Post by ShockHelix on Feb 8, 2013 0:34:25 GMT -5
Here are the rules we would generally like you to follow during your stay at The Nexus. As far as punishments and leniency go, there is a three-strike rule in effect, with some exceptions for really bad cases. The staff do reserve the right to ban users instantly; but in order for such to occur, we must receive serious complaints and all agree. Hopefully no prospective or long-standing members will earn themselves a ban; but only time will tell. Further, note that rules are open to staff interpretation.
Anyway, onward from staff policy to the rules themselves.
RULE #1 - Proboards TOS
Don't break the Proboards Terms of Service. I know most of you probably didn't read it, but you can find it here. Obviously this is number one on the list, because without Proboards we don't have a site anymore. Believe it or not, Proboards will ( I know, it's happened before,) contact Administrators of the Nexus if anybody is breaking those Terms of Service.
RULE #2 - Your Account
As far as accounts are concerned, there are a couple things we would like. For obvious reasons, we don't want to see any inappropriate user names. If we do, we'll give you a warning and a chance to change it. Don't make us take matters into our own hands. Also, we would ask that you don't make more then one account.
RULE #3 - Be Respectful
Showing respect to fellow members is a constant expectation here. If you and another member get into a fight, be responsible and drop the subject. Our goal is to promote a friendly, laid-back environment here, and if that is disrupted, a staff member will do something about it. The site is not a place to wage a text war upon a specific person, belief, or topic.
Please do not poke fun at newer members, nor members whose command of English is not as adept as yours. This is most certainly a childish and immature behavior, and should certainly be avoided in most cases. Friendly teasing is perfectly acceptable, so long as the joking is kept in check.
Further, please don't drag the members into an argument over politics or religion, or any other subject of personal debate. It's one thing to discuss such a subject; it's another to take it too far and allow the situation to escalate. It is an expectation of members here to be polite, mature, and respectful; and dragging people into arguments over an ideological manner is certainly none of those. Likewise, do not post topics attempting to attract people to your own beliefs. If someone asks you for more information, provide it in a reasonably controlled manner.
Next, please keep in mind that members are not their characters. Players should keep in mind that they may be roleplaying something offensive, and should likely avoid such activity in relation to people they don't know well or whom don't take such offensive things well. Do not bring in-character drama to an out-of-character setting, and vice-versa. Just because someone plays a particularly negative or volatile character which has wronged you in some fashion does not mean they are jerks. Don't take what happens in-character personally.
RULE #4 - Godmoding and Metagaming
In short, godmoding is anything which prevents the act of roleplay from becoming an equal, collaborative experience. It can occur when someone simply describes a character, or gives them 'unbreakable' equipment; it can happen when one character is attacking another. Whatever the case, please just don't godmode. The staff will be watching. For more information on this, please see the Godmoding - Just Say No rule section
Rule #5 - Explicit Content
Here at the Nexus, several of our themes are pulled from games or literature that brush on, but are not limited to, things such as drug use, intense violence, and other mature themes. For those of you that skipped over rule #1, (but you wouldn't possibly skim over one of the rules, right?) going into to much detail on these aspects is against the ToS. So don't do it. If your writing exceeds the style of say. . . George R. R. Martin in maturity, we're going to have to ask you to tone it down a bit. Note, that if you aren't legally allowed to play the game for which the theme is based off of, then you should probably steer clear of it on the Nexus.
Rule #6 - IC Posting
To post in an IC thread, you must first have an approved character for that particular theme (excluding freeform.) While in-character, please attempt to maintain a sort of posting rotation in your roleplay threads to ensure everyone gets an equal chance to post. The meaning of this can best be described through an example, as seen below.
Say that John and Joe were to start a thread, and chose to alternate posts. Their posting order would look like this: John-Joe-John-Joe.
Now, suppose that Dan were to join the thread after John, but before Joe. The new posting order would look like this: John-Dan-Joe-John.
