Game Rules

General

1. While every attempt is made to preserve privacy, the staff of this MUSH reserve the right to log commands executed in order to maintain MUSH security and/or fix bugs. This is done to deal with players who abuse softcode, try to crash the game or are engaged in illegal activities. No one wants to be involved in lawsuits. That being said, please keep in mind that no MUSH is 100% secure - if you wouldn't want what you're doing on the game to be seen on the evening news or by your family and friends, it's probably a good idea not to do it. 
2. Tinysex/Cybersex is not permissable within the theme of this game. If it is discovered on the game, the offending players will be locked out of the game for a small period of time, and if the events involve Feature Characters, those characters will be opened for applications by others.
3. Falsified logs presented to staff as evidence of the inappropriate actions of others on the game are grounds for permanent dismissal (sitebanning).
4. Exploiting code errors or bugs to gain privileged information, cheat at coded game systems, modify objects belonging to other players or engage in harassment is grounds for disciplinary measures ranging from temporary to permanent dismissal. 
5. Any disciplinary measure that involves temporary or permanent restriction of access to the MUSH will come with public notificiation to the playerbase, to avoid the spreading of rumors or the confusion of players as to the reasons behind the action. Sensitive details will not be  divulged to the public, only a general reason, along with the length of disciplinary action. If you messed up badly enough to get kicked off the game, you will have to bear the consequences of others knowing your actions.
6. Admin cannot spy on players, share sensitive information, restrict player movements or commands, newpassword players, take open fCs without applications, modify code, copy code, modify or destroy buildings, @nuke players, siteban players or otherwise destroy, compromise or harass players in any way, save with the express permission of the Head Administrator. Admin caught engaging in an abuse of power will immediately lose admin privileges and bits, and may also be subject to dismissal from the game.

Actions Worthy of Disciplinary Measures: 

• Adult Content Violation - Engaging in tinysex, posting pornographic links, etc. 
• Gross Theme Violation - You started roleplaying things that don't belong and continued to do it after repeated warnings. 
• Harassment - You've been asked to leave someone alone and you won't stop bothering them. 
• Poor Conduct - Bullying, Swearing, Bad MUSH Manners, etc. 
• Softcode Abuse - You found a bug or error in code and decided to use it to damage the game, cheat, or gain access to privileged info. You set up code with the intent to any of the above. 
• Privacy Violation - You gave out someone's RL information without their permission to others. 
• Identity Falsification - You lied about who you were, or hacked someone's password to get into their characters. 
• Log Falsification - You made a fake log to try to get someone in trouble. This is a HUGE no-no. 
• Libel/Slander - You intentionally tried to start a smear campaign against someone else to ruin their reputation, or carried one over from another game. Remember, IT'S ONLY LIBEL IF IT IS NOT TRUE. If you did something that made you look like a jerk, own up to it, apologize for it, or ask people to drop the subject.

• Illegal Activies - You tried to pass illegal information along through the game. This is extremely serious and depending on how bad it was, we may be forced to turn over server logs to law enforcement. Don't do  this. Ever. 
• Administrative Abuse - Hopefully this will never happen, but if it does, it indicates and admin was overstepping their bounds or abusing their power.

Player Behavior

General

What the staff of Robots In Disguise MUSH expect from our players is fairly straightforward: We expect you to be civil, reasonable, and able to participate in text-based roleplaying using writing, grammar and spelling at a high school level. The primary goal of the game is to provide entertainment and enjoyment for everyone involved, and it is by that yardstick that we measure all disciplinary actions. While as a whole we dislike losing players and will make efforts to help improve player enjoyment of the game, we will remove players who consistently or purposely seek to ruin the enjoyment of others. 

Staff of Robots In Disguise operate on a philosophy of limited involvement, stepping in only when a breach of theme, conduct or rules has occured. Our players are afforded creative freedom within the boundaries of theme on an in-character level, and freedom of speech on an out-of-character level. Players may explore in-character concepts and situations that might be considered taboo elsewhere, so long as they are not in violation of our theme. We allow players to take on high-risk in-character situations, so long as they understand that there may be a price to pay if they fail. Fair and clear out-of-character warnings will be given when a player takes on a high-risk situation; players will not have punishments simply sprung on them while they are unaware. 

We do not bar discussion and debate among our players, though we ask that sensitive topics such as sex, religion and politics to be taken to pages  out of courtesy to those who do not wish to become involved. Fair warning is given however, that you may be offended by the opinions and beliefs of others; we ask that you remove yourself from any discussion that distresses you emotionally, and while we will not remove a player for saying something that offends others, we will also not tolerate ideologues who harangue and bully others with their pet causes. 

