Gameplay Etiquette
Please keep in mind that staff will not be policing these guidelines, nor will anyone be disciplined purely for failing to be "polite enough." However, a little bit of courtesy can go a long way, and if you want people to enjoy playing with you, it's a good idea to make every effort to follow these simple recommendations.
Scheduling
If you make an appointment with someone or a group of people for a scene, please be courteous. Treat it the same way you would for a call or in-person meeting. If you are unable to make it to the scene, do your best to at least communicate that fact to the scene's organizer as far in advance as possible. In essence, do your best to be reliable. More people will want to play with you if you are.
Private Scenes
If you want your scene to be private, please create an object to enter and use as a room. Please ask permission from those inside an object before joining a scene that may be occurring within it.
Scene Entry
It can never hurt to ask for permission to enter a scene that is already in progress first, if permission has not already been given. Additionally, if you are in a scene already in progress, it's always a good idea to ask for permission to invite others to it as well before actually doing so. Both of these habits will help you avoid the risk of causing unwanted disruption.
On the other hand, please be aware that if your scene is occurring in a public area, no player is required to ask for your permission in order to OOCly observe the RP. If you want a private scene, please create an object to enter and use. It's not fair to others when you basically reserve a public space for a private scene and don't allow anyone else to so much as walk in without your permission. Remember, grid rooms are shared spaces and do not belong to any individual player; therefore they should be treated as such. Bear in mind that a MUSH is essentially a community chat server, not a private IM. Anything you do or say in-game is never in any way guaranteed or even likely to remain confidential, so be sure to use your own discretion.
If you are given permission to enter the scene, carefully observe what's occurring ICly before posing by checking +scene/recall <sceneID#> for recent poses. On the flip side of that, if someone just arrived in a room where RP is occurring, please wait for that person to pose before reacting to their presence.
Pose Delays
If you need to afk unexpectedly, please just take the small amount of time required to let the other scene participants know how long you expect the delay to be if at all possible, so that they can either move on or seek RP elsewhere without being concerned about offending you, or choose to wait for you if they would like, instead of waiting around wondering if you will return soon, much later, or not at all. It could be as simple as "Hey I'm going to idle for about 20min." That way, your scene partner(s) can decide if they would like to skip your turn in the case of multiple people, leave and look for RP elsewhere in the case of a single person, or wait the stated time, then leave/skip your turn if you do not return within that time.
No player is obligated to divulge the reason for any distraction; nor should anyone be pressuring or harassing a player into giving out such information. It is not your business what someone else is doing elsewhere. You have the choice of leaving if you feel they are mistreating you or if you think they have kept you waiting for too long.
Long poses take time, so if you are writing a long one, it is polite to let others know that you are working on it--especially if they're asking or wondering if you're still there. Keep in mind that some players often have a limited amount of time to play; please do your best to respect the fact that they want to get as much out of their RP time as possible.
Scene Exit
If at all possible, pose out of a scene you are leaving. However, barring that, it's just good manners to OOCly inform other players that you are leaving.
Please keep in mind that unexpected disappearances will most likely lead to the others in the scene coming up with a sensible reason for your character's abrupt absence, and may skip your turn in the initiative queue.
Pose Order
Please do your best to pay attention to pose order or initiative queue whenever it is pertinent. Different types of scenes may have different pose order rules--please pay attention to them when they are defined and respect them throughout the scene to the best of your ability. In most situations, it's a good idea to give at least three others a chance to respond to your pose before posing again. If you need to idle or afk for longer than it takes for your turn to come around again, it is polite to tell the others in the scene to skip your turn for a round so that everyone isn't stuck waiting on you when your turn comes.
Meta Posing
Please give others something to respond to in your pose. A pose that solely consists of content that is exclusive to your character’s awareness and thus cannot warrant a response from another character is inappropriate. For example, posing your character's inner thoughts is certainly interesting and perfectly fine, but it should be accompanied by some form of outward expression that is visible or could be visible to other characters most of the time. If your character is cloaked or hiding, be especially mindful of giving others something to react to. Remember--if others can't see your character or aren't aware of its presence, they can't readily react to it.
Game Awareness
Please do your best to pay attention to the game and to the other players you are interacting with. This includes board posts pertinent to the entire game or to your faction, IC channels, others' poses, and in-game mails. While you are not expected to keep tabs on absolutely everything that is going on at any given time, you are expected to at least have an idea of the current state of affairs in the world and within your character's faction.
We are aware that miscommunication and misunderstanding of others’ poses/posts will happen, but please try to do your best to respond appropriately to other character’s actions. If you are unsure about the meaning of someone else’s pose, please ask for clarification before starting to respond to it. Remember that repeated failure to comprehend others’ poses properly or show a general awareness of the game's setting could look like a lack of interest or willingness to invest your attention in the game. And if you are unwilling to invest your attention, then you are likely better off not participating at all.
While we are happy to answer questions, we also ask that players do as much of their own research as they can. This wiki is here as a resource for a reason. So before you request the time and attention of another player or staff member, please at least attempt to find the answer on your own first. Again, pay close attention to what is going on around you ICly, peruse this wiki for information that is pertinent to you when you can. Don't ask other people what your character should do or how they should respond before you've even read anything or given it any thought yourself. It's your character, therefore it is mainly your job to decide what their actions will be, and it is your job to find out the information you need in order to decide how they would act and what would ICly/OOCly be appropriate. You are playing your character, and not anyone else.
Combat
Roll mechanics can be fun, however, they can also be abused, taking the fun out of the game. As such, players are expected to adhere to staff's expectations for the usage of the system. Repeated failure to do so may warrant disciplinary action.
- A maximum of 5 combat actions may be taken each turn, with mutli-action penalties applied for extra actions as appropriate.
- Try to be considerate of others. This is not an MMORPG where the person who gets the most kills and does the most damage is considered the best. If you one or two-shot someone else, that often takes the fun out of the scene.
- When in doubt, ask first. It can never hurt to ask.
- Please do not rage-quit. Remember that not every roll is going to favor you, and be a good sport about it. Don't whine and complain excessively when your character doesn't win, and understand that you will not win every time. If you must leave a scene for a legitimate reason, then inform your scene partners as soon as you can, and if possible, pose your exit before leaving. This is simply common courtesy, and will go a long way when it comes to gaining the favor of staff and other players.
Sharing the Spotlight
This is particularly important for scenes with more than 2 or 3 other characters. We understand that everyone wants their character to have a chance to shine. The GM should do their best to give equal opportunity to everyone investing in the scene. It is the players' responsibility to respect this. Don't get upset just because your character doesn't get to be the sole hero, or doesn't get all of the attention. Don't try to manipulate the GM or manipulate events in order to get all the spotlight on your character. If you want to participate in a scene with many other characters, understand that will likely mean you are expected to share the spotlight with them. There may be some exceptions to this, in which case the GM will make all players aware that one character may be given a special role for narrative reasons.