Code of Conduct

The Overte project is an international community open to everyone without discrimination. We want this community to be a safe and welcoming place for both newcomers and current members. Everyone should feel comfortable and accepted regardless of their personal background and affiliation to the Overte project.

Philosophy

In the Overte community, participants from all over the world come together to create a Free and Open Source social-VR platform. This is made possible by the support, hard work, and enthusiasm of many people who collaborate towards the common goal of creating a truly unique VR experience. Cooperation in such an environment requires common guidelines to ensure a positive and inspiring atmosphere in the community.

This is why we have this Code of Conduct: it explains the type of community we want to have. The rules below are not applied to all interactions with a simple matching algorithm. Human interactions happen in context and are complex. Perceived violations are evaluated by real humans who will try to interpret the interactions and the rules with kindness. Accordingly, there is no need to hypothesize on how these rules would affect normal interactions. Be reasonable, the Overte e.V. surely will be as well.

Application

This Code of Conduct applies to all users and contributors who engage with the Overte project and its community platforms, both online and at Overte-related events.

It applies to all the environments (domains) used for official Overte project purposes, hosted on Overte infrastructure, or listed on the official Overte directory server. Environments that are hosted by third parties and don't interact with the Overte project's infrastructure are not bound by the agreement.

Expectations

  • Politeness is expected at all times. Be kind and courteous.

  • Always assume positive intent from others. Be aware that differences in culture and English proficiency make written communication more difficult than face-to-face communication and that your interpretation of messages may not be the one the author intended. Conversely, if someone asks you to rephrase something you said, be ready to do so without feeling judged.

  • Feedback is always welcome but keep your criticism constructive and specific. We encourage you to open discussions, proposals, issues, and bug reports. Use the community platforms to discuss improvements, not to vent out frustration. Similarly, when other users offer you feedback please accept it gracefully.

Restricted conduct

Participating in restricted conduct will lead to a warning from community moderators and/or the Overte e.V. board and may lead to exclusion from the community in the form of a ban from one or all platforms.

  • The Overte project is committed to providing a friendly and safe environment for everyone, regardless of level of experience, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, language proficiency, age, political orientation, nationality, religion, or other similar characteristics. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of participants in any form.

  • In particular, we strive to be welcoming to all industry minorities and to ensure that they can take a more active role in the community and the project. Targeted harassment of minorities is unacceptable.

  • As a community developed project, we strive for consensus among contributors before moving forward with a proposed feature. If there is not enough support for your ideas, please don't continue insisting or trying to force others into supporting your point; Rather bring any disputes towards the Overte e.V. via the appropriate channels (see the disputes section below).

  • Aggressive or offensive behavior is not acceptable.

  • You will be excluded from participating in the community if you insult, demean, harass, intentionally make others uncomfortable by any means, or participate in any other hateful conduct, either publicly or privately.

  • Likewise, any spamming, trolling, flaming, baiting, or other attention-stealing behavior is not welcome and will result in exclusion from the community.

  • Any form of retaliation against a participant who contacts the Code of Conduct team is completely unacceptable, regardless of the outcome of the complaint. Any such behavior will result in exclusion from the community.

  • For certainty, any conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting is not acceptable.

  • Additional restrictions may apply if required by German law.

Third party environments (domains) may have additional rules, so long they don't conflict with the above. For instance, they may have a stricter code of conduct, require roleplay, or exclude people so long it's not for discriminatory reasons. Non-compliance will result in the removal of the listing from the directory server.

Reporting a breach

If you witness or are involved in an interaction with another community member that you think may violate this Code of Conduct, please contact an Overte e.V. board member via direct messaging on community platforms where they are present, or via email. You may view a list of the current board members here.

The prefered people to talk to are Dale Glass and Julian Groß.

The board may also appoint additional moderators as needed.

Disputes

One of the main reasons for the existence of a formal organization, is it having the last say in disputes. If you have a disagreement with another community member, contributor, or even board member, and cannot come to a satisfactory solution via conventional means, please talk to one of the board members (see the reporting a breach section above). If the issue cannot be resolved, or is of interest of a larger audience, a board member will bring suggestions to an Overte e.V. assembly, where the present members will discuss and vote on the issue.