The Nexus: Out of Character

We mods have been kicking around some new rules. It's nothing onerous, I don't think, just some clarifications to help things run more smoothly. Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

LOLs and events: fun for all!
Running big events for the whole community, be they LOLs or parties or pillow fights, is a lot of fun and something we want to encourage all our players to feel comfortable organizing and taking part in. To facilitate that, please abide by the following rules. We promise it's to make things easier in the long run.

1. All LOLs and events need to be run past the mods first.
   • This lets us make certain they conform with community rules and aren't scheduled to overlap (holidays are likely to see a lot of this if we don't plan ahead).
   • This has to be done before posting in OOC to drum up interest, to avoid confusion if some aspect of the plans needs to be changed.
2. If there are multiple submissions surrounding a holiday or other event, the mods will try to make sure everyone gets a turn.
   • This could mean suggesting people co-host an event.
   • This could also mean changing the posting time slightly so that there's time to play one event out before the next starts.
3. LOLs and events cannot permanently change the landscape or nature of the Nexus on a large scale. Adding a building or small neighborhood-sized area is fine.
4. Events should be left open to new starting tags for as long as possible to give everyone a chance to join in, especially around holidays.
5. LOLs should have clear conditions and/or time limits set to end the effect. This can be negotiated individually for each participating character if the players want something different than the default conditions.
6. All LOLs and events are player opt-in. Do not assume anyone is participating without discussing it with them first.

What To Do When You're New
Ready to join in? Great! Please do a few things to help make the experience fun for everyone.

• Fill out and post IC/OOC Permissions Meme (it's very short and shouldn't take long).
• Make sure your character's name and canon source is somewhere in their profile.
  • If you're playing an AU or OC, please make that clear.
• Make sure other players have a way to contact you, either in a journal post or by private message.
• If your character has an unusual power, make sure you explain it somewhere. A Wiki link is fine for this, so long as the relevant info is easy to find.
  • If your character's power is always on, ask permission before engaging a new character. Make sure the other player understands how the power works and would affect their character.

We've had our first ban over at nexus_sages. An account was created for the obvious purpose of mocking and harassing a player in the community. The journal name also included ableist language. This ban is not open to debate, and we will not be answering questions on the subject.

What we do hope to discuss is whether or not we should attempt to make detailed lists of what's not allowed, or if the rules as written are sufficient. There are definitely arguments to be made for and against both positions, so let's try and have a polite conversation about it okay?

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss a delicate and sometimes difficult concept: the difference between being a character being offensive IC, and the concept of a character being offensive OOC. Some characters are jerks. We get that. Sometimes that's why they're villains, sometimes that's what keeps them from being overly saccharine heroes, sometimes they've got a blind spot about their own faults, sometimes they're just having a bad day. And that's fine. But some character concepts are offensive, and that's not okay.

Characters that are created to mock a specific real-life person, or a category of people, are offensive and will not be tolerated. I truly believe we're all capable of having fun without hurting feelings.

And if this is all just too serious for you, please feel free to scroll down a bit and help us build the community playlist.