Player's guide and rules

[Pastel]

Rules for players:
Disobeying these rules will not get you punished in-game. Many of them will have you kicked from the game. you've been warned.


First and foremost: Please respect the RP staff. We worked hard to bring this RP to you. Playing here isn't a right, and it can be taken away if these rules are broken.

Bullying: If you bully other players, we reserve the right to throw you out. We want this to be a safe and friendly environment for everyone. This includes harassment, insulting someone constantly, or demanding they play a certain way.

Begging/guilting/etc: Do not, under any circumstances, force someone to play what you want, by wheedling them, begging, threatening, or the like. It's their choice. Do not force them to top. Do not force them do sub.

Graphic scenes: Whether this be changes with very intimate details, sexual situations beyond kissing, or anything else that could be offensive, we urge you to take it to a private room, or to PM's. (This doesn't mean you can't cuddle up with your significant other on the couch. but you cannot do so with your hand down their pants. got it?)

Respect: You don't have to be BFF's with every player, but there is a minimum level of respect for everyone that will be upheld. if you have an ongoing problem with a player, talk it out civilly. Do not insult. If it can't be resolved between you, ask a mod for help.

Swearing: Please keep it to a sane level. We're all adults here, but some people don't want to hear constant streams of expletives. A faint sprinkling of four letter words is fine, but don't overdo it.

Drama bombs: Keep them to a minimum, please. It's a roleplay. This isn't your personal blog. Not everyone wants or needs to hear about your constant issues. Talking about yourself is fine. But when it becomes uncomfortable for others, stop.


Before going into the main, ask what's happening before posting, or better yet, read a few lines up, to see where things stand. There is nothing worse than someone joining a scene, and having it come to a screeching halt, because they've done something that makes no sense.

Ongoing Punishments: When a kid is grounded, or on punishment, they are expected to try to comply with it. When, at any point that there is not a top online, a character lights off for parts unknown, that is an indication of an incorrigible character. One that will end up in boarding school, without home visits for the holidays. This doesn’t mean it is impossible to get in more trouble, but frankly, continuing to toss dirt over your shoulder when you have dug a grave halfway to china is just stupid. Also, If something has been a problem for your character, such as eating right, and one of your guardians takes note of it and, for instance, makes you sit down to eat breakfast every day, the one day that person is not on is NOT an excuse to say it did not happen. There are flexible times, true, but fighting the same battle over and over again is, frankly, boring for the adult’s player in many cases. Talk it over player to player if you have some scheme to mix things up, but otherwise one can assume that the action is ongoing and daily.


Spanking/Diapering privileges: These are NOT automatic. A teen has to both show the responsibility to be trusted with keeping the younger kids in line, and be willing to do it. As this is an extra responsibility, there is a substantial increase in one's allowance owing to the increased responsibility. This is generally enough to handle paying for gas and car insurance, with some additional left over. Or in the case of younger or careless teens, if carefully saved can be a way to make sure one has the money to buy your first car. Not a new one, mind you, or even vaguely new, but reliable, and most importantly… YOURS! This is not to say that gross stupidity can't lose you driving privileges anyway, but it comes down to the question: what is worse, dealing with the brats, or trying to find a job outside the home. Abusing ones spanking/diapering privileges is a serious matter, however. The reason to spank/diaper is to teach a lesson, not to get your mad out, or amuse yourself. The lesson may be: “don't be such an annoying little brat” but if you are angry, send them to the corner for a while you calm down. Punishing privileges are just that, a privilege, and one that can be revoked if necessary. And one's victim(s) will be witnesses, perhaps even participants in your punishment. We understand that nobody's perfect and one mistake won't lose one the position of trust you have earned, but when your conduct is discussed with you, you had better show some improvement if you want to keep earning the extra money. Another important note is the awkwardness that can occur when 2 kids close in age end up disciplining each other. So if the punish-ee is within 2 years or 2 grades of the punisher. They DO have the right to refuse and have it taken up with one of the household guardians. Many do not take this option, as it usually means a harsher punishment, but the option is there.

Time of day: This is fluid. We have site members from all over the world and we should respect that. If a role play is ongoing when you arrive, be sure to ask what time of day it is. If you have something planned for a different time frame. New channels are easy to create.

Concerning the ongoing use of Bios: please bookmark your bios so you can call them up easily, this is not just for meeting new people here, because your character’s bio doubles as a message board about your character between the adults, and even some of the oldest teens. Ongoing punishments, worries about this or that budding issue, areas where a kid might need a helping hand, even the insanely cute thing they pulled all go at the end of the bio. For things best kept out of the public eye, another system will be worked out, though if we all play in a responsible manner, it won’t matter what is there for others to read, because….

