RP Rules - HackMD

###### tags: `Admin` # RP Rules ## NOTICE **This is a WIP draft and subject to change.** ### Changelog 11/25/2020 - Began work on formal structure. ## Important **These rules are enforced in addition to [Global Rules/Community Guidelines](/afcZL-eoTFmz0W_DtvZs1w). Read both.** These rules apply to the Citadel RP SS13 server. ## Summary **Please take the time to read the full rules. There are many definitions and clarifications that don't fit in this summary. This summary exists only to provide a loose idea of expected behaviors.** 0. **Elastic Clause** - Citadel RP strives for a story focused experience in an environment with a high level of roleplay. Admins are free to intervene as they see fit if someone is ruining it for everyone else. 1. **Griefing** - Do not go out of your way to make the **player** at the other end of the screen miserable. - **Metagrudging** - Do not overly pursue previous round issues you take with another player to the point of ruining their experience in future rounds. - **Don't kill people with no rhyme or reason** - Shouldn't have to be said. - **Don't be a dick to AFK players** - Do not interfere unnecessarily with AFK players, whether by stripping their things outside of an emergency or by attacking them. Special guidelines in rule. 2. **Immersion Clause** - Keep IC and OOC behaviors separate. Make an effort to keep immersion intact. - **Metacomms (communicating in-round information outside of the game with other players) is strictly forbidden.** If you need to do it to help a new player, **ahelp first.** - **Keep IC out of OOC until the round ends.** - **Netspeak** - Avoid text acronyms and emoticons in character, other than via text channels like PDAs/in game computer IRC - This rule covers baseline immersion expectations and metagaming/metaknowledge. Broader roleplay concepts are covered by rule 3. 3. **Staying in Character** - Keep your character and their actions/tendencies realistic for the setting. Realism is not policed to the letter, but exercise discretion. - **Escalation** - Make a best faith effort to escalate conflicts reasonably. Don't go from a single hit to killing someone, don't permanently remove people from the round or hide bodies, **talk first and make a best faith effort where possible.** - **Naming policy** - Choose a realistic name for species, and don't copy popular culture names. Information in rule. **Comedic characters/gimmicks in good taste may be exempt.** - Take heed of antagonist/meta knowledge policy, detailed in the rule. - Outside of exceptions in said policy, we do not specifically police IC knowledge of game mechanics. - **Characters must be clearly over 18, or of an equivalent level of maturity depending on species.** - **Character relationships** - Don't go out of your way to give too many IC advantages to your friends, whether IC or OOC. Don't grudge other characters across rounds too hard. Character relationships and dynamics are a core factor of the RP environment, but avoid focusing entirely on an established social group. - **Helping antagonists** - Have IC reason to help antagonists. The more violent an act the more reason you need. Players are not required to hunt down antagonists unless it's their job, but are expected otherwise to assist the crew in the context of their job. 4. **Fulfill your role** - A genuine effort is required for anyone playing a job role in a round. Perfection is not required, but ditching your role without an attempt to fulfill it is unacceptable. - If you don't know how to perform, make an effort to learn. - **Heads of staff are held to a high standard - information in rule.** If you are one, be a good example and leader, and do not overdo it with the shennanigans. Don't abuse your power to make others miserable. **You are important to the round**, if you need to leave, adminhelp and tell the crew. - **Stay in your lane** - do not steal other people's job(s) without a good reason. Clarification in rules - this is also connected to Rules 6 and 7. 5. **Powergaming** - Do not play to "win" the game or otherwise attempt to unnecessarily and unreasonably prepare for conflict to ensure you always come out on top. - Do not unnecessarily prepare for conflict/prepare powerful items and abilities to win conflicts - Do not attempt to make yourself the center of every round that transpires by eliminating conflict before it begins - **Losing is part of the game - if you never lose, you are likely trying too hard.** - Have a reason for handing out powerful items, don't aim to give everyone powerful equipment or abilities for no reason. 6. **Validhunting** - Do not go out of your way to hunt down antagonists/troublemakers without an IC reason to do so. - **What the person/threat is doing is more important than if they are or are not an antagonist.** - **Conversely, if you make yourself dangerous to the station, not being an antagonist will not protect you from crew retaliation.** - Have IC reasoning for throwing your own life on the line to hunt someone down. - If there is no security/crew around able to stop a threat, you are allowed to intervene. If there is a reasonable amount of crew dedicated to containing a threat, consider putting your job first and letting them do theirs, rather than attempting to do theirs for them. - **Serious threats to individual crew life or station integrity as a whole you directly witness, as well as threats that will impact the entire station/be life threatening for all crew can be interfered with at will by crew regardless of role.** See detailed descriptions in this rule! 7. **Shenanigans Clause / "Greytiding"** - People are allowed and sometimes encouraged to cause shenannigans to keep things interesting. - **Keep things fresh** - Don't always make yourself a consistent nuisance, don't always harass the same person/role/department, and don't always do the same thing. Switch it up and people will have fun rather than just being ticked off. - **Read the round** - If the round is hellish, don't make it worse. If the crew is already occupied wtih a severe threat, don't become a major problem. If the round goes to hell while you're causing issues, stop causing issues and start helping - you're a crewmember, not an antagonist. - **Heads of staff/Security/Authority** - Show the minimum courtesy towards IC authority, give them the time of day and respect decisions where reasonable. You are not required to comply with everything, no one signed up for a game to follow orders at all times. However, don't make their lives a living hell purely for your own enjoyment. - **Mutinies** - Have a good reason to mutiny - not because you don't like an authority, but because they are a threat or detriment to everyone else. Valid demotions by the Captain and arrests by security are not mutiny. If in doubt, adminhelp. 8. **ERP** - The game comes before ERP. However, do not interrupt ERP unnecessarily. Do not involve unwilling players in your erotic scenes - recognize that not everyone wants to partake/spectate. - **Do not use sexual mechanics, *especially vore*, for a gameplay advantage.** - **No means no, don't be a creep.** Respect OOC notes if the character has them. - Public ERP is not protected - see rules for details. **Be reasonable.