Post by Silverback on Nov 28, 2004 6:40:59 GMT
Autohitting, "Godmoding," and Character Limitations
Autohitting and "godmoding" are both not allowed and won't be tolerated. Autohitting, for those unfamiliar with the term, is basically automatically assuming your actions hit the opponent, "calling your hits" if you will. For example, in a fighting situation, your character can only attempt to hit another character (such as "Cyclops fires an optic blast towards Magneto"), but you cannot automatically assume the hit takes place (such as "Cyclops hits Magneto with an optic blast that knocks him unconscious"). Autohitting makes the RP less fun for all involved, and takes much of the fairness out of it.
At the same time, godmoding is also an act that happens with online RPGs that will not be tolerated. Your character is not a god, and will be hit and take damage during a battle or encounter. Unless they're fighting a one-legged midget, it's gonna happen. So if someone of superior strength tries punching you time after time after time, chances are at least one if not some of those attacks are going to make contact and cause some damage, just like some of your hits on them will. No one is invincible. On a related note, no one person or group is going to win all the time. A game in which the same person wins time and time again gets boring. Do the X-Men always dominate and win every confrontation they're in? No. Do the evil mutants always win or succeed at every diabolical plan they hatch? Of course not. Bottom line: Just be realistic. It makes it all more challenging and fun for everyone.
Realize your character has limitations. This is almost a continuation of Part B. Understand he/she can not be all things all the time. There are certain physical, mental, and power limitations that they have to operate in. Rogue, for example, can't just go up and touch anything she wants to and continue to remain uneffected. A character of normal strength can't lift extraordinary objects or take a punch to the chest from a superstrong character and not be greatly effected. A normal person isn't going to take a dozen or so bullets and still stand. All powers require energy and concentration to maintain, especially if another character is acting in a manner that would increase the difficulty of maintaining such an action (ex: punching Xavier in the face while he's trying to telepathically attack someone). Things take their toll on your character. Again... realism.
In General
Don't take things personally. Remember, this is a game. That means we're trying to have fun in a fantasy world unrelated from the one we're actually in. Just because someone attacks your character or an Admin/Mod asks you to edit something you've done, you shouldn't take it as something directed at you personally. It's not, and thinking so is unfounded. Look at the comics, other stories, and other RPGs. Characters get hurt, characters suffer loses, characters suffer set backs. Working your character(s) out of a problem is what helps make RPing fun, and in order to do that, they have to be put in that problem situation. No one's got a hidden grudge against you, so don't think that. And if you do, take it up with them or one of the admins outside of the board. Also, not everything a person writes is going to work perfectly with what's been set up. Sometimes a person does something that an Admin, as an objective onlooker and enforcer of the rules, will ask you to change. That's not an insult to your work. We're just trying to make sure the RPG is fun for everyone.
Any information you know as a player cannot be known to your character merely because you as a player know it. For example, the location of a villain's secret base. Chances are as players, we all know where the base is thanks to reading the roleplays of the villain. But unless the heroes have some sort of information to provide them with that location, they can't know it. Or as another example, if Professor Xavier was developing a new updated portable version of Cerebro, a villain would have no reason to know about such items merely because the player in control of the villain knows what's going on. It all comes back to realism.
You as a player have control only over the characters you've submitted bios for. You may not use or take control of a character of another player in a roleplay you submit. Of course you may interact with another person's character if they're present with your's, however you cannot have the character enter or exit the scene, make actions, respond to the actions of others, or have that character speak dialogue. Now, if you have the permission of a player to use one of their characters for a certain scene, it is acceptable. But most of the time, we'd prefer if the player controlling that character makes posts for that character him/herself. A small side note: you may control some non-main characters or NPCs of your own creation that act as supporting roles during various scenes, so long as these characters aren't main or semi-main members of the X-Universe. Examples include the parents of various characters (so long as the parent isn't a main character in itself, like Corsair), a non-main sibling, and non-main friend(s).
