News:Policy

From DevilshireWiki

The Devilshire Administration (+staff) requests that all players read our policy files thoroughly before character approval. If a player has a grievance sited against him/her, claiming ignorance by not reading the policies is unacceptable. Knowledge is power - please read.

Contents 1 Activity 2 Building 3 Census 4 Conduct 5 Consent 6 Discipline 7 Grievances 8 Harassment 9 IC & OOC 10 Idling 11 Language 12 Privacy 13 Property 14 Proxy RP 15 Quitting 16 Rape 17 Rating 18 Tinysex 19 Web Sharing

Activity

Every game has a policy on activity, and they're always either extremely strict, or extremely nebulous. On Devilshire, we would like to think that every character is going to be active. However, we expect our 'main' cast to be especially so. Characters with Heroes, Slayers, and other major PCs involved in either the setting or the seasonal storyline need to maintain an active presence, in both social and episodic RP.

There is no hard and fast rule on how active is active enough. This would be extremely difficult to oversee and enforce. However, these characters especially should be appearing regularly in logs posted to the Devilshire logs forum. We don't expect a log every single day, but regular activity (unless it's been discussed with the Staff where a character is) should be apparent. Don't think logging in exactly once a month to check your @mail is going to save you from the Idle Policy. It's not. If you do have to be away for a period of time, make sure to let staff know so they can set you as being on vacation.

Building

Check the Building Guide.

Census

If you check +census, you'll notice a number of qualities and drawbacks followed by a set of numbers such as '1 out of 5'. In order to help keep the theme and setting viable, there are limits placed on some abilities. A town the size of Devilshire shouldn't have more than a few Slayers. While we have limited the quantity of a number abilities and packages, we also have given a wide variety to chose from. If your first choice is already maxed out, please look over the list. There is sure to be something else that will interest you.

Staff will be reviewing the census everyone so often, depending on how busy things are at the time, and deciding if the maximums on specific packages and qualities needs to change. If changes are made there will be an announcement made on the MUX boards.

Conduct

Act like a fucking adult. Honest to god. If you don't like the jokes, ask people to tone it down or leave the room. If you feel that someone has offended you, try to page them and ask them to cut it out. If that doesn't work? Feel free to page staff or +complain about it. If you're +complaining because you didn't like how someone made a fatty joke, maybe you should step away from the keyboard, go have a salad, and remember that whoever made the joke is some retard that's pretending to be a superhero.

If someone is harassing you? Definitely tell staff about it. Definitely log it. Morons will be dealt with.

Consent

Devilshire makes use of a dice based system to resolve conflicts. This means we are technically a non-consent game. If your character enters a combat scene, please be aware that injury or even death is a possible result. Likewise, if you constantly mouth off to the all-powerful overlord of evil, expect her to eventually try to squash you like the bug she thinks you are. In character actions do equal in character consequences.

If there is a question as to the outcome of an event roll the dice. If there is still a question consult with staff or one of Devilshire's PGMs. You also have the option of calling in staff or a PGM to arbitrate a scene but please be aware that someone might not be immediately available to help you.

That being said, please be mindful of your fellow players. Everyone is here to have fun and dice are primarily for use against NPCs. Don't have your character kidnap someone and chain them in your dungeon just before you go on a tour of Europe for a month. Spending four weeks stuck in a dungeon with no chance for RP is not a fun time for your poor victim. We promise. Please. Communicate with your fellow players in situations like this. It is the best way to keep everybody happy. Also, kidnap plots are lame.

Discipline

If you complain on someone and it's valid and documented (like you are clearly being harassed cause someone is being a definite asshole even after you've asked them several times to stop and left the room but they keep on paging you) they will be dealt with. Likely this will be staff talking to them and telling them not to be an asshole. If they continue to be an asshole, they will be smacked down. If they're just crazy they'll probably be banned. Keep in mind we've never actually banned anyone. But when crazy people throw a fit and leave, they're pretty openly mocked. So keep that in mind if you're thinking about being a crazy fucker.

Grievances

If you have a problem with a staff member or a fellow player that interferes with your enjoyment of the game you need to bring it to the staff. We can't do anything unless we know about it.

