You should always be polite OOCly even if ICly it would be out of the question. Please use common sense and courtesy toward your fellow players -- regardless of what you think of one player or another -- and follow the policies set forward. While we will never do so without proper cause and reason, staff reserves the right to remove players who violate the policies from the game, with or without contacting the player.
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OCs Alts Character Squatting Idle Nuking Roleplay Consent Annoyances Harassment |
Fade to Black Offstaging Retconning Powergaming White Hatting Tiny Sex Language |
Original Characters
Original Character applications are accepted under the following conditions:
No Vaizard or Quincy OCs.
Human OCs are open season but are best suited for social play. Students, shopkeepers, whatever -- the ability to sense ghosts is allowable but not required, and please keep in mind human OCs will not develop spiritual powers.
Arrancar OCs must be Numeros ranked between 50-99; exceptionally good concepts may be granted a higher ranking by staff. You can, however, advance your rank through roleplay.
Shinigami OCs must begin as a student in the Academy if you are a new player to the game; already established players are permitted to apply for teachers or non-Academy shinigami if invited to or vouched for by the Gotei head(s) of the Gotei they wish to apply a shinigami for. This means that the Captain (or Lieutenant if the Captain is unavailable) must notify staff that they are okay with your character concept -- and you must still submit an application for the character.
It is permissible to apply for an OC that is somehow associated with an FC provided you discuss it with the FC player in question and they agree. The involved player must notify staff that they are okay with it. For example, asking Ulquiorra if it's okay to create a Fraccion for him, or applying for a drinking buddy of Rangiku's (ie, acquaintances or subordinates). Please avoid blood relatives, love interests, childhood friends, or long lost anythings -- basically anything that involves a long term, really close relationship of any kind.
Avoid Mary Sues of either gender. Any character that is 'perfect' in anything or everything, has a personality geared towards being loved by everyone ever, or has powers and abilities rivaling those of FCs should be avoided. Nobody's perfect, everyone has flaws, and your character isn't going to get along with everyone ever or be super powerful. OC applications are carefully scrutinized, moreso than FC applications, so try to be unique as possible.
Alternate Universe versions of characters or OCs from a different story universe are forbidden.
Staff may suggest revisions to or constructively critique any character concept we feel may be overdone, overpowered, or need adjustments to ensure a better fit into the game atmosphere. Please do not take this personally.
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Alts
Alternate characters are certainly permissible. Each player is permitted three FCs: two major and one minor. You may apply for your second FC after one month on the game, and your third after two months. You must apply for all alts regardless of if they are FCs or OCs, major or minor.
To view which FCs are considered minor, please visit this page: (http://community.livejournal.com/bleach_mu/14568.html). Be aware that this list may be forced to change as the manga progresses. We also understand that some characters are difficult to declare minor or major in terms of importance; if you have any revisions to propose, please do.
Also please note that if you are given a minor FC under the Alt Policy and later the character is deemed to be major while in your possession, and you already have two major FCs, staff will NOT revoke the character from you. Don't panic. We understand things change unexpectedly and can't be helped.
No player is granted alternate FCs, especially a third, unless they are active on their alts already. This condition is extremely important. We look at login times, IC activity, and general interaction. Staff will not grant additional FCs to players with a tendency to character squat. We also factor in any disciplinary history in our decisions.
Alt interaction must be kept to a minimum. Your FCs cannot be connected to each other. For example, if you play Kenpachi, you cannot play Yachiru. If you play Ichigo, you may not also play Karin or Chad. Any alts you take should have the least possible chance of alt interference as possible.
There is no limit on the number of OCs that you are permitted to apply for.
We also encourage people to try for a variety of characters. If you play a shinigami, why not try for someone in the living world, or vice versa?
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Character Squatting
One of the more annoying things to be seen on any game is a vital Feature Character who logs in just often enough to avoid being reaped, yet never actively does anything on the game nor gets involved in roleplay or tinyplots. This is called Character Squatting and it's not allowed on Bleach MU*. If staff notices this, or is made aware of the problem, the squatted character will be revoked from its player and put back up for another player to claim and play.
If you find that you're going to be gone for awhile, please post to the Vacation board so Staff is aware of your absence. But if you plan to be gone for more than a month's time, we ask that you relinquish your character so another player may take it up. (Special circumstances will be taken into account by Staff if you inform them ahead of time.)
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Idle Nuking
After receiving the password for your Feature Character, you have one week to log them in before they're opened up for new players again. If you have reason to think that you won't be able to log in during that period, please make a clear note about it at the top of your application, including when you intend on returning. After a second week of not logging in a new character, with reason or not, the character will be opened for anyone to app. Original Characters are not subject to this policy.
