The Lord of the Rings Online CODE OF CONDUCT

The Code of Conduct (COC) governs player behavior while playing The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ and/or The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ (as applicable, subject to the payment of applicable software license and services fees, the “Game”) operated by Turbine, Inc. (“Turbine”) and participating on the GameWebsite http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/eula, including the forums. The Code of Conduct is designed to make players’ game experience as enjoyable as possible. Failure to follow the Code of Conduct may result in the suspension or termination of your Game account without refund (if applicable).

1. While participating in the Game or on the Game Website you must respect the rights of others to play and enjoy the Game world as intended by Turbine.

2. You may not communicate any player’s real-world information through the use of the Game Website, Game client or server software or any other means.

3. You may not use or distribute sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive language (including, by way of example, but not limited to, ethnic slurs and religious epithets), content, character names, titles, descriptions, or in-game labels (including, by way of example, but not limited to, offensive or inappropriate guild names, pet names and inscriptions).

4. While playing the Game or participating in related services, you may not exhibit or partake in behavior that is disruptive to the Game’s normal playability, causes grief or alarm to other players, or degrades the service performance or other players’ client software (for example, deliberately using game bugs or loopholes to disrupt the game or dropping excessive items).

5. You may not spam or flood with multiple posts the Game chat or the Game Website features.

6. You may not impersonate any Game Support Staff member or other Turbine employee, past or present.

7. You may not violate any local, state, national, or international laws or regulations.

8. You may not market, promote, advertise, or solicit products or services within the Game or Game Website.

9. You may not modify the Game client, server or any part of the Game Website.

10. You may not advertise the intent to, commit the act of, or facilitate the ability of others to commit the act of, unauthorized selling, buying, transferring or sharing access to any Game account.

11. You may not advertise the intent to, commit the act of, or facilitate the ability of others to commit the act of, unauthorized selling or buying of Game items for real-world monetary values or other consideration.

12. While participating in the Game, both in-Game and through the official Website, you will follow the instructions and guidelines of authorized Game support staff at all times.

13. You may not form or participate in groups whose ideology is based upon or resembles anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-sexual orientation, nationalistic, racist or sexist philosophies.

14. You may not intentionally hide or falsify personal information that is deemed necessary for Game account or website account creation.

15. You may not upload or transmit copyrighted material to any aspect of the Game or related services without the express consent of the copyright holder.

16. You will not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any transmissions to or from the Game or related services.

17. You will not exploit, distribute or publicly communicate any Game error, miscue or bug which gives an unintended advantage within the Game world. You may report bugs at lotrobugs@turbine.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

18. You may not create, post, use or distribute any utilities, emulators or other third party software tools without the express written permission of Turbine (including, without limitation, macroing programs, botting programs, server emulators, client hacks, map hacks, and data gathering utilities).

19. You may not harass other players or Turbine staff, including by way of example, but not limited to, threats, stalking or abuse of others.

20. You may not post website links or URLs in the Game that point to content deemed by Turbine to be inappropriate, including, without limitation, any website links or URLs directed to other commercial products or services. You may not post website links or URLs to any materials (including software and other information) that could harm (or is designed to harm) other players’ computers or would allow others to inappropriately access software or websites.

21. You may not use the Game and/or related services for illegal activities. Turbine is not responsible for anything you say (text or voice) in-game or in our chat rooms or forums, or for any consequences that arise from what you say. If you break the law, you alone will be responsible for the consequences.

22. Although the Game is a role-playing game, you may not claim “role-playing” in defense of any violation of the Code of Conduct.

23. You may not conduct surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise).

24. You may not defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.

25. You may not post or upload files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, corrupted files or data, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of the Game or other users’ computer.

26. You may not advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any purpose, unless the Game specifically allows such messages.

27. You may not falsify, delete or disable any copyright management information, such as author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of software or other content.

28. You may not restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Game or related services. For example, disrupting the flow of chat in chat rooms with vulgar language, abusiveness, hitting the return key repeatedly, inputting excessively large images so the screen goes by too fast to read, use of excessive SHOUTING (all caps) in an attempt to disturb other users, “spamming,” or “scrolling” (continuous posting repetitive text), are prohibited.

29. You may not harvest (in an automated manner or otherwise) or otherwise collect personal information about others, including e-mail addresses, or use such information to send unsolicited emails.

30. You may not use, download or otherwise copy, or provide (whether or not for a fee) to a person or entity any directory of users of the Game and related services or other user or usage information or any portion thereof.

31. You may not attempt to get a password, other account information, or other private information from a member or any other user of Game and/or related services.

32. You may not improperly use in-Game support or complaint buttons or make false reports to Turbine administrators.

33. You may not use the Game and/or related services in any manner other than for personal communication as an individual user (i.e. not as a corporation or other entity).

34. You may not use the Game and/or related services for fraudulent transactions including, without limitation, fraudulent in-Game virtual transactions.

Note: Turbine has final say over what constitutes a violation of this Code of Conduct. Turbine reserves the right to change the Code of Conduct at any time. Check the GameWebsite http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/eula periodically for updates to the Code of Conduct.

Remedies to inappropriate behavior:

A player who violates the Code of Conduct may be warned by Turbine staff, but some particularly serious violations or repeated violations can result in other sanctions, such as a lockout or permanent ban, without warning. In addition, Turbine reserves the right to delete characters or entire accounts as we see fit, without warning, for certain violations.

Chat (text and voice) in the Game and Game Website may be logged and may be reviewed at any time and for any reason, including, without limitation, to assist in making decisions regarding violations of the Code of Conduct. This includes, but is not limited to, private chat, fellowship chat and kinship chat.