While this can be a hard rule to manage in some threads, please do your best to keep track. Sometimes, while in the middle of a roleplay thread, members disappear. In the case of a relatively minor thread or one in which the member has little importance, it is assumed that after approximately three days of inactivity on the missing member's part, the thread will continue without their presence. In plot-significant threads or ones in which the member in question is a major character, please be considerate and wait for more around a week.
If the member gives notice of their leave of absence, however, it is okay to pass them up unless they specifically request that you not. In all cases, please simply try to be patient. Not everyone is capable of churning out a solid post every day, and besides this real-life issues can distract people from in-character matters. If for some reason you can't make a post, or your posting is delayed for some reason, let us know so we can continue on. So long as the member in question makes some form of response before the deadline, we will be lenient, otherwise they can expect to be skipped and receive a warning for failing to post.
Posts should be at least three decently sized paragraphs in length, so as other members have some content to work with in response. If this minimum limit is continuously not met, staff will need to issue a warning. If you have trouble making a post this length, our staff are more then happy to help you develop your writing skill and make suggestions on how to improve a short post. So no excuses!
As this is a roleplaying forum, we do expect members to demonstrate some level of competency with the English language. Not everyone has to have perfect grammar or spelling, but please avoid such acronyms as 'lol' and other forms of chatspeak when in-character. Also, please avoid having one character in conflicting threads. For obvious reasons, a single person can't be in two places at once. If your character is in two threads, it needs to be distinguished which one came before the other. In most situations, we would advise you simply steer clear of such confusion, and limit your characters to one thread.
Lastly, when starting a new thread, there are a number of tags you can apply to it based on your expectations for it. A thread without a tag applied to it is automatically considered public. This means anyone with an approved character can join the thread if that character is available, and there is no limit to how many different characters can enter the thread. If you want to make this distinction, you can apply the [Public] tag to the end of the thread name.
Next, there is the [Limited X] tag. This tag is used to limit the number of users that can join a single thread. Any approved characters can join, but the creator of the thread wishes that no more then X users be in the thread at one given time. In example, a [Limited 5] tag would mean no more then 5 users in the thread, and a [Limited 3] tag would imply no more then 3 users.
The [Private] tag is used to identify a thread in which the thread creator has plans for the thread, and would like for you to first ask that users permission to join the thread. These tags are usually used for threads which are continuations of other threads where additional characters may be unwelcome or be out of place.
If a thread has reached the desired number of users, the thread creator does not wish for any more characters in the thread, or the thread is on hold for some reason, they can apply a [Closed] tag to it. These means that no one may join the thread.
The last tag is the [Fast] tag. This tag is intended to imply that the creator of the thread wishes for the thread to move quicker then usual. Joining a thread with a [Fast] tag means that you are expected to post once a day, when the rotation allows for such. This means that at least one post should appear in the thread per day, but more then that will usually be expected, especially in threads with three or fewer people.
Rule #7 - Concerning Canon
Here at the Nexus, we have several restrictions on objects of Canon. As the canon locations and characters are part of the reason we enjoy our themes so much, it is fine to include them in IC when appropriate. That being said, no RPing as Canon characters is allowed, and they are solely to be used as NPCs. Furthermore, no using canon factions for solely your own ends. A righteous faction is not going to start murdering and killing innocents. If you do include canon characters, factions, or locations in your RP, use them the way they were intended.
Rule #8 - Creating Characters
Characters are quite possibly the most important things at the Nexus, second only to the users themselves. Aside from the specific Character Creation rules for each theme, there are a few standards that should be common throughout every character.
Each theme has two acceptable character templates in their specific sections. Either the in-depth or basic character template for the desired theme must be filled out and approved before you can start.
When creating your character, we would ask you not to use images of celebrities. If you can, using screenshots from the theme in question is preferable. This is to prevent two characters having the same appearance. Next, keep them realistic and under the constraints of known canon. We're sticklers for canon here, so don't break it. Lastly, please avoid making a Mary-Sue type character. If you aren't familiar with those, take a look at our Avoiding Mary-Sue guide.