** 9. **When issues arise** - Adminhelp if you have a problem. Do not wait until the end of the round or, even worse, until after the round. If no one responds in a few minutes, open a discord support ticket. Admins are not obligated to give you the exact outcome of a ticket, especially in-round. ## 0. Elastic Clause **Citadel RP is aimed towards establishing a story and roleplay focused enviornment.** While we lean towards organic gameplay, a moderate to high level of roleplaying is expected for the server's environment. Administrators may intervene as they see fit with rounds as well as with sanctions towards problematic individuals in general for the best interests of this environment. Staffmembers will be held responsible for actions taken under this clause. ## 1. Griefing **Do not go out of your way to make the player on the other side of the screen miserable.** We are all here to have a nice time on a video game. Expect admin intervention if you're going out of your way to harass or ruin another player's enjoyment. **Do not go out of your way to ruin peoples' enjoyment of the server as a whole.** This will be invoked if someone is specifically making everyone miserable for little to no reason - this can include randomly killing people, randomly exploding the station, etc etc. **This rule is focused on actions that can not feasibly be explained to be IC, at all.** - There is context to this - we are not here to police feeilngs. However, if it is clear that what you are doing would make the average person uncomfortable or be enough to harass an average person out of the server/community, it will be considered equivalent to griefing. - Obviously, in game/character conflicts stay in game/character in most cases. **Killing someone with flimsy IC reasoning is a breach of escalation (RULE 4), NOT RULE 1.** Killing people for no reason at all, however, **is**. - Causing trouble IC in general is not griefing. See "Antagonistic Actions" (Rule 7) and "Staying in character" (Rule 3). ### Metagrudging Do not overly grudge other players for grievances from previous rounds, especially in ways that would seriously/mechanically impact their round experience. - Simply having a negative relationship with another player due to in character experiences in the past is **not** Metagrudging. However, demonstrably causing the player in-game harm, either by action or inaction, harrassing the character unncessarily, or remaining hostile towards them when playing as a different character **are** examples of metagrudging. - Cases of Metagrudging are hard to police - we do not wish to force people to pretend to get along with people they don't like. **The spirit of this rule is to put in a best faith to not negatively impact peoples' rounds too much.** Some examples of unacceptable metagudging: - Punishing people via SOP and Corporate Regulations for offenses in previous rounds. - Going after people and inciting conflict with them, **especially as a position of authority/power** (read: Sec/Command), over previous round grievances. - Refusing to assist someone entirely because you don't like them when it'd make IC sense for you to (medical refusing revivals, refusing to obey a head of staff because you don't like them **without** current round reasoning, etc). Act in best faith and you will not fall astray of this. Personal conflicts are very much allowed - and even in the above, people who hate each other are allowed to fight in reasonable circumstances. Just do not go out of your way to ruin anyone's day, **or to drag uninvolved players into your conflict repeatedly.** ### On AFK players **Avoid inconveniencing AFK players in general.** This may include attacking, forcefully injecting them with chemicals, stealing their stuff outside of an emergency, and similar inconveniencing in general. **It is acceptable to strip AFK players for immediately relevant gear in an emergency/pressing IC situation.** **If you are security attempting to arrest someone who has disconnected, you are allowed to continue the process,** as disappointing as it may be for them - however, keep in mind that it might be more fun to turn a blind eye. ### On Inescapable Prisons Trapping other players in inescapable prisons where they can not feasibly break out, call for help or communicate to other players is considered griefing. **In certain situations, doing this is worse than just killing them.** This is a major violation of SOP, and may result in a jobban. Examples: Trapping a player in a N2O knockout-gas room with no way to escape ad-infinitum. Keeping other players knocked out forever. Fully stripping someone and entombing them in walls so that they can never escape. - **Temporary entrapment using tactics like these are not part of this policy.** Try not to forget about people, and don't remove radios other than in extreme emergencies if you are doing this. - **The spirit of this policy is more important than its exact wording.**. The point is to not force people to stare at a blank screen without interaction, not to prevent players from confining each others' characters. - Admins are recommended to rectify this with round intervention rather than punishing the offender if the intention behind infractions is not malicious. ## 2. IC and OOC separation / Immersion Clause **Keep IC and OOC knowledge separate.** This rule **mainly** pertains to per-round information, and forms the basis for IC immersion. Broader policy on roleplay is detailed in rule 3. - This means you can not act on information your character does not know. - The game usually tells you if you should forget past lives, but use some common sense if it's obvious you shouldn't know information. - In general, you are allowed to remember all information that you have while playing the same **mind** - minds are usually transferred with brain swaps/procedures like being turned into a cyborg with your brain in a MMI, etc etc. - **Deadchat information is OOC knowledge.** - Do not abuse the respawn system. Using it to get back at players by switching roles or jobs, or using it as a respawn when your character is clearly taken out of the round and not going to be cloned during the round is not allowed. ### On Fantastic Elements There is a common misconception regarding the usage of the term "Heavy/High Role Play", which often results in players assuming HRP settings *must* adhere to completely realistic or otherwise mundane settings. In Space Station 13 terms, this is often misinterpreted as adherence to a Hard Sci-Fi environment. However, from its inception, Space Station 13 has included largely fantastical elements, including Wizards, literal magic and sorcery, and communication with the literal spirits of the dead. With this history in mind, CitRP's Lore Team and Administration have taken this brief section to clarify that magical and otherwise 'Fantasy in Space' elements are integral to the spirit of the game, and should be treated as largely canon when encountered. Lore restrictions on what is common knowledge are covered both here in **Rule 3** and in relevant pages on the wiki itself. - In essence, it is the consensus of the Lore development team that Space Station 13 is a Science Fiction setting which possesses traits and lore commonly associated with fantasy, and that magical elements encountered by the players should be treated as consistent with the in-character universe. ### Sleeving Sickness **Sleeving Sickness** is the condition a character is subjected to when they are resleeved (e.g 'cloned/revived'). Due to the rigours of one's mind being inserted into a brand new body, the process is very disorienting