If you understand the terms of the End User License Agreement and the Code of Conduct and these terms are acceptable, please indicate your agreement and your intent to be legally bound by them by affirmatively accepting the terms where indicated.

LOTRO Character Naming Policy

Character names in The Lord of the Rings Online should try to reflect the adventurous and heroic spirit of The Lord of the Rings. When selecting a character name, please be aware of the type of character you are creating, be it a Human, Elf, Dwarf, or Hobbit. Each race has its own naming conventions and it is encouraged that you select a name befitting the race and spirit of your character. Although this is not required, it does helps to shape a fun, engaging, and immersive world for everyone.

The following are examples of character names and guild names that are NOT appropriate for The Lord of the Rings Online and is also applied to kinship and organization names. Some names that do not fall within one of the examples below may still be inappropriate. The Lord of the Rings Online Support has final say over what constitutes a violation of the character naming policy.

Proper names and places or close facsimiles thereof, from the story characters or non-player characters (NPCs) introduced in the fiction of Lord of the Rings Online.

• Fantasy or non-fantasy names from popular culture or media.
• Sexually explicit, defamatory, obscene, racially or ethnically offensive names or slang.
• Names of historical or religious significance.
• Trademarked names of products, goods, materials or services.
• Common names, slang or references to drug related substances, culture or paraphernalia.
• Names containing ranks, titles or denotation of power.
• Names causing harm, mockery or imitation of Lord of the Rings Online players or NPCs, in addition to Turbine, Inc. employees, past or present.
• Misspelled variations or homonyms of any of the above rules.

Policy Enforcement

There is a Zero Tolerance rule in effect for the following name violations:

• Sexually explicit, defamatory, obscene, racially or ethnically offensive names or slang.
• Common names, slang or references to drug related substances, culture or paraphernalia.
• Names causing harm, mockery or imitation of Lord of the Rings Online players or NPCs, in addition to Turbine, Inc. employees, past or present.

This means that if your character or kinship name is in violation, the name will be changed without question. For characters that violate this rule, your character name will be changed and your account will be automatically placed on a three day suspension for a first offense. For kinships that are in violation, the kinship name will be changed and the account of the kinship leader will be placed on a three day suspension for a first offense. Additional offenses will consist of further account actions, including possible closure.

For other naming violations, a Lord of the Rings Online Game Master will contact you in-game to discuss your character's name.

Last updated 5/20/2010

Active players of Lord of the Rings Online™ (the “Game”) may refer friends to play the Game, subject to the following terms and conditions. Participation in the Turbine Referral Program (the “Referral Program”) is optional and voluntary.

1. A player who has an active online account to play the Game (“Customer” or “you”) may refer an unlimited number of friends (“Guests”) to play the Game on servers hosted by Turbine, Inc. (“Turbine”) in North America, subject to availability and these terms and conditions.
2. Once a Customer submits Guests’ contact information to Turbine, an automatic email or social network invitation will be sent to those Guests. The invitation will include an activation link (a “Guest Link”) to permit the Guest to play the Game. You are responsible for obtaining your Guests’ permission to share their email addresses or other contact information with Turbine. The Guests you refer into this Referral Program should be expecting our email. The Turbine Referral Program may not be used to send unsolicited emails or social messages.
3. Customers may receive Referral Credits when Guests purchase Turbine Points with a valid payment method at the in-game LOTRO Store. Free, earned, VIP, and promotional points do not count toward Referral Credits. Referral Credits will not post to the Customer account until after the transaction has settled.
4. The amount of Referral Credits awarded is determined by Turbine and is subject to change. The base Referral Credit Reward Rate is: 10% of points purchased by the Guest will be credited to the Customer. Turbine may from time to time elect to credit more or less than the normal 10% as part of promotional activity.
5. Points may be revoked from a Customer’s account in the event of fraudulent or erroneous activity, failure of payment processing, or other technical errors which result in an over crediting of Customer Referral Credits.
6. Only one invitation per email address will be allowed to participate as a Guest in this Referral Program. If a Guest was previously invited by one Customer, neither that Customer nor any another Customer may invite that Guest again.
7. Guest Links are available to new Game subscriptions only and not existing Game subscriptions.
8. Only players located in the North America (excluding Quebec), Australia and New Zealand are eligible for this Referral Program.
9. Gameplay requires an Internet connection. Guests are responsible for their own telecommunications charges. Online ISP fees may apply. Guests’ personal computers must meet certain minimum system requirements to play the Game; however, the recommended system requirements are advised for better performance. Gameplay is subject to network and server availability and may be interrupted by the service provider for testing and system and software updates.
10. Referral Credits and Guest Links have no cash value and are non-refundable. Referral Credits are non-transferable. Referral credits may only be redeemed for points in the LOTRO Store.  
11. This Referral Program is void where prohibited. This Referral Program is subject to change and may be modified, suspended, or terminated by Turbine at any time for any or no reason, and with or without notice.
12. Guests who you refer to this Referral Program will be linked to your Game subscription. Please avoid sharing Guest Links with people who may abuse them or are likely to violate the applicable End User License Agreement, Code of Conduct or Terms of Service (“End User Agreements”). Acceptance of and compliance with the applicable End User Agreements by all Guests is required. Turbine reserves the right to revoke the Referral Credits of Customers whose Guests violate such End User Agreements during the their use of the Game (such as, for example, real money traders or exploiters).

By participating in the Turbine Referral Program and submitting Guest information to Turbine, you hereby agree to the foregoing Terms and Conditions. Updates may be made to these Terms and Conditions at any time with or without notice at this web page.