IPCK vs OPCK: In Player Character Knowledge and Out of Player Character Knowledge MUST be kept separate for a game like this to work. If you know out of character that a scene is going in a bad direction, it is time for an out of character discussion with the others involved. The objective there is to avoid having to retcon things. Also, if you cannot be trusted to keep your knowledge as a player separate from what your character could have reasonably ferreted out, then you will be looking at a little involuntary break from the game, as described at the end of this section. Just because a precious object of another kid is mentioned out of character, and you have a grudge against him, you do not psychically divine the location of said object, especially if the target of your ire is self conscious about his security blankie or whatever and hides it out of sight during the day.

Forced Actions: These CAN happen, but they are one way only. Namely, the adult forces the kid or teen, the teen forces the kid, etc. Now, what precisely do I mean by that? Well, here is a valid forced action followed by 2 invalid forced responses, These examples follow the most common pattern for this screwup.
Valid: * Mr. Ai snags Sean by the back of his coveralls and pulls him off the other boy with one hand, warding the other child off with his free arm.“This fight is over! You are both in BIG trouble!”
Invalid response a) *Sean writhes free, runs off, and hides!
Invalid response b)* Sean wriggles out of Ai’s grasp and runs strait at the boy, kicking him in the crotch!
Now, Ai can do whatever he wants, because he is an adult, and so outclasses the strength of a boy like Sean there is no comparison. In a contest between them, Ai simply wins, at least to the extent that Ai so chooses. In other words, If sean had *TRIED* to wriggle or writhe free, Ai might have lost his grip on the little wiggle worm. But whether or not that happens is the decision of the top. I suggest getting quick on the Private Messages to plead your case before events move past the window of opportunity you wanted to ask about. To that end, if you feel you are getting unfairly pwned (hard to imagine, but possible) type PAUSE in all caps and go to the ooc room or PMs to discuss it. Again, before a retcon is needed, if possible.
Now lets look at the invalid forced actions. First, a) Sean can try to wriggle free, but success is not up to his player, it is up to the adult’s player. Additionally, running off and successfully hiding all in one action is far too much to do without allowing a response, especially in a tense situation like that. B) is RIGHT out. It combines all the sins of a) with an assumed to be successful shot to the pills without allowing the boy’s player to block or respond. Either of these sorts of actions is likely to lead to a…

TIME OUT! Should you be guilty of being a bad player, abusing out of character knowledge, forcing invalid actions, or being a horrible disruption to the game (without good reason, they do exist, but are rare) you may be placed in time out. This is reflected In Character by your character being auto-piloted to a time out stool, corner, whatever, while the player endures a time out in the form of a kick ban from the RP channel for a length of time up to the discretion of the banning official. Said official should immediately be given a few moments by the other, still active players, to explain to the kicked player why he or she was kicked. This is not draconian or automatic. It is left to the discretion of the officials present, primary vote going to the one who was wronged, should he or she happen to be an official. This is not to let them get revenge, but to allow them to let things slide, especially with new players. A lesser, and rarely used option is devoicing the offending player, to let them observe how things are supposed to go. The suggested length of time for a TIME OUT! is 10-30 minutes.

Probation: This is what happens to repeated offenders of the above rule. Probation involves you only being able to roleplay with the owners, (Almond and Angel) there to watch you and give you permission in the first place. If you mess up here, you will be removed from the roleplay indefinitely or the amount of time of the GM's, or Co-GM's, discretion.

On the note of suicides: No. No. No. Absolutely not. Nada. Zilch. If you do, I will kick you out of this roleplay so fast your head will spin. I will not even give you permission for this. DO NOT DO IT.

Off-Camera: I will use my character, Andy, as an example for this. Let's say that I, Almond, have to go on vacation somewhere and I didn't give any specific excuse for where my characters were. Andy, while I was on the course of my vacation, would basically be on idle. He would be eating, sleeping, babysitting, and cooking unless I stated otherwise. That is to say that your character still has a life, even when you have one, too. Many things happen off-camera, such as your character meeting and talking with each of the adults within a week of coming here. There is no exception of this rule. No exception at all. Each character would also have met off-camera with Allistair to sit down and have a small, pleasant talk about how things are done around here and how they, as a character, can help out. A lot of conversations happen off-camera. A lot of things in general happen off-camera. The only exception is punishment. Most punishments happen on-camera, unless stated otherwise by the top. If your character also goes unpunished for a while when an adult knew that they had done something, it's safe to assume that it was taken care of at least off-camera.