and leaves the individual weak for a period of time, and with a degree of amnesia. - You do not have the memories of the last two minutes leading up to your death. This is due to the nature of backup implants and mind states. Players can elect to have their characters memories be more severely impacted if they desire. - Upon being resleeved, your body undergoes great stress and trauma. You are expected to adequately roleplay this. How this is done is at the player's discretion, but you should not be capable of carrying out strenuous duties until the end of the round at minimum, e.g; repelling boarders. You are free to have your character be recovered by the next shift, but players can elect to extend this time if they desire. ### Metacommunications **Metacommunications**, ('Metacomming') is defined as sharing in game information private to a player's character (e.g. what you see, what you know of the other players in round, etc), to another player outside of in-character communications channels. - This includes any information gained from deadchat/similar. - 'Outside of IC communications' may include but are not limited to voice chat, Discord channels, private messaging, etc. - This rule is in place to prevent anyone from having an unfair advantage by using information their character should not know. Do not skirt around it - the spirit of the rule is what counts here. If it is proven that you are breaching this to provide an unfair advantage harmful to other players, all players involved will be removed from the server, dependent on severity. **An exception may be made for someone teaching a new player - ADMINHELP TO INFORM US!** ### Netspeak **Netspeak** pertains to certain kinds of out of game typing that are generally viewed to be immersion breaking Brief list of examples (not limited to these): - **Text messaging abbreviations**: wtf, lol, brb, afk - **Emoticons**: :), OwO, ^_^ **Abbreviations of Head of Staff/job titles/names/etc are okay**. Examples: HoS, RD, CMO, Cap, etc. It's up to you whether or not you want your character to speak these proper or using their abbreviations. **Netspeak is okay over in-game text communication channels.** Things like PDAs, computer/tablet IRC, etc. **The Binary channel and EAL/binary language are not considered text.** ### OOC concepts **OOC Concepts** are things like lag, network ping, the game's code, and other fourth-wall breaking concepts that your character would not know in universe. **We do not disallow referencing them, but we do require an effort to make them more compatible with the universe.** Examples: - "Time dilation" or "Bluespace Interference", instead of lag/ping/latency - **SDD**: SSD = Space Sleep Disorder, is a concept common on this and other RP servers designed to address disconnects/game crashes. - "Physics/reality is broken today" rather than "coders bugged the game". ## 3. Staying in character The RP server enforces a general expectation of realism regarding character antics. We want shenanigans to be possible and funny/interesting character setups to be possible, but **we also expect players to be believable as a member of Nanotrasen's crew**. - **CHARACTERS MUST BE *OBVIOUSLY* OVER 18. Don't even go near the line of making a character seem underage - this is zero tolerance.** ### On SOP and Legality The RP server utilizes an in character set of guidelines known as Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to form the basis of IC expectations regarding player interaction. - SOP is **not** Space Law, and is not enforced by Security. For laws that Security is expected to enforce, refer to the **Corporate Regulations** page. - Non-Security Heads of Staff are also expected to adhere to SOP, with more autonomy granted towards interpretation of non-essential clauses. More importantly, Non-Security Heads of Staff are expected to **enforce** SOP on their departments, and can be held liable for breaches of Procedure executed by lower ranked department members. - **Do not** enforce SOP maliciously. Standard Operating Procedure exists to enhance the immersion/roleplay environment, not restrict player freedoms completely. Take time to consider whether enforcing SOP to the letter is necessary. ### On character personalities We do not have a hard limit on what personality a character may act like, with some exceptions. - **My character is crazy** is not an excuse to break the rules. If your character is so crazy they can't last a day at a wacky futuristic research station without killing their coworkers/blowing up the workplace/going completely nuts they don't belong on the station. - **Characters with mental quirks that fall into being volatile/otherwise unstable** are allowed - but, if this starts to impact gameplay, we may intervene and tell you to tone it down/change it up. - This is doubly so for security/Command/roles of authority and power. While having a depressive/slightly maniacal Head of Security might be fun once in a blue moon, we really do not want people using this as an excuse to mess with others repeatedly. - **Characters that tend to be hostile/abrasive** are allowed. However, keep it in good faith - do not grief and have some discretion. **See Rule 1.** - Do not impersonate Staff or other Player Characters. - Speak normally. Do not constantly shout in all caps. - Creating a disabled character is perfectly fine, but do not take on a role that your disability is completely incompatible with (ie, a blind HoS, a quadruple amputee surgeon, etc.) - Your character must be believable. NT crewmen are not super-powerful beings (ie, eldritch demigods, literal angels, mythological figures, etc.) #### On in-game suicide **No sane character is going to commit suicide at random.** Do not intentionally commit suicide to avoid conflict or to solicit sympathy/"for drama". Committing suicide is treated as a full Player Kill (PK) and will most likely result in a Permanent Ban. If you want to leave the round, **cryo out**. If you want to use the experience to provide emotional impact for a situation, re-evaluate your choices. ### Naming Policy / Copied Characters - Characters may not be named after real-life celebrities, politicians, **or** characters from popular culture and/or video games. - This is only applicable to a direct copy, as well as low effort near-complete replicas (Tronald Dump vs Donald Trump, etc). - Naming your character **like** someone but not the same as someone is acceptable. (Gronkowski Zilet vs Rob Gronkowski, the latter being a real life football player.) - Acting **like** someone is acceptable (Marisa Kirie vs Kirisame, where the player character also exhibits characteristics similar to the one from fiction). **Keep things reasonably believable for the setting of the game, however.