Post by Eloell on Feb 16, 2021 14:36:26 GMT -5
RULES & EXPECTATIONS Revamped 2.2021
HA Staff takes the maintenance of the community seriously because of the time and energy that has been invested in the site. Violations of these rules, especially concerning member conduct, may result in membership revocation. Roleplaying on this site is to be done for fun, and these rules and expectations are intended to ensure that end.MEMBER CONDUCT
1. All members writing on this forum must be 18+.While our written content is acceptable to ages 13+, our OOC writing community consists of adults 18+, with the majority of us ranging between 25-35. For the purpose of maintaining the understanding and comfortability of our writers, we require that our members on Heir Apparent are at least 18 years of age. Members who register are agreeing to this rule.
2. All members are expected to communicate with one another in an objectively respectful manner.
It is inevitable that our community will experience conflict and disagreements. We ask that every member take responsibility for maintaining peaceful relationships with one another, which is most easily managed through calm, patient, respectful communication (as opposed to charged, passive aggressive, accusatory phrasing, punctuation, and word choice). Should communications escalate, we ask that member complaints be brought directly to staff in a careful, thoughtful, reflective manner. We are all humans with complex thoughts and emotions, and for the sake of maintaining harmony on the site it is imperative that we all seek, first and foremost, to preserve peace.
3. Every member is expected to read, understand, agree with, and commit to promoting the Site Objectives.
Please pause your review of these rules to read through the site objectives. The community of Heir Apparent is a unique roleplay experience that is not for everyone. We heavily prioritize organic roleplaying, which means less OOC planning and more going with the IC flow, and we heavily emphasize the emulation of reality and member-driven plots. Due to this, please note: characters can spread lies about other characters, attack other characters, dislike other characters, try to kill other characters, or otherwise negatively impact the characters around them without the permission of other members on the site.
4. In-character occurrences are to be kept in character.
While any seasoned roleplayer can attest to the depth of investment that writers put into their characters and their stories, it is imperative that we consciously maintain a separation between ourselves as the member and the characters that we write. Please remember that this is a game and things done IC to your character are not personal attacks on you as a member. The contrast of right and wrong and the conflict that ensues is to be celebrated, as it makes for good storytelling. Roleplayers must strive to maintain a trust between writers, understanding that we need one another to write in this format. We can hate how a story unfolds, hate what a character does, and even hate the way a character develops, as that is our prerogative as individuals. What we cannot do is take that dislike for what is happening IC and turn it into OOC conflict, lashing out against the members we are collaborating with. That kind of behavior is a violation of the implicit understanding between roleplayers, and a direct transgression of the rules on Heir Apparent. Activity of this kind will be handled swiftly and firmly.
5. All content on this forum is to remain within PG-13 guidelines.
PG-13 defined: This rating is a strong caution for parents that content included may not be appropriate for children under 13 (pre-teen ages). This may include strong language, extended violence, sexual situations, and drug-use. There is to be no explicitly sexual nor pornographic content on HA, not in images nor in writing. The need to [ FADE TO BLACK ] arises when the descriptions of what characters are doing to one another become graphic in detail or begin to progress towards intercourse. Additionally, out of an effort to be thoughtful of others in our community, we ask that any threads with potentially triggering themes (i.e. torture, suicide, rape, incest, child/verbal/physical abuse, etc.) be marked at the top of a reply with a "[Trigger Warning ]" tag, or in the title of a thread if the entire thread centers around a potentially triggering theme. We encourage this while understanding that what triggers one individual may not trigger another, thus this warning is not something staff will be policing, but it is a kindness individual members can consider practicing. All members be warned that there will undoubtedly be triggers in the content of this site due to the nature of realism and the maturity of the community.
ACCOUNTS AND CHARACTERS
1. Every member and character should have an individual account.
Your very first account should be your OOC account. This means that you will use the name you want people to refer to you, the member, as. Each account following the initial will be your IC accounts, and should be the first name of the character you are creating. Please don't register as "fluffy" and then change the character's display name to "McFlufferson"; if the character will be called "McFlufferson" then register as "mcflufferson". Likewise, if your character's name will be "Kookoo Lila" then you should register his account as "kookoo". *Please make sure to scroll through the member list and take not of current characters and try not to choose a name that is especially similar (i.e. there is already a "Lillia" and you make a "Lillian"). You should use the same email address when you register with additional accounts, which then links all of your accounts and makes switching between them effortless.
2. Every new member, upon joining, may create 2 characters without stipulations.
We want our new members to easily plug into the site in multiple places, thus we welcome you to create two characters immediately. Following the creation of these initial characters, members must then follow our Character Creation Guidelines to apply for the creation of additional characters. Please note that a new member's first two characters cannot be a gifted from Lorendale, and played characters must be 16 or older.
3. We expect our members to adhere to activity expectations.
The site does not need to be crazy active, but we do want an active site. Our Character Ranking System helps determine how active we expect members to be with each character, and playing a canon affects that expectation as well. Abandoned accounts are subject to deletion, and staff will assume responsibility of wrapping up the IC stories revolving around the characters of members who leave the site, per our Absence Policy. For quick reference, the average activity expectation is 1 post a week per character.
4. Images used on the site must be the appropriate type, size, and taste.
While gifs are welcomed in the part of the mini profile that details 'gif', we ask that members do not use gifs for icons or avatars. Additionally, signatures are allowed, but large, blocky pictures that cause extra scrolling are prohibited. Lastly, keep in mind with all pictures used that we are a PG-13 site, and our characters are more than their bodies (especially the women).
WRITING
1. IC narrative tense and post format should remain consistent across all writers.
Heir Apparent is written in third person and past tense, I.E. "He walked away from the mirror" instead of "I walk away from the mirror". All IC posts are to remain in the default of being left justified, and no coloring should be used for dialogue or text. Please double space between paragraphs. Bolding dialogue is allowed, as well as blockquoting the entire post. No posting templates. The narrative perspective may be limited or omniscient, but please be cautious about accidentally bleeding your OOC knowledge into your character's limited perspective.
2. All IC threads require timestamps and inter-kingdom travel/correspondence must be approved.
Timestamps are a quick and easy way to keep track of events on the site (read more about timestamps here). Travel/correspondence requests (submitted/approved via Discord) are necessary to preserve the on-site timeline and help maintain the consistency of the story across our growing member base. Failure to correctly timestamp a thread or to get approval for inter-kingdom travel/correspondence may result in the invalidation of that thread/occurrence. All posts written within an invalidated thread are subject to deletion if they are determined to undermine the continuity of time or the fabric of reality on the site.
3. On-site evidence of all IC occurrences are required.
IC evidence of all relevant plot details is critical to fair and transparent roleplay. Any plots or details established OOC that are not recorded on-site will be not be acknowledged in the context of the IC world and may also result in the invalidation of certain threads/occurrences. All posts written within an invalidated thread are subject to deletion if they are determined to undermine the continuity of time or the fabric of reality on the site.