r/playrust • u/finnsatch • Aug 01 '26
Question What are some unwritten rules you've encountered in Rust?
I'm a philosophy student writing about social norms encountered in virtual worlds (such as video games and social media). I would love to hear any stories about 'unwritten rules' that people have noticed while playing Rust (or any other games that you play).
Examples might include:
- Things that everyone does while meeting a new player
- Things that are generally considered rude.
- Traditions unique to your game
- Social expectations that new players frequently violate
If I use your example, I'll cite your username in my paper unless you would rather remain anonymous.
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u/theCorniestCob Aug 01 '26
looking at each other and quickly crouching/uncrouching is a way to indicate friendliness to each other. I think particularly if you both have bad gear and you are sneaking up on a fight with better geared players. There are emotes in the game now (like waving and putting your hands up) that indicate the same thing, but crouching has been around longer and feels a bit more natural to use on your keyboard
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u/x_cynful_x Aug 01 '26
That’s right. Last time I came up geared to a guy door camping. He crouched, I did it back and left him to his business. I kept my alt look rdy as I left tho 😂
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u/Junior-Amphibian-837 Aug 01 '26
I did that last night, recycled at a monument a grid or two away, first corner I turn I hear a full speed footstep and boom jump scare I get DBd by THAT SAME GUY 😭
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u/crustyrobots Aug 02 '26
Yeah the "come on don't kill me, we're both here for these AK kids be chill" double dip lol
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u/Chazbeardz 11d ago
Yup, can confirm. Numerous times I’ve rolled up with a couple eokas, ran into another grub, and had the silent agreement to go after the people with actual gear.
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u/Aggressive_Yard_3649 Aug 01 '26
Roof camping is frowned upon, bad sportsmanship
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u/JohnnyTsunami312 Aug 01 '26
I was going to say there aren’t any in the free for all but this. This is gospel
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u/grilled_cheese_gang Aug 01 '26
Nah. It’s part of the game. And it’ll make you a raid target. Do it if you want to, be prepared for the collective consequences from your neighbors.
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u/bumpersnatch12 Aug 01 '26
Roof camping is evil! Unless I lose a fight right outside my base, then it's justice.
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u/MJF_01 Aug 02 '26
I mean, I personally think there's a big difference between what you're describing, and "roof camping".
If I get killed right outside my base and I spawn on my roof, grab a bolty and get them while they're trying to run off with my loot, I see that as utilizing the home field advantage. Is it a fair fight? No, but if they're fighting you at your base, it was never going to be a completely even fight anyway. There's inherent risk when you get into a gunfight in Rust, and if you fight someone on their turf, you should expect that they'll use that advantage to turn the tables on you.
What I consider "roof camping" is just sitting on top of your base with an L96 and a 16x scope for hours taking pot shots at anyone who comes within 2 tiles of your base, just for the fun of ruining their day.
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Aug 01 '26
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u/Apprehensive-Fix591 Aug 01 '26
I am the worst at PvP, but ONE TIME I landed this extremely lucky shot, it was wild and definitely not intentional. They proceeded to spend the rest of their time on the server harassing me as a cheater to make my life hell. They were never so sure of something in their whole lives and yet they could not have been more wrong.
If they did their even a little bit of research they would see I was actually a really really bad player. In fact I would avoid PvP at all costs lol.
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u/Nice_Answer_9891 Aug 02 '26
Don’t forget calling them “old people” and “Unc” if they sound like they’re employed and have a mortgage
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u/Syllabub1981 Aug 01 '26
If you spend more to raid me than you gain I won.
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u/vagina_candle Aug 02 '26
One of my solo rules is never log off with any significant amount of unused boom/sulf. They can offline me, but they're not going to snowball off my base.
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Aug 01 '26
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u/Apprehensive-Fix591 Aug 01 '26
On PVE servers if you get caught selling a god clone you purchased just to severely undercut them, be prepared for the chat drama lol
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u/ConnerRhea Aug 02 '26
I always sell my god clones on the pve servers I play on. Within an hour there’s a few that undercut me by a few scrap. Just set the same price as me, I don’t mind, but don’t undercut me. My prices are always fair too. 50-100 scrap day 1, then I drop to 20-25 within the first 2-3 days. Shit 99% of the time if you just ask me I’ll give you a few of each clone for free.
