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Player Guidelines
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General Info
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Player Guidelines for Reality Fault
The following are the rough behavioral and procedural guidelines for players on Reality Fault. In all cases, if you don't know what else to do, either ask someone for help, or fall back to being courteous and polite, please.
Why We're Here
- We are here to provide an enjoyable place for gaming. Feel free to visualize Reality Fault as a group of friends and acquaintances meeting in someone's living room for a pleasant, relaxed evening of chatting and/or role-playing gaming. This is why we ask our players to please be on your best behavior here at all times, and to please be courteous to everyone. If you're confused or worried, feel free to ask for help from one of the admins or your GM.
This Game Location Is For Fun
- Please play nice with each other. If you are gaming without your GM present (which we don't recommend but understand will happen sometimes) then remember the person(s) you are playing with are supposed to be your friends. Please don't do something to someone else that you haven't either already agreed upon, or would not enjoy having done to you. Use common sense. Remember, gaming is supposed to be fun. If it isn't fun... why are you doing it?
What We Expect of Everyone
- Gentlefolk always try to make those around them
comfortable. We expect this sort of adult behavior from everyone
here. Out-of-character (OOC) conversations should be conducted
as if you were a guest sitting in a friend's living room. If you
wouldn't say or do something in particular there, then don't do
it here either!
We have a few fairly simple rules here. It has been asked (quite legitimately) both why we have any rules at all, and why we don't define our rules more precisely. As to the latter query, we have deliberately not hammered out a set of laws with precise, nit-picky attention to detail, since it's been our experience that hard and fast rules simply encourage inventive ways of breaking them. That's certainly not our goal, nor are we interested in policing such behavior.
The following quote is the answer to why we bother having any regulations at all:
"Games quite literally have rules; games, unlike most other areas of life, are in fact defined by rules. So from the way we play our games, we learn about the way we think of rules; and from understanding how we think of rules -- and in particular, how we think about breaking them -- we learn about our respect, if any, for the virtue of integrity. In particular, we teach a good deal about our integrity when we choose to follow too literally the late Vince Lombardi's well-known, perhaps notorious advice: 'Winning isn't everything -- it's the only thing.'"
-- Stephen L. Carter, from his book IntegrityIn essence, this says that how you treat the rules here, for good or ill, tells everyone around you a great deal about how you will probably behave in other situations as well. We are not here to "win," and we expect everyone here, ourselves included, to attempt to behave in a thoughtful, friendly, and cooperative fashion. We're doing this for fun -- trying to provide a pleasant place for folks to hold role-playing games. This is why we ask our players to try to behave with maturity and forethought, to use courtesy and common sense, and to try to be sure those around you are comfortable too.
On a related note, the terms and conditions for use of Reality Fault may change at any time, and it is your responsibility to remain informed about what current terms of operation are. While the admins will try to notify users when these terms change, each individual is responsible for remaining informed on current policies. Here is the up-to-date version of the official AUP.
If you have any further questions about our rules, or lack thereof, please feel free to ask any of the admins for clarification.
Courteous disagreement
- We realize being an administrator here doesn't make us
perfect or always right. Managing things on Reality Fault is a
responsibility, and entitles us to no special privilege. However,
it also does not entitle folks to treat administrators with less
courtesy than they would use with others. We ask people to please
not be afraid to give opinions or offer help, or to ask us if
they have any problems, and we'll do our best to fix things --
but please, try to remain polite.
Please note, the standards of courtesy we ask for in regards to day-to-day behavior on Reality Fault still apply when dealing with problems, things you disagree with, or things you are just unhappy about. Making your point politely to an admin is the best way to ensure they understand the issue, rather than the fact you are upset.
As an example, purely emotional appeals, demanding some rule be immediately changed, posting personal attacks (however indirect) to any of the mailing lists, or insisting the rules do not apply to you simply because you don't like them, are not persuasive arguments, nor are they likely to succeed in convincing the administrators to make the changes you would like.
If you have a delicate issue that is important to you, may we suggest you check the How to Talk to Your Fellow Players section of the GMing FAQ for pointers on how to present your issue politely and persuasively.
Please remember: much like a GM in their own game, the admins are the final arbiters of what rules exist on Reality Fault, and how they are applied. We very much appreciate people who come to us with good suggestions, or problems they perceive, as their input helps make Reality Fault a better place. However, regardless of the issue at hand, once a decision has been made by the administrators about what rules exist, you will be expected to abide by those rules.
If players of any nature (OOC, GM, PC, etc.) continue to break the rules, they will be reminded they are expected to comply with the rules. It is the administration's unfortunate responsibility to remove players who repeatedly disregard the requirements of membership on Reality Fault. This includes our requirement that members remain courteous.
Please accept this with grace, whether we've agreed with you or no, and allow everyone here to move on with their gaming once a decision has been made. Remember, good sportsmanship is as important here as it is in real life.
Plot Out And Schedule Your Games Ahead Of Time!
- We cannot emphasize this enough. Feelings are hurt and squabbles erupt when there are differing expectations of what the game plan is. If you make your plans ahead of time, you and your players will both have shared expectations of what the game is. If you schedule when to meet you will know there will be good gaming waiting for you when you arrive.