** - Character names **may** contain titles, like Dr., Mr., Capt., etc. Try to keep it in good taste for the character - don't be surprised if people make fun of you for signing on as Officer \<name\> - Character names **may not** contain nicknames. (E.g. Jason "Jay" Brooks) - Character names **may** contain middle names. (E.G. Carly M. Snyder) - Character names **may not** be just one name. (E.g. Jack) - Otherwise, character names only need to make sense for the character's species. All playable races have established general conventions for name creation that players are expected to follow, to at least the minimum degree. #### On comedic characters, theatrical roles, one-off gimmicks, antagonists, etc. One-off super gimmicky Event roles, as well as the theatrical Clown/Mime roles are **generally exempt** from naming policy. If you somehow make a name too offensive admins may ask you to change it or change it for you, but you should generally be fine. ### Escalation - "On Beating Up Your Coworkers" Characters should respond to and escalate conflicts in a reasonable manner. We do not require completely realistic ettiquite - this is a game. Regardless, have some tact. It is impossible to write a policy that covers every situation without being too lax or too restrictive, but if you make yourself to be such a problem, ie you **seek out escalation for the purpose of inconveniencing everyone as much as you can**, you will be considered the problem rather than everyone else. Some general guidelines and examples: - Killing people other than in self defense should be a last resort. Things **need** to escalate to that point. - Small-time scuffles are generally fine - however, wordless violence with zero roleplay or IC reasoning is strictly prohibited. - Fists/weapons --> crit --> actually aiming to kill after repeated/sustained conflict is a good guesstimation for how things should go. - Don't ever hide bodies or dispose of other players permanently without **an extremely good and pressing IC reason.** - Someone broke into your workplace? Tell them to get out - if they don't listen, make them listen with increasing force. **Don't wordlessly kill people for breaking and entering.** - The person who starts a conflict should generally err on the side of caution when it comes to being overly violent. In the above example, **if you were the person breaking in, probably don't maim/kill someone for trying to get you out of their workplace - you're in the wrong.** - Above all else, **valid IC reasoning can alleviate circumstances. Make a good, conscious effort, and you'll be fine. We all screw up at times, this policy is aimed towards people who go out of their way to be a prick.** ### On Characters With Antagonist/NanoTrasen Backgrounds Characters with backstory history working for NanoTrasen or hostile factions are allowed **with caveats**. - Antagonists: - They may not be currently employed by them in a way that would make them a detriment to the station. No "I'm a double agent" type things. - Openly affiliating with, or expressing a prior affiliation with, an Anti-NT/Hostile faction may result in firing or open suspicion regarding your activities. - NanoTrasen: - Considering you are currently employed by NanoTrasen, having a prior hsitory with the company is acceptable. - You may not attempt to leverage a prior position with the company in your personal backstory into an in-game advantage/justification for your actions. - **Your background may never be used as an excuse to impact important gameplay decisions you take** - No helping antagonists/self-antagging because you want to be associated with a hostile faction. No demanding all-access because you're a retired NT executive. This kind of thing will not be tolerated **at all**. **Characters may never have ties to Central Command in a way that allows for them to imply having authority over other players.** No 'my dad works for Nintendo' memes. ### On how much respect is needed regarding IC authority The RP server treats each player as an employee of NanoTrasen. As such, there is an established hierarchy that players are generally expected to follow. The Chain of Command and SOP outline expected player interactions with positions of authority. - This is still a game. A player working under a Head of Staff may disagree with/disobey that Head of Staff, but they should expect action to be taking from an In Character perspective in regards to their insubordination. - **See Rule 7 - On Mutiny/Authority** ### On character relationships - **Character relationships are allowed, and encouraged.** RP has persistent rounds. Consequently, it is expected that relationships will develop between player characters. - However, you should not go out of your way to give your friends mechanical/tangible in game benefits, or go out of your way to harass/discriminate against people you don't like. - While character continuity is nice, it's unfair to other players for the same cliques to be giving each other benefits. It's also unfair to someone if someone else they slighted continuously ruins their experience just because said someone doesn't like them. - **This rule will never be able to be enforced down to the letter.** Enforcing it to the letter would suck all the fun and enjoyment out of roleplay interactions, and result in just about every single player being bwoinked, because we all have friends and enemies, people we like and dislike. What's important is someone doesn't go out of their way to make the experience wildly different **round after round**. No one will care if you hand something fun out to a friend one time or another - we **will** take notice if you're constantly providing the same people powerful items or otherwise benefits just because they're your friend, as that ruins it for everyone else. - **Conversely** - (See Rule 1 - Metagrudging for detailed explanation) - in the reverse case, we will not be upset for slights or annoyances between people who just cannot get along. Just do not railroad someone who is unwilling to participate in such petty fights into having their entire round be dealing with you. Some slights are fine, harassing someone the entire round isn't. ### On helping antagonists **This says antagonists, but it applies generally to all kinds of troublemakers and criminals** Have an IC reason to assist someone with things that could constitute crime, doubly so if it's dangerous to life, limb, or the station. The more dangerous/serious the infraction would be, the more reason you need. Someone asking nicely for a plasma tank is fine if you want to give them one, someone asking you to kill someone, sabotage the station in a serious manner, or something similarly harmful should not be entertained unless you have an extremely pressing reason or are under reasonable duress. That said, **crew are not required to validhunt antagonists if it is not their job to.** However, they must do their job in terms of helping the crew as a whole - while you aren't expected to validhunt a traitor killing people as a doctor, you definitely are expected to provide medical assistance to injured crew during the crisis. ### On IC knowledge regarding antagonists and antagonistic items You must keep in mind that RP and Main's settings inhabit two separate canons at two different points in time. In RP's setting, the Syndicate dissolved over half a decade ago. Remnants of their organization exist, but are no longer considered to be a major threat to NanoTrasen. This rule is aimed towards allowing crew retaliation/recognition of antagonistic/illegal devices and implements, without allowing the crew to act on extremely specific knowledge like what roles can buy what syndicate items, OR immediately marking someone off as 100% a hostile antagonist because they have a syndicate item. Player characters on RP are expected to have a very vague grasp of what the Syndicate was, as well as what other antagonistic entities are, to an equally vague degree. Specific general knowledge that players may be expected to exhibit for the major antagonist classes will be outlined below. **Antagonists may know *full* details regarding powers, abilities, items, or otherwise things they have access to.