As I write these words, I have been playing War.App for over a year now. That is long enough to hear the opinions of many different types of players. I have noticed that: a) everybody thinks that there is a certain code of conduct by which everybody else should be playing and b) everybody’s own code of conduct actually conflicts with everybody else’s.

The FIDE produces a written code of conduct for chess players: https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/EthicsAndDisciplinaryCode2022.pdf. But here in War.App, we don’t even know exactly why can be suspended: https://war.app/Forum/838854-public-listing-banssuspensions.

Some of you want other players to follow an unwritten etiquette AND you don’t want these rules to be written down. Well, people aren’t mind readers. Until you resolve this paradox within yourself, you will be perpetually disappointed with other people’s behavior.

This Forum thread will test whether or not there is actually an accepted War.App Code of Conduct (outside of the game settings) by writing everything down. Each player should read what is already written and then add any other offensive conduct not listed.

I only ask that particular conduct be listed by number so that readers can more easily follow the thread. I will add the first two rules:



1) War.App players should accept that everything that is NOT negated by another player in this thread as the War.App Official Code of Conduct.

2) War.App players should not slow-walk opponents. “Slow-walking” is defined herein as unnecessarily running down the Clock or waiting to the last possible moment to press the Commit button.

3) Trolls should not participate in War.App Forum threads because they only make other people feel bad about themselves. A “troll” is defined herein as a person who only criticizes other people and/or other people’s ideas without adding anything new and/or constructive.

Edited 2026-06-27 13:01:19

A comment on proposed rule 2: Slow walking.

Slow-walking, as it is here named, is within the rules of the game, and while I also frown on it, I can't accept it as being against a code of conduct. A player should refrain from joining a game or tournament if they are unhappy to play out the games at the slowest possible pace at which that game could be played as per the game's boot timer settings.

anybody that uses the name war .app or godforbid, warzone, instead of the proper name Warlight should be banned

https://war.app/wiki/Rules

Here you go

This link is on the footer of the website: https://war.app/TermsOfService .

You agreed to it when you created an account and you got prompted to agree to chat rules the first time you tried to chat anywhere.

The TOS and Rules wiki page are sufficient.

Players are given plenty of warning before temporary or even permanent suspensions are given.

Players who are punished get a message displayed to them when they try to access the site.

Personally, I prefer this: https://nocodeofconduct.com .

There is no rule against "unsportsmanlike conduct" either. That also is needed. https://war.app/Forum/823106-reporting-category-unsportmanlike-conduct

Such a rule, if enforced, would encourage more polite and gentlemanly play.

Use the blocklist feature to enforce your non-official code of conduct.

If your teammate is booted, tough. It's not on other teams to vote to end. Being able to take turns is a skill issue.

Don't like how players take a while to take a turn? Join games with shorter boot times.

It's entirely within a player's right to play for as long as they are not eliminated. That prevents premature surrenders when they were otherwise winning or still have a fighting chance. (Even playing until clearly lost and have 1 territory left is fine. It's like winning on time in chess. Not ideal, but that's where blocklist is useful - to prevent them from joining games you created. Use the Autopilot feature if you are a member.)

If a player isn't following diplomacy game rules, use a diplomacy mod: https://war.app/wiki/Diplomacy_Gametype#Diplomacy_mods . (The same page lists common diplomacy rules.)

War.app isn’t a game so much as a game engine. You can’t have a useful code of conduct that generalized across MTL, QM, and CW, let alone strat and diplo.

“Surrender as soon as you know you’ve lost” seems fine though. Probably better than the slow walking rule.

Edited 2026-06-24 20:59:34

Sooo... you've played the game for long enough to know that there's an unwritten code of conduct, and yet you haven't played long enough to know that "slow-walking" is called stalling...
Might need to play for a bit longer, mate, before you start trying to get "official" codes of conduct written.

Edited 2026-06-25 07:55:14

Names consisting of only capital letters, such as LND, should be forbidden

Hey!!!!

here's a fun one:

if you say gg its an insta-time out of 15 minutes lol

@CONSEQUENCER are you sure you want that?

You guys are all breaking rule number 2. I think this warrants a time-out

My bad rule number 3

the code is to not be enough of a problem, also no south asian religious symbols cause it might spook the advertisers.

Marcus started this thread with thought and consideration.
well-written and composed.

his last line in the original post. was this:

3) Trolls should not participate in War.App Forum threads because they only make other people feel bad about themselves. A “troll” is defined herein as a person who only criticizes other people and/or other people’s ideas without adding anything new and/or constructive.



then read the previous seven posts, some if not most by experienced WZ of high Levels.
most of their posts are worse than posts on Twitter.

i'm going to call it out as I see it.
Marcus put a lot of thought into his original post.


Dan's was the last coherent post with a valid point.
then, two three-line posts.
then, seven one-line posts that make the twitter cutoff for 120 characters.

the problem is "rules of conduct", and "code of conduct" is the anonymous nature of the internet.
Marcus brings up a completely valid line of thought, then within a dozen posts, it devolves into one-line stupidity that has NOTHING To do with the original subject heading.




that would qualify the last seven posts as trolling content.
my reply to dan's post June 24th, every point he made I would agree with.

if it's a three day boot, then someone is allowed to take 3 days to commit

personally, though not the title of this thread.
the issue is one of settings.
any game is created by someone who wants to play, and win.
settings create a different game.
if settings are too far off, someone signing up to a game with off-beat settings and unknown strategy will simply lose interest..

this is a common problem I am seeing in the forum:
game creators should be asked to rate their game as "mainstream", "somewhat offbeat", "far from norm"

and people in lobby or after game start should be able to press a button to practice a game with identical settings against 3xAI in single player format a few times. either before signing up while still in lobby, or even after game start, when there is plenty of time to commit to turn one or two.

no one wants to lose
the community will die from stale content.
or games stacked against even a competent game-player

It's called X now.