Please remember that the staff are here to help you, and the canon is in place to keep characters in a familiar environment that everyone can relate to. If a staff member finds something inconsistent or incorrect with your character profile, please do us all a service and give them the benefit of the doubt. We understand you have your ideas about what character you wish to RP, but please understand we put these stipulations forward to make the forum a more enjoyable place for everyone.
As an additional note, you are allowed to make modifications to your character sheet after it has been approved. However, we would ask that each time you make an edit, you include a date-stamp at the bottom of the profile that lets us know what it was you edited. Failure to do this may result in a delay on your ability to post IC. We need to understand what it was that was changed, otherwise we may ask you to postpone on participation in current threads while we quickly re-approve your character. If you're going to make a major edit, let a moderator know, so he can give you a an O.K. on making major changes to your character.
As a final note, for those of you who like to keep a constant update of your character based on IC actions, it may be beneficial to link the IC threads your character has participated in, both for new users trying to get an understanding of your character, and for mods who want to make sure you aren't making unseemly edits to your character.
Rule #9 - Interacting with other Characters
When interacting with other characters, specifically in a violent manner, it is important that you do not force actions upon another character. You may have your character shoot at another, but it is up to the user if their character takes the bullet. Also, do not push someone into a scenario where they are forced to either godmod or have their character killed. It is recommended you discuss things out of character, to avoid any godmodding on the part of either user. There is a reason we have a story planning section. We suggest you use it.
Rule #10 - Thread Limitations
In order to try and keep interest in ongoing threads, and prevent thread stagnation, limits are imposed on the number of threads a player can participate in. Starting out, this limitation is going to be a maximum of three threads per section, with a maximum of 5 total threads overall. Note that while this does not include limitations on the number of characters you have, your are encouraged to limit yourself to the number of character's you'll actively be using, whether they be individual ones or part of a created faction. If a player is shown to be exceptionally capable with keeping up with their threads, they may apply to have this limit increased. Similarly, if a player receives multiple complaints or demonstrates an inability to keep up with the threads they are participating in, then the number of permitted threads may be reduced at moderator discretion.
Anyway, onward from staff policy to the rules themselves.
RULE #1 - Proboards TOS
Don't break the Proboards Terms of Service. I know most of you probably didn't read it, but you can find it here. Obviously this is number one on the list, because without Proboards we don't have a site anymore. Believe it or not, Proboards will ( I know, it's happened before,) contact Administrators of the Nexus if anybody is breaking those Terms of Service.
RULE #2 - Your Account
As far as accounts are concerned, there are a couple things we would like. For obvious reasons, we don't want to see any inappropriate user names. If we do, we'll give you a warning and a chance to change it. Don't make us take matters into our own hands. Also, we would ask that you don't make more then one account.
RULE #3 - Be Respectful
Showing respect to fellow members is a constant expectation here. If you and another member get into a fight, be responsible and drop the subject. Our goal is to promote a friendly, laid-back environment here, and if that is disrupted, a staff member will do something about it. The site is not a place to wage a text war upon a specific person, belief, or topic.
Please do not poke fun at newer members, nor members whose command of English is not as adept as yours. This is most certainly a childish and immature behavior, and should certainly be avoided in most cases. Friendly teasing is perfectly acceptable, so long as the joking is kept in check.
Further, please don't drag the members into an argument over politics or religion, or any other subject of personal debate. It's one thing to discuss such a subject; it's another to take it too far and allow the situation to escalate. It is an expectation of members here to be polite, mature, and respectful; and dragging people into arguments over an ideological manner is certainly none of those. Likewise, do not post topics attempting to attract people to your own beliefs. If someone asks you for more information, provide it in a reasonably controlled manner.