Any Feature Character not logged in after 3 weeks will be emailed, warning them that their character is idle and close to being opened up. If staff receives no reply within three days, the character will automatically be reopened for application. If you plan on being away for an extended period of time, please contact a staffer to let them know about it, so that we don't catch your character in idlenukes.
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Roleplay
Players are not required to rely on staff for tinyplots or scenes, and we encourage players to plot and seek play amongst themselves. We just ask you keep a few things in mind when wandering around the grid:
1. Never invite yourself ICly into a scene, or into a room to watch a scene. When you travel in any IC location on the grid, do not assume it is okay to stop by and chat if you see a group of people in a room, even if they are set +OOC. Always page everyone involved and ask if it's okay to come hang out. While one player may not mind, it's quite possible another player may, so always make sure you have an okay from the entire group before stepping in.
2. While we actively encourage all players to collaborate on plots, if your plot idea is large enough to affect an entire faction or become a large-scale cross-faction plot, we ask that you contact a staff member so we can discuss it and approve it. Don't worry, we're pretty easy, but we want to make sure that we can fit ideas in seamlessly and logically with ongoing and planned events.
3. We understand that on any game, the game storyline is going to diverge from the official storyline. The same goes for Bleach MU*: things that happen in the manga or anime are not going to happen verbatim on the game, and at one point or another the plot is going to diverge -- a character originally in a scene may not be presently played and may need to be substituted, or players may find a new way for something to occur with the same end result as the manga. This is all acceptable. Do not feel like you must roleplay events out in the manga or anime verbatim.
4. We do have plotstaffers ready and available to work with you and your ideas should you need them, and in the instance of any public, main game plots or scenes that contribute to or affect the main game storyline, try to keep your plotstaffers in the loop so that they can plan accordingly and so that they know what's going on for other players that wish to know or get involved. For example, if you're playing Orihime and you've collaborated to have her kidnapped with other players, drop staff a note along the lines of "Hey, Aizen and Ulquiorra kidnapped Orihime last night, just a heads up so the shinigami can react, etc." -- that way, more than just the players involved in actually RPing the scene can be notified and know that they have something to react accordingly to ICly, should they desire.
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Consent
If someone is uncomfortable with a scene, that individual's personal feelings will always come first, before whatever is ICly occurring. If at any time someone states they are not comfortable with what is going on, everything is to halt immediately until things are worked out to everyone's comfort levels. If someone announces s/he is not comfortable with a certain type of roleplay, then s/he will NOT be made to engage in it, period. This goes mostly for situations of a sexual nature (consensual or not), violence, kidnapping, torture, and anything else one might consider controversial.
This is in terms of OOCness, of course. You CANNOT refuse to consent to something that would make your character uncomfortable to avoid the consequences of his/her actions ICly. There is a major distinction between OOC discomfort and IC discomfort. If you ICly provoke a fight, you cannot consent out of it. Now, one can work with the opponent for a reasonable outcome (death is a bit extreme anyway, most minor fights do not end in death), but you cannot invoke the consent rule and refuse to allow the other to strike you or cause any repercussions to what your character ICly started. Not only is that one of the twink behaviors, but it's extremely frustrating for others and you'll find that after awhile no one will want to RP with you.
The general rule of thumb is IC Actions = IC Consequences. If you engage in a scene, doing something that you know will result in some nasty bad people wanting to hurt your character, then you may not opt out of their revenge by screaming 'Consent!' It will only get you into trouble with the staff and make a lot of players not want to have anything to do with you.
There are a number of ways to handle consent issues that don't have to alter a scene, however. Such as Fade to Black and Offstaging.
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Annoyances
Everyone has pet peeves. Everyone has days where their tolerance levels are lower than usual. Sometimes friends fight and then settle everything, sometimes people argue or get angry over stuff and then kiss and make up. We don't expect that everyone is going to always get along. It's human nature to fight. Staff will not intervene in cases of minor drama, nor should they. So this policy is for those extreme cases, for the wars that can break out that we've seen tear MU*s apart thanks to their ferocity.
1. THOU SHALT NOT BE ANNOYING. And you know what we mean. We don't care if outwardly you 'appear' to be all nicey nicey. If you're being sarcastic or trying to push someone's buttons just to piss them off, you will be disciplined.
