Site Rules

Whether doing RP or generally chatting, some rules should be followed. Before even going into the rules the most important thing to remember is that this is for fun. This isn't a job, obligation, or anything else like that so the moment is stops being fun then we're not doing something right. This is not a place for so-called serious role players to argue about rules and definitions. Stories are fun, make believe is fun, don't loose sight of that in rules. The wiki also has a page on Content Policies and on our Copyright Policy.

Discord Rules

Revision v1.53 by Cyclops (talk) 00:11, 13 October 2017 (EDT)

1. Don't troll, for anything. People, sex, RP, information, favors, lols, etc..
   • Do not use @ mentions without reasonable cause.
   • Do not use alternate accounts to bypass restrictions of any kind.
2. Respect everyone on the server and don't cause drama.
   • Do not use racial, ethnic, gender, or sexuality based slurs.
   • If someone asks to stop discussing a topic with them, do it.
   • Do not threaten anyone.
   • Do not copy/paste content from other places into the server or vise versa to create drama.
   • Do not kill off a player's character without permission.
   • Understand that players put a lot of time and energy into creating a storyline.
   • Staff does not deal in drama.
3. If you allow your character to be killed (consent to their deaths n game), that death is permanent.
   • For a character to "return", it must be part of the plot prior to the character being killed.
   • Characters allowed to return must have not really been dead in the first place. Death cannot be undone.
   • Players must inform and get consent from a staff member in order to run a plot line where a character is thought to be dead and then returns.
4. Do not cold DM server users with invite links without asking them first.
5. Do not abuse the bots.
6. Player handles / nicks should follow out Nick Policy as closely as possible.
7. Characters require approval see here for details.
8. Keep content to the proper channels.
   • Keep OOC in IC channels to a minimum.
   • There is no reason for IC actions in an OOC channel.
   • Media links, images, and videos should be kept to #media.
   • Server ads should go into #server-ads, must be an approved player to post.
9. Adult content should be kept to the adult areas.
   • Adult media links, images, and the like should be kept to #nsfw-media.
   • Adult RP should be kept to #naughty-wings.
10. Characters actions can be punished in-game, even if it may remove the character from play.
11. Speak up, no one has responsibility for you but you.
12. All players must be at least 16 years old or older without special permission from Staff.
13. Zalgo text is not permitted.

Forum Rules

Version 1.01 by Cyclops (talk) 00:14, 13 October 2017 (EDT)

All new players are required to post in the welcome thread before being made proper members. Until they do this new members will not have access to the forum proper for posting (reading, sure, but not posted). New players have a grand total of 7 days to post to the welcome thread.

The forum also has some additional rules:

1. Do not excessive Auto-Play, if you've automatically done something for a character in your post you may be asked to edit that out of the post, change what happened, or the player can correct your post in his/her next post.
2. No God-Modding, we respect and accept high powered characters but if you have fore-knowledge of a plot element don't go out of character to avoid it, that's just bad form.
3. Don't publicly rip someone a new one, take it private. If you think it is bad enough to require intervention remember the rule that Ops don't deal with drama, well forum Admin and Moderators don't either. So think for a moment on if this can be resolved between yourself and the other person.
4. Large plot twists and turning a game on its head require approval but not necessarily approval of the other players involved, just of the storyteller, GM, or forum Moderator.
5. Sex in a game is not prohibited on the forum. However, it is reasonable for someone to ask some players to take it elsewhere. If someone does ask players to take it elsewhere then they should do so.
6. No ads or other spam. Feel free to post a link to a story, even your web site, but there is a fine line between that and spam sometimes. If someone asks you to take it down or tells you that you've been spamming, don't argue, just ask what they'd like you to do to fix it.
7. All forum users must be at least 16 years of age without special staff approval.

Site Administrators act as Moderators in all areas. However, any area with a Moderator will have the Site Administrators basically leave them alone. A Game Master or Storyteller has some moderator privileges. Game disputes should go to GM's and Storytellers. Moderators are here to deal with keeping the forum rules in play, making sure flames are going on, and managing spam. Site Administrators are here to keep the site running and provide support for everyone else to do the things they like to do.

