Terms & Privacy

ARK Tournament Survivors is operated by ATS Ark Servers LTD, which is the data controller responsible for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at [email protected].

• In-game identity. When you connect and play, the game server reports the player and tribe identifiers used to place you on the leaderboard, across PC (Steam), Xbox and PlayStation. No account sign-in or login is required to play or be tracked.
• Gameplay data. In-game statistics, tribe and player names, and results, used to run the leaderboard and tournament.
• Purchase data. When you buy VIP, our payment provider Tip4Serv shares transaction metadata (such as the product bought and a transaction reference). We do not receive your full card number.
• Technical data. IP address, browser and device information, and server logs, collected automatically for security and to operate the service.
• Discord data. If you join our Discord or link it, we process the account information Discord makes available to us.

• To provide and secure the servers, website, and your account;
• To run the leaderboard, tournament, and prize distribution;
• To deliver and support VIP purchases;
• To detect and prevent cheating, abuse, and fraud;
• To communicate with you about the service and respond to requests.

We process your data on the basis of: performance of a contract (providing the service and your VIP), legitimate interests (security, anti-cheat, and running a fair tournament), consent (where required, such as certain cookies), and legal obligation (where the law requires us to keep or disclose data).

We share personal data only with the providers needed to run the service, including Tip4Serv (payments), Nitrado (game server hosting), Cloudflare (DNS, CDN and security), DigitalOcean (website hosting), and Discord (community). Each processes data under its own policy. We do not sell your personal data.

We may also disclose data where required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, and integrity of the network and its players.

Some of our providers operate outside the European Economic Area (for example in the United States). Where data is transferred outside the EEA, it is protected by appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent mechanism.

We keep account and gameplay data for as long as your account is active and as needed to run the tournament and its records. Technical logs are kept for a limited period for security. We delete or anonymise data when it is no longer needed, or on a valid deletion request, unless we must keep it to meet a legal obligation.

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal data, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent. To exercise any of these, contact [email protected].

If you are in the EU, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority, such as the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).

We use only a small amount of browser local storage to remember preferences, such as whether interface sounds are on. There is no login, so we do not set a sign-in cookie. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

We protect data with measures including encrypted (HTTPS) connections and restricted access to our systems. No online service can be guaranteed fully secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the "last updated" date above. Significant changes may also be announced in our Discord.

For any privacy question or request, contact [email protected].

1.1  Your tribe stands alone. This network is built on one idea: your tribe stands alone. It is one tribe against every other tribe for the entire season. Alliances of any kind are forbidden, whether they are made in game, on Discord, or anywhere else, and whether they are formal agreements or just an unspoken understanding.

1.2  Teaming is banned. Teaming means two or more tribes working together, and every form of it is banned. That includes raiding together, defending together, living together, sharing loot, tames, turrets, or FOBs, making peace deals, splitting the map into territories, and paying or helping another tribe in any way. Where the deal is made changes nothing: an agreement typed in Discord carries exactly the same weight as one made in game.

Example: Tribe A and Tribe B agree to leave each other alone and split raid loot between them. That is teaming, and both tribes are punished for it.

1.3  What teaming costs. Every tribe involved in teaming receives a warning or a season disqualification, and the evidence decides which. Small or unclear cases start with a warning. Organized teaming, done to win prize money, is treated as prize fraud and leads straight to disqualification.

1.4  Insiding is legal. Insiding, meaning joining a tribe in order to rob it, is a part of ARK and always has been. It is legal here: we do not punish it and we do not refund what was lost. The tribe leader controls every invite, which makes the tribe leader responsible for who gets in. Run background checks before you invite anyone.

Example: A new member empties Tribe A's vaults at 4am and disappears. That is ARK, not a support ticket. One limit applies: robbing a tribe for your own gain is legal, but robbing a tribe as a job for another tribe means that tribe is teaming through you, and rule 1.2 applies.

1.5  Tribe size and switching. A tribe holds up to 10 players, the tribe name is what appears on the leaderboard, and every player can be in only one tribe at a time. When a player leaves or is kicked, the tribe's empty slot is locked for 72 hours before a new player can fill it, exactly like the server settings. The player who left has no timer and is free to join any other tribe immediately. Nobody joins or leaves a tribe while that tribe is in an active raid. And every alt account acting for a tribe counts as that tribe.

Example: Tribe A uses a second account to scout enemies. That account is Tribe A, and everything it does counts as Tribe A doing it.

1.6  Hiring a cheater is teaming. Paying or inviting a cheater to fight for your tribe is teaming and cheating at the same time. The cheater is banned on the spot, every time.

