Players, moderators and admins¶

Players, moderators and admins are the roles that decide who can do what with a game and the bot. A game's participants run their own game, and moderators run any game on the server. The server admin sets the game gathering channel, the game history channel and the moderator role.

Why roles matter¶

Roles separate who runs one game from who runs the whole server. The bot doesn't hand out roles itself: it checks whether a person has joined a game, what Discord permissions they have, and whether they have the server's moderator role. What you can do depends on four things:

Taking part in a game: a game participant runs their game from gathering to the result. They kick players, start the game, pick nations, and finish or scrap it. The same seat in a game lets you change it on the site.
Moderator rights: a moderator runs any game on the server, even if they don't play in it. They also put up the game panel and the leaderboard, turn on the event log and set up gathering notifications.
The “Manage Server” permission: with it, a server admin sets the game gathering channel, the game history channel and the moderator role.
Bot owner: the person who runs CivBot and acts for all servers at once.

Anyone on the server can create a game, join a gathering and view stats. On the server the site works with, anyone can also open a player's profile on the site through the “Profile on site” item.

What it includes¶

Role	Who it is	What they can do
Anyone on the server	Everyone on the Discord server where the bot runs	Creates a game on the game panel, joins a gathering, views stats
Game participant	A player who joined a gathering	Runs this game from gathering to the result
Game creator	The player who created the game on the game panel	The same as the other game participants
Moderator	The server owner, a server member with the Discord “Administrator” permission, or a member with the moderator role	Runs any game on the server, puts up the game panel and the leaderboard, sets up the event log and gathering notifications
Server admin	A server member with the Discord “Manage Server” permission	Sets the game gathering channel, the game history channel and the moderator role with the `/guild config` command
Bot owner	The person who runs CivBot; doesn't depend on a server	Starts and closes a season, sets the win coefficient, rating events and personal rank badges
Site visitor	A person who opened the CivBot site	A guest sees the home page and can try a save; someone signed in with Discord sees games and profiles

One person can have several roles. A moderator who joined a gathering becomes a game participant too. The server owner is both a moderator and a server admin.

Who a moderator is¶

The bot treats as a moderator anyone who:

owns the server;
has the Discord “Administrator” permission;
has the server's moderator role.

A server has one moderator role. A server admin picks it with the /guild config command. People on the server get this role in Discord's settings, like any other role. See Adding CivBot to a server.

Who a server admin is¶

A server admin is a server member with the Discord “Manage Server” permission. Only with this permission can you run the /guild config command, which sets the game gathering channel, the game history channel and the moderator role. The server owner and server members with the “Administrator” permission have “Manage Server” automatically.

The “Manage Server” permission on its own doesn't make someone a moderator. To put up the game panel and the leaderboard, you need the “Administrator” permission or the moderator role. See Game panel.

Who the bot owner is¶

The bot owner is the person who runs CivBot. A season is shared by all servers, so only the bot owner starts and closes it, and server moderators don't. The owner also sets the win coefficient, turns on rating events and assigns personal rank badges. The bot owner is not a server role: it isn't handed out in Discord's settings. A moderator can only view seasons with the /season list and /season info commands. See Seasons.

Who can do what while gathering¶

Before the start, players gather on the gathering card in the game gathering channel.

Action	Who can
Create a game with the “FFA” or “Duel” button on the game panel	Anyone on the server
Join a gathering or leave it	Anyone on the server
Kick a player with the “Kick” button	A game participant or a moderator
Cancel the gathering with the 🗑️ button	A game participant or a moderator
Mark yourself ready with the “Ready” button	A game participant, only for themselves
Ban nations with the “Bans” button	A game participant, only for themselves
Start with the “Start with Draft” or “Skip Draft & Start” button	A game participant or a moderator, when the buttons are on
Add a Steam link with the “Steam Link” button	A game participant or a moderator
Call players with the “Notify gathering” button	A game participant or a moderator, if they don't have the restricting role

A moderator can set a restricting role in the gathering notification settings: whoever has it can't send notifications. See Setting up gathering notifications.

