Orcrest | Community Code of Conduct

Community Code of Conduct

0. The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

Neither the staff nor other players can fix issues they don't know about. Respectfully talk to people breaking rules in your scene, and if you can't agree on the rules or they refuse to address the issue, contact staff (via the Discord ticket system). We are invested in keeping this a happy and healthy place to roleplay, but we can't do that if people stew in silence rather than raising their issues promptly and respectfully.

1. Be an Adult

In addition to literally being 18 or older, approach situations with maturity and politeness. Assume other players are acting in good faith, and treat everyone with respect. Remember to use good judgment and that the key to most disputes is open communication. A character can be an awful scumbag, but the player behind them shouldn't be. In addition, remember that you have control over who you OOCly interact with. If you have repeated complaints about the same person's OOC behaviour to you, the staff is here to support you but you should also consider blocking them or otherwise refusing to engage with them.

2. Intent Matters

Accidentally doing something against the rules will not be treated the same as intentionally doing so. Likewise, those who apologize and correct behaviour will not be treated the same as those who defend or hide their actions. Be kind to each other OOCly, and try to forgive when apologies are made for small mistakes and misreads. This rule is intentionally broad: if you're doing something that isn't technically against the rules, but is something you should know not to do, this is the rule telling you not to do it.

3. Keep a Paper Trail

Staff (unfortunately) are not mind readers. If you have a dispute with someone, remember to save screenshots and/or logs of the dispute, otherwise we won't be able to act on it. If you provide a report without logs or a screenshot, the first response is going to be asking for them in almost all cases.

4. Don't Cheat

Cheating can be, but is not limited to:

Using an alt to give your character an advantage, or to increase your chances at a Limited Role.
Using an alt, or a separate slot, to act as a
God-Modding, ignoring the actions of other characters or dice without the permission of all players with interest in it.
Accessing things in the system you can't ICly get to. (ex. Teleporting out of prison to get a node, or into a dungeon you couldn't otherwise enter.)
OOCly lying to other players about how something works to gain an advantage.
Using chat spies or other similar tools.

5. Don't be a Bad Actor

This includes, but is not limited to:

Coming to Orcrest to disrupt roleplay or be malicious to others.
OOCly harassing others (sexually, verbally, or otherwise). Messaging others asking for extreme kinks or to send them random intimate emotes is unacceptable behaviour.
Spamming in local chat, group chat, or Discord, including advertising outside of the designated area for it.
Engaging in hate speech, or any other chat, banter, names, profiles, or memes targeting a real marginalized people.
OOCly promoting real life political ideologies, including naming yourself after political figures, present or past.
Spreading rumours about fellow players with the intent to cause them harm.
Doxing (exposing real life information) fellow players.
Griefing of any type.
Ignoring staff rulings, or "staff shopping" to get a desirable ruling. If you don't like a ruling, you can appeal to the Admin team, but you must abide by it in the interim, and the appeal ruling is final.

6. Don't Metagame

Sometimes simple metagaming is acceptable (ex. "Let's go do a scene at the tavern."), however, metagaming to the detriment of or in competition with another player (ex. Camming an enemy at a tavern and going to fight them), or otherwise feeding your character information they have not found out ICly is unacceptable. As part of that, your character does not have access to any information posted into a scene before you posted in. Until you post into a scene, your character is not there and can not hear or see anything to do with that scene.

7. Don't Blend IC and OOC

IC actions can only be met with IC consequences, and vice versa. Taking OOC action against someone for their IC conduct, or taking IC action against someone because you don't like them OOC are both unacceptable behaviours.

8. Characters Have a Reasonable Right to Life

Killing a player character without strong IC justification is prohibited. This justification must come from that character's actions, and can not simply be because of your character's proclivities. The exception to this is that Limited Characters are always fair game - though killing one may allow someone else to kill your character. This rule is expanded upon in the FAQ.

9. Keep your Avatar within the Avatar Guidelines

Every character on Orcrest must be 18+, an adult of their race, and otherwise conform to the Avatar Guidelines. If in doubt, submit a ticket on Discord with screenshots.

10. Allow Fade to Black

Every player reserves the right to fade to black a scene that makes them uncomfortable. It does not nullify the fact that the scene happened, but they do not need to roleplay it out. This rule can also be used for monotonous tasks like training or hard labour, or because you OOCly have to log off for whatever reason.

11. Use Guards Properly

If a place is guarded, you must defeat or bypass (either by stealth or by being allowed past) all guards along your path to access the guarded area.

Faction guards will defend faction members or anyone they designate.
Redford Village guards will defend any of the Governed races, will defend Outsider races against anyone but the Governed, and will attack Darklings alongside Governed or Outsiders.
Tradepost guards will defend any of the Darkling races, will defend Outsider races against anyone but Darklings, and will attack the Governed alongside Darklings or Outsiders.
Guards will also attack alongside anyone they would otherwise defend to stop theft, violence, and enforce noble rights.

12. Spectate Wisely

You are allowed to OOCly observe or spectate within reason. You must have an OOC tag on and be dressed in a non-disruptive fashion (or be completely invisible), as well as not wander into private residences, bump into people, interact with people in local chat in IC areas, or otherwise be disruptive. If people who are IC ask you to move on, you must do so immediately.

13. Don't be Salty

Winning is not a crime. Going into a competitive circumstance and complaining because it didn't turn out how you wanted is not the fault of the people on the other side. The dice will not always favour you, and if you are unwilling to deal with the IC consequences of your character's actions, don't take those actions in the first place.

14. Don't be Weird about Adult Themes

Orcrest is an adult sim, and adult themes will be present on the sim. That being said, privacy cannot be guaranteed while in the roleplay area if you choose to engage in said themes in an area that can be reached by other players. In general, it is inappropriate to push sex scenes on people who are not enthusiastically consenting, and while IC flirting or leers might be fine, those who regularly attempt to push the boundaries of this on players who are not receptive to that kind of RP will be sanctioned. As long as the players involved in the act are OOCly consenting, people are free to RP whatever they like, including very dark roleplay, however, as with everything, you are not protected from IC consequences of actions just because someone OOCly consented to them. As a reminder, any player is free to fade to black a scene at any moment.