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- Posts:
- 32
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- Councilor
- Member
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- Joined:
- Jul 14, 2015
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Mass Effect Unity's General Rules and Guidelines
General Rules and Guidelines CBox Rules and Guidelines In-Character Rules and Guidelines Character Rules and Guidelines Government and Organization Rules and Guidelines Shipyard Rules and Guidelines Laboratory Rules and Guidelines
- 1. Stay In Character
- While making a post in the actual roleplay forums always keep it in character. It does not matter if you write past tense or present tense; in first or in third person. Always keep your posts in character. If you must ask a question or make a comment, do so at the beginning or end of your post, and make sure the out of character part is clearly marked and separated from your main post. This is usually done with brackets, or announcing OOC:. Examples below.
- OOC: This is OOC.
- ((OOC: This is OOC.))
- [This is OOC]
- 2. Keep It Somewhat Realistic
- While Mass Effect is Sci-fi fantasy pretty much, it's still a fairly realistic setting. Stuff like medical-gel and biotics might occlude that a bit, but anyone that plays the games on a higher difficulty than the easy setting will know that Commander Shepard and friends don't take too many bullets to go down -- even with futuristic über super cool shiny space armor. Keep in mind that your character will more than likely have a nervous system and feelings, take account of all of that. Also, unless your character is clinically insane, try and make sure that they have reasons behind their actions. Do NOT Godmod under any circumstances. Eg. If you agreed with someone that your character will get shot in the leg at point blank range, the bullet can not magically ricochet off the skin.
- 3. Make Posts Worth Posting
- Put a little effort into what you post in your plays. At least two paragraphs with five to seven sentences each is usually the bare minimum someone expects. Sometimes it can be a little tough to do, especially in a thread reliant on lots of important back and forth actions between participants. Always remember to at least run spell check on your post, it's the least you can do to keep quality up. Seriously, it isn't that difficult to make your stuff legible.
- 4. One Place At A Time
- Remember that your character can only be in one place at a single moment in time when NORMAL threads are concerned. It might be a good idea to always be sure you know the date of each and every role play your character takes part in. Also, if you list their involved threads on your character page, it would be a good idea to keep them in chronological order. Another good idea is to state the date in the opening post. Either vague with just the year, or even down to the very hour. This rule however, does not apply when the following types of threads come into question:
- Staff Approved
- Sitewides
- Character Development
To reiterate, make sure your character is in only one normal thread at a time; however, the types of threads listed above do not count in this specific rule. Your character is NOT Chronos Be-everywhere-at-oncenicus. And no. He can't magically clone himself for that purpose either.
Also be sure to make it clear when your thread is over and try to get somebody to archive it as soon as possible. This is to prevent cluttering up the forums. Adding something along the lines of (DONE), (FINISHED), (COMPLETE), etc... will prompt one of our staff members to archive it appropriately for reading pleasure later.
- 5. Communicate and Stay Fair
- Staying fair is applying Rule #2 to your interaction with other characters. If Garyus Stukarrian pops around the corner, shoots your character in the head, then goes home to bang his mate, and does it all in one post you would probably be pretty confused. As a general rule of thumb, never take control or incapacitate/kill somebody's character without their permission. We have a zero tolerance policy on this.
Also be sure to communicate to your roleplay partners. Make sure everyone knows what's going on to avoid any sort of confusion down the line. Whether this is through OOC notes, Skype convos, the shout box, PMs, or otherwise.
- 6. Using Images
- Do NOT under ANY circumstances use art without the original artists permission. Crediting is NOT the same thing as having been granted the right to use it. Note and ask people. Oftentimes they will be more than happy to grant permission to use their stuff if you're polite and upfront. If they decline it, respect their decision. In addition there's a myriad of screenshots out there, as well as inked "just fill with color!" stock images made for your convenience and to prevent art theft. Violators of this rule will be shot, ground up, and served on dextro sammiches. A more detailed explanation of this rule can be read by clicking on this spoiler tag:
Image Usage Rules
- These apply ANY time you are using original artwork. That includes avatars, sigs, character profile pics, images you post as descriptives for locations, images of weapons or ships, ETC ETC ETC. If it is any piece of art and not a photograph/screenshot from a game? These rules apply. In fact, if it is a heavily manipulated photograph you still need permission, as that means an artist had a hand in it.
- PERMISSION MUST BE SHOWN
- As most items come from DeviantArt, this rule is active as soon as this thread goes up: You must link back to the COMMENTS on the image and show where you were given permission. Screenshots of messages are no longer acceptable. Comments are viewable to all, so it will be easy for you to link us directly to where the artist gave their okay.