We understand that many people want grievances handled as privately as possible. If you have a problem, @mail the Staffer you feel most comfortable with and explain it. The Staffer will find time to meet with you and talk through things to get a better understanding of the situation. At that point the two of you will decide upon the next course of action together.

Please don't send in grievances via +request. We can't guarantee privacy at that point. While we won't share it with the player base, the entire staff will see it.

Harassment

Essentially, we take harassment seriously here on the game. Don't do it. We mean it. If you cannot resolve something with another player in an OOC vein, this is one of the reasons staff is here. (We'd hope that adults CAN work things out, but still, we're here to help). Keep in mind, there are two things to remember above all else when a matter of harassment may be involved:

Log EVERYTHING.

It is not harassment until you TELL THEM TO STOP, and then they persist despite that. Note, that first step is the important one. We don't care if they've paged you a hundred times; if you haven't told them not to, it's still not harassment. YOU have to take the first step.

IC & OOC

IC: This means 'In Character'. It refers to things your character knows, does, and says. OOC: This means 'Out of Character'. It refers to what you, the player, does, knows and says.

Inevitably, you will end up knowing more about a situation than your character. You might learn information about other characters of plots through alts or reading logs or livejournals. Please keep this information out of your RP. You might know from reading logs that Goodwife Cooper is secretly the evil witch Morgaine. Your character shouldn't unless she learned via IC means.

Conversely, chances are good that your character has specialized knowledge due to skills that you don't have. Your character might be a wiz at chemistry, for example, while you only understand the basics learned in high school science class. We encourage you to do some research and learn more, like an actor might to play a part. If you don't know, though, don't panic. When the knowledge isn't related to a plot, just be vague and fake it. If what you need to know is related to the plot, contact staff or the PGM..

Idling

Idling can refer to two different things. The first is being logged on for long periods of time without actually being in your computer. This is acceptable. All we ask is that you set an idle message and idle either in your own room or the idle room of doom. If staff notices you idling in a public room we will teleport your character to the idle room of doom. Please also note that there are certain code functions that process based on your connectivity. With the exception of code and server staff, there is never any reason to remain connected when you are, for instance, sleeping. Please avoid staying connected with a de-idler when you aren't going to be around for long stretches of time for your sake and for ours. Staff will not be held responsible if your character doesn't heal because they never nap.

The second type of idling refers to not logging into your character for long periods of time. PCs who have been idle a month without being set on vacation will be unapproved and moved to the freezer room and their census slots will open up again. After another two months, they will be @nuked. If they do log in during the next two months, they must contact staff to be re-approved and returned to the grid, providing their census slots are still open. You will be allowed a 'Get Out of Freezer Free Card' twice. The third time your character is freezered, you should probably think about how much time you can devote to playing and/or if the character is just not exciting for you anymore, cause you will not be allowed to reactivate the character again.

Characters who have never been approved are given a shorter sentence here: After one month of not logging into a character object that has not been approved, the character will be nuked to free up the name.

We recognize that, sometimes, long absences can't be helped. Whenever possible please inform us ahead of time so we can set you as being on vacation and safe from idling out. Even if you find yourself without a computer please try to contact us if at all possible. Most public libraries now have free internet access.

Language

Swear as much as you fucking want.

Privacy

Privacy can be a tricky issue in real life and no less so here. The following policy has been developed to deal with the more common situations.

Staff members cannot go dark and watch a scene or join a team channel without a player's permission unless they are investigating a charge of harassment. If that is the case they need permission from the head or plot wizard and a job needs to be set up to document the task. Players cannot refuse entry into a public scene to another player so long as that player has a reasonable reason and method for entry into the scene. At the same time, we ask that players respect one another and understand that, sometimes, people just want small, private scenes with another player.

Property

Everyone owns the characters that they create for Devilshire. In the event that a player leaves the game, storylines involving their character may be wrapped up by Staff, and decisions about them in the future would be under Staff purview. Your character cannot be 're-apped' by someone else. If, for example, you play the brother to an established character, and the character just isn't clicking, you could give your consent to the Staff, or the PC Sibling, to find someone to recast the character, so the other player doesn't have a whole aspect of their story dropped forever.

Submissions to the game, such as grid descriptions, magic spells, code and such, are considered donations to the game, and the proper credit will be kept for these items. However, they will remain on the game even if the player chooses to leave, to best maintain a sense of continuity where possible.