A player can control no more than three characters at a time (excluding characters that other players have given permission to use). In order to ensure a wide variety of characters available to new members, we ask that players have a maximum of three characters only. This includes both Marvel created characters and original characters. This rule not only serves as a helpful advantage to new players, but also saves current players from having to worry about the characterization of too many multiple characters. However, if the administrators see it fit for the best interests of the RPG or a specific player, they will allow for this rule to be altered. Administrators themselves may control more characters, and typically do so in order to maintain plotlines and other events to keep the RPG interesting. However, without being specifically approved to do so by an admin, you may control only three characters.
If you take the time to come to our boards and apply for a character, we hope and expect you to actually play on our boards. Countless times, we've had to deal with people who come, apply, and post for maybe a week before disappearing. While we do understand that other priorities in life exist, it disappoints us to spend time looking over a bio and to know you as a player spent time creating this bio only to leave the boards after a short period of time. The best advice we could give is if you're serious in playing here, then apply and stick with it!
Be advised we reserve the right to remove your character bio and free the character for new applications at any time. This will primarily be reserved in cases of player inactivity, but be forewarned that we are not obligated to try and hunt you down to find out your status. That doesn't mean we won't in some instances, but if you want to keep your character, be active and RP here. If you don't, you run the risk of losing that character without notice.
We want our game to be accessible to as many interested parties as possible, and be fun for everyone involved. With that in mind, we must remind players that the rulings/requests of an administrator are final and should be obeyed. This could be as simple as editing a post or answering a question a player may have, but can also be as severe as asking for a player to give up a character or remove himself/herself from the RPG community altogether (while this may sound harsh, it's an action that is only considered when no other alternative has been effective). Our concern is for the RPG as a whole, and any administrator request is made with that in mind. So please, if you're requested to do something by an administrator, be cooperative. We don't mind hearing your side of the situation or your thoughts on the matter at all, but we expect players in our community to adhere to what's requested of them.
Thanks to Nicke Seiler of The Uncanny X-Men RPG
Autohitting and "godmoding" are both not allowed and won't be tolerated. Autohitting, for those unfamiliar with the term, is basically automatically assuming your actions hit the opponent, "calling your hits" if you will. For example, in a fighting situation, your character can only attempt to hit another character (such as "Cyclops fires an optic blast towards Magneto"), but you cannot automatically assume the hit takes place (such as "Cyclops hits Magneto with an optic blast that knocks him unconscious"). Autohitting makes the RP less fun for all involved, and takes much of the fairness out of it.
At the same time, godmoding is also an act that happens with online RPGs that will not be tolerated. Your character is not a god, and will be hit and take damage during a battle or encounter. Unless they're fighting a one-legged midget, it's gonna happen. So if someone of superior strength tries punching you time after time after time, chances are at least one if not some of those attacks are going to make contact and cause some damage, just like some of your hits on them will. No one is invincible. On a related note, no one person or group is going to win all the time. A game in which the same person wins time and time again gets boring. Do the X-Men always dominate and win every confrontation they're in? No. Do the evil mutants always win or succeed at every diabolical plan they hatch? Of course not. Bottom line: Just be realistic. It makes it all more challenging and fun for everyone.
Realize your character has limitations. This is almost a continuation of Part B. Understand he/she can not be all things all the time. There are certain physical, mental, and power limitations that they have to operate in. Rogue, for example, can't just go up and touch anything she wants to and continue to remain uneffected. A character of normal strength can't lift extraordinary objects or take a punch to the chest from a superstrong character and not be greatly effected. A normal person isn't going to take a dozen or so bullets and still stand. All powers require energy and concentration to maintain, especially if another character is acting in a manner that would increase the difficulty of maintaining such an action (ex: punching Xavier in the face while he's trying to telepathically attack someone). Things take their toll on your character. Again... realism.
