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RULES
❇ Don't be a dick.
This is rule number 1 for a reason, and a nice catch-all for a lot of behaviors. We will not list every single little bit of bad behavior you shouldn't engage in, because someone can always come up with something we don't list, but there is a short list at the end of this rule of some basics.
Generally, players will have two strikes and then be banned on the third strike, but extreme incidents may earn multiple strikes or instabans. If we give Warnings but notice a pattern, we may convert repeated warnings into strikes.
For rule-breaks, we will usually publicly announce the warning/strike/whatever on the OOC so players know a negative action has gotten a proper consequence, but this will only be a simple summary. That is the one of the only things mods will break mod confidentiality on.
Potential Rulebreaks
- No godmoding. Please ask if you can god an action or be willing to change something if you forget to ask. If you're on the receiving end, if someone has godmoded your character, please ask them to change it first, because sometimes people don't always realize something is godmodey. If they refuse, then come to the mods. If you correct them once or twice and they still don't learn and keep doing it, come to the mods.
- No info-moding. If you're not sure if your character would know something about another character, ask first, and figure out any info they'd know or handwaved CR.
- No being hostile over minor issues. For example, treating someone as if they're committing a high crime for not having time to tag. Please talk to other players in constructive ways.
- No harassment or abuse of other players. If a player is rude to another player in the OOC comm or in any game-related communication (wherever it's located), this will count against them.
- Please draw the mods' attention to bad behavior. Please note that even if we have certain people friended we may not be paying attention to everyone's plurks at all times. Please call our attention to problematic behavior we might have missed.
- No threats. Whether they're serious or "If you don't do X thing I'll quit!" The more extreme the threat, the more severe the consequence.
- No hate speech. This is just a given.
- No rape as a plot or happening between characters. Non-consensual sex earns an instant ban.
This is only a short list. The mods reserve the right to deem any unlisted behaviors as rule-breaking offenses if they're overly hostile towards another player/the mods. This is a game where it's very easy to get a ban or strike, due to the small, private table-top-esque nature of it.
Prebans and Non-comm Issues
- We reserve the right to preban players. Or revoke an invite based on reputation or admit players on probationary status where they already have one or two strikes. We won't do this lightly but if players come to us with solid proof of players that are apping in/have apped in were malcontents in other games (such as pastebins), we may possibly not allow them in, or even ban a player that apped in, especially if said proof is recent and severe. An invite from a current player is not a guarantee you are allowed in the game as the mods have final say.
- We reserve the right administer disciplinary actions for non-game-related communications if the incident is severe enough and demonstrates hostile attitudes towards other people. While we do consider most non game related communications out of bounds, we will consider some issues case by case if we feel the issue involved is serious enough and demonstrates hostile attitudes towards other people. Examples: Bigoted statements, severe player abuse, a player having a wank meltdown or deleting a game out from under the players at a different game, a player indicating that they've perpetrated a crime IRL against another person, etc.
This is a small, casual game and that makes it difficult for players to avoid people that demonstrate attitudes or behaviors that make them uncomfortable. Therefore, we do have to consider if some non-game-related incidents are severe enough to warrant mod action to create a healthy environment for our players.
❇ Characters must be IC.
This is obviously something that's going to be flexible because a lot is down to interpretation but if there are any complaints about ridiculously ooc characters where they are very obviously not in character, we will talk to the player and you can accrue warnings or strikes. Superman's not going to randomly start murdering people, Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't going to randomly turn into a weepy coward, etc. Some OOCness is obvious enough for mods to put their foot down and we will if there are repeated complaints.
❇ Please don't be lax in spelling and grammar.
Obviously, the odd typo or grammatically whacky sentence here and there is fine but if people complain and there are ongoing patterns of a player having terrible spelling and grammar left and right we will consider it a rule infraction.
❇ IC /= OOC (IC doesn't equal OOC).
Respect the line between character and player. Ex: if a character hates your character IC because it's just a natural reaction you're not allow to get hostile at them OOCly over it.
❇ ICA = ICC. (IC actions get IC consequences.)
Obviously the mods will work with players to try to make those consequences fun but keep in mind they'll be there.
❇ You must be 18+ to play here.
This is not because of anything nsfw, it's because 1) there will be scary things/violence in some of the plotting and 2) the playerbase is all generally 25+ and some characters may have serious issues in their background (abuse, drug addiction, etc) that we would want to see all players handle with sensitivity.
❇ Please try to work things out with other players before coming to the mods.
While our modly door is always open (ALWAYS), for problems with other players that don't involve rule breaks, try to talk issues out with your fellow player first. In many situations, just talking to each other tends to work out better than mod intervention. This is a low-key game, if you can't directly communicate you may not be a good fit here.
However, if you can't resolve something with another player on your own please bring it to the mods for mediation. Please note that if you do this, however, you'll be expected to follow the mods' instructions on how the issue is to be resolved, at risk of strikes if you disobey. So if the mods say "we expect both of you to only communicate on ooc posts/plotting plurks and to keep it civil," or "don't tag each other in the future," there can be consequences to not listening to that.
❇ If you have a problem with a specific mod's behavior, still bring it to the mods.
If you have an issue with a particular mod's behavior, our policy for issues between a player and a mod is to immediately bench the mod in question and have only the other mods not involved in the incident investigate it. We take complaints against mods very seriously and feel that there should be severe consequences if a mod acts out of line.
