Code of Conduct

[Anaiu]

Like what you see? Awesome, we can't wait to welcome you aboard! Most of this stuff should be routine for experienced roleplayers, but we do ask that you read this entire thread, just so everyone knows the rules around here. We don't expect everyone to need to read all of the information here as a lot of it is common sense (especially given that this is an advanced RP forum), but please do, at the very least, skim the entire thing. We don't ban people on first offenses here, so if you miss a detail or two, it's not going to get you banned.

REGISTRATION, APPLICATIONS, AND CHARACTERS

• You may register all of your accounts with whatever name you want; however, we would ask (not require, just ask) that you keep numbers and symbols out of your display names, for the sake of forum appearance.
• You must read through everything in the Rules and Regulations board and all plot synopses, as well as the current plot thread, before you may submit a character application.
• You will find that there is no character creation form. This is because the form is set up as a custom post template for when you create a thread in any of the character creation boards. Please submit your application in the correct board; humans have a completely different form from the one used by Anomalies, who have different forms compared to Shinigami.
• An Alter will be created for each character at the time the character is accepted, regardless of how you plan to handle them yourselves. The Alters help us to keep track of who plays what characters.
• Mary-Sues/Gary Stus are not allowed, period. 
• We expect all characters to be of relatively high quality; any sub-par characters will not be accepted.
• If your application is denied, you will have 48 hours to resubmit it.

Shinigami

• Shinigami applications are closed at this time.

Multiple Characters

• You may have either one account for all of your characters or one account per character, and there is no limit on how many characters you may have.
• If you have one account for all characters, you are required to use the Alters for in-character posts, in order to allow easier identification of which characters are in which threads.
• If you have one account per character, the display name for each account must reflect its character (i.e., be the character's name or alias). Also if you have one account per character, you may only use the first account in OOC interactions (i.e., any board in the OOC or City Hall categories, including for character applications), and the display name for this "main" account will be used to represent you in the Who's Who. You may choose to have a separate account with no character attached for use in OOC interactions.
• These rules are put into place to make it easier for new members to keep track of who plays what characters and who they are talking to in OOC forums, etc. These rules also make it easier for us, the admins, to track each character's activity and ensure that the activity rules are being followed.

Claims

• Face claims my be real-life celebrities (no stock photos or "Myspace kids"), known anime characters, or unknown anime characters/artwork. They may be your own artwork, provided that they are of high quality and colored. If the face claim has traits your character does not (e.g., your face claim is Naruto, but your character lacks the whiskers; your face claim is Cooro from +Anima but your character does not wear feathers in his hair, etc.), say so. If the face claim has any unnatural features (e.g., Inuyasha and his ears/eyes/claws, Yugi Muto and his crazy hair), explain them somehow.
• Bleach characters are restricted for what I believe are obvious reasons.
• Only full-characters' face claims are listed in the Who's Who. If a background/APC/wanted character has your desired claim already, it doesn't count. Full characters always have priority for any and all claims.
• Powers are tracked more than they are claimed. If we already have a telepath, you can still apply for a telepath; just don't be surprised if we tell you it's too close to the existing character and have you try to make it more unique.
• Aliases are absolutely claimed. If an alias is listed on the claims list, that alias is not available and that is not negotiable.

ACTIVITY

• We require a minimum of one post per character per week.... We really don't think that's too much to ask. If you can't find a thread to join, then make one, or, if you have no muse for that, ask someone to make one for you to join! If you will not be able to meet this requirement for a while, let us know in the Leave of Absence board.
• Failure to meet these requirements will result first in a warning. If the situation is not rectified, the characters which fail to keep their activity up will be made into background characters, and you will not be able to take them back until you have demonstrated that you can keep up with the activity requirements. If you do not, the characters will likely be killed off during the course of the plot at some point.

ROLEPLAYING


Quality

• This is an advanced/literate forum. We welcome all ability levels, but all writing must use decent grammar and spelling; that is, it must all be legible. This includes the OOC boards.
• There is no word count or post length requirement, but please do at least try to give the other players something to work with.
• OOC comments should be kept to a minimum, but may be used if they are separated from the post in some way. Examples: //OOC| text \\ , ((OOC text)) , // OOC text \\ , <<OOC text>> , etc.

Character Interaction
Godmodding and powerplaying are forbidden, except as allowed by your character's abilities and the character you are playing with's powers and personality, and the permission of the person(s) you are playing with. For those who don't know...

• Powerplaying is when you control another person's character. This can be anything from shaking another character's hand without giving them the opportunity to refuse, to making characters trip or outright killing them.
• Godmodding is when you take advantage of the no powerplaying rule to make your character "godlike", which normally occurs in combat. For further information, see the combat section of the "Roleplaying Guidelines".

Threads
There are a few kinds of threads here: Open threads, Tagged threads, Plot threads, Combat threads, and Oneshot threads. Thread Labels, a new v5 feature, exist for each type of thread; proper labeling is required. Unlabeled threads are to be considered Oneshots and may be locked. Nearly any combonation of thread types is possible.