A kicked player can join the gathering again. If the server has the event log turned on, the bot records every kick and gathering cancellation there.

Who can do what after the start¶

After the start, the game continues in the game thread. Game participants and moderators use its buttons and menus.

Action	Who can
Pick nations in the “Choose who plays which nation” menu	A game participant or a moderator, for all players
Assign a nation in the “Nation Assignment” message	A game participant or a moderator, to any player
Swap slots in the “Swap requests between players” menu	FFA game participants, by mutual request
Send a Steam link to the game thread as a separate message	Anyone who can write in the game thread
Finish the game with the `/game finish` command	A game participant or a moderator; on the site, only a player of the game
Scrap the game with the “Cancel game” button	A game participant or a moderator
Refresh the game card with the `/game refresh` command	Anyone on the server

Who runs the commands¶

Action	Who can
Put up the game panel with the `/moderator panel` command	Moderator
Put up the leaderboard with the `/leaderboard show` command	Moderator
Publish the leaderboard of a past season with the `/leaderboard season` command	Moderator
Turn the event log on or off with the `/guild log_channel` command	Moderator
Set up, view or turn off gathering notifications with the `/guild notifications configure`, `/guild notifications status` and `/guild notifications disable` commands	Moderator
View the list of seasons and the active season's card with the `/season list` and `/season info` commands	Moderator
Set the Steam game ID with the `/guild steam_game_id` command	Moderator
Set the game gathering channel, the game history channel and the moderator role with the `/guild config` command	Server admin
View stats with the `/stats show` and `/nations stats` commands	Anyone on the server
Find games in which the specified players played together with the `/search games_by_players` command	Anyone on the server
Get a private link to a player's profile with the “Profile on site” item in a server member's Apps menu	Anyone on the server the site works with

Searching games by players is also available on the site. See Games on the site. The player profile is described on the Player profile page.

All commands with their options are collected on the Bot commands page.

Who can do what on the site¶

The site works with one Discord server, and this table is about its games. Your role on the site depends on whether you signed in with Discord and whether you have a seat in a game.

Action	Who can
Try a save on the home page	Anyone, even a guest
See the games list, the game page and the player profile	Someone signed in with Discord
Finish the game, pick a seat's nation, attach a save, match the save's players	A player of the game, meaning someone who has a seat in it
Find the lobby in Steam with the “Join the game” button, in the first 48 hours after the start	A player of the game

A moderator without a seat in the game can only view it on the site: these buttons aren't shown to them. They can run such a game in Discord, including /game finish and picking nations in the game thread. A closed game can't be changed from the site: the game page says “Closed on …” and has no edit buttons. See Game page.

How it connects¶

Game: a participant runs their own game, and a moderator runs any game on the server. See Game.
Game panel: a moderator puts it up, and everyone uses the “FFA” and “Duel” buttons. See Game panel.
Event log: it shows who kicked a player, cancelled a gathering, scrapped a game or swapped slots. See Event log.
Gathering notifications: a moderator sets them up, and game participants and moderators send them. See Setting up gathering notifications.
Adding the bot: a server admin sets the game gathering channel, the game history channel and the moderator role. See Adding CivBot to a server.
Site: only a game's players can change a game on the site, and a moderator without a seat in the game can only view it. See Game page.

Rules¶

The game creator runs the game on equal terms with the other participants¶

The game creator is the player who pressed “FFA” or “Duel” on the game panel and chose the game type. The bot immediately joins them to the gathering and shows their name and avatar at the top of the gathering card. The creator has no special rights. Any game participant can kick a player, start the game or cancel the gathering. If the creator leaves the gathering with the “Join | Leave” button, they can no longer run it, unless they are a moderator. See Creating a game and gathering players.

A moderator runs any game on their server¶

To run a game, a moderator doesn't need to join it. They do everything in the game that its participants can, except ready marks, bans and slot swaps. See Creating a game and gathering players and Game thread.