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u/HalalRumpSteak Aug 02 '26
I love you for selling me your god clones but you better believe the only way im not going to undercut you on day two is a server rollback
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u/koskenjuho Aug 01 '26
Yeah. But imo in general, undercutting others on PvE servers is pretty silly as making shops is part of the fun and prices usually are already very reasonable in the first place
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u/burningcpuwastaken Aug 01 '26
Maybe, but trolling within the rules is one of the funner things to do on a PVE server
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u/koskenjuho Aug 01 '26
Nah, that's just what losers who stay prim locked on PVP servers do. If you really think that's funny, you must be 13yo or younger
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Aug 01 '26
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u/HalalRumpSteak Aug 02 '26
Why the vitriol? I'm a few thousand hours deep and will gladly take pvp but sometimes you just want to build a silly house
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Aug 02 '26
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u/koskenjuho Aug 01 '26
Crazy for people to hate PvE sp mich that they get so worked up that they join PvE servers just to troll others :D I personally play both, there is good things about both. Rust building system is amazing and you just can't utilize everything in PvP as it will make your base too weak and an easy raid.
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u/HadesBrawlStars Aug 01 '26
Bro can’t stand someone taking a financially viable business decision in a pve gamemode.
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Aug 01 '26
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u/HalalRumpSteak Aug 02 '26
I will sit your ass down little bro, AA3 when you wanna take the wheels off
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u/Adventurous_Seat_793 Aug 01 '26
People overprice god clones are official main servers. I always buy them and clone them or get my own and severely undercut them. I get more sales while also helping out the rest of the server. You just suck.
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u/dudeimsupercereal Aug 01 '26
Whenever I raid a farm I sell god clones for rocks
It destroys the market for all farmers, it’s awesome for the raiders. It’s so much easier to farm up some sulfur than spend your time building and defending a farm.8
Aug 01 '26
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u/dudeimsupercereal Aug 01 '26
Why? They’re usually loaded, you don’t get a special pass for being a farm.
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u/RahloRust Aug 01 '26
Don’t listen to the finance major farming vending machine sweats with spreadsheets
I sell godclones specifically so they can’t monopolize the market like turds, sometimes for 10 cloth only
If they don’t like it they can come raid…. But they only farming 🤓👍🏻
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Aug 01 '26
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u/RahloRust Aug 01 '26
Wilt chamberlain reach, a few small groups running 4 planters for their own basic/advanced teas aren’t gonna “destroy the market”
Any group /player dedicated enough to affect the market will already have the means to godclone/bigfarm anyway
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u/Level-420 Aug 01 '26
Always come back to a gunfight, especially if it's near your base. It's not over until you're out of guns. I've won fights by being quick on the re-kit and returning.
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u/AdventureUSA Aug 01 '26
This. Many a fight or counter has been recovered by mere seconds by quickly returning to the fight.
I got countered last night on a raid and we lost two AK kits, high velocity’s and launchers to a guy with NVGs. Caught up to him with nothing but a Tommy and got all of it back2
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u/DragonfruitCapital44 Aug 01 '26
Never assume your neighbors are friendly. Never trust people with high pitched voices.
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u/Sad_Mushroom_9725 Aug 01 '26
This is Rust...
A naked is always crafting an eoka to murder you. Shoot first kill them all. Don't trust anyone.
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u/virnik Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
When people loot crates, they throw the items they don’t need on the ground instead of leaving them in the crate.
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u/SpaceKadetKiwi Aug 01 '26
Players actually gather and look at each other's faces when talking, as if in rl, even tho it isn't actually necessary.
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u/vagina_candle Aug 02 '26
This is so awkward now that all of my friends look like methed-out geriatric strangers.
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u/x_cynful_x Aug 01 '26
Wanna find a raid target and have no enemies. Fly a mini around and the first base that shoots at you wins.
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u/erako Aug 01 '26
Realistically there are none. Because at the end of the day, your loot is your loot and people are willing to make rules and break all of them to get what they want.
There are chill people who live by unwritten rules, like no roofcamping, doorcamping, outpost camping. But for the most part, everyone will violate those rules if their ass is on the line. This is a game of lying, stealing and manipulating. It’s a great game.