Staff of Robots In Disguise MUSH ask that players joining the game be aware that adult topics and offensive subjects can and will occur both inside and outside of game play. If you are a legal minor, we ask that you gain parental consent before playing the game. Any player found claiming adult status falsely will face disciplinary action ranging from temporary account suspension to dismissal from the game. This is for everyone's legal protection and personal comfort.

Players are expected to attempt to resolve issues with others on their own before seeking staff help. If you simply cannot work out an issue with another player or players, you can ask for staff to mediate the issue, with the understanding that staff has the final word in the matter. If you feel you are being treated unreasonably or unjustly by a staff member or fachead, you can make an appeal to the headwiz concerning the matter.

Remember: We can't help you resolve an issue on the game if you don't let us know about the problem! 

Likewise, you will get out of the game what you put into it. While we do not expect players to come up with scenes and storylines to roleplay each day, if a player idles for long periods of time or complains of being bored even after scenes are announced or other players offer roleplay, they have no one but themselves to blame. 

Gameplay Etiquette

Public vs. Private Scenes

Scenes that take place in public locations may be joined freely, but please be mindful of disrupting a scene in progress. If you wish to hold a private scene, create an object to enter (News Player Rooms). You must ask for the permission of those inside an object to join in their RP. Accidents happen, but entering someone's room object without permission and barging into heir scene is considered a consent violation. 

Entering a Scene

When you enter an already started scene, wait a round to see what's happening IC before posing at the other PCs, or check the pose-order tracker for last poses. For those who are in a scene someone's entering, please wait for the person entering to pose before reacting to their arrival. Be aware that some scenes may be wrapping up or moving locations and the addition of a new character can create scenes that drag on too long. Very large scenes may mean people are having a difficult time keeping up with the action already. If you want to introduce some action into the scene or disrupt it in some way, ask permission OOCly first.

Pose Delays

We understand that you may be pulled away from the keyboard at times by unexpected events. That being said, try to respond to poses in a reasonable amount of time. Long poses (or trying to respond to multiple character actions at once) will take time, but keeping people waiting for over thirty minutes at a time after you've started playing with them with no warning or explanation as to why is rude. Keep in mind that some players have a limited amount of time to play, and waiting on you to finish watching a TV show in another window means they may get very little play time at all before they have to log off. Think of it in terms of playing a game with others in real life: Getting up in the middle of a session without warning to go watch TV for a couple of hours while everyone is waiting for you to finish your turn isn't going to get you invited back for another game.

Leaving a Scene

Please pose out if you can; at the very least type a quick "got to go" OOC. Otherwise, your RP partners may think your connection dropped, and wait for you to come back.

If you disappear without notice, expect that your scene partners may come up with a reasonable IC excuse for you to have been gone, so that they can continue the scene without having their flow completely interrupted.

Pose Order

Unless otherwise stated, it is a good idea to pay attention to pose order; Large gatherings or large scenes may break up into smaller sets of activity with their own order. This does require that you pay attention to when it's your turn. It's fine to OOCly ask to be skipped if you need to idle for a few minutes. Even if you don't follow a pose order strictly, don't pose overwhelmingly; you should pose roughly the same amount as the others in the scene.

Thought Posing

A small amount of narrative or editorial content in a pose is the norm. Pose content about what your character is thinking is not. You need to always give your scene partners something that they can ICly react to. A pose that consists wholly of your character's thoughts and narration about your character is inappropriate. 

Pose Length

There's a place and time for the one-line pose and the four paragraph pose. In general, try to create a happy equilibrium. Keep in mind the time needs of other players when you tend towards longer poses, and their need to have something to respond to when you tend towards shorter poses.

Game Awareness

Read things. Read descs, read bbposts, read news files, read other people's poses. Then try to retain at least a general sense of having read it.

Roleplaying Guidelines

These are set of basic guidelines written for those who have never roleplayed on a MU* before or are unfamiliar with how it's done in a largely consent-based environment.

No Power-Gaming

Also known as "god-moding" and "twinking" in some places, this refers to players who roleplay in such as way as to force actions and reactions of others in their poses, says, descriptions and other in-character communication. "John punches Eric in the face, knocking him out!" is an example of power gaming. 

Players should pose and say in such a way as to give the other person the option of responding. Power gaming is frowned upon no matter how well you roleplay, and constitutes a violation of consent (see +news consent) - the other person has not given you their consent to tell them how their characters will react. 