Trolling

Trolling is not tolerated. Sometimes it is fun, sometimes it is entertaining, but it is never a good idea. Don't troll for anything, at all. While there is a definite line between engaging in discussion, asking if people want to play, being a bit contrary (or playing devils advocate), respect is key. If you are caught trolling except an immediate response.

A word about trolling an in character play. We have all seen people who act like a troll even in real life. The guy at the party who just seems to want to pick a fight or goes from girl to girl trying to get someone drunk. If your character is a bit of a troll, that is fine. However, expect in character reactions as such. server staff will not get involved in in character disputes between players as a general rule. If a staff member is forced to, please be aware that it will not be pleasant for anyone involved.

Pings / Mentions

Both the forum and Discord server allow people to be mentioned with amounts to sending them a notification via various methods. On the Discord server this pushes a notification out via live push notification to either the client on the computer or on a mobile device. Our servers rely heavily on these notifications, they allow us to get ahold of users easier and post system-wide announcements for all to see. This is a key component in keeping our server active. Users have the choice to not only mute our server but also mute mentions (also called pings). This means that the user will not come look at our server unless they think to do so. With many people having 10, 20, 30, or more servers on Discord it is key to be able to push notifications to our users which are both relevant and have meaning.

To overuse a push notification for nonsense is telling our users that we do not value their time.

So, if anyone on the system abuses the ability to ping groups or individual users, they this is in clear violation of the rules and will be acted on accordingly. We do not want to push our players, especially our busy players, into ignoring our server because one or two people wanted to laugh at being able to ping everyone over and over again for no reason.

Alternate Accounts

Do not use alternate accounts of any kind to bypass any restrictions placed on your account. This includes muting, banning, or being removed from a particular game or channel. The use of alternate accounts will result in the alternate account being automatically banned. Repeat offenses of this rule will escalate quickly to a 7 day ban or permanent ban of your main account.

Respect

Respect is a key idea in everything. We do not tolerate rampant disrespect. This doesn't mean that you have to like everyone! This simply means that you've got to have some notion of how to treat people. If you don't want to play with someone, don't. No one is forcing you. But same goes in reverse. If someone doesn't want to RP with you, respect that. Let them RP in the channel without having to worry about someone inserting themselves into a story where they are not wanted.

Communication is key, if someone is doing something, saying something, or otherwise upsetting you. Communicate it to them, be clear, friendly, and respectful. This goes for RP as well, when discussing (or participating in) a story / game, respect your other players. No one is perfect, most people aren't trying to upset anyone. The basic rule of thumb is do not engage. Hot button debates that really upset you - do not engage unless you can be respectful of those with different view points. This includes if you can't understand how anyone can say or feel in some way. You don't have to agree, don't have to approve, but you do have to make a choice to engage in a respectful way or just stay out of it.

The basic idea here is that we are all the same. People. Treat anyone here as you would like to be treated. I hate to have to put this in, but apparently it doesn't stand to reason for everyone. Just to be clear, respecting other people means don't be a dick. Don't sling racist slurs, sexist comments, make fun of someone because of who they are. We will not tolerate someone who cannot get the point that everyone is welcome. Treat everyone in the way that you would want to be treated, that is really all you have to do. If a staff member asks you to cut it out or that you are potentially being offensive, please just quietly do so.

A quick final note about privacy before going onto the next section. We all post things to chats that it is possible we'll regret later. Sometimes it is impossible to see how we might regret something a few days later, a few weeks, etc.. As such anyone playing on the server should feel safe posting what they wish. This means that it is strictly prohibited to take content from this server and post it elsewhere. By extension, do not post private content public and do not share public content privately or publicly via other mediums. This is especially true of erotic or near-erotic content. We all know that this content can be damaging to a person and thus we take even the threat of public disclosure seriously.

Don't Ask to be Staff

Don't ask to become a staff member, the answer will be no. Same goes for Administrators, we don't care how many forums / servers / chat rooms you've run previously or if you know any particular coding language - or even if you know all of them.