** **Crewmember Knowledge/Actions:** - Traitors: **Crewmembers may know upon witnessing or upon finding Syndicate items or abilities that these items are contraband.** Whether or not it is dangerous depends on what it is. **You are allowed to know what it does and how it works.** - People possessing contraband should be dealt with by security and regulations as necessary. Example: A person has an emag. It is illegal. Have security confiscate it, search them, and brig them if necessary. - You are **not** allowed to know internal details of the methods of acquiring an item, outside of it being known to be smuggled in by hostile entities, unless someone tells you in-character. - Judge on actions and what they have, not the fact that they have some form of contraband. Someone with a bomb/gun is far more dangerous than if they had an emag or some EMP grenades. - **Random searching of players is covered by SOP and Security Policy. You may not search for contraband/stealth without a reason to suspect someone has them.** - This is mostly enforced in code using identification components - which means don't run items through the deconstructive analyzer *just in case*. - **Otherwise**, the following applies: - Anything disguised as another item shouldn't be checked for disguises without a good reason to suspect someone has it, like microlasers and EMP flashlights - You may not check for illegal implants/organs without a reason to suspect someone has it, like them emitting EMPs, magically having their cuffs drop, or magically acquiring hardware after being thoroughly searched. - Cultists: **Crewmembers may recognize Cult paraphenalia or abilities as contraband.** Cultists themselves, whether wearing Cultist gear or disguised as civilians, may be identified if they exhibit magical abilities or utilize Cult items. Blood runes may be identified as something suspicious by default. - Magic is new to RP, and rare. This is not to say that magic is new to the Galaxy. Magical abilities are seeing a sudden resurgence after years (possibly decades) of latency. As such, the general identification of an ability or item as "magical" is allowed for untrained crew. - Specific knowledge of Cultist mechanics or greater deities such as Nar-Sie or Ratvar, is not general knowledge. Untrained crew should not know who these entities are, and consequently should not casually refer to them. - Chaplains, Heads of Staff, and Central Command Officials are the clear exceptions to this rule. - If a character has a backstory reason for knowing of a Cult or "magical" religious order, they may exhibit a greater understanding of how Cult mechanics work. **We will monitor these cases, and you may be asked to change these details if they are considered to be egregious/unrealistic.** - Changelings: **Crewmembers should consider Changelings to be a myth.** There are several xenos species capable of some general form of shapeshifting, or morphing. - The confirmed existence of Changelings as a threat is known by Central Command and Heads of Staff but the Changeling "race" has been hunted to near extinction. They have fallen into myth and are **incredibly** rare. - An entity exhibiting the mechanical characteristics of a Changeling is still suspicious (ie two copies of the same person running around claiming to be the original, blatant shapeshifting into a monkey, etc). - Organizing a crew-wide manhunt to contain a Changeling is considered poor form. Report the suspicious activity to Security, just as with any other suspicious person. - Wizards: **Crewmembers should consider Wizards to be a myth.** Magic has, once again, been dormant in the galaxy for decades. The Wizard Federation exhausted its forces during NanoTrasen's monopoly on Phoron, and consequently no organized Wizard activity has been observed in years. - Central Command, Chaplains, and Heads of Staff are aware that Wizards were a genuine but rare threat in the relatively recent past. - Mechanical knowledge of magical powers, such as whether they require the robes or hat to function, should not be possessed by general players. - A general sense that wizards have power in their clothing may be acceptable. ## 4. Fulfill your role **If you sign up for a role, you must make a best faith effort to do it.** We don't expect you to be on the beat all round - everyone needs a break and **no** job requires full time participation for the entirety of the 3-5 hour round, outside of the most chaotic of times. However, minimum participation is **required** if you sign up as anything but an assistant. Examples: - Chemists are not doing their job if they make no medicine with a decent staff population. If there's no one or almost no one around but you, it's less required to be prepared for the worst, but if you signed up for it, do it. This is **one** example but applies to a lot of jobs, whether it's engineering, science, etc etc. - The **minimum of every job must be done**. Engi - setting up power. Security - responding to distress calls or obvious emergencies. Science - doing nodes/upgrades as needed when asked to. - Be **proactive when the situation calls for it**. If you're on in a populated round, minimum effort will not cut it. If you didn't want to do the job don't sign up for it, slack off as an assistant. ### On inexperience/lack of knowledge Players will **not** be punished for lacking knowledge about game mechanics in a department **as long as they make an effort to learn.** **Players aren't required to be the utmost efficient that is possible. Do your job to a decent degree if you can, though.** Examples: - Science is a convoluted system at times. You aren't required to stick to a best path, but consistently doing things that hamper the station is also bad. - Blowing up the engine as an engineer when you are new **and no one is around willing to teach you** - mistakes happen, but learn from it. - **Being bad at combat as head of staff/security - make an effort where required, but remember that the role isn't all about combat.** This applies to most roles. Plenty of people who are downright awful at combat are better at making the game enjoyable than the people who tend to be the ones who can click others horizontal. ### On heads of staff **Heads of staff are expected to take a high amount of responsibility for the station - YOUR JOB COMES FIRST AT ALL TIMES, and you should be *proactive* about it!** Don't spend large amounts of the roudn AFK or doing nothing. - **In the event you need to vacate the round**, whether leaving via cryo or going AFK for more than a few minutes, **adminhelp** and **inform the crew** or at least your direct underlings. Heads of staff should generally err on the side of caution when it comes to shennanigans and causing trouble - you're a leader, not a troublemaker. **Be a good example for other players. The tolerance for heads of staff causing problems is far lower than everyone else, especially if repeated. See rule 7.** **Lead your department** - provide guidance. **However**, you also have a responsibility to the station - if there is no one effectively leading the station, the remaining heads of staff (if any) should make an effort to direct things to go smoothly as possible within the IC context of the round. - Heads of staff are not required to know every nuance of their department, **but must know to a good degree how *most* of their department works.