Our Policies

The Zero-and-Nine Commandments

Penalties

Immortal Rules and Policies

Forum Citizenship

Builder Policy

The Zero-and-Nine Commandments

0. Thou Shalt Be Excellent to Each Other Out of Game. Do IC things for IC reasons. Do not use OOC info ingame. We're all here to have fun--neither players nor staff should be forgetting that. This is what we call the Zeroth Law, and above all things, this law governs the game.

1. Thou Shalt Honor Thy Admins. Admins are your GMs (Game Masters). They are the final word in disputes.

2. Thou Shalt Have Only One PC At A Time. Multiplaying is not allowed. You get one PC, and that's it.
a. Instead of suiciding your PC, retire him. Don't do this a lot, though, or you may find yourself not invited to all the fun plots.
b. If you retire a PC, he's retired. Forever.
c. If you're thinking of retiring a PC, talk to a staffer. Maybe we can help you rediscover the spark, and if not, we can help you transition to your next PC.

3. Thou Shalt Stay IC While Ingame. OOC emergencies excepted, please keep OOC communication to a minimum, and please broadcast OOC information as privately as possible. People who get a reputation as being OOC gossips will find their IC opportunities sharply limited. Keep the IC chatter off AIM, and keep OOC stuff out of the game.

4. Thou Shalt Respect the Code. Just because code LETS you doesn't mean it's IC to do it. This qualifies as bug abuse. Bug abusers will find RPP docked, and possibly short-term bans done to their accounts.
a. Spamming skills and crafts may get you nogained in that skill. If nogained, you will not be notified of the nogain.
b. Please don't do something ridiculous, like putting a spear in a purse or filled tankards in your pouch. We'll notice.
c. Day-tripping is not okay.
d. See "help bug" ingame. Report bugs promptly. For example, if throwing a coin into the next room insta-crashes the game, we need to know that!

5. Thou Shalt Beware of Lag and Keep Staff Abreast of Issues. If the game cheats you out of something, admins will make efforts to rectify the situation. This includes OOC death.
a. However, if the game's lagging and you go into battle knowing it's lagging, please don't come crying to us. We're talking more about someone throwing a coin at you from one room away and it instantly kills you. WE WILL NOT REZ FOR LAG.
b. If there's a problem ingame, we ask your commitment to let staff know about it.

6. Thou Shalt Be Watched, Recorded, Catalogued, and Judged. There's no such thing as privacy on SciallaMud. By playing here, you agree to play without such expectations.
a. We don't care if you mudsex. However, we reserve the right to not only observe but make private editorial comments and possibly keep logs for our own amusement. YOU MUST GAIN OOC CONSENT BEFORE MUDSEX THAT ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE OVER 18 AND AGREEING TO PARTICIPATE. UNDERAGE MUDSEXXORS WILL BE BANNED OUT OF HAND. NO WARNINGS.
b. RP by yourself isn't much fun, but please at least skim the outlines (ie, if stealing, RP the lounging around, following people, etc..)
c. There are some scenes that make players uncomfortable. Before involving someone in one of these, please verify OOC that it's acceptable to proceed. If it isn't, either give the PC an avenue of escape, or gloss the scene by just agreeing that it happened. A player involved in one of these scenes may quit at any time, though he may still face the IC fact that it did happen. Sex and torture are the two scenes that any player may "opt out of." However, opting out of the graphic RP does not mean the scene doesn't happen. ALL YOU OPT OUT OF IS THE GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE ACT. NOT THE ACT ITSELF.

7. Thou Shalt Issue All Your PC's Commands Yourself. We ask that you, the player, issue 100% of your PC's commands. We also ask that if you are logged in to our game, you be ready and available for RP. Please do not use bots that defeat this purpose, and please do not be habitually AFK or idle. We will log you out or you may face IC consequences for being unresponsive (like gaining a reputation as a town drunk or being mentally slow).

8. Thou Shalt Keep the Peace. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that any player or staffer contributes to this game that makes disruptiveness all right or mitigates wrongdoing.

9. Thou Shalt Keep Drama Levels Low. Staff reserve the right to deal with drama in whatever manner is deemed most appropriate. Someone who chooses to air disputes in public may just find himself shot down in public. While we will not volunteer information about any player's case to others, if the player himself proves happy to discuss it publicly, we may just agree.

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Penalties

Generally, penalties will start with verbal warnings and progress to RPP docking, short-term bans of 1 to 2 weeks, to longer-term bans. All actions will be logged to your pfile. A series of small sanctions can result in someone getting sick of you and short-term banning you. ALL RPP deductions will be accompanied by an email to the player in question about why.