Don't Abuse the Bots

Our server has bots in it. These bots have various functions that can come in handy but they are tools. Sometimes they are tools for our amusement and sometimes they are tools to facilitate role playing. Just as you don't play with a jig saw (and if you do, stop doing that) don't make overuse of the bots. By that, we would like it if you wouldn't use the bots to flood a channel with nonsense or random images, etc.. If enough people would like a channel dedicated to such things as memes and video links, ask and ye shall receive.

Characters and Death

No character is immune to damage. However, there are times when players play themselves into a hole and no one really wants their character to die.

A player may not realize the real power of a strike on character could be or they may have built up into a situation where the character would act a certain way and result in a death-blow. In either case, the player who's character would deliver the potential deadly blow should inform the other player of the consequence and the two players should come to an agreement about how to resolve the situation before continuing IC.

It is really easy to simply assume that one knows what will kill their character than someone else. However, it is urged that players give the opposing side the benefit of the doubt and if one player is adamant that the something will kill their character, players should consider taking it at face value. If a resolution cannot be reached the ensures character survival, then the situation should be retconned or otherwise diffused to remove the conflicting opinions from play.

IC/OOC Status

Always respect the current status of a channel. Please keep the Out of Character channel free of In Character chatter and keep the In Character channels as free from OOC Chatter as possible. This just makes for a cleaner experience for all, and less confusing. One should note that our server bots will respond in channel, so please don't use commands in IC channels whenever possible.

Drama

Along with respect and trolling is a primer of drama. Keep the channel drama free. Most issues of drama can be reduced by following the rules of respect and trolling. The server staff do not want to deal with drama. We don't want to be in the middle of it, we don't want to see it, and we don't really want to know about it. If it becomes a problem the general rule is that both parties (for right or wrong) will be held accountable. And this isn't going to be accountable or their actions to each other. To put it simply, the ops don't care. This is held accountable for making the ops wade through drama to put and end to it.

That being said, this is a role playing channel and site. OOC drama between players is not something we ever want. However, IC drama between characters is a different matter entirely. drama in a story provides clash, motivation, and fun things within a story. It is only the kind between players (rather than characters) that we don't want to deal with.

Stories

Respect stories! Stories take time to come up with, to plan, to plot out, outline, and otherwise compose. If a story is going on, a little message OOC to one or more players can be handy before getting involved. Players have the rights to their story lines! This is kind of important. No one wants hard work thrown away because someone else comes in and screw things up.

If you do request that someone let you participate in a story they have already got going, deal with them as if they are the moderator of their own story. If they say that it's OK for you to join but they'd rather not you do something - even if it seems you should be able to, or you really want to, or even your character really wants to, fudge it a bit and respect the players guidelines. Don't get pushy and don't try to take over. If you're asked to back off, back off. If they want Bob in a story but they don't want you in a story, the worst possible idea is to get upset about why Bob is allowed but you're not. It sounds childish. Find another story.

The Fudge

The fudge is what I like to call the group of things that fit together OK as long as a person doesn't look too carefully at where they meet up. Such things have to be fudged we try not to fudge too much but when met with a choice on which is more important, details or rules and such, we kind of paint over the ugly bits with tasty delicious fudge.

Not everything has to be exact. Try and keep the fudge to a minimum a work more with writing around such problems, a bit of extra detail, elaborating on details that really get two ragged edges of bits of story to meet up and mesh well together. Sometimes, however, somewhere in the background there are bits which just do not mesh together and re-writing them might unravel even more things rather than tie up a few loose ends. Areas like that may require some amount of fudging to work.

Dead-Even Rule

Under the idea of the fudge, the Dead-Even rule specifies that all things should be balanced out. That is to say, in terms of weapons, character abilities, or items and tools the standard / most common equipment, weapons, and abilities are said to be somewhat evenly made. In terms of weapons, the setting's use of the most common and mid-range powerful weapons are said to be roughly even with the similar weapons of any opponents from other realities / universes. Thus, a turbo-laser from Star Wars is roughly equivalent to a phaser or disruptor from Star Trek or a laser from Troy Rising is roughly equivalent in capability to that of a phaser in Star Trek. Similarly shields are about as effective on each side of a conflict (again, all things in the story line being equal) unless the story itself calls for a power mismatch.