** Someone who has no idea how to revive people has as much of a place in medbay as a Chief Engineer who can't setup the engine. - **With power comes responsibility** - **Do not** abuse your power as a head of staff to be a dick to other players. People who do this will be quickly removed from said roles. ### On ERP **Your role always comes first. Do not abandon your duty to ERP - this is especially true if you are in a department that tends to be constantly needed.** If you want to scene, play assistant or play a role that isn't generally needed - OR, **make an effort to have yourself replaced by command staff by someone else.** We will not be extraordinarily harsh if you made a serious, best faith effort to stay in line, but in a time of crisis remember your role's job. ### "Stay in your lane" - On doing multiple jobs **We do not restrict IC knowledge of game mechanics other than antagonist abilities/items/etc, featured in rule 3.** That said, **stay in your lane** if it's not your job outside of pressing IC need. It's outright a dick move to entirely steal people's jobs. They signed on (supposedly) to do that job - you shouldn't take it from them unless they are wholly incapable of doing it, or there's otherwise a pressing **need** for you to. The general guideline on RP is to exhibit competency/mastery in **two** departmental jobs, with allowance for **one** civilian/service role (ie, Maining Security and Chemistry, but also being a Bartender). Branching into other jobs or learning them organically is allowed within reason. This policy exists to establish a reasonable expectation of how many complex tasks one person can reasonably master. - Station wide threats are generally immune from this clause, see: vendor uprisings, meteor storms, etc. - Someone hurt/dead in med? Don't barge in if there's medics who can fix them. - Want a science node? **Ask, don't break in to do it yourself** if there's people who can do them. - **If there is insufficient staffing for a certain role, you are allowed to get involved.** The game goes on regardless of who's playing what - this rule is only here to make sure everyone's fun isn't siphoned by someone who knows the entire game. - **Immediate threats and otherwise emergencies** are generally immune from this clause - if there's a breach no one will get upset if you fix it. - **What constitutes as someone's job is pretty flexible in certain cases here** - Security's job is maintaining order but conflict drives the game, you don't have to be security to intervene. Engineering's job is repairing, maintaining, and constructing, but admins won't generally care if you fix what you come by. ## 5. Powergaming **Do not out of your way to ensure that you are prepared for every event possible. Avoid the same, boring methods to bring conflicts to a close as quickly as possible.** Conflict drives a game - it is unfun for all involved if one or a few person(s) are always eliminating the capacity for conflict whereever they can by running powerful mechanics to the ground, **or otherwise preparing for every possible situation.** **This *will* be a vague rule by definition - we can't possibly cover all bases here, only general guidelines and examples.** - **Do not unnecessarily prepare for scenarios in a way that will result in you immediately eliminating a potential threat before it can take hold.** - **This is mostly applicable if it is outside of your job, but some discretion is required.** Security walking around with a ton of lethals on Code Green - is bad and a direct violation of SOP and Security Policy. Engineering carrying around extra materials to fix things - fine. - With the above being an example, **powergaming is especially bad if you are doing it to hamper other players attempting to create an interesting scenario.** Some examples include: - Being unreasonably armed before a threat arises that necessitates it. See: Validhunting. - Unnecessarily modifying the game environment to prevent any danger before it begins, securing important items from their roundstart positions, just in case, etc. **This can include locking up high-value items and steal objectives, locking up all the armory guns in lockers, putting turrets up in places or making a place far more secure than it usually is, before there is reasonable IC suspicion that someone will actually attempt to break in/steal it.** Again, *the mere existance of threats* is not a reason for everything to be put under lock and key. - **Creating extremely powerful weapons, like combat mechs, outside of a tangible need.** - Shennanigans like mech arenas are fine once in a while. - Overall, **do not make yourself the center of every round that transpires** - sometimes people do funny things that might be considered powergaming but will be brushed off as an one-time thing. We do not wish to clamp down on fun, but if you consistently find yourself breaching this you will be talked to regarding breaking this rule. - Do not give yourself more access than you are entitled to, regardless of position. The Chain of Command outlines very clearly the circumstances under which access above your current level may be procured. - Adding access to your ID via legal means (the HoP) for an authorized purpose **is not** powergaming. - Stealing the Captain's spare and upgrading your access for personal reasons without a clear emergency **is** powergaming. It is also considered Self-Antagging. **See Rule 7.** ### Regarding handing out powerful gear This clause is mostly applicable towards job roles that tend to get powerful equipment as a part of them, including but not limited to almost everyone in the science department. Much of this is covered extensively in Standard Operating Procedure. - Have a reason to hand things out if said thing is generally going to be considered powerful **and strictly necessary for someone to have at all times.** - As some examples: - Insulated gloves, toolbelts, random tools in general, random department gear that isn't highly specialized or restricted, random *things*, especially gimmicky and fun rather than useful in combat/to neutralize threats - generally okay - Weapons/highly specialized equipment/etc - probably have a reason to do so, like them having a good excuse or an active threat, etc etc. - This section will be more of an IC thing outlined in the Standard Operating Procedures for departments and jobs. ### Overall **Understand that losing is part of the game. Do not expect to win at all times - you *SHOULD* lose once in a while. If you never lose, you are very likely trying too hard.** ## 6. Validhunting **The spirit of this rule goes hand in hand with powergaming, but this rule applies more to crew interactions with players causing trouble, whether they are an antagonist or not.** This is also necessarily vague and contains examples rather than a textbook of every possible scenario. ### General - Do not go out of your way to hunt down someone causing trouble if it is not your job to do so. Antagonists and troublemakers alike are expected to be a good sport, so this is also required from the crew side of the equation. - **This is exempted if someone is a major & immediate threat to the station, you, those around you, or your department *in general*.** - **Think about it in-character when it comes to this - weigh how dire the situation would have to be for your character to want to put themselves on the line going after someone.