Conduct

Over View
Below is the policy regarding roleplay on Winter's Edge. Please note that this addresses both staff conduct and player conduct. Compliance with these policies is a requirement for those who wish to roleplay here.

1.We're all here to have fun. We will be soliciting feedback and input from the players, and it will shape the roleplay on Winter's Edge. An individual may not get precisely what he wants at one given moment, but overall, we do pay attention to our players and take their ideas into account.

2.We want to operate in an environment of trust here. When staff approves you to go IC, what we are saying is, "We trust you to be honest" -- and we do. Every person who comes here can expect the same treatment and the same opportunity for roleplay, plots, and the like. We prefer to trust people on the outset. If you betray that trust, you betray the entire MUSH's principles in doing so. This is not acceptable and will be handled accordingly. To underscore that, the DM Staff here has adopted a zero-tolerance policy for cheating of any sort. If you indulge in cheating, you will find the consequences to be swift and severe. You may find a more in-depth description of infractions below.

3.Players on Winter's Edge must @register with a RL name and email on every PC object. You need not use your full name; a first name and last initial is sufficient. This information will be kept confidential.

4.Harassment is not permitted, regardless to whether the harasser and harassed are players or staff. There may be times of tension -- large groups of people interacting often find problems. If there is a problem, our policy is to resolve it politely. In some cases, a third party from among the Head Staff may be involved as a mediator -- we are willing to try and work things out.

5. Winter's Edge staff, as a whole, tries to build a sense of community. We are not concerned with the number of logins, but rather, how well it hangs together. As a result, we reserve the right to remove players who make no effort to be a part of the community. Players who make no effort to play with others, or who go out of their way to make the MUSH unpleasant for other people, may be asked to leave at the discretion of Head Staff.

Player Policy
1. Each player is entitled to a total of 4 PCs among our various IC locations to be opened for roleplay. These PCs must be generated within the rules of the MUSH. These PCs advance normally. They may all adventure normally, participate in staff and player plots, and are considered equal for the purpose of roleplay. All of a player's PC alts must be @registered to the same email address. These PCs may not interact, share information, or trade gear or money. Doing so is considered to be cheating.

2. Staff are volunteers here, and give up a great deal of time. They do not receive XP or other rewards for this. As a result, we expect players to treat staff with the same respect and courtesy with which they would like to be treated. If there is a conflict with a Staff DM, the player may appeal to Head Staff (Head DM, Head Wiz, Policy Wiz, Assistant Head DM, Code Wiz) for resolution. They will evaluate the situation, along with the Head Wiz if necessary, and will take whatever steps are deemed necessary. We require logs to support the statements if there are allegations of improper behavior.

3. We ask that you trust the DM Staff and respect their rulings. If a DM is running a scene, you may politely point out an error. The DM's ruling, however, is final for the duration of the scene. Lengthy discussions can disrupt a scene in progress. Keep it short. If this DM ruling leads to severely unfavorable results for the player, he may appeal to the Head DM (or, if the scene is run by the Head DM, the Asst. Head DM and the Head Wiz) with a log of the event. The Head DM will handle these complaints -- just remember that sometimes the answer is going to be 'no.'

4.Staff PC alts are havened. This means that players may NOT page a staffer on his PC character for staff issues, and staffers may choose not to reveal their PC alts. When it comes to staff business and the staffer is not online and not Dark, use @mail where need be, or ask another staffer.

5.Players may run plots (PRPs) of their own. These plots will need to be approved by the DM Staff for XP and treasure.

6.Compliance with all policy is mandatory. All players are expected to report violations of policy to staff, so that we can resolve the problems before they grow too large and problematic. In all cases, properly-reported violations will be handled swiftly and with appropriate measures. Players who come forth with honesty about violations will be treated with greater leniency on a first offense.

Policy Violations?
Below we list some of the infractions we recognize as problems on WE. There are many things that are not specifically covered in policy. No set of rules is exhaustive. However, events may, at any time, require more rules to be added or written. In addition, any violation of a category listed below that is not specifically mentioned beneath its topic is still a valid violation. These lists are not all-inclusive, but are meant to illustrate what we think are the most common examples of these problems.

MUSH policy violation:

Infractions against the states policies of Winter's Edge, including, but not limited to:


 * Accessing someone else's PC object


 * Attempts to induce staff to violate policy on your, or another player's, behalf


 * Baiting or provoking another player or staffer to anger


 * Harassment, as detailed in news harassment.


 * Intentional violation of written policy and/or rules


 * Lying to staff members


 * Page-spying


 * Staffers making modifications to their own PC objects on their staff alt without supervision or permission of head staff.

Rules violation:

Cheating, or committing severe infractions against game rules, including, but not limited to:


 * Exchanging money, information, or goods between alts


 * Ignoring or going against the +sheet in roleplay


 * OOCly claiming your PC can do things he cannot


 * Playing a character contrary to the app and +sheet (i.e. describing your character as charismatic with a 10 charisma)


 * Posing your PC doing things he cannot


 * Taking advantage of code for your benefit


 * Using OOC information in roleplay

Theme violation:

Severe infractions against game theme, including, but not limited to:


 * Anachronistic technologies or devices used in roleplay


 * Excessive modern slang in dialogue (Note: This is not an issue when used in descriptive pose-text - only in actions or dialogue!)