This game is very much an extension of my tabletop GMing. That means that I, and your other staffers, are your GMs. You are here under our auspice just as you would be in our RL homes. That means that if you prove disruptive and trying to fly under the radar doing things that disrupt our game, roleplay, and players, pleading "letter of the law" is not going to work well for you. We reserve the right to end a relationship with any player at any time for any reason. We will use this right sparingly and try to be fair to all players, and any time a sanction is imposed on you, you have the absolute right to appeal to Caris for a private review.

If a staffer is giving you grief and you think it's OOC, or a decision bothers you, please do email us. Sometimes people act in anger or without trying to follow chain of command. We're human. We'll always be happy to explain what happened and review the procedures taken in your case. The review is the final word on the subject, and be aware that occasionally a review will show that we were too lenient on you--and may bring attention to you that you really don't want if you've been disruptive.

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Immortal Rules and Policies

In any and all matters, Caris is the ultimate authority on this game.

What happens in immland stays in immland. A staffer who leaks privileged information to players will, at the least, be demoted immediately without warning. This is our most serious staff rule, and I expect that no matter how lame a staffer may be otherwise, at least he ought to be able to GM my game reliably and in a trustworthy way.

If you're logged in to the mud and not engaged on a task, we expect you to answer petitions and help people who need it.

No staffer will be hired without consent of all staff. If someone on staff does not consent to hire that staffer, he is not hired. The initial proposal of the person's hiring will appear on the public staff board, but all subsequent discussion will occur on other channels like email and AIM to prevent potential bad blood later (ie, if the person's hired and sees all kinds of weird stuff about himself).

We are not going to tell players everything we're up to upstairs, of course, but we do want to have as transparent a leadership style as possible. To that end, know that we will be following the same rules you're asked to follow in posting, in behavior, and in citizenship. That means that we also don't spend our time having big meltdowns on our private boards. We will absolutely strive to be fair to all players and if you have an issue with a decision, we will do our best to look into the matter to see if the decision was unfair or overly generous. If it was, we'll correct the matter as best we can.

This game does not have a bureaucracy. Everybody is expected to know how to build, load objects, and find clan information to help clan members with routine tasks. Our staff levels are as follows: Level 5s, and "everybody else." Level 5s will set major story arcs and approve far-reaching events. They will also set up clans, approve building plans, and approve PC bans before they will be put into place. There are no "builder imms" or "Valrona-only" staffers. All staff are expected to keep up with the plot boards and clan boards to know how to access information, and to know the basics of building.

We commit to not having huge debates on our staff-only boards, and by the same token, before a task is delegated or a plot developed, the staff involved will know how to proceed. There will be no huge debates or meltdowns regarding a staffer's behavior. Anybody who questions a staffer's behavior will come to a level 5 to discuss the matter privately.

We will, whenever humanly possible, back our staff up to the hilt. While we welcome questions and will look into ANY concerns of wrongdoing, please know in advance that if it's just one of those situational things that involve a split-second decision, and that decision a) follows established canon, b) does not break any favoritism rules, and c) is logically coherent, chances are we're going to back the staffer. That is our commitment to our staff: in order to best serve our players, we need our staff to feel like they are valued and appreciated.

Staff will, at all times, behave professionally toward players.

Staff are allowed to play PCs, but need to exercise discretion in how they play. If a staffer is hired from PC ranks, he can keep his PC but will not be allowed to do anything for the PC; other staffers will need to handle him. A staffer's PC may not stand in the way of a player's PC's hiring or promoting; a staffer's PC may not rob players of the spotlight. In other words, a staff PC is more like an NPC--a resource for players.

In cases of malfeasance or suspected wrongdoing, investigations will occur before the staffer is confronted. Staffers will get opportunity to defend themselves in private. If a penalty is required, it will be communicated to the rest of the staff in a professional manner, and to players in as minimal a manner as possible.

There will be no discussions of other players' situations with inquiring players. We do not discuss any situation but the inquiring player's own. This extends to not discussing a disciplinary action with the player who was hurt by someone else's behavior choices.

At all times, all staff will remember that this is a volunteer effort and will treat other staff members with respect, courtesy, and sympathy. There will be no "tirades" on this mud. There will be no staffers who are feared or hated by other staff. There will be no staffers who players know not to go near, no matter how indispensable that staffer may seem to the game or how much the game might suffer if that staffer were demoted.