Not all seemingly "forced" actions are power-gaming; some players will have worked out the results of an action or scenario before hand. A good rule of thumb in determining power gaming is if there is out-of-character complaining or resistance following the forced action. If players are using a coded combat system or relying on dice rolls, the players involved are consenting to the generated outcome of the systems.

No Invincibility

This is almost the opposite of power gaming: The player roleplays in such a way as to see to it that their character cannot be hurt, trapped, tricked, hit or defeated in any way. It's okay to be defeated, hit, knocked out or put in danger; defeat doesn't make your character less cool or important. 

If your character can never be harmed, people are going to become bored with it very quickly, and won't want to roleplay with you. Defeat can be just as important as victory, sometimes more so, as it gives you a chance to flex your mental muscles, and see your character evolve. The character that cannot be touched by anyone is the character that has little reason to be roleplayed. 

No Meta-Gaming

Out-of-character information should never be used while you are in-character, especially in matters concerning the fourth wall. Players, real-life information and the audience should not be referenced in poses, says, emits and other in-character situations. "Dude shoots at Guy. If only Guy's player wasn't such a jerk, Dude would be enjoying this more." is an  example of a breech of IC/OOC. It's an annoying and destroys the mood of the scene. 

Equally important is to keep a distance between your character and you; you aren't being attacked, insulted, flirted, etc., with; your character is. Don't let your OOC feelings cloud your IC actions, especially towards the characters of other players (Se +news behavior).

Don't use OOC information to your IC advantage; you may know that your character is walking into a trap set up by their best friend, but your character doesn't. Only use information your character has gathered during roleplay to form the basis of your character's actions and attitude towards others.

Don't cheat with alternate characters

While the rules concerning alternate character interaction vary from place to place, it's considered bad roleplaying to use alternate characters as a means of gaining advantages for your characters, or getting access to IC information you would not normally have otherwise. 

For the purposes of plausibility and freedom in roleplay, we forbid only alt interactions which cause an unfair gain of any kind to the alts in question, or alt interactions which reduce the amount of roleplay available to others. If you have questions about whether or not an alt interaction scenario violates either of these principles, talk to an available staff member. 

Give fair warning in advance

Warn players when the actions of their characters may create a situation in which they cannot avoid the outcome of their actions - especially if this creates a permanent negative change in the character, particularly ones that will result in their death!

Use your best spelling and grammar

Because this is a text-based game, typing skills DO count! Try to use good spelling and grammar, avoid using all caps when talking (this represents shouting), and try not to use excessive punctuation!!!1!!1!!. Txt-speak is also not appreciated; most roleplayers will not take you seriously if you walk into a rooom and SPK TXT LOL. We're all writing a collective story; we want what we're reading to be legible, clear and entertaining. Don't be worried if you don't have perfect grammar or spelling, or if English isn't your first language and you sometimes don't get it right, as long as we can follow along, you'll be fine. Do your best to be clear, which is all anyone can ask. 

Character Consent Policy

By participating in roleplay, you imply consent for other characters to enact temporary changes upon your character. Temporary changes are ones that your character can undo or recover from without too much difficulty or within a short period of time, such as getting bruised up in a fight. 

Consent should be gained in order to affect permanent change upon another character. This is an action that has a lasting, usually negative affect on the character. Exposing a spy, breaking someone's back and leaving them a paraplegic, ruining someone's company financially - these are all examples  of things that affect a permanent change. Most players insist that you ask their permission to engage them in combat (a potentially life threatening situation for a character) at the very least. 

Consent should also be gained if you put a character into a position in which they are blocked from roleplaying with others, such as in the case of kidnappings, hostage situations, or trapping them in an area from which they cannot escape without help.

When your character performs actions which create an unavoidable negative result or reasonable expectation of negative results, you should step up to the plate and take your lumps. You should always carefully weigh your character's actions against the potential results; you cannot reasonably expect a normal human being to put a gun to their temple, pull the trigger and not die. Taking big risks can come with big rewards - but it can also come with a big loss. Combat should ALWAYS be considered a big risk for your character. 

Players who frequently try to weasel out of accepting the negative repercussions of their in-character actions because they don't want to (or don't feel like it) should be reported to staff. We'll make sure they take what's coming to them. 

A player may NOT be forced into roleplaying out a scene with which they are not comfortable with in real life, or a scene that violates the established rating. 