Example: Tribe A is being raided when a random aimbotter appears and mows down the attackers for them. Did Tribe A hire him, or is he just a troll who spent ten dollars on cheats? We cannot always tell from our side, and that is exactly why you record everything: if he is not yours, your own footage is what proves it.

1.7  Trading is legal. Scams are ARK. Trading is completely legal, with anyone, for anything in game. But understand the risk before you meet: getting scammed, robbed, or killed during a trade is part of ARK. We cannot verify trades, we do not refund them, and we will not take the blame. Your trade, your risk.

Example: Tribe B takes the Rex and shoots Tribe A in the face. That is ARK. Nobody is punished and nothing is refunded. Trade smart.

2.1  Free for all. The open world means every fight that happens away from bases and FOBs. Out there, there are no rules and no referees. Kill anyone, fight anyone, jump into any fight, chase anyone across the map. The open world is the bar fight of ARK, and someone always wants to prove they are bigger and stronger. Let them try.

Example: Three tribes all attack the same solo at the same moment. Not teaming, just ARK. Shared targets happen. Planned cooperation is what breaks rules.

2.2  What we act on. In the open world we act on exactly two things: deliberate teaming, meaning tribes working together on purpose, and cheating. Everything else that happens out there, we do not referee and we do not care about. Save your reports for real violations.

3.1  One tribe raids one base. Raids follow one law: one tribe raids one base. The first tribe to place a FOB and start attacking owns that raid until it ends, and no other tribe touches that base while the raid is running. A cave counts as one base no matter how many entrances it has or how far apart those entrances are: if they lead into the same base, it is the same base, and distance changes nothing. Before you set up a FOB, check every entrance, because another tribe may already be raiding it.

Example: Tribe A is raiding Tribe B's cave when Tribe C attacks the same cave from a far away entrance. Same cave, same base, rule broken. Tribe C's legal moves were taking Tribe A's raid (3.3) or raiding one of Tribe B's other bases (3.2).

3.2  More bases, more raids. The one attacker rule works per base, not per tribe, and there is no raid protection on this network. A tribe with many bases can be raided at all of them at the same time, one attacking tribe on each, and render distance gives no protection either. Bases out in the open world follow the same law: if a tribe clearly lives there, one attacker at a time. Claiming five caves means being ready to defend five caves at once, so do not build bigger than you can defend.

Example: Tribe A raids Tribe B's main cave while Tribe C raids Tribe B's breeding cave. Both raids are legal, because they are different bases, as long as Tribe A and Tribe C are not working together.

3.3  Want the raid? Take it. A running raid can be taken from the tribe running it. Attack the raiders, destroy their FOB, wipe them off the target, and the raid becomes yours. The original raiders are free to come back and FOB your FOB in return, and more tribes can join that war the same way. Fights between FOBs are open PvP with no limits.

Example: Tribe C wipes Tribe A's FOB. The raid on Tribe B now belongs to Tribe C.

3.4  Chaos around a raid is fine. Everything happening around a raid is still normal ARK. Spectating, killing players near the fight, PvPing for loot or just for fun, and battling over FOBs proves nothing about teaming on its own, and nobody gets banned for a messy fight. Record your gameplay, and if you see real signs of tribes working together, open a ticket with the footage. Because raids are chaotic, the Enforcement Team has the final word on what happened.

3.5  A raid is held by raiding. A raid is held by actually raiding. If a raid makes no progress for 12 hours, it is over: the attackers pack up or their FOB loses all protection. Progress means real damage to the defender's base, structures, turrets, or tames, provable in the tribe logs; poking one spam foundation does not count. A FOB that just sits there is a fake raid, and a fake raid protects the defenders from real attackers, which makes it teaming: both tribes are punished for it.

3.6  Open world builds are always raidable. A base is any place a tribe clearly lives out of, whether it is in a cave or out in the open, and every base gets the one attacker rule. Everything else a tribe builds is an open world build: TP bases, farming bases, and so on. Open world builds can be attacked by anyone, at any time, with no claims and no caps.

Example: Tribe A is mid raid on the other side of the map? You can smash their TPs around the map right now. The one raid rule protects bases, not everything they build.

3.7  No hiding the loot. While your base is under raid, you may not destroy your own structures or items, upload anything, or hide loot to deny the attackers. If they beat your defenses, they have earned what is inside. Popcorning in the open world, dumping items while being chased, is fine.

3.8  Caging. Caging is legal against anyone, at any time, raid or no raid, and keeping a player knocked out counts as caging. The maximum is 6 hours, and when the time is up you kill the player so they can respawn. Once freed, that player is protected from being caged again for the next 6 hours.

