In this thread, you will find the general rules governing conduct and participation in all Board Battles hosted at the Administorum. Please keep in mind that although these are general guidelines, they do apply to EVERY Board Battle hosted here. They are not suggestions. Follow them. It is up to you to familiarize yourself with these rules. They will be enforced regardless of whether or not you choose to read them, and the Administrator will not be held responsible for any pain or suffering you incur as a result of not reading the rules. The Administrator also reserves the right to modify these rules as deemed necessary at any time.
By participating in the Board Battles, you hereby agree to be bound by all rules governing conduct in the Board Battles, as well as all general forum rules documented elsewhere on the site. You also agree to follow all Administrator, Inquisitor, and Battle Master directions while running your character.Please be sure to follow all of the main forum rules at all times.
BOARD BATTLE RULES:
1: THE BATTLE MASTER'S POSTS DRIVE THE PLOT. DON'T IGNORE THEM.Although every character's posts are important, it is the Battle Master who sets the pace of the story and dictates whether the actions you take are successful or not. Please do not skip or skim Battle Master posts. The Battle Master will not be held responsible for you looking like a fool with your pants on the ground when you fuck up and reply to something that never happened, or completely ignore something that's happening only to get your skull crushed by the big bad you didn't know about.
- 2: READ EVERYONE'S POSTS BEFORE REPLYING!
Although the Battle Master's posts are the most important, no one likes it when their characters are ignored. Don't be THAT GUY, the one who ignores everyone else to only focus on the story and his own character. No one likes THAT GUY. Battle Masters HATE THAT GUY. Make sure you pay attention to what everyone is doing, not just yourself. Now granted, that doesn't mean you have to acknowledge every single action that takes place in your reply. It does mean that you should acknowledge anything that addresses or affects your character, or the entire group. If the Battle Master or the Inquisitor assigned to the battle catch you blatantly ignoring things, you will be hearing from them.
3: KEEP IN CHARACTER CONFLICTS IN CHARACTER!
This is a role-playing forum. When participating in Board Battles, you will be playing as a character, not necessarily as yourself. Keep this in mind when replying to posts, and definitely keep this in mind when posting OOC threads. If someone calls you a name in character, feel free to reply in kind, but do NOT get offended, and do NOT drag the name calling into OOC or PMs. We're all adults here, or at least close to it. Act like it when you're speaking in character. Keep in mind that this is NOT the Administrator giving you permission to harass or flame people in character. React how your character would react, but don't go overboard.
4: KEEP OUT OF CHARACTER CONFLICTS OUT OF CHARACTER! (AND OFF THE BOARDS.)
As the last rule applies to in-character conflicts spilling out of character, this rule applies to bringing out of character issues into the Battle where they don't belong. If you have an issue with another player, handle it out of character. And since the rules forbid you from handling this kind of thing on the boards anyway, just take it elsewhere. If you can't settle your differences, at least keep it civil within the Battle. In case of multiple violations of this rule, BOTH PARTIES will be ejected from the Battle until such time as they are able to control themselves. It takes two to argue about OOC things in-character like idiots.
5a: IT'S EVERYBODY'S STORY, NOT JUST YOURS, PART 1. (DO NOT HIJACK THE BATTLE THREAD.)
So you have this really cool idea that you can use to have all the player characters explore your awesome back-story while still being interested and getting their own plot development. That's fantastic! Sounds like you should go post it in Board Battle Suggestions, right? But wait, maybe you're too impatient, or you don't think it will be approved, or the myriad of other reasons why that won't work. Well, you can just have your character start yelling about it in the current arc, and then interested characters can run off and do this right in the middle of another Master's battle, right? Easy enough? NO. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. It is the Battle Master's responsibility to drive the plot, not you. If you have a suggestion for the Battle Master, contact them via PM, and if they like your idea, maybe they will implement it. But if they choose not to, that's it. Either make your own Suggestion in BBS/C, or let it go. ANY attempts to hijack the Board Battle for your own amusement will be smacked down hard by the Battle Master or the Inquisitor monitoring the battle, and all smackdowns for this reason will be fully backed by the Ordos Administratum. You do your thing and let the Battle Master do his.
5b: IT'S EVERYBODY'S STORY, NOT JUST YOURS, PART 2. (NO "BADASS" COMPETITIONS.)
Every character is equal. You will all get equal attention from the Battle Master, and everyone's posts are visible to be read. Everyone has an equal opportunity to be badass, and you should all capitalize on these chances, as they make for an interesting read. However, their is always THAT GUY (reference "THAT GUY" in rule 2.) who wants to make sure HIS character is more badass then everyone else's. This is frowned upon, mostly because everyone hates THAT GUY. Especially when there's more then one THAT GUY, and then they have to fight over who is more THAT GUY then the other. This is disruptive, generally annoying, and officially NOT ALLOWED thanks to this rule. Being badass is okay. Specifically going out of your way to kill-steal or to demean other characters and make your character look more badass than them will be dealt with by the Battle Master doing everything he can to make your character look as stupid as possible. If this doesn't work, or multiple instances of this occur from one person, the Inquisitor assigned to the battle will be engaged and disciplinary action will be taken, including but not limited to ejection from the Board Battle.