In General
Don't take things personally. Remember, this is a game. That means we're trying to have fun in a fantasy world unrelated from the one we're actually in. Just because someone attacks your character or an Admin/Mod asks you to edit something you've done, you shouldn't take it as something directed at you personally. It's not, and thinking so is unfounded. Look at the comics, other stories, and other RPGs. Characters get hurt, characters suffer loses, characters suffer set backs. Working your character(s) out of a problem is what helps make RPing fun, and in order to do that, they have to be put in that problem situation. No one's got a hidden grudge against you, so don't think that. And if you do, take it up with them or one of the admins outside of the board. Also, not everything a person writes is going to work perfectly with what's been set up. Sometimes a person does something that an Admin, as an objective onlooker and enforcer of the rules, will ask you to change. That's not an insult to your work. We're just trying to make sure the RPG is fun for everyone.
Any information you know as a player cannot be known to your character merely because you as a player know it. For example, the location of a villain's secret base. Chances are as players, we all know where the base is thanks to reading the roleplays of the villain. But unless the heroes have some sort of information to provide them with that location, they can't know it. Or as another example, if Professor Xavier was developing a new updated portable version of Cerebro, a villain would have no reason to know about such items merely because the player in control of the villain knows what's going on. It all comes back to realism.
You as a player have control only over the characters you've submitted bios for. You may not use or take control of a character of another player in a roleplay you submit. Of course you may interact with another person's character if they're present with your's, however you cannot have the character enter or exit the scene, make actions, respond to the actions of others, or have that character speak dialogue. Now, if you have the permission of a player to use one of their characters for a certain scene, it is acceptable. But most of the time, we'd prefer if the player controlling that character makes posts for that character him/herself. A small side note: you may control some non-main characters or NPCs of your own creation that act as supporting roles during various scenes, so long as these characters aren't main or semi-main members of the X-Universe. Examples include the parents of various characters (so long as the parent isn't a main character in itself, like Corsair), a non-main sibling, and non-main friend(s).
A player can control no more than three characters at a time (excluding characters that other players have given permission to use). In order to ensure a wide variety of characters available to new members, we ask that players have a maximum of three characters only. This includes both Marvel created characters and original characters. This rule not only serves as a helpful advantage to new players, but also saves current players from having to worry about the characterization of too many multiple characters. However, if the administrators see it fit for the best interests of the RPG or a specific player, they will allow for this rule to be altered. Administrators themselves may control more characters, and typically do so in order to maintain plotlines and other events to keep the RPG interesting. However, without being specifically approved to do so by an admin, you may control only three characters.
If you take the time to come to our boards and apply for a character, we hope and expect you to actually play on our boards. Countless times, we've had to deal with people who come, apply, and post for maybe a week before disappearing. While we do understand that other priorities in life exist, it disappoints us to spend time looking over a bio and to know you as a player spent time creating this bio only to leave the boards after a short period of time. The best advice we could give is if you're serious in playing here, then apply and stick with it!
Be advised we reserve the right to remove your character bio and free the character for new applications at any time. This will primarily be reserved in cases of player inactivity, but be forewarned that we are not obligated to try and hunt you down to find out your status. That doesn't mean we won't in some instances, but if you want to keep your character, be active and RP here. If you don't, you run the risk of losing that character without notice.
We want our game to be accessible to as many interested parties as possible, and be fun for everyone involved. With that in mind, we must remind players that the rulings/requests of an administrator are final and should be obeyed. This could be as simple as editing a post or answering a question a player may have, but can also be as severe as asking for a player to give up a character or remove himself/herself from the RPG community altogether (while this may sound harsh, it's an action that is only considered when no other alternative has been effective). Our concern is for the RPG as a whole, and any administrator request is made with that in mind. So please, if you're requested to do something by an administrator, be cooperative. We don't mind hearing your side of the situation or your thoughts on the matter at all, but we expect players in our community to adhere to what's requested of them.
Thanks to Nicke Seiler of The Uncanny X-Men RPG