• Open threads can be started by any character and may be answered by any character. To be considered an Open thread, the Open label must be used.
• Tagged threads are open only to designated characters. They are marked with a Tag label; the character(s) which you want to join you in this thread should be listed at the beginning of the thread in an OOC comment. If you wish, you may also ping the accounts of each character by placing the @ sign in front of the player's username; i.e., "@ admin" (without the space) appears as Anaiu and "@ toshiro" (without the space) appears as Toshiro Hitsugaya. Pinging accounts in this manner alerts the player that they have been pinged, by whom, and where.
• Plot threads advance a story. They may be any other type of thread in addition to being a Plot thread. Plot threads may advance the main storyline, or a character's individual storyline. They must be marked with a Plot tag.
• Combat threads are, obviously, threads for fighting in. Combat can, of course, take place in any thread, but these are designated "fight zones". Special combat rules apply to these threads. They may be open or private threads. Combat threads come in three levels: 1, which is a one-on-one fight which is unlikely to damage the surrounding area beyond what could be repaired in a couple of days, etc.; 2, which is a group-on-group fight which may cause some damage to the surrounding area and injury to bystanders; and 3, which is a large group-on-group battle or any battle which is likely to cause massive damage and destruction as well as the deaths of a fair to large number of bystanders. These threads are labeled as C1, C2, or C3, depending on the level.
• Oneshot threads are any thread in which the thread starter does not want replies. These are usually plot threads, and the thread starter may only want his/her own characters in the thread. These threads may have a Oneshot label, or they may be unmarked entirely.

PLOT

We have an actual plan for our plots here at SAOR. Read the freaking plot. Though synopses will be posted when we feel the original plot threads are becomming cumbersome to read, we do advise everyone to read the entire thing as time allows. There will be sieges by Hollows and attacks by Menos; there will be political involvement and multi-front wars will break out. New laws will be passed, people will be persecuted Some characters will die (only canons and characters whose players have requested/given permission for their character to die). There will be things that affect entire areas--if, for example, we destroy a section of Seattle, your character should not then go there for a day of shopping. We may destroy residential areas, and your character may find themselves out of a job, or out of a home, as a result of the plot's progression. Please abide by things like this.

As for the fun side of things, we have random "mini plots" which are changed out every month. Think of these as semi-in-character games; we might send around Valentine's Day cards to everyone in February, and leave you all to figure out who your secret admirers are. We might drop everyone into an alternate universe. We might unleash an army of tribbles on the entire state of Washington. The beauty of these things is that they're entirely optional. Not interested in the mini plot? Don't participate; they don't affect anything in the actual RP world at all! These mini plots are located in the Mini Plot of the Month board in the Historical Society and are contained in a single thread. Posts in these threads are not bound by the "post as your character" rules; you can post from any account you want, with as many characters as you want, with or without using alters. We are nowhere near as strict on our rules regarding post length and quality in these threads as we are on the RP boards.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE

If you are going to have difficulty meeting our posing requirements, whether for a short time or for an extended period, let us know here. If you don't, you will still be held to the same requirements as everyone else and end up losing your characters or your account with us.

Leaving us forever? We're very sad to see you go, but this is the place to say goodbye. If you do, you may also dictate how you would like your characters handled: put up for adoption, made into unadoptable background characters, or killed off and how.

CONDUCT

• This is a PG-13 forum in compliance with the Proboards TOS. This means no excessive gore, absolutely no sexual content, and no hard-core (or detailed) drug use. Out of character, swearwords are to be kept mild. In character, your character may swear like a sailor and be a gigantic prick to everyone he meets, but in the OOC boards, be civil.
• Be respectful! Disrespect towards anyone, whether they've been here forever or just joined, whether they're admins or have a warning level, will get you into trouble. Seriously, just be a decent human being and we'll all get along just fine!
• Double-posting is NOT allowed. At all. Ever. If you have the last post in a thread, modify that. DO NOT simply reply again.
• As much as I love a good debate and controversial topics, this really isn't the time or the place. Please avoid any and all political and religious discussion in the OOC boards (once again, your characters can do whatever they want).
• As you may have guessed, we put few restrictions on what your characters can talk about. That's because here, we believe a character can be completely separate from its author. Do with that information what you will.

GRAPHICS

• Avatars may be no larger than 150x150; signatures may be no taller than 300px. Maximum signature width is 400px. Some of us have smaller screens, and anything larger than this sticks off the forum weirdly. If you use something larger, it will be resized for you.
• For some reason, the Alters character profiles insist on making avatars 100x100, so please be aware of this.
• You may notice that we have the posting templates plugin. This allows you create and easily use as many posting templates (i.e., default UBBC/special posting tables, etc.) as you like. You're more than welcome to use them, but please limit the width to 400px (see the signature sizes for why).

STAFFERS

• Anaiu: I'm one of the co-creators here and so far, I handle most of the administrative duties here, from plot to character applications and activity watches. I also handle all of the site's theme work (codes, plugins, graphics, color, etc.) and love playing with photoshop.
• GenericWizard: The other co-creator; he mostly deals with character applications and questions and suggestions at the moment.