Example: Re-caging someone inside their 6 hour protection earns your tribe a warning, and three warnings disqualify the whole tribe. Do not waste one on this.

4.1  Build anywhere in the open world. Building in the open world has no limits. Build anywhere, claim terminals, build at the green, blue, and red obelisks. Blocking caves and ratholes from the outside with your structures is legal too: shutting spots so others cannot use them is part of the game.

4.2  The Stego rule. Cave building follows the Stego rule: a cave may only be built in if a Stegosaurus can walk in through its entrance. If a Stego does not fit, that cave is off limits for building, full stop.

4.3  Ratholes: block yes, live no. Blocking a rathole from the outside is legal. Living inside one is not. The game might let you place structures in there, but the moment your rathole base is found and reported, it gets Dev Wiped. Do not plan your season around a rathole.

4.4  Never build in the mesh. Never build inside the mesh, in any spot where you can see the world from the wrong side of it, or in a cave or rathole that leads into the mesh. If a spot takes you under the map, the answer is simple: do not build there. Illegal builds are punished with warnings, a Dev Wipe of the build, or disqualification, depending on the evidence.

4.5  Spawn zones stay clear. Player spawn zones and teleport zones stay clear, always. No blocking structures, no traps, no turrets, no cages, and no aggressive tames parked there to kill players as they spawn in.

4.6  Cap abuse. The game caps what can exist in one area: 150 C4, 100 turrets, and 5500 structures. Filling those caps on purpose, so that the defending tribe cannot place their own C4, turrets, or structures to defend themselves, counts as breaking the rules. If it happens to you, open a ticket with proof, and the Enforcement Team will clear the blocking placements and issue the responsible tribe a warning.

Example: Tribe A spams C4 around Tribe B's base until the 150 cap is locked, leaving Tribe B unable to place counter C4. Tribe B tickets it with footage. The Enforcement Team removes the spam and Tribe A takes a warning.

5.1  Cheat software. Cheat software of any kind, aimbots, ESP, radar, injected clients, or macros that play the game for you, means a permanent ban and a Dev Wipe, with no appeal. Our own anti-cheat runs on every server around the clock and bans automatically.

5.2  Exploits. Exploits carry the same punishment: permanent ban, Dev Wipe, no appeal. That covers meshing, duping, DDoS, crash and lag abuse, building tricks that stop enemy turrets from shooting you while you attack, stacking dinos inside each other, and floating platform builds. Meshing means attacking through the map itself, for example placing C4 on a creature pushed into the mesh to damage a base from where turrets cannot reach. The test is simple: if the game clearly never intended it, do not do it.

5.3  PvP macros. Macros that give a PvP advantage, such as flak switching or narco feeding scripts, are banned. Quality of life macros for PvE, ones that give no combat advantage, are fine.

5.4  Loopholes count as cheating. Trying to outsmart these rules with a loophole earns a warning at minimum, so use common sense. Actually gaining an advantage that other tribes cannot have is what we call Manipulation, and it ends in disqualification or a permanent ban, depending on what was done.

5.5  Found an exploit? If you discover a new exploit or dupe, report it through a ticket without using it, and ATS rewards you for the report. Use it even once, and you are gone.

5.6  Playing with cheaters. If you know a tribemate cheats, you remove them and report them, or you share their punishment. The same applies to knowingly playing with anyone who holds a current or past cheating violation. And discussing cheats, where to get them or how they work, is banned everywhere this network reaches.

6.1  Trash talk is PvP. People are not. Trash talk is part of PvP and always will be. Harassment, hate speech, threats, and attacks aimed at the real person behind the screen are not, and they are banned. Fight the tribe, not the human.

6.2  Doxxing. Doxxing, posting anyone's personal information, brings a permanent ban with no appeal, and serious cases are reported to the police. Promoting self harm carries the same punishment. If you witness doxxing and stay silent about it, that is punishable too: report it.

6.3  Keep chat usable. Keep the chat usable. No flooding, no spam macros, and no advertising other servers, services, scams, or out of game trades. Trading in game items through chat is completely fine.

6.4  Names. Names, for players, tribes, and platform accounts, must be clean and visible. No vulgar or hateful names, no invisible characters, and no creative spellings to slip past the filter. Impersonating ATS staff is strictly banned: real staff are verified and marked, so anyone claiming authority without that mark is lying to you. Report them.

6.5  Poaching. Poaching, meaning recruiting or luring ATS players toward another server network through any channel, is a permanent ban with zero tolerance. Helping a poacher earns the same ban.

