VOG is a club where people have played board games since 1997. To keep it a pleasant place to play, we ask you to follow a few rules. These guidelines are part of the Terms of Use.
1. Respect your opponents
- Do not insult, threaten, harass or provoke other players — in the public chat, at the table or in private messages.
- No remarks that demean people for their nationality, gender, age, faith or any other trait.
- Do not incite hatred or hostility, do not call for or justify violence, and do not spread extremist material.
- A short "thanks for the game" is always welcome.
2. Play fair
- In games against people, do not use hints, software or help from others unless the room rules allow it.
- Do not agree on results or lose games on purpose to boost someone's rating; do not play on someone else's behalf or let anyone play for you.
- Do not stall a game on purpose or leave the table to avoid a loss.
- If you find a bug or failure that gives an advantage, report it to us instead of using it.
3. Protect people and their data
- Do not disclose other people's personal data or correspondence without a lawful basis; send evidence of a breach to a moderator privately.
- Do not try to obtain sign-in codes: the Service team never asks you to send the code from an email. Do not forward your code to anyone yourself.
- Do not post malicious links, advertising, spam or material prohibited by law.
4. Age
The Service is for persons aged 16 and over (clause 2.1 of the Terms of Use). If you see that a child under 16 is playing in the club, tell a moderator or write to info@vogclub.com. We will ask the account owner to confirm their age; without confirmation the account is closed and its data deleted. We do not ask for identity documents unless strictly necessary.
5. Moderators
Order in the rooms is kept by moderators (the "sysop", "host" and "guide" roles). They see public and table chat messages in their rooms and may apply the measures in section 6 within those rooms, including to players of other federation zones. Measures against the account of a player from another zone are applied by their zone (section 7). Moderators do not see players' IP addresses or email.
Messages are kept for the periods stated in the Personal Data Processing Policy and, where the law provides, may be passed to competent public authorities.
6. Measures for breaches
Depending on how serious and how repeated the breach is:
| Breach | Measure |
|---|---|
| Rude word, flooding, advertising | message removed, warning |
| Repeated insults, spam | ban on writing in chat for a period |
| Disrupting games, deliberate stalling | removal from the room, restricted access to the room |
| Unfair play, rating manipulation | results and ratings adjusted, restricted access to the game server |
| Threats, harassment, publishing other people's data, fraud, interfering with the Service | permanent closure of access to the Service |
| Inciting hatred or hostility, calls for violence, material prohibited by law | message removed, permanent closure of access to the Service |
| Unsuitable nickname | nickname changed |
You learn about a measure and its duration when you try the action (for example, sending a message) or from a notification.
7. Complaints and appeals
- To complain about a player — tell a moderator in the room or write to info@vogclub.com: the nickname, what happened and roughly when.
- To appeal a measure — write to info@vogclub.com from your account's email address within 30 days. Where possible, the appeal is reviewed by someone other than the person who applied the measure; we reply within 10 working days. This procedure does not limit complaints provided for by law or court protection.
- To complain about a player from another zone of the federation, do the same — tell a moderator or write to info@vogclub.com. Our zone's administrators pass the complaint to that player's zone after removing your details, including from quotes and attachments (we cannot fully rule out that you are recognised from its content); measures against them are taken by their zone.
- We keep the history of measures and the messages they refer to for as long as needed to handle complaints (section 8 of the Personal Data Processing Policy).