Proxy RP

Proxy RP means using one character to emit another in a scene. This is usually done when you want to play two scenes with the same character at once. This can get complicated and messy, especially when events in one scene might affect the other. Because of this Proxy RP is not allowed on Devilshire.

Quitting

There are a lot of reasons for quitting a character or the game entirely. Sometimes, quitting is done in a fit of anger. We all have our bad moments. The policy for dealing with quitting keeps this in mind.

When you resign from your character you have twenty-four hours to reconsider. If you return within those twenty-four hours and withdraw your resignation all is good. If you let the twenty-four hours pass you lose the character. At that point attempts to reapply for the character will be decided on a case by case basis by the staff.

This policy is meant to give some leniency to our players. It is not there to be abused. Repeated quitting and returning will prompt staff to take disciplinary action.

Rape

Rape and sexual abuse are serious topics. Don't do it. Seriously. No one wants to play in your creepy rape fantasy. No one wants to hear about it. Shangrila is right down the Mux lane if you really need to get your rocks off in a creep-tastic fashion.

Rating

The OOC Lounge is rated PG-13. Please do not use excessive profanity or sexually descriptive language there. The PUBLIC channel is PG-13 as well. Please keep in mind that what you do and say in the OOC Lounge are often the first impression a potential new player gets of the Devilshire community. We want that impression to be a good one.

The public grid is rated R. We expect a descriptive level of violence and tolerate profanity, sexual innuendo in small quantities. If you do a lot of R rated activity in public, don't be surprised if the cops show up and haul you away for public indecency.

What you do in private scenes is up to you. If a log would be rated R, please put warnings at the beginning as you post it. If the log would be NC-17 or XXX, please don't post it at all. Really. Yikes.

Tinysex

If you're going to do it, do it in private. Keep it off the logs forum. And know that everyone--everyone is going to make fun of you for it.

Web Sharing

Devilshire maintains an open policy when it comes to sharing the fruits of our RP. A lot of the fun on a MUX is about RP but there's also fun to be had in reading the RP of others.

To that end, Devilshire maintains a forum for posting logs. It is always a good idea for someone in the scene to log and post to the forums afterwards. There are multiple advantages to this. First, you have documentation of what happened in case a problem pops up. Staff can simply read the log and see what went down. Second, character advancement requires proof. XP requests must be accompanied by links to logs that show your character practicing and learning (see Experience Points). Third, you are giving staff and PGMs insight into your character and potential plot hooks they might use to give you more time in the spotlight. Lastly, you're sharing your scenes with others to enjoy and admire.

Some players keep livejournals for their characters. These could represent actual LJs in the Devilshire universe or private diaries or case files or something else entirely. This is a chance to gain insight into someone else's character, not a chance to learn information you can use Icly. Please remember that, chances are, your character does not have access to what is written in someone else's LJ.

We also maintain a Wiki and each character in the game has their own entry. Our wiki staff posts a breakdown of each character's qualities and drawbacks at the end of those entries. This is another way of keeping the game honest and a way of helping staff better run scenes. Please remember that what you read on a character's wiki page isn't IC information and please don't remove the breakdown from your own character's pages.

There is an open policy at Devilshire. We don't use language code or, in most cases, places code so that the logs can be fully understood by those who read them. If a scene or journal entry is especially personal, such as an intimately romantic moment, please don't post it. By the same token, please don't friend lock your livejournal so everyone can enjoy your writing and creativity.

Rules for posting logs are up in the forums.

Devilshire News File Topics
News Files	Building Guide • Copyright • Policy • Resources • Staff
New Player Information	Application Procedure • Census • Character Types • Playing Villains • Restricted Concepts • Sample Character Background
Game System	Attributes • Combat • Drama Points • Drawbacks • Fear • Global Commands • Experience Points • Human Qualities • Human Drawbacks • LP & Healing • Magic • Magic Spells A • Magic Spells B • Note • Package Qualities • Rolling • Skills • Supernatural Qualities • Supernatural Drawbacks • Superscience
Setting and Theme	Overview • History • Folktales • Speech • The Four Families • Town • Conflict • Theme
Characters	Casting • NPC Casting • The Devlin Family • The Harget Family • The Moore Family • The Swann Family