If a player does not wish to roleplay out the consequences of their  character's actions, it may instead be off-staged ("Off-staged" means not roleplayed, but the parties agree to the results.)

Alternate Characters

Each player is given six points to spend across their account to have extra characters (alternate characters, or 'alts'). The points are weighted as follows:

• EFC: 4 points. These characters require the greatest IC and OOC investment of time.
• DFC: 2 points.
• DOC: 2 points.
• FC: 1 point.
• OC: 1 point.

Once approved, anyone whose total equals more than six points will be grandfathered in provided that they are able to maintain the marked levels of activity.

Rarely, a player demonstrating exceptional dedication and energy may be allowed the chance to play two EFCs. If, however, they are unable to maintain the required levels of activity on one or both alts, they will lose the inactive alt(s) and be required to keep to the standard amount of points.

Characters

Minor Feature Characters (MFC)

TBD

Feature Characters (FC)

Feature characters are considered property of the MUSH, and given to players "on loan"; this means that players of feature characters do not have the complete freedom to develop them according to personal tastes. Players are expected to present the character by their provided information and canon personality and backgrounds (whenever possible). Because character development and change is unavoidable in the course of roleplaying, any major changes that occur during the course of roleplaying (change of factions, falling in love, major personality change, change of frametype, permanent maiming or crippling, memory erasure, etc.) need to be approved by the administration. Approved changes will be noted as canon to the game, and will be considered a permanent part of the feature character.

Deluxe Feature Characters (DFC)

A Deluxe Feature Character is one that has power above the general masses, but not as much as an Essential Feature Character. DFCs are generally stronger than FCs and most OCs. They can also have special abilities, high IC rank and command, or have special plot hooks that allow them to move a bigger portion of the story. 

Essential Feature Characters (EFC)

An Essential Feature Character is one of the big names of the game. They're stronger than other characters, command whole factions, or can affect the story in major ways. Many of them are also Point-One-Percenters.  EFCs require a greater amount of time and effort to play than other types, and players who pick them up should be able to contribute to the game by starting tinyplots or contributing to them regularly.  

Original Characters (OC)

An Original Character is exactly what it says on the tin. They're a character created by players on the MUSH, and are unique to the MUSH's story and setting. Original characters can be just about anything, and can have up to Deluxe Feature Character (DFC) levels of power and influence.

Activity Requirements

Characters who never connected after creation will be eliminated after one week.    

Characters who have not logged in after one month without a vacation request will be recycled. Vacation requests for Original Characters and Minor FCs cannot last more than 30 days. Feature Characters, Deluxe Feature Characters and Essential Feature Characters should not be placed on vacation for more than 14 days. However, you can always reapply for them if they are open at the time of the player's return.

Characters who do not participate in play regularly will be recycled:

• Original and Minor Feature Characters must roleplay at least once every four weeks.
• Feature Characters must roleplay at least once every three weeks.
• Deluxe Feature Characters must roleplay at least once every two weeks.
• Essential Feature Characters must roleplay weekly if not more (barring extenuating plot circumstances).

Recycling

Sometimes a character has gone completely awry. Their story has backed them into an unplayable corner, or perhaps, in the case of a feature character, a previous player has badly handled them and left them in a state that makes them difficult for the next player to continue with. In cases like these, a player can ask for that character to be Recycled.

Recycling is an in-character event that causes a Cybertronian to be reduced to their base spark, thus resetting them physically and mentally back to their base personality. Recycling is an event that is an accepted (although uncommon) part of Cybertronian society. How the player of the recycled character wants to handle the IC reaction to this event is up to them and the parties involved, but the usual IC response of other characters is not to hold them to previous actions - they have no memory of them. OOCly, a recycling is a soft retcon that makes a character playable again.

Recycling should be used only when a character is left or becomes an unplayable mess. Recycling requests should be made to staff, naming the character in question and the reasoning behind the request.

Recycling is final and a represents a permanent change to the character.

Character Death

Character death is entirely possible on the MUSH, including Feature Characters. The fate of an original character is left in the hands of their player, either by choice or through failure to come out of a high risk roleplay scenario alive.

Feature Characters may also die, though this is much rarer, and requires a good deal of story justification, along with admin consent, before it occurs (remember, FCs are property of the MUSH as a whole). FCs may not simply decide to commit suicide and announce themselves as dead. Faked deaths are considered appropriate within IC play, though faking one's death too many times may elicit admin intervention. This is not to say that a dead FC cannot live on in some manner, however . . .

When an FC dies or has died on a more permanent basis, an announcement post will be made.