5c: IT'S EVERYBODY"S STORY, NOT JUST YOURS, PART 3. (TOO LONG; DIDN'T READ)
All of us like posting, and all of us like it when our posts are cool. What people don't like are posts that are miles and miles long and take hours to read. Thankfully the "One character per Board-Battle" rule should keep players talking to themselves to a minimum, but you may still feel the urge to do this. Don't. Save that 15 minute internal monologue that no one can hear in-character anyway for a back-story post in Battle-Related Topics or your profile in Character Creation. Detailed descriptions are fine. A 6 paragraph description of your character charging up one attack interspersed with your character going AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH for 90 minutes should be saved for your DBZ fan-fiction and not used in the Board Battles. Seriously. It's not longest post wins. You can make nice, detailed posts without writing a book. It will help the Battle move faster and help other players not skip your post and violate Rule 2. The exception to this rule is the Battle Master. Battle Masters by their very job description will occasionally be forced to make larger posts to move things along or describe plot points. That would not be considered a violation of this rule. Since there may be exceptions to this rule, be aware that it is up to the Battle Master to determine exactly how long is too long.
6: THE BATTLE HOST DECIDES WHAT HAPPENS, NOT YOU. (NO "GOD-MODDING")
Unless otherwise specified by the Battle Master, you should only be posting your character's actions and your character's reaction to other character's actions and Battle Master actions. You should NEVER dictate what happens to another character or to any NPCs or enemies as a result of your actions. You can't just decide to kill people outright, or make another player's character or an NPC do what you want them to do cause you feel like it. We call this "God-Modding", and it is forbidden. Follow this rule. It's cut and dry. You post for YOUR CHARACTER ONLY, and NEVER POST THE RESULTS OF YOUR ACTIONS unless directly instructed to by the Battle Master. Multiple violations of this rule will force the Inquisitor assigned to the battle to step in, which will be followed by disciplinary action including but not limited to ejection from the Board Battle.
7: AVOID POSTING TOO MANY ACTIONS OR TOO MANY REPLIES
There will be times where you may feel like the Battle is not moving at a quick enough pace for you. You may feel that by posting a bunch of actions in one post, or posting multiple replies to a Battle Master's post, that you might speed things up a bit. What you're actually doing is giving the Battle Master more work to do, which will slow things down even further. Please try to keep the number of actions you carry out during a post to a minimum. This also stems back to the "No Badass Competitions" rule and the "TL;DR" rule. Posting 50 actions or posts to another person's one can be seen as a way of trying to one up them, and is also pretty much spamming. When the Battle Master posts, post one reply, and then wait for the Battle Master to post again.
8: ABSOLUTELY NO OOC POSTS IN THE BATTLE THREAD. NO EXCEPTIONS.
This rule should be fairly self-explanatory. Each Battle thread will have an OOC thread assigned for it in the OOC board. DO NOT post OOC posts in the main thread or include any OOC chatter in your in-character post. If you need to post something OOC that is related to your in-character post, put the letters "OOC" at the end of your in-character post so that everyone knows to check the OOC thread after reading your post. Also, please make a habit of checking the OOC thread when you check the Battle thread, as Battle Masters are not allowed to make OOC posts in the main thread either.
9: IF A BATTLE MASTER OR ADMINISTRATOR EDITS YOUR POST, DO NOT EDIT IT YOURSELF.
If a Battle Master or the Admin edit your post, they did it for a reason. if you have a problem with it, take it up with them via PM. Do not post angry replies about it, and do not edit (or delete, see the previous rule) your post to "fix" anything. Respect your Battle Master's authority. it's their story. Multiple violations of this rule will result in you losing the ability to edit your own posts.
10: THE BATTLE MASTER AND THE ASSIGNED INQUISITOR HAVE THE FINAL SAY ON ALL DISPUTES AND DECISIONS.
There are bound to be situations that crop up that are not covered by any of the preceding rules. When this happens, the Battle Master will make the decision on whether or not to allow something. If the Battle Master makes a decision, respect it. Even if you have a dispute with it, do what the Battle Master instructs you to do. NEVER DISPUTE SOMETHING IN THE MAIN THREAD. Send the Battle Master a PM if you have a problem, and it will be addressed. If you disagree with the Battle Master's decision, you are well within your right to contact an Inquisitor via PM to dispute it. DO NOT ALLOW DISPUTES TO HOLD UP THE BATTLE. Comply with the Battle Master's instructions even if you have a pending dispute with them. The Inquisitor can always go back and make corrections later. Once the Inquisitor makes a decision on a dispute, THAT DECISION IS FINAL. Do not continue the dispute, even via PM. Doing so will force the Inquisitor to take disciplinary action, including but not limited to ejection from the Board Battle.
Thanks for taking the time to read these rules. They are in place to make the Board Battles fun for everyone involved. Please respect and follow them. As always, please contact the Administrator or an Inquisitor with any questions.