2. THOU SHALT NOT BE TOO EASILY ANNOYED. In other words... get a thicker skin. Don't assume that it's all about you every time. If people discuss things you don't want to hear on the public channel, then climb off of it for awhile. Don't make a big deal out of it, and don't expect the entire MU* to bend over backwards for you.
3. THOU SHALT NOT BE INSENSITIVE. If someone politely asks you to stop something, please respect their wishes.
We're sure these all sound heavy handed, but the more diverse a player base we get, the more we're going to run into these situations. We'd really prefer to remain laid back about these things.
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Harassment
Harassment is a sticky subject, for it's rather subjective. What one might consider a harassing behavior, another might just consider annoying but tolerable. We at Bleach MU* ask that you, the player, invoke the tools available to you to stop the harassment on your own. Only when the commands we have provided you for protection do not seem to be working will we step in.
1. First, tell the person who is bothering you that their behavior is unacceptable and to please stop. Sometimes there is merely a miscommunication or the person doesn't realize they are crossing your threshold. If you don't tell them, how can they fix the problem?
2. Provided step 1 does not work, use the @page/lock command to stop all harassing pages being sent to you or simply remove yourself from the situation as best you can. It is also a good idea to log everything as it happens so you can provide the staff with proof if things continue to escalate. DO NOT encourage your harasser. If you continue to engage the person in a flinging of insults and flurry of pages, it will only make the person page you more and convince the staff that you weren't really wanting him/her to leave you alone.
3. If this person is still behaving in a manner that you perceive to be harassing, then at this point send any logs, @mail and saved pages to staff for consideration.
Harassing Behavior --
The following is a short list of things that others may consider to be harassment. This is not an exhaustive list, and may be added to at any time.
1. Demanding someone's personal information, such as someone's real life name, age, location, and anything else that one may not wish to divulge.
2. Sending hostile pages or mail to another player. This includes posting demeaning and belittling flame mail to the public bboards. Especially if the person you are insulting has you gagged.
3. Paging someone who has page/locked you by using an alt or a guest. If you are page/locked, then please at least give the other individual time to calm down. There are other ways to contact such a person and find out why you are being gagged.
4. Threatening someone in an OOC sense. If you send mail or pages telling someone you're going to find out where they live and kill or maim them, then be prepared for some serious repercussions. Staff takes threats like this dead seriously and will take action to protect the MUX in general if you cannot control yourself enough to keep from making such threats.
5. Demanding roleplay, or constantly pestering someone for it. Sometimes people are busy, not in the mood to roleplay right then and there or they are simply avoiding you. Whatever the reason might be, just back off if the person tells you no or doesn't reply to you in a timely fashion. Perhaps if they aren't responding or are always telling you no, you're better off finding other partners for roleplay.
6. Demanding that storylines go in a particular direction. You cannot force other players to do something if they don't want to. You just can't. You can't demand relationships, you can't demand they do or not do something that would be out of character for their character. If it comes to the attention of staff that you are trying to dictate RP, it will be considered an infraction of MUX rules.
Harassment off the MU*: Unfortunately, Staff cannot control how players behave off the game. (Nor should they.) If someone is harassing you on another game, or over a medium such as livejournal, your best bet is to take it up with whatever abuse avenues you can find there. Staff will not get involved in livejournal disputes, either. Please do not ask them to.
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Fade to Black
Fade to Black is used when a scene has escalated to a point where one or more players are uncomfortable with the way the scene is progressing and all involved parties agree to fade the scene and say, 'Let's not and say we did.' In other words, the events of the faded scene did ICly occur, but they were not roleplayed out. FTB scenes are just as valid as RPed scenes. This is often a good way to solve problems involving consent and still progress a scene without forcing anyone to act out something they are OOCly uncomfortable with.
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Offstaging
Offstaging is when all involved parties agree not to roleplay a particular scene at all, and just decide what actually happened in that scene. Like FTB, Offstaging scenes is just as valid as RPing scenes. Once the agreement is made, no party may later claim that because it was not 'RPed' out that it didn't happen. Staff can act as a witness to this agreement if necessary.
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Retconning
If all else fails, there is always the option to retcon a scene. Retro-active Continuity is basically a way of saying a scene never happened. This should be a last resort to resolving a problem, for retconning one scene could easily spiral into a domino effect, canceling out a lot of other RP in the process. Please at least consider Fade to Black or Offstaging before opting for a Retcon.
If at any time a solution cannot be hammered out between players, please feel free to call in Staff. Just remember that staff has final judgment on a situation.
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Powergaming
There will be plenty of characters here who have special abilities. Funky powers and attacks that may be quite nasty and damaging. HOWEVER, you are limited in what you can do to people by the consent rule. You may not hurt others forcibly unless they agree to it.
