After poking around a bit, looking at various wikis, I think I have a simple, workable policy list. Feel free to critique and suggest, please!
Like any game, CitD has both mechanical rules and social rules. The mechanical rules are covered on the Systems page. These are the social rules for the MUSH. We aren’t going to set out a penal code for offenses, but be aware that we reserve the right to temporary or permanently site ban anybody who violates these rules at our discretion. Honestly, we’d rather spend time working on the game or playing it than rules lawyering.
Everything else we’ll play by ear. Over time, we expect to add more rules to the list as players present us with new challenges and situations. Staff will adjudicate one off rulings as required and if a given topic comes up more than once or twice, we’ll work out a rule for it and add it to this list.
Final rulings on any of the rules rests with the admin, who will strive to be as transparent, fair and consistent as possible.
- Rule 0: We are all here to have fun.
Players, staff and even the admin. If you are playing CitD, we want you to have fun. And we want you to have fun together. Everything in these rules is designed to facilitate Rule 0 for as many people as possible for as much of the time as possible while still keeping the MUSH playable.
Both literally and figuratively. City in the Dark is likely to contain occasional scenes of graphic violence, supernatural horror, themes of alcohol, tobacco and drug use, criminal activity and the occasional sex scene in private areas. For those reasons, we must demand that the players be 18+, the characters be 18+ (as well as looking 18+ and being mentally capable of consent) and the OOC standard of behavior be at least marginally mature.
- Rule 2: Don’t do anything to screw with the smooth operation of the game.
Which is to say, even if you do know how to bog down the soft code, screw up the wiki or otherwise cause harm and frustration to the game and its players, don’t do that, please. This also includes OOC behavior that is problematic but doesn’t rise to the level of individual harassment, like parking a character in the OOC area to complain about the game and/or other players. See Rule 0. If you’re not having fun with the game, then CitD is probably not a good fit for you.
- Rule 3: Respect one another's privacy.
Staff isn’t going to spy on you or reveal other player’s (or staff) alts to you or engage in doxing and we expect you to extend the same courtesy to other players and staff. That having been said, we’re not the internet secret police. If you feel the need to complain about us on other games and sites, we’re not not going to try to moderate your behavior elsewhere.
- Rule 4: This is a collaborative game. Talk to each other to work things out OOCly.
Try to communicate with one another. If a simple OOC conversation would clear up a potentially OOCly unpleasant situation, please make an attempt to work it out among yourselves and/or bring in staff to try to help facilitate conversation.
However, when one or more parties feels like communication is no longer useful, see Rule 5.
- Rule 5: Don’t harass, stalk or abuse other players or staff OOCly.
If somebody tells you not to bother them with OOC communications, stop. If they ask you to stop page them, stop paging them. If a staff member makes a decision you don’t like, kick it up the line to the admin, if you must, but once that staffer indicates they are done discussing the ruling, stop. Don’t use alts to do this. Don’t use your wiki page to send snarky messages. Don’t continue the dispute on channels. Just don’t.
Even if you a know way to fudge the dice rollers, a way to modify your +sheet or otherwise skirt the intention of fair play, please don’t do this. This includes staff giving preferential treatment, mechanical advantage or privileged information to other players or using it for their own alts. And for our purposes, anything a staffer knows that the players generally don’t is privileged information.
- Rule 7: Keep it Rated R in public.
No sex scenes in public areas, no posting logs with sexually explicit material to the wiki, no sexually explicit links on MUSH channels or boards or on the wiki and no unsolicited pages or messages with links to that content. Graphic violence is something that is going to happen occasionally, but try to keep it on the side of an action movie or mainstream American horror movie if the scene is in public.
Not as a plot element. Not as a background element. We get that this is among the wide spectrum of bad things that happen in the world, but in terms of online gaming, the baggage that comes with this particular bad thing far, far outweighs the story value.
In character actions equal in character consequences. Or, to put it more simply, by having your character step on the grid, you agree that they will participate in the ongoing story of the MUSH and that any actions they may take and/or scenes in which they participate may have story consequences for that character.
That could be as severe as character death or picking up stress and/or consequences, developing IC rivalries and hatreds or ending up on the wrong side of City Hall or other powerful NPCs. If your character gets into a situation that is over her head, you’ll be expected to RP your way out of it, unless you decide to drop that character and work with staff to end their story.
In the case of character death or permanent unviability (which requires player consent in FAE), we’ll work with the player to transfer over earned Milestone perks to a new character.
- Rule 10: Plots are great. But in the interest of keeping the MUSH viable, we have the following guidelines:
If a plot only impacts a single or small group of characters in a way that is temporary, no staff interaction is required. (Examples include a mistrunning adventure that doesn’t include a game-changing artifact discovery, a private battle between mystery men and gangsters, a murder mystery involving an NPC victim, etc.) We strongly encourage logs of these kinds of plots, as they can often lead to ongoing stories run by staff for your characters.
If a plot impacts a single or small group of characters in a way that is permanent (and may require +sheet adjustments), please make sure to submit a summary of the plot and the effects thereof via +request, so we can both stay abreast of goings on.
If a plot impacts the game at large (Tesla’s wall comes down, the Shadow Council goes to war with City Hall, the nature of magic or science changes in the city, etc.) we require intimate involvement and approval from the staff. Please submit a plot +request and we’ll work with you, if possible. If not, we’ll explain why that plot won’t work. These plots must always be logged and overseen by staff.
