RULES AND GAMEPLAY [REVISED 07/16/13]

[minusinos]

You want to send your character to prison?

There is a Three Strikes And You're Out clause in this game. If the mods have speak with you more than twice about breaking any of these rules then you are thus removed from the game and will be temporarily banned. There is no distinction between “basic value” of these rules. They are all equal. It is your offenses that will be judged accordingly.

The mods reserve the right to handwave the strike requirement, boot you right out of the game and even permanently ban you, if your first or second offense is just that bad. Examples would be blatantly disrespectful OOC behavior about obvious triggers (such as sexual assault or consent issues), misuse of NPCs on a large scale, godmoding mod NPCs, and repeated harassment of other players to play out torture or nonconsensual IC plots. This is not a game where ignoring the rules will work for making sure everyone can enjoy themselves in a safe and understanding environment. Please do not push this.

Rules

There is a Three Strikes And You're Out clause in this game. If the mods have speak with you more than twice about breaking any of these rules then you are thus removed from the game and will be temporarily banned. There is no distinction between “basic value” of these rules. They are all equal. It is your offenses that will be judged accordingly. The mods reserve the right to handwave the strike requirement, boot you right out of the game and even permanently ban you, if your first or second offense is just that bad. This is not a game where ignoring the rules will work for making sure everyone can enjoy themselves in a safe and understanding environment. Please do not push this.

1. This game will have and encourages dark themes, including, violence, torture, experimentation on unwilling or even unknowing participants, extreme bullying, in-character hate-speech, corrupt figures of authority, and things that are far worse. Players must be 18 years of age or older. Characters cannot be under 16.


2. Be kind to one another. Just because the game is dark does not mean that we the players should be behaving the same way as the characters involved. No harassing, bashing, or attacks on other players in any of the journals or communities related to this game is allowed. We’re all adults here, and the mods are trusting you to act like it. If you believe you are involved in a conflict that is too uncomfortable for you or cannot be resolved by just talking it out, contact the mods as soon as possible. That’s what they’re here for.


3. Be In Character. I’m sure we don’t need to tell you that your application should appropriately reflect the character you are wanting to play and that when in-game your playing should appropriately reflect the way you described the character in your app. Yes, characters change based on events and experiences in game, but if the core of your character changes too, then remember that they are no longer the same character.


4. IC does NOT equal OOC. If your characters have a dispute it is not the same as players having one. If the players have one, please try to work it out, but your characters should not be fighting like cats and dogs unless they have an IC reason to do so. Also, just because someone plays a villain-type or misbehaving character, it does not mean they agree with their character's views. Please keep in mind the line and do not cross it. Hate-speech that is in-character may be allowed, but OOC hate-speech will get you slammed with a strike faster than you can say “my bad.”


5. No Godmoding, Infomoding, or 4th Walling of other people’s character without their expressed permission.
   Godmoding is often defined as controlling another player’s character’s thoughts, actions, or choices without their permission and this is how we will define it in game. Misleading other players so as to be able to do this during plots also counts. So please, do be very clear about your expectations and know what the other players you are tagging expect. This is a prison game where lots of dark things can happen to characters or be done by them, consent between players is Very Important.
   Infomoding is the use of information you the player know, but that your character has no reasonable way of knowing ICly in game to your advantage. Don’t do it, please? If you would like to use said information, please do contact the other players related to it and plot out ways your character can find it out in-game! The same goes for using one of your characters to directly relay vitally important information to another. Don’t do it. Use a middle man.
   4th Walling is your character relating that another character is fiction or that your character knows information about that character through the means of the media or fiction in your character’s world. If the canon is not one explicitly stated in your character’s canon (yes it must be brought up by name or specific references to names or locations in that canon), then your character Does Not Know That Canon. They can know a vague, pseudo-version of that canon falling under the same themes and tropes (example: The Shadow Crusader, instead of The Dark Knight), but unless Batman (or DC Comics) is mentioned in your character’s canon, your character cannot know who Batman or Bruce Wayne is. And if a player specifically asks that their character NOT be fourthwalled, don’t do it unless doing so would negatively affect your character’s ICness. (aka, use common sense to know the difference.)