** If there's no security team, it falls to the crew to stop threats themselves when necessary, but if there is, why would you put yourself in danger hunting for someone the security team is already handling? Examples of reasonable responses to scenarios: - **Indirect information regarding a threat** - You heard there's a person on radio doing malicious things, or an outbreak of something dangerous, like vines - **don't** go after them/it if they don't just happen to be **near you and a threat to you/your role.** If you do, try not to kill someone unless they show lethal intent towards you - don't spear someone to death on the spot for emagging in, but critting them if they refuse to leave is obviously an option, considering they have dangerous contraband. - **Chasing dangerous personnel after the initial conflict** - In the above case, you manage to successfully drive them off - **don't then chase them around the station** with harmful intent if there's already a security team who's capable of investigating. - **Directly witnessing lethality towards your life/crewmates' life** - You witness a highly dangerous act, whether murder or sabotage of something critical like the engine, near you - **You are allowed to intervene.** Just don't chase them across the station, see above. - **Directly witnessing crimes** - You just happened to see someone break into a department you're not in - **call security**, maybe stick around to see what they're doing if you're a daredevil, **don't rush to robust them.** - **If someone is a dangerous threat to the station and there is no one else able or willing to stop them**, you are allowed to attempt to neutralize them, whether by arresting or by killing them. - **The security team not immediately taking someone down is not reason for you to join in.** If security is manhunting someone, even if they are dangerous, you should not be joining in the dogpile unless you have very good IC reason to. - **The security team being severely understaffed is a valid excuse. Heads of staff/security are recommended to deputize people where *needed* to boost numbers, however.** - If you grab security gear to 'play cop', you're expected to attempt to detain where safe to, rather than resort to lethality just because you can. If you can't - well, understandable. ### On antagonist status - **Antagonist status should not be the end all to how far you escalate a conflict.** - Obviously, if there's an alien killing people (changeling, etc), and you have reason per above to fight them, you won't be blamed for killing it. - Same goes for immediate and extreme threats to the station like hostile wizards, cults trying to take over the station, etc. - **Otherwise**, treat people based on what they did rather than their faction. **Act in character where possible - think about what reasons you have to go after someone outside of the game meta of factional affiliation.** - **If you act like an antagonist as a non-antagonist, do not be surprised if you are treated as such - people are expected to not give someone special treatment just because they're breaking everything but just happens to not be a traitor.** ## 7. "Greytiding" / Antagonistic Actions **Players are allowed to and encouraged to spark reasonable in-character conflict *within reason*.** - **The most important guideline here:** Do not **always** make yourself the center of attention. Even if everyone else is 'boring', **you should not be breaking the law/inciting conflict with everyone on the station every single round.** This is mostly applicable if it seems like you are being the chief problem more than once in a while - It's fine if you aren't agreeable with people, but if we see you getting hunted for breaking and entry round after round you're the issue. If you're breaking into Engineering round after round for a toolbelt you're the issue. **If you are antagonizing security round after round without end, you are the issue.** - **Regarding greytiding, the traditional definitions**: - Breaking into places randomly for the sake of acquiring powerful items **is not** allowed - this is powergaming. - Breaking into places to acquire something for a gimmick you are running **is**. - **Randomly attacking security/heads of staff, and inciting rebellions/similar against authority figures - see "On Mutinies/Authority"** - Randomly attacking people **is not** allowed, starting small-time conflicts and occasionally escalating it **is**. - **See: Escalation. If you are the one starting a conflict, do not go out of your way to push it to an extreme degree to get the excuse to kill or maim someone.** - **Realistic IC scenarios and immersion are important.** Keep in mind that you work for a corporation. If you are inflicting demonstrable harm consistently, you will most likely be severely reprimanded or fired. - Doing something funny is acceptable, but don't infinitely stack trouble to the point where you are seriously destructive to the station's crew or operation. - **Regarding causing trouble in a way that would likely get other players, security or not, to intervene/chase you:** **READ THE ROUND**. If the round is already extremely chaotic, maybe **assist** with helping authority restore some semblence of safety for the crew instead of adding to it. If the round is boring with nothing happening, that would be a far better time for you to start some shenannigans. - More on the above: **If the situation changes, change what you're doing.** If you're causing security a headache and the round begins to take a turn for chaos, **reduce what you are doing or become passive entirely.** You're not required to suddenly allow security to arrest you but **don't do anything that'll make it worse.** We want conflict on the server but overdoing it overwhelms the best of security players - if you aren't an antagonist, don't turn the round into living hell, especially when it already is. ### On Mutiny/Authority - READ THIS CAREFULLY **Players are required to give the minimum "time of day" to IC authority figures, like security/command, within reason.** What this means: - If your head of staff says to not do something related to your job, **don't**, unless you have a good reason to not listen. - If security asks you nicely to stop, *entertain the idea* of not **always** resorting to requiring them to taser and cuff you. - Examples: Don't spraycan the front of security every round, **don't make command/security players' rounds living hell just because they took the role**, or similar forms of targetted harassment - If someone of a role of authority politely asks you to do something, you should probably do it, within reason, especially if you're in their department. What this does **not** mean: - That you have to obey command/security at all times - **We want reasonable, organic IC conflict. You are not required to be law abiding at all times, and we do NOT want to take the fun out of the game. No one signed up to follow orders by other players the whole round, we simply want heads to not feel like they are fighting their own crew as well as any threats to the station they already have to deal with.** - That you even have to obey your own head of staff - **Disagreements happen, fights happen. Just don't make your entire character focused around causing a pain for everyone you meet.