Terms of Service
RULES
Welcome to Goatling.com! When playing Goatlings, we ask members to adhere to these rules to make the site a safer place for everyone. Failure to do so may result in warnings, or, in more severe cases, an immediate ban from the site. If you witness suspicious activity or rule breaking please send in a Support Ticket and Goatlings Staff will look into it. By respecting these terms, Goatlings will remain a fun, trusted, and welcoming community for years to come. Thank you for understanding and have fun!Last updated: 9/12/23
- Multiple accounts are not allowed. Owning or using more than one account is strictly against the rules. Multiple account abuse will result in the ban of all linked accounts. This includes making accounts for alters/systems.
- Sharing/Selling/Giving away accounts is not allowed. If anyone (sibling, friend, etc.) violates the Terms of Service on your account, that account will be banned. An exception to this is sharing accounts with alters/headmates/system members - so long as they can stay cooperative and follow all other rules.
- Do not abuse glitches, scam, or cheat, in any way to unfairly gain an advantage over other members. This includes creating multiple accounts, using auto-refreshers, or any other programs/people that play the site for you. Members may be assisted by a parent or guardian if needed.
- Goatlings.com is not responsible for member transactions that are not followed through. This includes art trades, commissions, offsite trades, Goatling trades through the Adoption Center, buying/selling Goatling names, and member run contest/giveaway prizes. If there is significant proof that a member is making multiple bad transactions, please contact staff via Support Ticket so mods can look into your case.
- For their own safety and the safety of others, members that are 12 years old and under cannot use our Forums, Goatmail, or Live Chat. For this reason, we are unable to fulfill birthday change requests for members who have already entered and confirmed an underage birthday. - If a birthday was clearly entered incorrectly (e.g., put in the current year by mistake) or accidentally skipped this step during registration, please contact us via Support Ticket and a mod will change it to the requested date at the earliest convenience.
- Do not pose as staff. Anyone impersonating or wrongfully claiming to be a staff member will be banned immediately - as well as any linked accounts.
- We take pride in being an ad free site. Goatlings.com does not provide ad space for anything unrelated to the site. This includes copy/paste sales pitches promoting other pet sites. The discussion of other virtual pet sites is allowed, but please refrain from blatant promoting.
- Do not share your personal information with other users. For your own safety, please keep your email, password, birthday, and other sensitive information private. Goatlings.com staff will never need to know, or ask for, passwords.
- Do not post, or link to, offensive or inappropriate words and content anywhere on the site. This includes (but is not limited to) profanity, hate speech, illegal substances, explicit sexual references, slurs, offensive slang, heavy vents, as well as anything derogatory, abusive, ableist, passive aggressive, morbid, trolling, or bullying. This rule applies to the full website including (but is not limited to); Usernames, User Profiles, Goatling names, Goatling Profiles, Forums, Live Chat, Shops, Galleries, and Trades. Members may be warned, or banned without warning, if this rule is abused or stretched.
- Note that some words have double meanings - in the case of content that include those words, context will be taken into account (is it used in a hurtful, derogatory context, etc.). Additionally, if staff is unsure about a Goatling’s name, the pet’s description will be looked into. If the description alludes to offensive or inappropriate context, the pet’s description will be reset.
- Members will usually not receive a strike against their account for the first time the content is removed (be it inappropriate, offensive, or otherwise). Numerous offenses will result in strikes against the account or banning.
- Legal alcohol and smoking references are allowed, but not encouraged, and will be assessed in a case-by-case manner. Plainly stated names of alcohol or smoking references (i.e., beer, liquor, cigarettes, etc.) are allowed. References to harmful addictions (i.e., alcoholism, substance abuse, etc.) are not allowed. Conversations focused on the use of alcohol and smoking are not allowed.
- Disease references are allowed, but not encouraged, and will be assessed in a case-by-case manner. If used in a graphic sense (i.e., accompanied by graphic imagery or wording), or inappropriately (diseases relating to genitalia, STDs or STIs, etc.), this content will be removed. Content or names addressing mental illness will not be removed if used in a respectful manner (i.e., using Depression or Anxiety as a goat name or username is fine).
