Conducting Yourself Online
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You are responsible for following EA.com's Online Conduct rules at all times (see the EA.com Terms of Service, http://www.ea.com/global/legal/tos.jsp,), whether in-game, on the message boards, or any other place online. You must also follow the instructions of EA's personnel while playing the Game or interacting with others on our sites. All of the rules are important, and you've got to follow them all, but we want to emphasize a few of the rules and we've got a few more that are important to the Game.
Do not defraud or cheat other players in the game. This includes, but is not limited to, exploiting the game's trade interface to acquire another player's in-game assets without the agreed-upon repayment or refusing to provide an agreed-upon in-game service after collecting in-game payment.
Do not create inappropriate and/or obscene account names, game names, or other publicly viewable content. Strong vulgar language, crude or explicit sexual references, discussions of illegal drugs, and hate speech are always inappropriate.
Don't harass! We do not tolerate harassment of any kind, including racial harassment, religious, and sexual harassment. If someone asks you to stop a certain line of communication or behavior, and you do not, your actions may constitute harassment. Move on. Players are strongly encouraged to use the in-game tools to ignore players that bother them before reporting them. Choose whom you interact with.
Please pay attention to the subject matter on the Message Boards. Purposely derailing discussion threads on the forums for the Game with irrelevant, disruptive posts is a violation of the EA.com TOS and this User Agreement. Don't participate in antisocial, disruptive, or destructive acts in the Game or on the message boards. This includes but is not limited to, "flaming" (making insulting criticisms or remarks to incite anger), "spamming" (sending numerous and or unwanted and disruptive amounts of messages), and "trolling" (intentionally inciting negative disruption, such as posting a thread to make purely negative or disruptive comments).
Don't use the in-game petitioning system for reporting anything other than Terms of Service (TOS) violations. Don't spam or otherwise abuse EA's email addresses or abuse our technical and customer support services or representatives. Repeated misuse of the in-game TOS reporting system for non-TOS issues, sending excessive messages to our staff, making physical threats, or using abusive language, may result in sanctions up to and including the termination of your Account.
Do not attempt to get a password, account information, or other private information from any other player. Remember: EA employees will NEVER ask for your password. Don't give your password, reminder words, or billing information out to anyone.
Do not misrepresent yourself as an Electronic Arts employee, or attempt to coerce another player through such misrepresentation.
Do not attempt to interfere with, hack into or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running The Sims Online game service or its website.
Do not upload files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancel bots, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs - no matter what you call it - that may damage the operation of another's computer or property. We strongly recommend you use virus checking software and a firewall to protect your own computer from infection.
Do not post messages for any purpose other than personal communication. Do not transmit advertising, promotional materials, spam (or any duplicative and unsolicited messages), chain letters, pyramid schemes, or make any commercial use of the Game or the EA.com Service.
You may not harvest or otherwise collect information about other players in the Game or on our website and/or provide (whether or not for a fee) this information to another person or entity.
Report bugs to us via the appropriate forums on the Game's website. Don't exploit any bug in the Game or EA.com Service to gain unfair advantage in the Game, or communicate the existence of any such bug (either directly or through public posting) to any other user of the Game so that it can be abused.
Don't attempt to defraud a Customer Service Representative. Don't report false bugs, report false loss of wealth or game statistics, or accuse other players of wrongdoing without basis in fact. "Role-playing" in the Game does not grant you a license to violate any of our rules. Though the Game is a role-playing game, the claim of "role-play" is not an excuse to commit any of the disruptive behavior mentioned above. For example, you may not defraud another player because you are "role-playing a con man." We encourage you to play your role, as long as you follow our rules for conducting yourself online.