Everyone marks ready, bans and swaps slots only for themselves¶

The “Ready” button marks only the person who pressed it as ready. In the menu of the “Bans” button, a player bans nations for themselves. A slot swap happens when two FFA players choose each other in the “Swap requests between players” menu. Only players who have joined the game can do these things. A moderator who isn't playing can't do them for others. See Bans and Picking nations and swapping slots.

Any game participant or moderator picks nations for all players¶

In a game with a draft, the “Choose who plays which nation” menu sets nations for all players at once. Each pick in this menu replaces all the previous ones. In a game without a draft, the buttons of the “Nation Assignment” message let you pick a nation for any player. Both ways are available to every game participant and moderator. See Picking nations and swapping slots.

The start buttons turn on the same way for everyone¶

The “Start with Draft” and “Skip Draft & Start” buttons turn on under two conditions. The gathering must have at least 3 players in FFA or 2 in Duel, and each of them must have pressed “Ready”. Until then the buttons are off for everyone, moderators included. Once the buttons are on, any game participant or moderator can start the game. See Starting a game.

Only participants and moderators use the game's buttons, except “Join | Leave”¶

Only participants of that game and moderators press the buttons and menus on the gathering card and the game card, except “Join | Leave”. The bot privately replies to everyone else with “You are not allowed to perform this action.” You get this reply if you:

pressed a button or menu of a game you don't play in, and you aren't a moderator;
pressed “Ready” in a gathering you haven't joined, even if you are a moderator;
sent a notification from the “Notify gathering” window in a gathering you aren't playing in, and you aren't a moderator: the window opens for anyone, and the bot checks permissions when you send it.

See Bot messages.

A game participant or a moderator runs the /game finish command, and on the site only a player of the game finishes the game. After finishing, the game gets the state “Finished” right away: the bot doesn't ask the other players to confirm. The “Cancel game” button in the game thread opens the “Cancel game confirmation” window, which is always in English. In its “Cancel game” field you can give a reason of up to 100 characters, but it's optional. After the window is submitted, the game gets the state “Scrap”, and the other players' consent isn't needed either. See Finishing a game and Scrapping a game.

What can go wrong¶

After you press a button, the bot says “You are not allowed to perform this action.” You aren't a participant of this game or a moderator, or you pressed “Ready” in a gathering you haven't joined. Join the gathering with the “Join | Leave” button, or ask a game participant or a moderator.
/guild notifications configure, /guild notifications status or /guild notifications disable replies “You are not allowed to perform this action.” Only a moderator runs these commands. Ask a moderator, or get the moderator role from a server admin.
/moderator panel or /guild log_channel replies “Moderator role not set. Please contact server administrator.” The server has no moderator role yet, and you don't have the “Administrator” permission. Ask a server admin to set the moderator role with the /guild config command and give it to you.
/moderator panel or /guild log_channel replies “You are not moderator.” The server has a moderator role, but you don't have it, and you don't have the “Administrator” permission either. Ask a server admin to give you the moderator role.
/leaderboard show or /leaderboard season replies “You must be a moderator to use this command.” Only a moderator publishes leaderboards. Ask a moderator, or get the moderator role from a server admin.
/game finish replies “You are not in this lobby.” You aren't a participant of this game or a moderator. A participant of the game or a moderator can finish this game.
/guild config replies “You don't have permissions to do that!” This command needs the Discord “Manage Server” permission. The reply disappears after 3 seconds. Ask a server admin to run the command.
“Profile on site” replies “The site does not show this server's games.” This item works only on the server the site works with. If the player has no games on the site yet, the bot replies “This player has no games on the site yet.”
The start buttons are off even for a moderator. The gathering has too few players, or someone hasn't pressed “Ready”: there is no ✅ next to their name on the gathering card. Ask the players without ✅ to press “Ready”.

This page was translated with AI and checked against the bot's terms.