Staffing OOC Chat & Community Rules

[Sage 289]

We've all got rules for our rp - no godmodding, post requirements and character limits (or lack thereof), activity rules, etc. But, aside from the general "be nice to each other, treat others how you want to be treated" stuff, do you have any code of conduct rules for ooc chat and the community at large? Do you have any rules to foster a good environment for your players to hang out in while they're not writing replies? These could be Discord rules, c-box rules, or just some general chat rules. Do you even need them? If you don't, why not? Is there a point where you would consider making some?

Edited May 10, 2018 by Sage

[Elena 546]

I don't have C-box rules. Be respectful is enough for everyone. And while I know that some sites prohibit expressly discussion about politics and religion in the C-box, we have encouraged them. 

 

I don't mind discussions about politics and religion in my c-box, along with other kinds of discussions like history, social/ health/ education systems in the various countries we are from. It doesn't happen often, but it happens from time to time, and all the discussion is always constructive. 

We have learnt from each other about various countries' (and EUs as a whole) national days and their signification in history, about election systems and what kind of parties are popular in those countries, we have debated the crisis in Greece, Brexit, the Catalan separatist movement, when they had happened, Balkan history determining the "powderkeg" of several local wars in the latest century, what "the Orange and the Green" means for the Irish and where does it come from. We have learnt from each other the differences between education systems, health systems, etc.

We have learnt from each other about predominant religions in each country, the difference between "Orthodox like the Greeks" and "Orthodox like the Russians" (the answer is 13 days, the Julian "old style" calendar being still in force in the Russian church), about Easter, Christmas or other holidays' specific traditions in various countries, and this is all interesting and lovely.

[Deep Sea 326]

When I had DSL internet, I had a rule that large GIFs had to be in a spoiler tag (hidden under a drop-down). Discord and Skype was fine, because I had previews turned off.

 

I just didn't have the bandwidth to deal with that shit.

[kjSage 81]

39 minutes ago, Deep Sea said:

When I had DSL internet, I had a rule that large GIFs had to be in a spoiler tag (hidden under a drop-down). Discord and Skype was fine, because I had previews turned off.

 

I just didn't have the bandwidth to deal with that shit.

I like this rule and not just because of the terrible internet. I rp with epileptic people and others who like me are just super photosensitive and have issues with flashy images being all over the place. It's common courtesy to keep the gif spam an option that nobody has to see if they don't want to, I think, whatever the reason.

 

I've jumped on the "no politics/religion" bandwagon, sort of.  If people are able to remain civil and respectful and not insult each other, it's fine. Even encouraged. The second it turns into argument/fight instead of reasonable discussion? Nip that shit in the butt ASAP. I love discussing politics and religion and learning about different views but when it becomes all one person will focus on and they have to cause drama for the entire site they need to go.

 

One rule I've had to add recently is the "what happens in vegas stays in vegas" because there seems to be this weird issue with people not being able to distinguish between RP and OOC drama. It makes me sad I had to put that on the list but all it took was seeing one scenario play out that wasn't even on my own site to make me go "nope!" and add it.

[Kit the Human 758]

I have a keep it light and bright rule because the main chat channel is also a place for guests to jump in to ask questions. As a guest, I would feel beyond awkward to force myself into a discussion about politics, religion, or some heavy personal issue. That stuff is for the private members channel.

 

Though to be frank, I hate heavy discussions in rp because it's supposed to be my chill out pretendy fun times. I'm not doing this to discuss the intricities of international politics. 

 

I'm happy to commiserate! It's cool if you need to vent! But move the discussion on.

 

Generally though, I think chat rules should be brief. You only need to expand if you find yourself dealing with the same faux pas more than once.

[ChrisOwl 59]

We tried NO RULES and a few people got carried away so just... we had to make a rule on the discord about
politics and religion lol... though if people bring it up I never really say anything unless it's getting out of hand. As listed on our discord right now: (And people do get inventive with our curse words, it's rather hilarious)

*Above all else, please be respectful to everyone.
*Disrespect, bullying, and angry debates will stay in-character only.
*Try to avoid Politics/Religion so we can all remain friends.
*The site rating is PG 13, please refrain from graphic comments/memes/etc.
*Please keep profanity to a minimum! Find creative ways to express yourself... (example.... 'Durin's Beard!' or 'Son of a half troll!')

[Rune 1,099]

We started with none then added some as they became necessary.

No discussion of religion or politics goes without saying generally.

We have no oversharing.

No spamming.

Take lengthy plots to pm

And let staff do their job.

 

And use the same name in the box as you use on site. Had a weird spree of people using different names for every ooc thing and I kept deleting accounts because, well, they didn't look connected!

[Zahhy 130]

TL:DR: You don't need rules to tell players how you expect them to act - however - it does help.

 

Most of our "rules" are unspoken, or they are all situational in-game. I tend to update the rules as we go. I don't penalize those that ignored the unspoken rules in the past, but I do update them somewhere on the forum, announce the "update" and enforce them in the future.

 

I recently implemented a code of conduct based off of the key points in our "rules" and off of the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. Though I don't think that a Code of Conduct or even a set list of Rules is "necessary", I do believe it is an all-around good idea to have something written that protects your game, your players and you as the admin.