- If you get your art from a site that does not have a comments section, you can still attempt to message the artist and then subsequently show us the screenshot of said message. Or forward said message to us. But you must also include how we can contact the artist if staff wants to confirm the authenticity of the permission given by the artist.
[*}You CANNOT temporarily put up the image while waiting for the okay. WAIT UNTIL YOU GET PERMISSION TO PUT UP YOUR IMAGES.
- As for avatars or sigs you do not have to send us a PM with the permission before using it. But expect that staff might, at any time, PM you to ask for the proof of permission.
- To any who believe that these rules may appear strict understand that they are in place for a reason. Artists deserve the right to have control over their art. Many times, art is very personal. Many times, the art in question was made specific for one person or their original character. And beyond that, artists deserve the proper credit. You clearly realize how amazing their art is, otherwise you would not use it. So show it and the person who put their heart & soul into it, the proper respect they deserve by taking the few minutes it would require to make sure proper credit for using their work is in order.
Staff intends to be very strict on this issue. If we see any images up before their proper credit is proven, warnings will be given.
- 7. Cursing, Cussing, Grossing, Foul Language and Attention Whoring
- During roleplay all of the above is technically allowed. However, use that squiggly pink mass housed in your skull and determine whether it's really necessary or if you're doing it for a cheap shock factor. Mark your threads as mature if it has to come down to it; very graphic sexual and / or violent content should go in Dark Space. Light erotic stuff may remain on the main forums. Think of the main board as a PG-13 environment, while Dark Space is explicitly rated R/M for Mature/Adults Only.
General discussion section & C-box: We aren't dictators, so we allow occasional cursing. Hint: Spamming fuck x40 is not occasional.
Shocking and attention whoring: We don't want to know about your bowel movement, your menstrual cycle or the color of your nasal discharge. Contrary to what you might think, shocking and grossing others out intentionally does not make you cool, different, awesome or special. It makes you repulsive as well as irritating.
We also ask that you stay down to earth and behave well regardless of an innie or an outie.
- 8. No advertising without prior permission from staff
- If you wish to share your forum, business, organization, cause, etc with our community, that is fine. Oftentimes we are also interested in Affiliating with like-minded sites. But you are expected to get permission from the staff first. Doing so without talking to us initially is often viewed as an attempt to 'poach' from our community.
Some Other Stuff to Keep in Mind...
- Canon:
- Our canon is based without exception on the original Mass Effect and diverges after the year 2185. Species, governments, armies, and everything else are more or less how they were in the Games. This is to prevent the retconning of certain things by future writers. The events of the novels, comics, and everything else still happens -- provided they do not conflict terribly with the codex and descriptions found in the games.
- The Traits of Other Species
- We do not intend for MEU to be an elitist jerkoff's paradise. But we do however, ask that you generally try and stick to as well as respect the racial traits of aliens. Turians believe in military discipline and honor, Krogan are territorial, Hanar are polite, etc. After all, why bother playing an alien in a vast Sci Fi universe if you are going to handle it as a human? However, you may take certain liberties with the appearance of characters if you so desire, as long as these do not end up being an "outrage!". Common sense will get you far. When tiny details are concerned, discuss and decide these with your fellow roleplayers.
- Mature Content Threads
- Yup, thats what the Dark Space section of the Forum is intended for. As long as your fellow role players are ok with it, feel free to be as disgusting, deviant or as sappy as you feel like in a Dark Space thread. There are no limits; but of course tasteful erotica is always more fun to read than badly worded smut. We all love our fantasies. The password protection is for obvious reasons; we ask that you do not divulge it to any possible underage members. Not eighteen yet? Wipe off your tears, slap on some Clearasil and wait for your birthday. Meanwhile, there's plenty of porn elsewhere.
- No Alt. Accounts
- A person may post only under one registered account. If you wish to create a new account, contact a staff member so your old account can be deleted. If you want a name change, the staff can do that to. Do not create multiple accounts without informing us. Also keep in mind that the use of proxies is not allowed. If you are discovered using one, you will receive a warning. If you continue doing so, you will be perma-banned. There are very, very few reasons for a normal, non-malicious user to be using one. This applies to the forum and cbox; And this really goes without saying, but your account is your own. Sharing with another person, or allowing them to log on your name for any reason is not allowed. There's no reason to do so when they can easily create or use their own account.
- Be Reasonable
- Human military women do not have the perfect bodies of a slender super model. Skinny, scrawny turian children are not muscleheads. A krogan would make for a lousy ninja. Seriously, be reasonable and decently realistic when you create a character.
- Cracks, Warez, Pirated Files and Applications:
- Don't post them. Don't link them. This isn't the Pirate Bay.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL
- Remember to have fun above all else!
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