** **Mutinies:** Mutiny in the sense of the rules is loosely defined as attempting to forcefully remove someone or a group of people in authority from their position, whether it's a head of staff, the captain, or the security team. - **Disobeying orders by command staff/security by yourself IS NOT MUTINY - again, we do not expect full obedience, no one plays the game solely to follow orders!** - **Valid demotions are not mutinies. Mutiny usually implies you'll be fighting a good chunk of the station to do it - usually security, but can be the team of heads of staff.** Furthermore, if just about everyone is in agreement that the person needs to be removed from their position, even if it's a mutiny, that person will likely have deserved it. - **Security arresting heads of staff for a valid reason is not mutiny.** - **You must have a good, valid IC reason to mutiny.** - **"I don't like them" is not a reason.** Hell, "they were mean to me" isn't a reason. "They went out of their way to **ruin** my round when I didn't deserve it" is. - **"They did something differently from what I'd do"** is not a reason - **even if your method is optimal.** We don't want every head of staff to be able to perform optimally, we want them to be a good example of how people should be taking the game, and being IC leadership. Mutiny is valid if they fail that entirely - **"They did something in a way that will result in catastrophe"** is a valid reason, as well as if they do something so horribly they more or less neutralize their department's ability to function, or is considered harmful to everyone's enjoyment: see CE's that have no idea what they're doing with the engine, HoSes going full Gestapo, RDs blowing all the points on nanites and fucking off into space, captains going space exploring. - **If you don't have enough reason to mutiny, try talking to them more, or getting someone else to ICly deal with them - whether it's security chatting with them, or having the captain intervene.** - **If you aren't sure, adminhelp.** - **If you are starting a coup/mutiny, you must aim to disable and detain/demote the people in question instead of lethal.** If it gets to that point through escalation (like security/them jumping to lethals), you are allowed to respond in kind **to a degree where you can neutralize the people fighting against you.** If you can crit and cuff someone don't beat them to a bloody pulp and then continue beating them 'till you cut their head off! - **It is courtesy to request a person step down peacefully before proceeding to violence, but it is NOT required** - sometimes, you need the jump on someone. Again, make sure you have good reason to do so. ## 8. Sexual Content **This rule mostly refers to things that are considered too indecent to do in public in an urban area of the United States.** If it isn't - it's really just regular roleplay for the purposes of these rules, and therefore exempt. ### On ERP/Sexual mechanics **This is an adult server with adult content.** Understand that you'll be exposed to this. **HOWEVER**, it isn't the point of the server, and it will definitely not be shoved down your throat. **ERP mechanics are never to be used for mechanical gameplay/conflict purposes.** Gameplay mechanics are strictly separate from ERP mechanics. **Never harass people with unwanted ERP, whether it is verbatim ERP or sexual-related mechanics. No means no.** We take these things very seriously - if someone says to stop, stop. **Gain OOC consent before initiating an erotic scene - do not assume someone would be okay with it.** For completeness sake, as it is very important to cover edge cases in this rule - Someone **clearly** going along in-character with a scene that is becoming erotic will not be able to get the other party in trouble by ahelping **unless the other party refuses to stop when asked.** - **Respect OOC notes if someone has them - you should generally assume it's accurate to their wants unless they specify otherwise in LOOC.** ### On ERP protections **Do not unnecessarily interrupt ERP without a pressing reason to.** This may include but **is not limited to**: - Someone participating is clearly using it to shield themselves from conflict. **Be reasonable here** - don't use something from 20 minutes ago as an excuse to break into someone's room to attack them - You have reasonable suspicion and need to arrest/search someone in a room - **There is an emergency and someone inside is shirking their duties and they are needed *now*** (otherwise, consider ahelping them for abandoning their job all the time to ERP if that is the case) ### On public ERP **Public ERP is considered any lewd/lascivious roleplay that is clearly visible to the public.** Examples: - One of the parties involved is clearly naked (within context of their character) or otherwise has genitals visible in public, on their sprite in a way that you can easily see at a glance. - Someone is not using **subtle emotes** and is therefore visible to everyone - **Someone using subtle emotes in a public-enough place in a way that makes it impossible for passer-bys to avoid said emotes.** (corner of bar/public room vs literally splat in the middle of the hallway/at the bar counter with people who don't want to be involved in them) **Public ERP is not protected and can be ICly interrupted within reason and escalation. Furthermore, you must bring ERP to a private area if asked - not everyone wants to read your scene, especially if it contains elements some consider unacceeptable.** - Be reasonable still - if a majority of a room is partaking in something and you are uncomfortable with it, **where said room is semi-private e.g. library game room**, consider avoidance rather than seeking conflict. **This is obviously not applicable for clearly public crew grounds like main hallways/primary departmental hubs.** ### Vore Vore is considered sexual content for the purposes of this rule. ## 9. On Adminhelps **When issues arise, and you think someone is in breach of an OOC rule in a manner negative for the server's enjoyment, adminhelp.** Do not wait until the end of the round, or, even worse, multiple rounds after that. If it isn't an in game issue, make a discord support ticket. - **If you wait to the end of the round or even further** to adminhelp something you perfectly should have within round, there is a chance administration will refuse to take the ticket. This is obviously not applicable if there's a good reason you waited. This is simply because **holding up the entire server for one ticket** is dickish to every other player on the server. **If no admins respond, adminhelp anyways and ping staff to come on in Discord.** If still no one responds and says they are taking the ticket, you are allowed and encouraged to make a discord support ticket to have it addressed there. **Admins are not required to give you the exact outcome of a ticket** - This is sometimes for the information privacy of the other party. **It is up to the individual admin to determine if it is right to say exactly what happened in each situation.** ## Security Policy [Security Policy](ALREADY ON WIKI) ## Command Policy [Command Policy](ALREADY ON WIKI) ## Silicon Policy [Silicon Policy](ALREADY ON WIKI) ## Standard Operating Procedures [Standard Operating Procedures](FILL WITH WIKI LINK) ## Antagonists and Ghost Roles These roles do not occurr naturally and are highly situational. As such, the Admin overseeing the role will provide you with your specific guidelines/answer any relevant questions.