It is understood that this will break canon and in the process of doing so players and staff alike should attempt to make the weapons different but roughly equal using a process of give and take. Weapons from different realities should each have their own drawbacks and exceptional abilities that when averaged out meet with some level of equality. The same goes for character abilities, the Leveled Ranking System is designed to ensure that two characters of similar Rank / Ability are kept even and thus drawbacks and exceptionalities should be built into the characters (especially during conflict) so that the story and character development takes a front seat and the numbers take a back seat.

This policy is designed to ensure that during game play the main focus of the game is on the characters themselves and how they think to resolve challenges. Again, if a story calls for a power mismatch, this rule is null and void for those parts and power mismatch story lines are trusted to the players and staff to moderate on a case-by-case basis.

-- Added on November 11th, 2018 at 2:36 am EST by Cyclops (talk).

Adult Content

Adult content is judged under the common man approach, that is to say on average would what is being posted, talked about, or otherwise presented fall into the category of adult content when presented to a random common person off the street. This definition is, of one can imagine, flexible. For the purposes of our server we care about adult content in what is being posted either to a role play (as in Erotic Role Play) or images, links, or any other media of an adult nature. In an effort to maintain an environment where everyone is comfortable we have dedicated areas for each of this and do ask that adult content be relegated to these areas. For links, images, videos, and other forms of media we have set aside #media-nsfw for use as a general catch-all for adult non-RP content. If you'd like to gain access to the adult areas, a player must specifically request it from the the staff. We work under the honor system, if you say you're of legal age, we assume you are. If you then later prove you cannot handle adult content (or that you are not of legal age), we reserve the right to restrict your access solely based on the judgement of the server staff.

Erotic role playing can be a lot of fun, but it can also turn off a lot of people, we have a dedicated channel for ERP (Erotic Role Play) #naughty-wings. You must specifically ask to be granted access to this channel. The channel is visible to anyone who has the Adult Access role, its history is visible to anyone with that role as well and should be considered public. That being said, it is strictly against the rules to take content from any ERP and post it elsewhere without permission. Doing so could result in a permanent ban from the server.

We really cannot emphasis the idea of respect too strongly here. Erotic scenes can be fun but a lot of people are just not interested. If someone declines either in IC or OOC, respect it. While IC, this can be one of those times when the before-mentioned fudge comes into play. Some people have characters that may not be the most respectful in the world and some people may play characters who wouldn't take no for an answer. That's fine, but when actually in game, we do not accept non-consensual play. If you get turned down, deal with it. Period. If you don't understand why, click here to talk about tea. Should you and another player wish to engage in a scene of non-consensual play, please do this in private as Discord offers an extremely robust way to maintain private communications with anyone you like.

Since we have a dedicated channel for ERP, it is understood that sexual activity in the main channel is prohibited. It just makes for a mixed bag and we strive to be open and accepting to all role players of any kind. I know that some people would really like to engage in public sex acts but unfortunately in an effort to be as inviting as possible to all people, we do not allow this.

Character Punishment

If a player chooses to have a character do something in game that might require punishment, this will be handled in game. It is not punitive to say that if a character say, murders someone, is captured, and prosecuted they could get a life sentence and thus be removed from play. We do our best to ensure that players can continue to play characters, but at times it harms the role play as a whole to gloss over and allow a pass on certain actions, even if they risk removing a single character from the game. As with any fiction, a suspension of disbelief is required. It harms the ability to do that (as well as respect for the setting, our staff, etc.) for characters to get away with certain things. Staff will determine, as needed, if there is any possible way to reasonably get a character out of a situation, but at some point the player is responsible for having the character do something to land them in that kind of trouble.

Taking Office / Speaking Up

This is kind of important.

It is up to you, at any time you are offended or upset by something, to speak up if you think it warrants it. Staff will not guess or speculate on what might be offended. We prefer that people handle their differences between each other but if that doesn't seem like a good idea, please speak up to a staff member and we will try to help.

That first bit being said, we try to make sure everyone feels welcome. At some point, something may happen where a staff member or a person may ask you to stop talking about something in the channel. Please respect that, usually it is for a good reason and not aimed at you out of personal reasons.