Black Desert Global Lab – Open World MMORPG

Operational Policy

1. General Rules

The purpose of the Black Desert Global Lab is to test future game functions and update features that will be implemented into the live servers in order to provide a stable game experience on the live servers.

This operational policy applies to the Black Desert Global Lab service.

1) Definition of Operational Policy

This policy contains Pearl Abyss’ (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) operational standard of the Black Desert Online Global Lab (hereinafter referred to as “Global test server”) that must be kept by the member (someone who agrees to the company’s Terms of Service and hereinafter referred to as “member”).
In accordance with Article 14 clause 2 of the Terms and Conditions of Service, the member shall be obliged to comply with all the provisions of this Operational Policy, and if the Member is in breach of this Operational Policy, it shall be deemed to have breached the company’s Terms and Conditions of Service and the member can be subject to restrictions in accordance with the Operational Policies and Terms and Conditions of Service.
Topics not covered in this operational policy will follow the company’s Terms of Service, all other topics will follow the laws and regulations of the Republic of China. If a dispute arises between the member and the company, the first trial will be held in a court that has jurisdiction in Taipei, Taiwan, as long as it does not violate jurisdictional laws.

2) Global Test Server Operational Standards

Global Test Servers will be operational during the period the company designates. The period may change depending on the circumstance of the company and server.
Global Test Server may go under maintenance frequently without prior notice. Additionally, the test server may close for extended periods of time or several days.
Global Test Server may significantly differ in game content as the test server’s purpose is to fix bugs, fix balance issues, and perform other tests. Game contents may change without prior notice.
The service provided on the Global test server are services still undergoing development. Therefore, the service may be unstable and may contain critical errors. There may be server outage issues during this process and as a result, server rollbacks may occur.
Global Test Server will not compensate when the service stops, game contents are changed, server shuts down, server rollbacks, deletes game data, and all possible errors that could occur.
All game data related to EXP, Game Money, Items, and others obtained in the Global test server are not transferable to the official servers.
Global Test Server will not provide Acoin Top Ups, Pearl Shop, and other select services. Recovery will not be processed for hacked accounts, fraud, or item loss unless in the case of a reported bug, feedback, editing of personal information, withdrawal of membership, and other situations mentioned in the Terms of Service and Operational Policy.
Global Test Server is not liable and will not provide compensation for any damages or losses caused. The purpose of the Global Test Server is to perform tests and is not for commercial used.

3) Accessing the Global Test Server

The Global test server client is different from the main live server. The member must install the Global test server version of the client separately.
Members must be selected to be a ‘tester’ to access the test server. Members also must sign-up through the official Black Desert Global Lab website (https://www.global-lab.playblackdesert.com/). Additionally, members must agree to use the test server even though the test server may be unstable, with errors, and have limited services.
Members playing on the test server are strongly recommended to report any problems or provide suggestions by going to [Website > Submit Feedback], the company will do their best to collect user feedback.

4) Operational Policy Amendments & Notification

The company reserves the right to amend this Operational Policy to provide better service. The content changes before and after the amendment will be clearly stated in comparison for the members’ convenience via official website, email, and others. If no member declares their non-consent during the 5-day period after the members are notified, the company will assume the members implicit consent to the changes.
Members are advised to check the notice and e-mail contents from time to time to understand and follow up the changed operational policy. The company shall not be held responsible for any damage, inconvenience, or disadvantage caused by failing to understand and follow up the changed contents unless otherwise specified by relevant laws and regulations.

5) Membership Rights and Obligations

Members should be aware of this operational policy, and the company is not obliged to provide assistance in case of problems or damages caused by the member’s failure to observe the operational policy.
When registering, you must provide accurate information. If you enter false information or steal information from others, you may be restricted from using the service. In addition, you are unable to claim protection of rights regarding your account information.
A member must report any problems such as bugs found during testing or errors or flaws etc in the game system to the company and must not let other members know the problems or use the problems for bad purposes. Even after problems such as bugs and system errors occurred but a member does not report them to the company and takes advantage of the problems for the purpose of gaining benefits, it is deemed that the member has caused damages to other members. So, the member may be restricted from using the service in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of Service and Operational Policy.
Members may be restricted from using the service if they distribute false facts not officially announced by the company which may confuse other members.
The member shall be restricted to a service use. Should the member violate any of the regulations specified in [Restrictions].
Since there are numerous other members testing the game simultaneously, the rights of other members must be respected.

