbery begins. There is no maximum police count.
• Visa holders: You may take illegal items and Dirty Money.
• Without a visa: You may take only Dirty Money. Do not use a visa holder or another person to take items on your behalf that you cannot take yourself.
• Chain robbing: Do not move from victim to victim as a robbery run, or repeatedly rob someone through the same incident.
• Killing: Do not kill a victim during a robbery.

Group robberies must also follow Underground section 16.

Combat logging means leaving or switching characters to escape an active scene or its consequences.

• Active situations: Do not disconnect to avoid combat, police interactions, a robbery or any other unfinished scene.
• Crashes: Reconnect as soon as you can and open a staff ticket immediately. Explain where you were and what was happening.
• Emergencies: If you must leave unexpectedly, notify staff through a ticket immediately and explain the situation.
• Returning: A disconnect does not end the scene. Resume the roleplay as directed by staff.

Stay in character and create believable roleplay that other players can take part in.

• Character choices: Your actions must make sense for your character and the situation.
• Disruption: Do not ruin scenes for clips, jokes or reactions, or treat other players' roleplay as something to interrupt for entertainment.
• Game mechanics: A command, menu option, bug or technical limit does not excuse behaviour that breaks the rules.

You are expected to play out setbacks as well as successes.

Hardline's conduct rules also apply in its Discord channels and related streams.

• Advertising: Do not advertise other servers or communities.
• Harassment: Do not use an external platform or stream to target or harass another community member.
• Roleplay information: Do not use streams or external chats to metagame or organise rule breaches. Rule 6 (Metagaming) still applies.

Do not request, share or threaten to share another person's private information without their consent.

• Personal information: This includes addresses, phone numbers, workplaces, private photos, social accounts and private messages.
• Private sharing: Receiving information privately does not give you permission to distribute it, regardless of how you obtained it.
• Pressure or threats: Do not use personal information to threaten, intimidate or pressure someone during a dispute.

Penalty: An immediate permanent ban.

Sexual roleplay and explicit sexual content are banned, in-character and out-of-character. This includes sexual scenes and explicit sexual dialogue.

Penalty: An immediate permanent ban with no appeal.

You must be at least 16 years old to play on Hardline. By joining, you confirm that you meet this requirement.

Underage players: Anyone found to be under 16 will be permanently removed from the community.

Do not threaten another player, staff member or community member with real-life harm or a cyber attack.

• Threats covered: This includes DDoS attacks, account theft and other attempts to compromise someone's accounts or devices.
• Where it applies: Threats made in-game, in Discord or on other platforms connected to Hardline are covered.

Penalty: An immediate permanent ban. Incidents may also be reported to the relevant authorities.

Do not trade in-game assets or services for real money, cryptocurrency or anything of real-world value.

• Assets: This includes money, items, vehicles, properties, accounts and characters.
• Services: Do not pay or accept real-world payment for in-game services.
• Arranging trades: Buying, selling, advertising or helping someone else arrange an RMT trade is banned.
• Official store: Only purchases through Hardline's official approved store are permitted.

Penalty: A permanent ban.