When engaging in a scene, please try to keep your poses open to avoid powergaming or violating consent rules. For example:
Alexander and Robert are hanging out in a bar when they get into a quarrel. Alexander decides to grab a beer bottle and whack Robert over the head with it.
Powergaming: Alexander grabs the beer bottle next to him and slams it over Robert's head, causing an instant concussion.
That is a no no. You should always allow Robert a chance to decide if he's been hit or not.
Correct Method: Alexander grabs the beer bottle next to him and brings it down toward Robert, intent on smashing it over his head!
That's much better. Now Robert can decide if it hits him, or misses altogether, or strikes him elsewhere, say on the shoulder.
This policy extends to defense from and reaction to attacks as well. While Bleach is full of high-powered characters, it's very rare that anyone walks away without bleeding, even Kenpachi. (And, well, Ichigo just seems to be a perpetual blood donor.) So just keep in mind that no one is going to be immune to any and all attacks ever if two opponents are closely matched in power level. No one's omnipotent, and no one likes a twinky dodge-monkey. It takes away from the interactive aspect of the game -- and not only that, it takes away from the fun. Be reasonable when in combat situations, and be realistic. Grimmjow could take a beating from Karin if she came after him with a baseball bat without blinking, but he's /boned/, sir, if Aizen decides to come after him.
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White Hatting
White Hat Syndrome is the belief that the good guy will always win, and the bad guy doesn't stand a chance, in the simplest sense of it. The villain can never undermine the hero, can never manipulate the hero, scheme without the hero knowing or succeed over the hero. In all situations, the protagonist is always triumphant and there is nothing the antagonist can do.
THIS IS A BIG NO NO.
Bleach MU* is a MU* based on conflict, and conflict involves antagonists and protagonists for a large part. A player in the position of a hero that automatically assumes he knows what the villain is planning and puts a halt to plans he ICly doesn't know about nor has any IC -reason- to know about beyond 'suspicions' is not something we will tolerate.
What does this mean, exactly? Let's take an example from the series: Captain Aizen is obviously not the nice guy he has everyone believing he is. He's been plotting some rather nasty things, instead. He has been - and quite successfully at that - for many, many years. Trying to have your character 'realize' Aizen is evil and working against Soul Society, without consent from the player, and in this particular case staff as well, and without IC cause or justification will result in a warning on your part. You CANNOT know a villains plans without consent and justification nor thwart them automatically.
If you do anything like this once, as said before, you get a warning. If you do it AGAIN you'll be booted off, and don't expect to be coming back anytime soon. Three times is not a charm.
This sounds a little harsh, yes, but it's a problem that many villain players have issues with and something we felt requires addressing so that it does not become a major issue. Just have fun, and remember not to spoil another person's fun in the process.
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Tiny Sex
Staff understands that in the making of any story sexual situations can and do happen. We have no qualms with people engaging in adult behaviors, so long as it's kept to private areas and all involved parties are consenting. We don't think we need to go into great detail about what is 'public' and what is 'private' either.
We also ask that characters (and players!) use discretion when it comes to sex. No one under the age of 18 IRL should be engaging in tinysex. If staff finds out about this, it may lead to removal from the MUX for all involved parties. We're sorry we have to be that way, but it poses too many potential problems and we'd rather not deal with that.
Staff also has no qualms with yaoi or yuri relationships. However, we ask that FCs please not abandon all canon love interests in the process. (Canon love interests are defined as a couple identified and officially stated in the manga, not implied, not fanon.) If an FC is not canonly attached, it is the player's discretion who they get involved with. Staff will not tolerate a player being harassed by anyone else over their choice of love interest. Everyone has their opinions on pairings, and they should be checked in at the login screen and left there until logout.
The other part of this deals with TS on a constant basis. We ask that people please not stick to their bedrooms and private areas alone for hot steamy netsex. Get out and RP with others, take part in the various plots that are cooked up by players and staff alike.
On the flipside, please don't make the assumption that two people standing in a private room together are automatically TSing. It may not be so. When in doubt, or when you want to RP with them, why not just page them and ask? Works better that way saves hard feelings and useless gossip.
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Language
We're all adults. Staff isn't going to police your language, but should you happen to be offensive and another player requests that you tone it down, please be respectful and mindful of other players. There are, however, certain restrictions in public areas and channels. The OOC lounge is PG-13, anything more explicit than that (sexual or otherwise) should go to the Adult channel. Pubchan is also PG-13, so please be mindful when speaking in these areas.
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