Title: General Rules
Description: Please read before posting for help.
Lothlómendil - February 12, 2004 01:47 AM (GMT)
The most important rule of Arda is to enjoy your time here, that is what RPing is for! :) But in order to ensure that everyone can have fun, we've got to have guidelines. Any breaking of the rules can and will result in a warning, either verbal or official. You are allowed 5 official warnings until you are banned from Arda. After 2 or 3, your username may have severe restrictions placed upon it, usually accompanied by a suspension.
To view the old version of the rules, click here.
I.) Personal Conduct / OOC
[doHTML]<ol><li>Be respectful at all times. Rudeness, flaming, insults, and general disrespect is not tolerated. Arda strives to be a friendly, welcoming community whose members are expected to act maturely. If there is a conflict, you are to handle it in a calm and respectful manner. Discretion is also your friend, help us keep this a drama-free zone.<br /><br />
<li>Only one character per username / account. You can have multiple usernames, but do not register more accounts than you can reasonably handle. People that register too many accounts that get abandoned quickly may lose their ability to make new accounts. If you have multiple accounts, only one of them may have a position as a deity.<br /><br />
<li>There are a few details about your characters that must be in your profile. You need at least a name, race, class, gender, alignment, and brief physical description. This must appear either in your signature, or in a profile topic whose link is in your signature. You must include a link to your inventory / history / profile topics if you do not keep that information in your signature.<br /><br />
<li>Post your topics in the correct forums. For example, do not advertise for a site that you like in the General OOC Boards, there is a forum specifically for posting about other websites.<br /><br />
<li>Use the format when posting in the Sales Counter. In order to make purchase requests run smoothly and get done quicker, we have implemented a posting format you must use for all of your transactions. We ask for you to do a little of the work that the admins used to have to do for you so that there is a combined effort that lessens our burden.<br /><br />
<li>Because of the set width of the board, posted images can no longer exceed 500 pixels in width. You can tell if your image is too big because it will stretch the page sideways. If your image is too big and you don't know how to resize it or simply don't have the time / resources to do so, you can post here to have it resized for you. If you use Photobucket, you can use their built-in photo editor to do the resizing.<br /><br />
<li>No member having an auction may sell their items for less than the sell back prices in the shops to avoid cheating the system. Additionally, there is to be no buying mystery items only to sell them back for more than what was spent on them. Other methods of "cheating the system" are also disallowed.</ol>[/doHTML]
II.) Role-Playing & Writing
[doHTML]<ol><li>Don't god-mode. God-moding is where you play your character as all-powerful or overly-powerful. This includes not allowing yourself to get hurt and having your attacks always land / do serious damage. This rule has some leeway for the official gods of Arda, but I expect them to reserve themselves and use good judgment. RPing a fight should have give and take for all participants. When you god-mode, it really takes away from the fun of RPing and agitates the people with whom you are playing. Remember that every new character starts out weak and has to earn power by RPing, writing quality posts, and legitimizing their strengths with items purchased from the shops.<br /><br />
<li>No power-playing. This involves controlling the actions of someone else's character and saying they did something or reacted somehow that they didn't put in their posts. You cannot do this even if the other person gives you permission or is an alternate account of yours. You also may not determine the outcome of your own attacks on other members and say if they are successful or not without permission, because that does not give your opponent the chance to defend themselves.<br /><br />
<li>Don't meta-game. In Arda, meta-gaming is when you unfairly incorporate OOC knowledge into your IC posts when you have no legitimate reason to have such information in your post. For example: If someone's character has hidden motives or secret information, your character cannot walk in and know that secret information for no reason.<br /><br />
<li>There is a word minimum that you must meet in your posts. You must post at least 50 words. This applies to all regular RP forums, guild forums, and temples. The advanced RP forums have a higher limit that you can read about here. If you include OOC comments in an RP post, those comments do not count toward your word total as this rule is in place to increase the quality of RP posts, not just to fill up space.<br /><br />