6. All sexual or overly graphic content must be locked to the community and a warning needs to be clearly labeled on the post itself. If the post did not originally contain said content, but a thread on the post eventually leads to it, please put a warning in a comment header in the thread as soon as possible and then edit a warning into the post accordingly. You will get a warning for this, but considering how dark this game can get, three times will get you banned just like with breaking any other rule. This is not negotiable.


7. All players must have an HMD/Contact Post on their character’s journal or a general HMD/Contact Post should be linked on their journal. We encourage players talking things out and a HMD/Contact Post is an easy way of contact. Other forms of contact are encouraged as well (email, plurk, AIM, etc), but an HMD/Contact Post is required.


8. Related to the previous rule, players must be willing to accept criticism. This is not a simple, do-as-you-want game and everyone can just "ignore you." Due to the small size, players need to be able to interact with each other at least on an IC basis. This is not to say that it should be abused and you can barrage people with complaints without giving them time to address said critique. Such cases will be considered a form of harassment. If it is serious enough that a player feels that it cannot be left alone, please contact a mod with your concerns.

Gameplay


Navigation
GAME FORMATTING
GAME STRUCTURE

Activity Requirements

WHILE IN PLAY

Using NPCs
Respecting Dark Content
Player Character Deaths

GAME FORMATTING

GAME JOURNALS
This game is set up with 3 journals. There are 2 communities that players are required to join and the mod journal that all players should be aware of.

daedalus_ipc : The IC Community where are in-game/in-character events and interactions should all occur.
daedalus_ooc : The OOC Community where all OOC announcements, whether mod or player should be made. Discussion, plotting, and CR building posts will always occur here. There will be scheduled memes, but spontaneous ones players would like to share can also be posted here.
minusinos : The NPC journal for the Warden of Daedalus, Malcolm Inos, and the current mod journal. All mod-comments or announcements will be made using the Mod Icon. As other NPCs come into play they will also be listed here.
daedalusmods : The Game Plurk that you can choose to follow for any and all important updates. This is not the only place updates will be shared, but for those who do use plurk, they will be announced here on the same day as the announcements go up on the OOC Community.

MAKING POSTS
All in-game posts will be made to the IC Community daedalus_ipc. All OOC posts should be made to daedalus_ooc.

All inmate character posts are action or prose format as there is no system of communication set up for inmates outside of that. Only characters that have been apped as Daedalus AUs (and are members of the prison faculty) can use communicators that work like basic intercom radio systems to speak to other prison staff members.

For making an IC post players must include whether it is [action] or [prose], the approximate [time of day/time interval], and whether the post is [open] to everyone or [closed] to one person or specific persons.
For example: [Action/Prose|6/25 Afternoon|Open] or [Action][Entire Week][Open].

Any post longer than 250 words should be put under at least a partial cut.


TAGGING YOUR POSTS [Revised 07/1613]
To keep things organized, mods will make all tags for the game, but players can add them onto posts. All character tags will be made by the mods, but players can request a specific tag through their applications. If you make a mistake in your tag let me know and I'll edit it. Your tag should be on every post you make and every post your character has tagged into. If the tag is not there, the post or any thread of yours on it does not count for AC. All other tags are also encouraged to be used for organizational reasons, but no one will be penalized for not using them.

There are also :location: tags that have been pre-created for you to use. Saves on having to put everything in the header, doesn't it?

Please remember if the character you just apped may not the only version of that character in the game and make sure you are using the right tag for your character.


SPOILERS
If you are playing from any canon that has not been out at least four months, then please consider the content of your post and whether or not it might need a spoiler cut. It is a sign of courtesy to your fellow players and the fact that even with a one month delay they may have not seen the canon yet (and in the cases of movies it can take months after a U.S. release for it to make its way to Australia and Asia). So please if you are making a post that has specific references to events in your recent canon events, just use general logic and ask yourself if it is something that you need to put behind a cut or if it's fine as it is. If spoilers are very likely to come up in threads in the post, please put in a warning for that too.

And since original posters are going to take the time and warn for spoilers, the rest of us players should take heed and not take look at post or reply to that post if we do not want to be spoiled for anything. They're doing their part and we have the choice whether to take the risk or step back. Please remember this because the mods are will ignore any complaints about spoilers if the post has been properly labeled with a warning. Please do not eat the green bean casserole and then find fault in the fact there are green beans in it (now if it was advertised as a broccoli and cheese casserole then please feel free to complain to the mods).