7.1  Game bans. Your account may carry a maximum of 3 game bans, and every one of them must be at least 100 days old. More bans than that, or any ban fresher than that, means you cannot play here.

7.2  VPN. Accounts with fewer than 250 hours in ARK may not connect through a VPN, with no exceptions for lag or connection issues. Approved cloud gaming services such as GeForce Now are whitelisted and allowed.

7.3  Ban evasion and your network. Evading a ban through another account, another IP, or new hardware makes every punishment permanent, for every account involved, with no appeal. Your home network is accountable as a whole: if any account on your connection is banned, every account on that connection is banned with it, and a banned player must never let anyone else play ATS from their network.

Example: Your roommate gets banned for cheating. Everyone playing ATS from that home connection is banned with him. Your network, your responsibility.

7.4  Competing servers. Taking a staff or leadership role at a competing server means removal from ATS, that simple. Targeting ATS or recruiting our players toward a rival is a ban, and we expect honesty about your connections to other servers. Content creators are the exception: covering other servers and games as normal channel content is completely fine, as long as the creator is not trashing ATS, recruiting our players away, or holding a staff role at a competitor.

7.5  One account per player. One account per player, period. No account sharing, and no playing on someone else's account. Your account is you.

8.1  The warning ladder. There are no temporary bans on this network. Punishment climbs a ladder: warnings, then disqualification, then permanent bans for the worst offenses. Every tribe can hold a maximum of 3 warnings per season, tracked across the entire network, and a serious violation can use up more than one warning at once. The third warning triggers automatic season disqualification: the tribe comes off the leaderboard, comes off the servers for the rest of the season, and is listed on the Disqualified Tribes page, then returns next season with a clean slate. Every punishment counts on every ATS server.

8.2  Points are never touched. Leaderboard points are untouchable. They are never removed as a punishment, and they never move between tribes: merging, renaming, or remaking a tribe never combines scores. A tribe keeps everything it earned, or it is disqualified and comes off the board entirely. There is nothing in between.

8.3  Prize fraud. Prize fraud means any scheme aimed at the money instead of the game: deals between tribes to share or sell prize money or leaderboard positions, losing on purpose, feeding points, staged fights, and kill trading. All of it ends in season disqualification plus a permanent ban, with no appeal.

Example: The top two tribes agree to split first and second place money between them. Both are disqualified, both are banned, and nobody gets paid.

8.4  RMT. Real money trading is banned: nothing in the game is ever bought or sold for real money between players, and doing it means a permanent ban with no appeal. The single exception is the official ATS store, which sells queue access only, never anything that touches gameplay or the leaderboard.

8.5  Payouts. Before any prize is paid, we verify who every player in the tribe really is. Prizes are held while any investigation involving a winning tribe is open, and violations discovered up to 30 days after the season ends still cost the prizes.

8.6  Staff. ATS staff never compete for prizes, and staff never rule on cases involving their own tribes or friends. The standard we hold players to, we hold staff to harder.

What happens when rules break:

9.1  Record everything. Record your gameplay, all of it, every session. Real money makes people jealous, and jealous people will bait you, frame you, and report you to take you off the board: that is real life, and that is ARK. Your footage is your shield, because tribes with recordings win disputes and tribes without them lose to whoever tells the better story. And if you are being raided, record it: 36% of successful ARK Survival Ascended raids involve hacks, exploits, or outsmarting the builder, so if anything feels off, open a ticket fast.

9.2  How to report. Reports go through one complete ticket: the server, the tribes involved, timestamps, and video, because video is what wins cases. Baiting a tribe into a rule break, framing them, or abusing the report system earns you the exact punishment you tried to pin on someone else. Tickets are the only channel: staff do not answer DMs, pings, or side chats, and spamming staff can itself become a harassment ban. And never warn a rule breaker in chat: people stop the moment they know they are seen, and if they stop before there is solid proof, nobody can be punished. Stay quiet, keep recording, ticket fast, and let us catch them in the act.

9.3  Tell the truth. When the Enforcement Team contacts you about an investigation, you owe the truth. Lying, or deleting messages and recordings once you know you are under investigation, makes everything worse, up to straight disqualification.

9.4  Appeals. Appeals work like this: one appeal ticket within 48 hours. The staff member who punished you will never review your own appeal, and you may request a second review from a different staff member. After two independent reviews, the decision is final. Some things are never appealable: cheating, meshing, duping, DDoS, RMT, doxxing or threats, poaching, network bans, and ban evasion.