Staying safe and reporting

Vesper City is a game full of crooks, but the people playing it should feel safe. Here is how to look after yourself, and what to do when someone crosses the line.

Reporting

Next to anything another player wrote or uploaded you will find a Report link with a flag: a profile title or bio, a profile picture, the player themselves (their conduct), a private message, a classified ad, a gang page or application, or a note on the Social Club's recruiting board.

• Pick the reason that fits best. You can send up to 20 reports a day.
• If someone may be under 18, say so: those reports go to a separate queue.
• In your mail, staff only see the message you report and five either side of it, unless a logged, reasoned investigation is opened.
• No account, or locked out? The Report illegal content form in the site's footer needs no login.

What happens next

Your report lands in the staff Safety queue. The most serious come first: illegal content, threats and anything involving minors are urgent (the aim is 4 hours), then hate, harassment, sexual content, publishing someone's details and scams (24 hours), then the rest (72 hours). Staff can dismiss a report, remove the content, warn, mute, suspend or ban.

You hear the outcome of your report. A player who is punished, or whose content is removed, is told why. If you disagree with a decision about you, open Account → Privacy → Moderation decisions → See decisions to complain: a different member of staff answers, within 180 days.

Blocking

On a player's profile (or in your mail) choose Block. They can't message you, and neither of you sees the other's social buttons: no mail, friend requests, bounties, vouches or nemesis lines. Gifts and burglary respect the block both ways. The Report link always stays.

The rules on words and links

• Ordinary swearing is allowed in what players write. Names, titles, gang names and headlines have to stay clean. Slurs, hate, threats, publishing someone's details and scam messages are blocked everywhere. Don't like strong language? Hide strong language is on your Account tab (see Your profile and privacy).
• Links and contact details are not allowed in anything players write: web addresses, emails, phone numbers, card numbers and @handles are refused. This is also a shield against scammers, and repeat attempts alert staff.

Protection for new players

• New-player protection lasts until level 5 (see Fights). Nobody can put a bounty on a protected new player.
• You can write to other players from level 3. Until level 10 newcomers can send 10 messages a day, which keeps spammers out.
• Vouching for another player needs level 10 and an account at least a week old, and a vouch is never a guarantee.

Scams and trading

• Nobody in the game needs your password. Never give it to anyone, whatever they say.
• Trade through the Bazaar, where the item is held in escrow until the sale is done (see The Bazaar and markets). Accounts that signed in from the same device can't trade with each other.
• Sharing a computer or phone with someone who is suspended or banned? Your account may get a short review: trading is paused (game actions too if their account is banned) while staff take a quick look, within 48 hours. It is not a punishment: answer the "under review" message and tell us who you share with.
• If an offer sounds too good, or someone wants you to leave the game to talk, report them.

Two-factor login (optional)

Two-factor login adds a second step when you sign in: as well as your password, you type a code from an authenticator app on your phone. Even someone who steals your password can't get into your account.

• It is optional. You can play the whole game without it, and nothing is ever locked behind it.
• Turn it on in Account → Security whenever you like. Around level 3 the game also suggests it once, in a small banner you can dismiss; it won't keep nagging.
• Turning it on earns you the Locked Tight medal. It is purely cosmetic, and you only get it once, however often you switch two-factor off and on again.
• Keep your recovery codes somewhere safe: they get you back in if you lose your phone.
• Staff are different: the staff admin always needs two-factor login.

Marks beside names

A name can carry one small mark after it. There is never more than one: when a player has several, the most important one shows.

• Staff badge: a member of staff. Showing it is their choice, so a name without it doesn't prove someone isn't staff; a name with it always is.
• Role mark: a player with a job, such as the press card for The Evening Racket's Newspaper Editor and Columnists, or the quill for the wiki's writers. They are ordinary players with one tool for their job: no moderation powers, and they never see reports, private mail or anything about your account.
• Founder mark: the gold laurel of a Founder of Vesper City (see Founders, earned titles and portraits).

The order is Staff badge, then role mark, then Founder mark. Only the game puts a mark there, and nobody with a mark will ever ask for your password, your Gold or your items. Someone claiming a mark they don't have can be reported with Claims a role mark they don't have; someone claiming to be staff with Claims to be staff, which is zero tolerance: a permanent ban.

Getting help

Use Contact staff in the game (staff can always be written back), or the Contact page on the website. The Government page shows who the staff are and which languages they help in.

Tips

• Report, don't reply: arguing with a troll feeds them.
• Block first if someone bothers you, and report if it's against the rules.
• Keep your password to yourself and use a different one here than anywhere else.