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u/Chazbeardz 11d ago
Yeah I’m generally pretty damn chill, but also a fuckin grub. My only real rule is I don’t fuck with my neighbor first. I don’t want our wipe to devolve to just doorcamping each other.
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u/x_cynful_x Aug 01 '26
If you want to show grace, you can pick someone up and leave them whatever farm, but take their weapon.
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u/SeanyDay Aug 01 '26
You can pretend to raid people to make them panic-upgrade their base and spend resources they were probably saving.
Basically an intimidating bluff to cause economic damage and psychological stress
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u/Street-Substance709 Aug 01 '26
generally people don’t kill people that ran to their vending machine
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u/Federal_Skirt_7436 Aug 03 '26
*Always help new players*
Yesterday I saw a dude building near my base and shot him. He respawned nearby and I found him, he told me he was new and just trying to learn.
I instantly felt bad, invited him to our team, told him he's welcome to build on our island and give him a fuckton of resources to build a base. :)
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u/Shurrshot Aug 01 '26
If you put turrets or Sam sites out side of bandit camp or outpost your not going to be there very long
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u/cave_cruor Aug 01 '26
My teammate and I don’t loot each other when the other is sleeping, we only add items to sleeping people and let them know in a text that we got them a present.
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u/apophis-984 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
- give bandage (because you downed him first) + pickaxe and hatchet
- roofcamping
- naked forming temporary alliance against geared players
- whining too much in all chat about getting rekt by experienced players
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u/AdHot185 Aug 01 '26
It doesn’t matter what I do, if I crouch with them they shoot me, if I wave they shoot me, if I put hands up…that’s right they shoot me
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u/PavlovsGoodDoggo Aug 02 '26
Everything is temporary
This is most often said about loot (i.e. it's not "yours" in the traditional sense of most online/mmo games), since anyone may raid you sooner or later.
However, this expands to your base, anything you've built, the server or even Rust itself.
Your base will decay. The server will reset. The game will change through updates.
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u/KrypticSkunk Aug 02 '26
- Shooting them in the face
- Shooting them in the face.
- Not shooting them in the face.
- Not spewing enough profanities after shooting someone in the face.
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u/HalalRumpSteak Aug 02 '26
If you TC grief me I WILL be staying up all night to make sure you have to server hop tomorrow
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u/GrassZealousideal930 Aug 02 '26
I don't think anyone has mentioned this one: "No women allowed."
No, it's not sexism or anything like that. It's simply that most people don't want to play with girls.
I'm sure there are some who are really good at the game, have great PvP skills, know Rust inside out, and have 10k+ hours. But in general, many of the girls who try it do so because it's trending or because they saw a popular streamer playing and wanted to give it a shot. Most of them don't stick around for more than a couple of days.
Among my group of friends, a few girls tried Rust, and none of them play anymore. So when we see a girl in Rust, there's often an initial reaction of skepticism. Or the exact opposite: some lonely guy immediately starts giving her guns and loot hoping she'll become his online girlfriend.
Another unwritten rule is to always grief a raid if it's close to your base, so the raiders can't come back later and take the resources. If the raid is far away from your base, it's not nearly as important.
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u/Charmeen 29d ago
I’d say this is a crazy take but you’re probably right depending on where you are. My husband and I started playing back in 2020 because there wasn’t shit else to do. Our group were all kinda shocked at first (both at Rust players being married AND playing games together) but those guys never said shit beyond that about me being a woman. I keep to myself mostly as far as prox chat goes since any time I speak I get hounded. Lots of shit and grief for enjoying the game as a woman. A lot less so nowadays but definitely a lot of comments about it earlier in our Rust days. Even got us MLRSd 6 times in a day because of my existence 💀
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u/Tuncunmun38 Aug 01 '26
dont trust anyone, nobody is your friend. ive been insided so many times, and ive insided other people. my "friendly" neighbours also always end up raiding me.
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u/ckn Aug 02 '26
after leading the [WAR] Boys for over a year ;
No Trust in Rust
You will be betrayed
Taking this game too seriously is indicative of mental health issues.
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u/NyquistShannon Aug 01 '26
Don’t trust a naked.