<li>No double-posting / spamming. Don't make short or pointless posts that don't contribute to the topic or to increase the amount of gold that you have. Please do not post more than once in a row for any reason, especially for the sake of bumping your topic to make it the last visible post. (Some exceptions are made for OOC games.) This also includes making OOC-only comments in the RP forums; every post you make in the RP forums should have a legitimate RP post that meets the word minimums. Other actions not specifically listed yet may also be considered spam by the admins and moderators, depending on the situation.<br /><br />
<li>You cannot say you have items / weapons / familiars / special abilities (etc.), unless you have purchased them from the shops. This includes most items except starting equipment, clothing, food, in character money, and minor supplies and trinkets not listed in the shops.<br /><br />
<li>Arda is set in a medieval fantasy world, much like Tolkien's Middle-Earth. There are no guns, no blue jeans, etc. Arda is not Earth and does not share any of Earth's history or geography. Mentioning Earth-specific people / places / etc. is considered posting out of character.<br /><br />
<li>There is to be no "net-speak" in RP posts. Do not use abbreviations like "ur" and "sum1" or you will be warned. RPing is for proper writing. Please also restrict the use of smilies to your out of character posts / comments only.<br /><br />
<li>You may not kill off someone else's character unless they give you explicit permission to do so. You also may not kill their familiars or break their weapons / armor etc. without their permission (unless you have purchased the fighter abilities necessary for breaking equipment).<br /><br />
<li>There are several Dungeon Masters in Arda that randomly post IC instructions for you. You must abide by what the DMs say. To read more about this feature you can look here.</ol>[/doHTML]
III.) CBox
[doHTML]<ol><li>No spamming. Don't post a lot of emotes or flood the CBox with a bunch of pointless posts.<br /><br />
<li>Stick to one username. You don't need more than one username for the CBox. Please also don't pick a spammy / random name that keeps people from knowing who you are. If you are going to use more than one name, they must all make it clear that it is you. For example: Loth, Lothy, and Lothlómendil are all acceptable as my alternate CBox names because it still makes it clear that it's me.<br /><br />
<li>No advertising. This is covered in greater depth below, but you should be aware that you are also not to link to your site / ad topic in the CBox and ask people to join your board. Excessive talking about your board could also be considered advertising depending on the circumstances, so it's best to leave it out of you conversations.<br /><br />
<li>Don't ask the staff "business" questions that go in the Help forum. The CBox is a place for everyone to go to relax and just have fun, whereas answering questions is stressful work. If you have questions about how Arda works you should post them in the proper forum.</ol>[/doHTML]
IV.) Unacceptable Behaviors
These are things that will not be tolerated at Arda at all. If anyone breaks these guidelines they may be banned, no questions asked.
[doHTML]<ol><li>No flirting. Arda is not a dating service, it is a PG-13 site whose average user is a young teenager. Flirting is unwelcome by not only the recipient but also everyone who has to see it happen. Getting affectionate is inappropriate and makes everyone feel uncomfortable and unsafe. This rule is especially applicable to everyone that is a legal adult, so if you aren't sure if what you're about to say is inappropriate then don't say it at all. You will only get one verbal warning about this before you face serious punishment.<br /><br />
<li>No nude or offensive images (avatars, signatures, links, etc) and nothing beyond kissing and very mild affection in your RP posts (or anywhere else). Suggestive content is also not allowed even though it may not be explicitly sexual. Mature RPing is not to be done in Arda, through our PM system, or in e-mails to members from the board. You are also not to suggest such private activity to anyone on the board or you will face an immediate ban.<br /><br />
<li>No excessive swearing and getting around the word filters. Many mild swear words are not filtered, but if you abuse them in a way that is rude to others your ability to post may be removed.<br /><br />
<li>If you are found to be harassing or insulting other members you will be removed immediately. This includes having outbursts of anger and swearing at other members.<br /><br />
<li>No advertising of any kind outside of your signature / profile or the Fun Websites forum. Anyone that registers just to advertise will be banned. PM, IM, or e-mail advertising will also lead to an instant banning, especially if it's the first thing you do when you register.</ol>[/doHTML]
The admins and moderators reserve the right to also warn members for any behavior that, though not explicitly in the rules, is judged as inappropriate. We also reserve the right to edit or delete any member or posted content that we decide we do not want on the board.