This is a friendly game where I hope everyone can get along OOCly by showing awareness and courtesy to their fellow players.

GAME STRUCTURE

CONTENT RATING AND AGE LIMITS
This game will deal with mature content and themes based on the inherent issues with such a dark setting. The game’s rating is 18+ age limit. As stated before, all players must be at least 18 to play here. If you are not 18, then you should not be playing here. We know it may seem unfair, but it is safer to err on the side of caution in these situations. Please wait until you are 18 to participate in this game.

All characters must be at least 16 years of age physically and mentally in their canon. Yes, mental years. A character who is 40 chronologically with the mind and body of an 8 year old is not permitted. If the line is too blurred, ask the mods to know if your character is app-able.


TIME AND DAY RATIO
This game is run on a 1:1 time ratio. The dates and months ICly are the exact same as they are OOCly, but holidays are not considered the same. This is not your character’s world, nor is it our Earth. Thousands of years have passed. Cultural differences will definitely exist and as such, holidays can be very different.

Daylight hours in the prison are set to Earth hours, despite the fact that the prison itself is outside of Earth’s general orbit. Please keep this in mind as after 8pm at night the lights around the prison will dim as a warning to inmates and Lights Out occurs at 10pm sharp.


GAME CALENDAR
All IC events and important OOC dates will be laid out (if briefly) in the Game Calendar at least one month in advance. This calendar will be updated weekly with any new information or events. Events will be announced with detail to players at least one (1) week in advance on the OOC community so that preparations can be made and plotting can occur.


ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS AND ACTIVITY CHECKS
This is one of the most important sections so PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION FULLY.

All players are expected to be at least minimally active in the game. Without players and their characters interacting and progressing events in the game, the overarching plot will stagnate. The plot needs you, the players, just as much as it needs the mods to make sure that it works out.

Activity Check will occur once a month, from the 18th to midnight EST of the 24th. Players will have until the end of the check to submit their proof of activity.

All players must respond to AC for their character(s), unless they were on an official hiatus from more than two weeks out of the month include the week of AC. To have an official hiatus they must have responded to the hiatus post.

To pass the AC a player must provide one of the following options:

OPTION A: Fifteen (15) comments from their character in at least two (2) threads, but no more than four (4) threads.

OPTION B: One (1) post from their character and five (5) comments from their character in at least one (1) thread outside of said post.

HALF AC: For a player with a half-hiatus as explained on the hiatus post they must meet half of the AC Requirement: one (1) post OR eight (8) comments from at least one (1) thread, but no more than three (3).

Players who fail AC, but still comment to the check will receive a strike. If they fail AC two (2) months in a row they will be automatically removed from the game. If they show a pattern of “failing, passing, failing, passing,” the mods may speak with them privately about the issue. What this means is that even if you do not have full Activity it is still better to at least comment to the check with your character(s).

After every Activity Check there will be a “Diagnosis Report”. These reports are of who failed AC, who did not comment, and any other important AC-related information.

Players who do not comment to the AC in the time span provided AND do not respond to the Diagnosis Report within three (3) days of it going up to let us know they want to stay (or plead their case if it is their second AC strike) will be removed from the game.


HMD/CONTACT POSTS
All players are required to have an HMD/Contact post. If you have a general HMD/Contact post you have elsewhere that you would prefer to link to on your character’s journal, that is fine, but there must be an HMD/Contact Post that is easily accessible to both players and mods.

It is not a requirement that your HMD post be anon-enabled, that is a personal preference for each individual player.

There will be a bimonthly HMD going up on daedalus_ooc. It is not a mandatory HMD. In between these HMD posts, if you have any critique to leave a player, please use their HMD/Contact post. If you feel like you cannot speak with a player directly, please contact a mod.


PLOTTING POSTS
There are two kinds of plotting posts this game will use.

Event posts are posts made days or weeks in advance for an event occurring in game. These posts can be mod-made for any mod-run events and pushes of the game’s overarching plot or player-made for player-run events. These posts should not only explain in detail the event they are for, but encourage any plotting for said event to occur in the post. Players can of course plot with each other elsewhere, but it is encouraged to do as much plotting amongst yourselves in these posts.