Next, please keep in mind that members are not their characters. Players should keep in mind that they may be roleplaying something offensive, and should likely avoid such activity in relation to people they don't know well or whom don't take such offensive things well. Do not bring in-character drama to an out-of-character setting, and vice-versa. Just because someone plays a particularly negative or volatile character which has wronged you in some fashion does not mean they are jerks. Don't take what happens in-character personally.
RULE #4 - Godmoding and Metagaming
In short, godmoding is anything which prevents the act of roleplay from becoming an equal, collaborative experience. It can occur when someone simply describes a character, or gives them 'unbreakable' equipment; it can happen when one character is attacking another. Whatever the case, please just don't godmode. The staff will be watching. For more information on this, please see the Godmoding - Just Say No rule section
Rule #5 - Explicit Content
Here at the Nexus, several of our themes are pulled from games or literature that brush on, but are not limited to, things such as drug use, intense violence, and other mature themes. For those of you that skipped over rule #1, (but you wouldn't possibly skim over one of the rules, right?) going into to much detail on these aspects is against the ToS. So don't do it. If your writing exceeds the style of say. . . George R. R. Martin in maturity, we're going to have to ask you to tone it down a bit. Note, that if you aren't legally allowed to play the game for which the theme is based off of, then you should probably steer clear of it on the Nexus.
Rule #6 - IC Posting
To post in an IC thread, you must first have an approved character for that particular theme (excluding freeform.) While in-character, please attempt to maintain a sort of posting rotation in your roleplay threads to ensure everyone gets an equal chance to post. The meaning of this can best be described through an example, as seen below.
Say that John and Joe were to start a thread, and chose to alternate posts. Their posting order would look like this: John-Joe-John-Joe.
Now, suppose that Dan were to join the thread after John, but before Joe. The new posting order would look like this: John-Dan-Joe-John.
While this can be a hard rule to manage in some threads, please do your best to keep track. Sometimes, while in the middle of a roleplay thread, members disappear. In the case of a relatively minor thread or one in which the member has little importance, it is assumed that after approximately three days of inactivity on the missing member's part, the thread will continue without their presence. In plot-significant threads or ones in which the member in question is a major character, please be considerate and wait for more around a week.
If the member gives notice of their leave of absence, however, it is okay to pass them up unless they specifically request that you not. In all cases, please simply try to be patient. Not everyone is capable of churning out a solid post every day, and besides this real-life issues can distract people from in-character matters. If for some reason you can't make a post, or your posting is delayed for some reason, let us know so we can continue on. So long as the member in question makes some form of response before the deadline, we will be lenient, otherwise they can expect to be skipped and receive a warning for failing to post.
Posts should be at least three decently sized paragraphs in length, so as other members have some content to work with in response. If this minimum limit is continuously not met, staff will need to issue a warning. If you have trouble making a post this length, our staff are more then happy to help you develop your writing skill and make suggestions on how to improve a short post. So no excuses!
As this is a roleplaying forum, we do expect members to demonstrate some level of competency with the English language. Not everyone has to have perfect grammar or spelling, but please avoid such acronyms as 'lol' and other forms of chatspeak when in-character. Also, please avoid having one character in conflicting threads. For obvious reasons, a single person can't be in two places at once. If your character is in two threads, it needs to be distinguished which one came before the other. In most situations, we would advise you simply steer clear of such confusion, and limit your characters to one thread.
Lastly, when starting a new thread, there are a number of tags you can apply to it based on your expectations for it. A thread without a tag applied to it is automatically considered public. This means anyone with an approved character can join the thread if that character is available, and there is no limit to how many different characters can enter the thread. If you want to make this distinction, you can apply the [Public] tag to the end of the thread name.
Next, there is the [Limited X] tag. This tag is used to limit the number of users that can join a single thread. Any approved characters can join, but the creator of the thread wishes that no more then X users be in the thread at one given time. In example, a [Limited 5] tag would mean no more then 5 users in the thread, and a [Limited 3] tag would imply no more then 3 users.