 * Trying to enforce anachronistic beliefs in RP

What is the stance of Winter's Edge staff on harassment, stalking, and threats from players?
Harassment, for our purposes, is persistent annoyance against the other person's stated desires, or verbal abuse. Stalking is defined as willfully and repeatedly following, paging or harassing another person in circumstances that make that person distinctly uncomfortable, violate his privacy, or contain express or implied threats.

None of these is tolerated here on Winter's Edge, as we want our players to have a pleasant and reasonably peaceful time playing here. As a result, we have adopted a zero-tolerance policy for harassment, stalking, and threats.

Stalking and threats toward a player or staffer are grounds for sitebanning without appeal.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:


 * telling others how to RP


 * making direct personal attacks on the public channels or bulletin boards


 * insulting OOC comments


 * paging people after you've been asked to quit


 * arguing with DMs in scene after they've already made a ruling in a scene or on a request (queues, prestige classes, theme, etc.)

Penalties for harassment issues will be as follows:


 * First offense: conference with head staff and a note on their character objects about the offense. Please note that this removes a clean disciplinary record, as required for special character apps.


 * Second offense: A re-evaluation of the player's time here and offenses. This may include a direct lock from the game for a period ranging from a week to a month, or a removal from the MUSH, depending on the severity of the offense.


 * Third offense: Permanent siteban on all alts. @decompiles will be e-mailed to these players on request, and if they wish to have players notified of their removal, staff will do so.

What are the penalties for breaking policy?
The penalties for breaking policy depends upon several factors such as the policy broken and the severity of the policy infraction among other things. Penalties can include (but are not limited to):


 * Required apology to all parties involved


 * Probation from activities such as Staff run plots


 * @boot and @newpass for a period of time


 * @siteban from the mush entirely

Staff Policy
1.We allow our RP staffers a total of four PCs, just as we do players. The staffer is entitled to the same rights and privileges with these PCs as players are, with one exception -- if a staffer is found to be neglecting staff duties, he may be asked to re-evaluate his time constraints and make adjustments.

2.A staff DM may not judge anything involving his PCs. He may not modify the +sheet, notes, or other attributes on his PC objects without the approval and supervision of a Wizard (Head DM or Head Wizard). Doing so without permission or notification is considered cheating, and will be handled as such.

3.Every DM will be on a schedule that allows them two days off per week. During those days off, even if the DM staffer is online, they will not be doing any staff work. Do not page them for DM Staff issues on these days. Days off will be noted in the DUTY section of the +staff list.

4. Our players are our life's blood. Without them, we have no reason to exist. We expect staff to treat players with the same respect and courtesy with which they would like to be treated.

5. If a player brings up a point about a ruling you make while running a scene, please treat them with courtesy and take their remarks seriously. None of us can know all of the rules perfectly all the time, and we're human. We make mistakes. So long as the player behaves within the rules of conduct, their grievances should be given weight. Lengthy discussions, however, can disrupt a scene in progress. Keep it short, and if need be, offer to discuss matters in depth with the player later.

6. Staff PC alts are havened. This means players may NOT page you on your PC character for staff issues, and you may choose not to reveal your alts to players. Politely remind them to use @mail where need be, or to ask another staffer, if you are paged on your PC alt to handle staff matters. You have the right to respond to inquiries about your alts by quoting the havening policy. You have the right to pagelock any player who persists. Please refer these cases, with logs, to the Head DM and the Head Wiz.

7.Players may run plots of their own. DMs have the responsibility of approving or rejecting these plots based on the guidelines listed separately, and granting treasure appropriate to the encounter level. XP will be granted based on the log of the plot sent in after it is run.

What is the policy for the comm channels on Winter's Edge?
Some com channels are not locked. This is largely due to the annoyance of having to add every new player who fits the type to their locks. However, if you don't really have business being on a channel, you shouldn't be on it.

The publicly-open channels include Public, Guests, Questions, Smut!, Politics, and Theme. Other channels should only be used by PCs who fit those criteria (e.g. arcane casters only on Arcane).

How do I file a complaint?
When you have a grievance of someone breaking policy, an @mail to Wizstaff (the DM wizard, Policy Wizard, and Head Wizard) must be filed. If one of the three is involved in the grievance, the other two are sufficient.

We require logs of the grievance, copies of @mail, and any other material evidence of wrongdoing that you can provide. One of the three named will speak with the player with the grievance, and then will investigate. The decision will be rendered as quickly as possible, but as it takes time to investigate, it may not be immediate. Punishments for violations may include any or all of the following, but are not limited to:


 * Warnings and noting of the violation on the character object and all alts.
 * Removal of benefits gained from the violation of policy (items, money, xp)
 * Removal of an alt or alts from the grid permanently
 * Retcon of plot that involved the PC's policy violation
 * @newpassing for a period of one week to one month, or incarceration in OOC Gaol for a similar period.
 * Docking of earned XP
 * Removal of the player and all alts from the MUSH

In all cases, the punishment for a violation will fit the nature and severity of the violation. The punishment of the party involved is not necessarily going to be public knowledge. If this comes out to be a case where this applies, you will be notified that it has been done, but may not be told the specifics.

If a player is found to have falsified evidence, including logs and copies of @mail, he will be ejected from the MUSH, including all alts, forever, with no appeals allowed. In all cases, fairness and the good of the MUSH will be the primary motivation in the investigation.

Can I set my PC unfindable?
Per Swift, the unfindable flag is reserved for rooms, and not players. The flag has been removed from the list of player-settable flags.