 

We have no formal chat rules aside from our Code, but I've begun cracking down on what can be said where in our discord chats. Basically, I just ask that everyone keep on topic with the chat. If they are in the general chat room it should be about the game. If they are in the nonsense chat room, it can be about anything. I recently deleted our Political Channel as it is a very slippery slope to complaining & alienating people, so no politics are allowed anymore - though I don't explicitly say so. All I did was tell my players I deleted the chat, and I've asked them to check out the code of conduct or to message me with questions.

 

I fully expect my players to be vocal with me about what makes them uncomfortable when it comes to the behavior and interactions they get from others. That means that if I feel that something breaks our code (written or otherwise), or someone tells me they feel it was broken - I delete the offending post & inform the poster while pointing out clearly how I expect them to act in the future. "I deleted your post. Next time, let's put it in the NSFW channel." "I deleted your post. Next time I would like you to come to me privately." etc.

 

Overall, I use the code of conduct as a way to foster a good environment for the players to hang out in. It is a way to protect members from people that mean to do your game harm and sometimes it is a way to call unruly players to order when it is necessary. Your code of conduct should go in your back-pocket as something for you to think about, to help curate your community. It helps me imagine how I want my game to feel.

 

I want this game to be organized, collaborative, fun and I fully intend to do everything in my power to make it so. The Code of Conduct just lets others know that's exactly what I aim to do. 

[StormWolfe 557]

19 hours ago, Denethorii said:

We tried NO RULES and a few people got carried away so just... we had to make a rule on the discord about
politics and religion lol... though if people bring it up I never really say anything unless it's getting out of hand. As listed on our discord right now: (And people do get inventive with our curse words, it's rather hilarious)

*Above all else, please be respectful to everyone.
*Disrespect, bullying, and angry debates will stay in-character only.
*Try to avoid Politics/Religion so we can all remain friends.
*The site rating is PG 13, please refrain from graphic comments/memes/etc.
*Please keep profanity to a minimum! Find creative ways to express yourself... (example.... 'Durin's Beard!' or 'Son of a half troll!')

 

This!

 

Our rules are not stated the same way, but are essentially the same. We ask that people keep religion, politics and other hot potato discussions out of our general chat. Should we ever have enough people interested in having lively, not-rage induced, debates on those types of topics, I'll make an off-topic channel in Discord for it.

 

However, all of us feel that RP should be a suspension of reality - give us a break from RL BS for a little while.

[CovertSphinx 710]

I've never really encountered an outright problem, but back in the early days of Cbox I DID find myself adding a "Don't Advertise in the CBox" rule. 

Usually I start off with nothing explicitly stated. I feel like at this point if people don't know to act in general politeness, they're probably not people I want RPing on my site to begin with. I think twice I've had to add a rule or two about specific issues that cropped up multiple times but that was about it. 

90% of the time, if it came to something that wasn't ruled as a no-no but started causing an issue all I had to say was "Hey, I'm glad you guys are spirited about your conversation, but it's starting to cause a ruckus and really take away from everyone else's fun experience on the site. Please either cool it or take it to PMs" and everything was back to Kosher. 

[Suzi 20]

We don't really have any specific cbox rules on ATO. It is mostly to say that we support a friendly and welcoming atmosphere! We don't have any rules for the discord - honestly, we rarely get any discussion of politics or religion, so there's not been a real need to address this. We are lucky to say that everyone on ATO is respectful and kind! Any deviance from this atmosphere we have created will be addressed on a person-by-person basis. 

 

Specifically for our site we do ask that members  "keep promotion of favourite tributes and planning" to themselves. Since we are a hunger games site we don't want anyone to play favourites for the want to not dishearten other players. 

[Uaithne 543]

I don't have anything super specific.  I love talking about different religions and cultures, so banning those discussions isn't something I'm keen on.  However, I don't like being preached at, so I wouldn't allow those sorts of "discussions."

 

Really the only things I don't allow are 1) illegal topics, and 2) politics.  But I'm somewhat lenient in politics in that people are allowed to say "I voted today!" but not to get into discussions about who they voted for or different issues in government/society, etc.

 

In a way, it's like "Mary Sue"s . . . it's not how it's made, it's how its played.

[Prophetess 137]

We don't have rules for the cbox or Discord currently. We're still small and share the Discord with chat writers of another place. (Keeps things simple really.) No one really is too outrageous in the Discord and many just police themselves. It seems to work since we're all adults and just chatter to keep in touch with each other and occasionally plot and so forth. 

That's not to say that I haven't seen it in the past where it was a really good idea to have some rules in place. I think a lot of it goes to how often it's used and how many people. Also, if they are able to police themselves or not. Many of us are grown folks and sometimes forget not to take things too far. 

[Scout 26]

The biggest rule I keep for OOC chatter is respect. We have a general channel for talk, and a "hidden" member room, this helps keep the general channel clear for guests or other things and lets in-depth conversations happen somewhere else. If a member is being deliberately abrasive or argumentative with my members or staff, then they get talked to right away. Excessive sarcasm, putting people down etc. doesn't fly with us.  We added a clause onto our "respect" rule recently - stating how important inclusion is to us, as a site staffed by only LGBT individuals, after an old member started making fun of lesbians and "all the fuss about pronouns". 

 

Everything else, talk of politics, religion, OOC life etc. is totally allowed, we'll listen if you listen to us in turn! 

 

My only other rule has been recent - NO SPOILERS IN THE GENERAL CHAT! Especially with big movies coming out right now! 

 

I do have a "rules" channel in our site discord, but it's basically just restating the site rules of 18+, and explaining the use of the channels in the server.