- Morbid references will be assessed in a case-by-case manner. Graphic descriptions or references of death, violence, or self-harm (i.e., disemboweling, gory imagery or wording, etc.) are not allowed. This also includes creating usernames or Goatling names based on violent people such as famous serial killers. Similarly, references to death are allowed (using the name death, cemeteries, etc.) but any graphic depictions in writing or imagery will be removed. Lastly, references of blood used in usernames or goat names will be allowed provided it's used appropriately, but we do not encourage talk or conversation focused on blood.
- Sexual references will be assessed in a case-by-case manner. Content, conversations, and names involving sexuality (i.e., bisexual, lesbian) or gender identity (i.e., transgender, nonbinary) are allowed if done so respectfully. However, if you are found using others sexuality or identity in an offensive or otherwise hurtful manner, the content will be removed. Other sexual references or graphic references to genitalia are not allowed and will be removed.
- Religious references will be assessed in a case-by-case manner. Content, conversations, and names involving religion are allowed if done so respectfully. However, if Members are found disrespecting or referencing others religions in a hurtful manner, the content will be removed. Use of propagandist or hateful imagery (nazism, swastika, etc.) will result in an instant ban.
- Please note that the staff of Goatlings are only human, and each name is checked manually. Unfortunately, this means that some things fly under our radar. If you believe a name, Goatling name, or other content breaks our Terms of Service, please report it via Support Ticket.
- The staff of Goatlings.com would like to make it clear that we do not condone any degree of harassment or bullying, on OR offsite. Goatlings.com is an all-ages friendly website and we take pride in our positive and welcoming community. If we receive clear and solid proof of a member harassing, abusing, or bullying other members offsite, said offender may be banned. We also ask that any topics of off-site bullying be kept private to prevent the spread of negativity and awareness of grieving platforms. If you suspect you're the target of offsite verbal abuse, please don't hesitate to contact a mod. Thank you for understanding; please be kind to your fellow members.
- Please do not contact or harass members who have placed bids on auctions, or who have won auctions. Members who pester or disrespect others who have placed bids and/or won an auction will be permanently banned from Goat Mail, Forums, and possibly from the site. Members may bid on multiple items, bid as many times as they like, snipe bids, and may win multiple times in a row. Members may do whatever they want with the items after they have won them. Such as sell, give away, hoard, or even pawn.
- Member Shop rules are not enforced. While adding rules to your shop is acceptable, other members are not obligated to follow/observe them. Contacting members who have broken these rules is considered harassment.
- Please do not contact or harass members who have chosen to keep a "Traveling Goatling". A member who chooses to keep a "Traveling" Goatling that was Traded or placed in the Rehome Center has every right to do so. Members asking them to give it back, or make passive aggressive comments about them will be permanently silenced or even banned depending on the severity of the case. The "Traveling Goatling Game" is a member created game and should be played at your own risk. These are not officially regulated site games and the Goatlings involved can be permanently adopted at any time.
- Member created designs that have been submitted and made into official site content become copyrighted by Goatlings.com. This helps protect the artwork from being wrongfully used by other companies, and also protects images from being used in harmful and malicious ways. We ask that you consider and understand this before uploading and submitting your original designs to Goatlings.com.
- Designs MUST be the members original work, and not heavily inspired or copied from existing characters, designs, or any other media that is not their own.
This includes characters/art/designs/text from all media sources and other artists. This is especially important in the case of Diamond Dust submissions. Violation of this will be a permanent ban from the site.
- Lightly inspired designs will usually be allowed, however this must be openly disclosed so Goatling Staff can double check for similarities.
- AI generated art and text is not permitted on site, and will be removed.
AI generated content is considered theft, and not the members original work. Using AI generated content for official contests, art events, written events, and commissions will disqualify the member from future contests, and may result in a ban, or mute based on severity.
- By submitting designs to the site, you are agreeing to let us feature/use the design in the following ways:
+ Member created designs will be available via Battle Center, Shopping District, Events, Arcade, or Diamond Dust shop.
+ Goatlings.com Staff may feature member created designs in official merchandise such as Gazettes, stickers, buttons, and misc.
+ Member created designs may be featured in advertisements such as sneak peeks for our official Discord and social media.
+ Members may sell commissioned drawings of member created designs to other members.