2. Recovery Unavailable

It is the operational standard to not give any compensation for problems that may occur on the Global test server. Compensation will not be given since many unforeseeable problems will arise due to the nature of the Global test server.
It is the operational standard to irregularly reset game data and will not recover anything that is lost during this process. Member’s character information, game data, items, may be changed or deleted without prior notice for the purpose of necessary tests, operations, or planning.
Reports submitted by members related to user disputes, account hacking, fraud, or item loss will not be processed as the test server is provided with the assumption that there will be service instability and a multitude of tests.

3. Naming Policy

A member should not use names that violate the operational policy when the member creates nickname, family name, character name, and guild name that are used in the Black Desert Online’s website and game.

Names that impersonates GM or the company’s employee.
Names that include swear words and foul language.
Names that slander or degrade specific race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, person, disability, etc.
Names that are of antisocial mood
Names that are sexually explicit or obscene contents
Names that contains content that is intended to infringe or damage the rights of 3rd violation parties, including honor, portrait rights, and personal information.
Names that are deemed to have the intention to buy or sell an account/item in exchange for real money/actual product.
Names that can be confusing to other members of the game, such as NPC names and items.
Names that contain the purpose of advertising/promoting a particular target.
In case you differently change the spelling of the name that the naming policy prohibits or in case you combine the prohibited name with other letters.

Names that fall into the above criteria may be changed or deleted without prior notice, and if the violation is serious or repeated, separate restrictions may be imposed in accordance with the operating policy.

4. Policy on Use Restrictions

Restrictions due to violating Terms of Services or this Operational Policy may be place after a warning has been issued. Members will be notified of the restriction through email, in-game mail, or other methods. However, members may be notified of the restriction afterwards according to certain violations stated in Terms of Services.

1) Restriction Process

Reports of violation against Terms of Services and this Operational Policy will be processed in the following order
Actions that violate Terms of Service or Policies → Investigation by GM → (Prior Notification) → Restriction → (Additional Notification) → Objection → Notification of Final Result

2) Making an Objection

Suggestion: Members can send an email to this address (global-lab@pearlabyss.com) with their reasons for objection.
Consequence: The company will immediately remove the restriction on the account if the member’s objection is deemed to be valid.

3) Restriction Types

Warning: Members will be restricted on in-game actions, forcibly change character/family/guild etc, deletion of image, GM warning/suggestion etc.
Chatting Ban: Members will be temporarily banned from chatting in-game.
Removal of Testing Rights: Members will lose the right to participate in the tests on the test server.

4) Criteria for Restriction

If two or more violations of the Terms and Conditions of Service are found at the same time, the company can impose restrictions based on the most serious violation out of all the applicable restrictions to each act.
If a 3rd violation party uses a member's account and violates the Terms and Conditions of Service and Operational Policy during the account sharing, restrictions may be imposed on the member and the account.
If a member acquires an item that another member acquired through a violation of the Terms and Conditions of Service and Operational Policy, the company will retrieve the item and all related numerical data from the character/family. Also, the account that obtained the item and data may be subject to restrictions in accordance with the Operational Policy.

5) Table of Restriction Criteria

If any act listed in the "Table of Restrictions Criteria" below is found, the member who made the act may be held legally liable and may be subject to strong restrictions and penalties imposed by the company based on the principle. The violations specified in this Operational Policy must include the following table and even if not listed in the table are such matters as any violations of the Terms and Conditions of Service and Related Laws, and any acts that seriously affect the balance or system in the game, such matters may be subject to restrictions regardless of the contents of the policy.
Even if several members violate the same matter, the company can make judgment on which restrictions should be imposed among Warning, Period Block, Permanent Block, Retrieval, Punitive retrieval etc, depending on the severity of the act by the doer.
Other than that, if a member's act is found to be incompatible with relevant laws and regulations, the company will immediately take strong actions of restrictions and the company can ask for investigation or help to the authorities concerned and judicial authorities, and vice versa, the company will respond immediately in case there are requests from the authorities concerned and judicial authorities for cooperation.

Addendum (2018.7.12)

This policy will be effective as of July 12, 2018