The [Private] tag is used to identify a thread in which the thread creator has plans for the thread, and would like for you to first ask that users permission to join the thread. These tags are usually used for threads which are continuations of other threads where additional characters may be unwelcome or be out of place.
If a thread has reached the desired number of users, the thread creator does not wish for any more characters in the thread, or the thread is on hold for some reason, they can apply a [Closed] tag to it. These means that no one may join the thread.
The last tag is the [Fast] tag. This tag is intended to imply that the creator of the thread wishes for the thread to move quicker then usual. Joining a thread with a [Fast] tag means that you are expected to post once a day, when the rotation allows for such. This means that at least one post should appear in the thread per day, but more then that will usually be expected, especially in threads with three or fewer people.
Rule #7 - Concerning Canon
Here at the Nexus, we have several restrictions on objects of Canon. As the canon locations and characters are part of the reason we enjoy our themes so much, it is fine to include them in IC when appropriate. That being said, no RPing as Canon characters is allowed, and they are solely to be used as NPCs. Furthermore, no using canon factions for solely your own ends. A righteous faction is not going to start murdering and killing innocents. If you do include canon characters, factions, or locations in your RP, use them the way they were intended.
Rule #8 - Creating Characters
Characters are quite possibly the most important things at the Nexus, second only to the users themselves. Aside from the specific Character Creation rules for each theme, there are a few standards that should be common throughout every character.
Each theme has two acceptable character templates in their specific sections. Either the in-depth or basic character template for the desired theme must be filled out and approved before you can start.
When creating your character, we would ask you not to use images of celebrities. If you can, using screenshots from the theme in question is preferable. This is to prevent two characters having the same appearance. Next, keep them realistic and under the constraints of known canon. We're sticklers for canon here, so don't break it. Lastly, please avoid making a Mary-Sue type character. If you aren't familiar with those, take a look at our Avoiding Mary-Sue guide.
Please remember that the staff are here to help you, and the canon is in place to keep characters in a familiar environment that everyone can relate to. If a staff member finds something inconsistent or incorrect with your character profile, please do us all a service and give them the benefit of the doubt. We understand you have your ideas about what character you wish to RP, but please understand we put these stipulations forward to make the forum a more enjoyable place for everyone.
As an additional note, you are allowed to make modifications to your character sheet after it has been approved. However, we would ask that each time you make an edit, you include a date-stamp at the bottom of the profile that lets us know what it was you edited. Failure to do this may result in a delay on your ability to post IC. We need to understand what it was that was changed, otherwise we may ask you to postpone on participation in current threads while we quickly re-approve your character. If you're going to make a major edit, let a moderator know, so he can give you a an O.K. on making major changes to your character.
As a final note, for those of you who like to keep a constant update of your character based on IC actions, it may be beneficial to link the IC threads your character has participated in, both for new users trying to get an understanding of your character, and for mods who want to make sure you aren't making unseemly edits to your character.
Rule #9 - Interacting with other Characters
When interacting with other characters, specifically in a violent manner, it is important that you do not force actions upon another character. You may have your character shoot at another, but it is up to the user if their character takes the bullet. Also, do not push someone into a scenario where they are forced to either godmod or have their character killed. It is recommended you discuss things out of character, to avoid any godmodding on the part of either user. There is a reason we have a story planning section. We suggest you use it.
Rule #10 - Thread Limitations
In order to try and keep interest in ongoing threads, and prevent thread stagnation, limits are imposed on the number of threads a player can participate in. Starting out, this limitation is going to be a maximum of three threads per section, with a maximum of 5 total threads overall. Note that while this does not include limitations on the number of characters you have, your are encouraged to limit yourself to the number of character's you'll actively be using, whether they be individual ones or part of a created faction. If a player is shown to be exceptionally capable with keeping up with their threads, they may apply to have this limit increased. Similarly, if a player receives multiple complaints or demonstrates an inability to keep up with the threads they are participating in, then the number of permitted threads may be reduced at moderator discretion.