CR memes will occur at the beginning of every month (between the 1st and the 5th). These memes will allow for players to detail what their character(s) have been up to, what kind of CR they are currently looking for, or maybe laying out plot ideas they have that they need help in getting off the ground. These are voluntary and no player is required to post to them.

WHILE IN PLAY

IC ACTIONS HAVE IC CONSEQUENCES
Every action that a character does in-game will have IC consequences attached to it. Every event that takes place that affects more than say…one character and their immediate or close CR? Has even bigger IC Consequences. Anything that affects a large population of the game or causes serious damage to the prison’s structure itself will influence player characters, the NPCs, and the game’s plot as it moves forward. You must request permission for those kinds of plots.

USING NPCs IN GAME
There are hundreds of NPCs currently in the prison’s setting and your character has the potential to interact with many of them on a regular basis. The NPC inmates in the prison have to live just as the PC inmates. You as a player can use NPC inmates and have your character interact with them, but the NPC cannot be the focus of anything you do. If you have a post where your character gets into a fight with an NPC, then your character still has to be the focus of the post and any threads with other players’ characters that come out of it.

Players have the right to use groups of NPCs as they wish in a general style (as in nothing super detailed about any of NPCs, they are treated as a group whole). For more specific, individual, detailed, and potentially long term interactions that might come up more than once, each player has the right to use seven (7) NPCs per character. That means if you want your character to have a rival NPC inmate who hates them and is out to get them, then you can by using one of your 7 NPC slots. These NPC slots count for inmates, guards, physicians, kitchen staff, garden staff, etc.

You the player cannot make up information or interactions related to mod NPCs (such as the Warden). If you would like to plan an attack against the staff or a mod NPC, please request permission so we can see how it can occur and what consequences it might have on the game’s overarching plot.

Causing serious injury to or killing an NPC inmate will result in your character being sent to solitary confinement and then interrogation by the Investigations Department before they come to a conclusion on whether or not your character was at fault. If it was decided that they were, then your character will have more charges filed against them for a new trial.

Harm to a corrections officer/guard/kitchen staff/therapist/scientist/etc will result in even harsher punishments. The staff is far less likely to assume that a fellow staff member is at fault and the guards are more likely to abuse authority as they see fit if it means getting back at inmates for these issues.


TREAT YOUR DARK CONTENT WITH RESPECT
In the case of very sensitive and serious dark content, such as sexual assault, maiming, prolonged physical abuse and non-consensual situations, we know that such things occur in a prison and is even likelier to occur in a prison where the guards and staff have such power over the isolated inmates. We cannot flat-out prevent you from having such things occur to your character, but we ask that you use NPCs to the utmost caution and treat these issues with the respect that they deserve. You must request permission from the mods for any serious or permanent damage to your character that cannot be healed or overcome within a few days or weeks.

If the mods are informed or find out that you are playing with these issues dismissively, steps will be taken and you will receive a warning. If the offense is serious enough, you could be automatically suspended from the game. These are not matters that we want used flippantly, but this is a dark setting where dark things will occur. You are all adults, please act like it. If you can’t, this game is not for you.

And of course, if said events are played out in game, all appropriate warnings should be listed and the post must be locked to the community.

PLAYER CHARACTERS CAN DIE AND WE THANK YOU FOR IT
Oh yes, yes, yes, they can. And not all characters stay dead. This prison has a highly advanced medical staff and hospital. The Warden does not want them dead, he wants them “rehabilitated.” So if any PC character is killed, they can be brought back (the process by which this occurs is only known to the Warden and the hospital staff). The PC will be gone for up to five (5) days in game and how long depends on the severity of the injuries that led to their death. Any scars caused by the death will still be there when the character is returned to The Blocks. If you would like your character to die and stay dead, then it can be assumed that the process to revive them failed. It is a very tricky procedure that only has a 75% success rate.

Characters dying and being revived does have an important role in the game’s overarching plot. All Characters who die and are revived are subject to be used for later game events to push said plot along. Yes, you as the player can turn us down if we request to use your character in a plot you do not agree with, but any character whom has died once in game is subject to this “lottery” so to speak for future events.