❇ Cut and warn for triggering content.
We ask that players cut and warn for triggering content. While people can't cut for every possible trigger people might have, for common major trigger issues like mention of suicide, SA/rape, cutting, etc. please cut and warn. Put this in the thread subject of discussion about it starts mid-thread. Please also do this if a character is making bigoted statements. If something occurs mid-thread, please put a warning in the subject of the post it occurs in.
Please also be conscious of your castmates/CR being forced to deal with this material and help them find ways to opt out of dealing with it if it makes them uncomfortable.
If you do want to play any sexually explicit nsfw with another player, it is not allowed in the comms. You would have to take it off comm and do so privately.
❇ Putting up an opt-out post is mandatory if your character has something triggering in their background or ongoing characterization that may come up in play.
Since this game won't have apps where we can going over character backgrounds with a fine-toothed comb, this is our way of allowing people to avoid it if they find some aspect of a character upsetting to deal with.
❇ Canon puncture/4th walling is allowed but only with the other player's permission.
All characters will find out they're "fiction" in the game universe (really, it's just that their story was channeled and written by a writer there). Their enemies may sometimes use this knowledge. This is an unavoidable mechanic of the setting.
However, other PCs will find if they try to pick up the canon of someone else, they won't be able to read or watch it. It'll just be indecipherable and scrambled. They can only read or watch it if given explicit permission of the character it belongs to. If that character has a castmate and their player doesn't want their own character's background revealed, anything to do with that character would still be scrambled as the viewer watches or reads the canon.
Characters are also allowed to recognize other characters if the canon explicitly exists in the first character's canon or would realistically exist (for instance, the prevalence of pop culture in a show like Buffy makes it clear that it contains most real world pop culture) but they cannot say anything unless the other player gives permission. If someone doesn't want any canon puncture, the first player must just handwave the canon they're familiar with is some kind of expy similar to the other character's.
❇ If playing a CRAU, get permission before your character recognizes another character as CR from a previous game:
If you play a CRAU you must ask permission of other players for your character to recognize theirs due to past CR, the same way players must ask about canon puncture/4th walling. Putting up an opt-out for this is mandatory.
Please present these three options for the other player to choose from:
- 1) Your character recognizes theirs and says so
- 2) Your character recognizes theirs but keeps this fact to themselves
- 3) Your character doesn't recognize theirs. In this case, your character's memories would be blurred so they remember events but not the specific identity of the person in them.
Since players might want to give or decline permission based on the specific nature of the old CR, we ask that CRAU players ask each player for each character case by case.
If your character knew multiple members of a cast, and some players in it give permission and others don't, again, treat it case by case, where your character remembers some of the characters and not others.
❇ Ask about setting changes and use of major npcs.
Players will not have to ask about minor modifications to their rooms but need to ask if a major, communal part of the Pole can be changed. Players may also npc minor npcs themselves. Please look at the npc system page to see how npcing is going to work.
❇ Please try to meet AC.
AC is very light, and players have two month periods to meet activity requirements.
❇ Follow the writing format rules.
To keep plots brisk, some mod plot logs and certain "free for all" posts will be posted in bracketspam format, and players are expected to follow it.
The network will also be in bracketspam format, but if players move to action in a non-plot network thread, they can either keep using bracketspam or switch to prose based on preference.
For non-plot logs, players can use either bracketspam or prose, based on preference.
Everywhere in game, players can use whatever they prefer.
❇ We won't police anoncomms without concrete evidence of bullying and a connection to an identity.
We won't respond to anoncomms or fix complaints reported there instead of directly to us. This is a small extremely casual, invite-only game, so people need to understand that kind of culture is deeply looked down on by the core player group and will not be looked on with sympathy by most of the players.
That said, we will only police anoncomm issues if there's a clear instance of bullying and some kind of proof that connects it to an identity.
❇ Make yourself available for HMD in at least one way.
Please put up an HMD in your character's journal but it doesn't have to be anon-enabled. We will not force players to make themselves accessible to anon if they don't choose it, so if they have a personal hmd without anon enabled we will allow it.
That said, if you want to give anon crit to someone that doesn't have anything enabled to allow anon, you can post anoncrit about another player to the mod HMD page and it will be passed to the player. When doing so, please note if you just want said crit passed to the player or if you'd like to also register a formal complaint as well (that way we know if you JUST want to pass crit or feel it deserves the attention of the mods seeing if it breaks the "Be ic" rule).
❇ It is player responsibility to follow mod communications.
The mods will be communicating with players via the OOC comm and the official mod plurk. We won't be hunting people down for individual contact if they've missed AC or the like.
❇ Please mind invite etiquette.
This game requires invites from a current player. You may apply without an invite from a current player by requesting an invite directly from the mods.
Otherwise, the game is not intended to ever go public. An invite also doesn't guarantee the mods will let you in, as there are sometimes mitigating circumstances that may cause us to not approve a new player, especially if there's some instance of semi-recent past player abuse with pastebins.
Current players get unlimited invites to others. New players invited in will be first come, first serve based on when they app. If the cap has been exceeded there is a wait queue.
If inviting someone, please be mindful of whether or not someone will fit the game's laid back culture and how polite they are to others. It is very easy to get strikes or bans since there's more of a tabletop-with-friends vibe. We also have different mechanisms than some games that they'll have to adjust to, like freely allowing threadhopping on the network.