OOC Rules
When communicating with others OOCly you should obey the following rules:
- Do not OOCly discuss or give out IC information that is sensitive and current. Information is current if it has to do with or impacts characters currently playing the game. Information is sensitive if it isn't publicly known and isn't trivial. If it's about something that was being openly discussed in public, it's fair game. If it's trivial to the point where it couldn't really affect anything, such as a funny joke someone told, it's fine. If it's about stuff that happened months or years ago to characters long since dead, it's okay as well. If not though, you shouldn't be talking about it.
- Do not attempt to OOCly influence other players IC behavior. Don't, for instance, say you should do or you shouldn't do something. Similarly, do not say it would be really cool if you did or didn't do something.
- Do not OOCly discuss matters which aren't publicly known aspects of your current character. Don't tell people about his hidden motivations or inner personality. Do not explain the reasons why they did or said anything. If someone mentions that your character seems like a lecher, do not respond with 'Well, but really that's just hiding his inner sexual insecurities" or anything along those lines. Once your character has retired or died, feel free to explain.
- Do not OOCly script or predetermine events, actions, schemes or roleplay with others.
- Do not tell others who the alts, Story Runners, or Immortals of another person are or who you think they are unless you know the player is fine with it.
- Do not make assertions to others about other players based on speculation or hearsay without making some effort to find out if they are true or not. This can be done by contacting the player in question or the staff.
- If you speak OOCly with someone more than once a week on average you should add them to your friend list. See the friend page.
- Common Background Exception: If you want to make a character with someone else that has a common background, that is permissible. You can use OOC communication to set up and discuss the background, but not current events.
- Story Runner Exception: You can talk OOCly to SRs about your character's background and such if it is relevant to a current or future plot.
We feel the reasons for these rules are pretty obvious. We don't want the IC environment being dictated by the OOC factors. We don't want a player's OOC influence to be more important than his IC influence. We want people to be able to play alts or SR without worrying about their actions on one character affecting peoples attitudes towards the other. They should also be able to relax and play a character without worrying about people bugging them to SR stuff. We want people to behave decently toward each other and not start or spread rumors that will detract from another's experience.
We understand that while we will be unable to enforce these rules in many situations, players need to be aware that they can be punished for breaking them. Opting to follow these rules is in the best interests of each player and the community as a whole. They foster respect and goodwill. By typing consent OOC rules, you will unlock the tell command. Typing it again will disable it. Refusing to consent to the OOC rules does not make you exempt from them, but the mechanism ensures that you are aware of the rules prior to using tell.
If there is anything about the rules that you don't understand or wish to discuss, please contact the immortals. Alterations will be considered as well.