If a player feels that a staffer is misbehaving, he may feel 100% sure that Caris will absolutely take him seriously and investigate the situation. There will be absolutely no repercussion against players for voicing concerns in a sincere and polite manner.

When it is certain that no course of action is completely correct, SciallaMud will endeavor to err on the side of the players.

SciallaMud will endeavor to keep IC repercussions to IC behaviors, and OOC repercussions to OOC behaviors, but sometimes a player's OOC behavior will impact his IC situation. And if a player chooses to break the OOC barrier by sharing IC info with his buddies, staff may well take it for granted that he has waived his rights to be treated privately. Before a player goes off to AIM to complain about something, bear in mind that every story has two sides: do you really want that other side aired just as publicly as you're airing yours?

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Forum Citizenship

Because we have often noted the workings of most RPI MUDs' forums and public boards, we have adopted the following guidelines:

Our forums will discuss questions and answers. They will not be far-reaching "debates." Your staffers' time is very limited--we'd far rather put that time into improving the actual game, not beating a dead horse for the 50th time. When a question's been often asked, it'll go onto the FAQ page so it can be easily accessed. ANYBODY with suggestions about gameplay, code, or anything else that will involve a paradigm shift or a lot of work to implement should email staff (at this address) rather than get 50 people riled up about it when it either can't or won't happen anytime soon. We love and appreciate our players and community, but this will save our energy for more important tasks.

Please follow the posting guidelines in each forum's subsection, and if you can't see where your potential post might fit, it probably needs to be a PM instead.

At all times, please follow the Zero-and-Nine Commandments. Assume that people are acting with the best intentions. Back your staff and Guides up. Be supportive of each other--we're all in this together.

Obviously, we do ask you not to use profanity, verbally abuse anybody, or post any personal info (either yours or someone else's) like addresses, phone numbers, or anything else your mother would cringe to imagine you sharing. While we're aiming for an over-18 audience, we know better--and we ask you not to post anything someone's daddy would object to his Little Princess reading online. Links are okay for non-worksafe stuff as long as they're stated to be non-worksafe. Direct linking (hotlinks) are okay only as long as they are totally unobjectionable. When in doubt, do a regular link and not a hotlink.

PLEASE do not fall into the habit of arguing with people on our forums. We all have opinions on what we want to see on our game, and your leadership are the ones who should be implementing those ideas. We'll certainly ask for opinions, and will do what we think is in the best interest of the pbase, but we really want you to be ingame if you have time to cruise forums, or use your off-telnet time to make submissions or have fun in the OOC forums. We know that our target gaming audience is mature, goodhearted, and committed to the ideals of good gaming, and this request will keep us that way.

If you see a post that is objectionable or which does not fall under the forum posting guidelines that are in each forum subsection, please let a Guide or staffer know. If nothing else you can PM Caris, and she'll look at it. Objectionable posts will include: personal information being over-disclosed, a staffer or Guide being accused of wrongdoing (this needs to be emailed pronto, with evidence and logs, not aired in public), a player being treated maliciously, or questions about specific incidents ingame. These are all better handled ingame or via private PMs, to save the community stress and time.

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Builder Policy

We appreciate those who would improve and help our game. To that end, we have adopted this policy with regard to contributions of any kind, including building, character use and roleplay, coding, and submissions. If you object to any of these terms, please do not send us contributions. If you do send us contributions, you are agreeing to the following policies:

Anything you submit to this game can be used as the game designers wish. That includes: roleplay (including player-generated or system-generated logs), forum posts, submissions of rooms or code, or other information communicated regarding the game.

You retain the rights to use your submissions elsewhere if you wish. However, SciallaMud reserves the right to keep your submissions even if you do use them elsewhere. If you ask us to remove your work but we feel it is important to keep it ingame for continuity purposes (which we almost certainly will), we reserve the right to decline your request.

All submissions must be original. That said, do not submit any work to us that you have used elsewhere, and do not submit work that falls under copyright protection elsewhere.

Before using your contributions, we will gain your permission. Some methods of communication imply tacit permission: posting on the forums, emailing us ideas, sending submissions via the links on the forum, PMing people. In cases like roleplay logs that you didn't explicitly say you wanted public, we will ask permission before allowing public access. In other words, you don't have to worry about your roleplay logs being made public without your consent, but if you specifically email us a log or idea, that's going to be seen as giving us permission to use it however we want. In the event you have retired from SciallaMud for more than 3 months as a player, we will consider even the RP logs fair game.

Thank you and we hope you will contribute to SciallaMud! This is a community effort, and we're all in it together.

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