Server Rules/Rule 5

5. Roleplay Guidelines

Create enjoyable and memorable experiences!

If every round of Space Station 14 was chaos free and uneventful, the game would get stale. Same thing if every round, every antagonist did the same thing, with the same items, for the same purpose. Create fun gimmicks and make memorable moments that would be enjoyable to watch! Be mindful and respectful to the stories other people are making, operate on a “Yes, and” mindset. Be flexible and welcoming to the input of others.

Do Your Job

Remember that regardless of the character you are playing, you are going to be spawning into every round with either a job, antagonist objectives, or both. Please be respectful of the fact that everyone else around you is operating under that same premise, too, and has the expectation that you are going to take part in what you signed up for.

If you are a Roboticist that never even shows up to work, it’s disappointing to others who had the expectation that they’d have a Roboticist working with them. If you are a Nuclear Operative Commander and tell your squad to figure it out and that you don’t want to lead, it’s disappointing to your team who expected a leader and takes away the opportunity someone else may have had to fill the role you signed up for. If you spawn in as a Space Ninja and decide you don’t want to steal tech for the Spider Clan and would rather hijack the salvage shuttle and go on expeditions, it’s disappointing to everyone else that may have enjoyed the opportunity to actually play the role.

You do not need to be good at your job or your objectives. But you do have a responsibility to try and accomplish the roles you signed up for. If you ever feel overwhelmed and need help, Staff and Mentors are always available to lend a hand via the in-game MHelp system in the F1 menu, and for station jobs and team antagonists genuinely asking for help in-character with things you are struggling with is not something we want anyone to be afraid to do. We are all here to create a fun shared experience together, and we have a responsibility to each other to put that effort in.

Fear of Death

Your character’s life should feel like it has value, and death should feel like a horrific consequence. You are playing a character, and are not in any real danger, but situations will often arise in which your character is in danger, and they should respond appropriately to that. Throwing yourself out of an airlock for no reason, charging at an armed terrorist naked, or repeatedly attempting to punch your heavily armed kidnapper are examples of situations in which your character is acting with no respect for their life.

Your character’s life is fragile, and even though we have game mechanics that can bring back the dead, your character should still treat the concept of their own death as if it would be permanent.

End of Round

When the End of Round screen pops up, you are free to talk in the post-round OOC chat, and engaging in what would otherwise be considered round spoilers under the No Metagaming rule, but it is not an excuse to break roleplay rules. End of Round is not an excuse to flash your shiny contraband items or supernatural abilities, start breaking things, attack people, or break character.

End of Round is a time some people use to unwind, catch up with other characters, roleplay with CentComm, and try to wrap up stories that developed for their characters over the round. It is disrespectful to those people who are still engaging in the game to behave nonsensically because the round is over. If you are bored and do not want to engage in those things, you are free to go AFK during End of Round and take a break from the game before the next shift. Our End of Round time is a bit longer than other servers both to allow people more time to engage in end-round roleplay, and also to give more people time to take care of their IRL needs between shifts.

Finally, once the End of Round screen pops up, your objectives are considered completed or failed. Pursuit of your objectives will no longer be considered reasonable escalation for any actions you take. You may still escalate scenarios for roleplay appropriate reasons, such as continuing to bite people as Zombies, continuing to fight as or against major hostile antagonists like Nuclear Operatives and Space Dragons, or continuing to fight against a Revolution that has just finished conquering Command as a Security Officer.

Security may still attempt to arrest wanted criminals after End of Round. You are still free to attempt to evade arrest or defend yourself if you are attacked after End of Round.

Continuity

• If your character is dead at the end of a shift, they should not remember information from that shift during future rounds, nor the deaths of other characters during that round.
• Your character cannot remember their own antag status, the antag status of others, or metashielded knowledge that was revealed to them from past shifts. You are free to have them selectively remember events from the shift that were not a part of anyone’s objectives, antag status, or metashielded information.
• If your character dies or loses consciousness by accident, they should not remember the exact details of what happened, and should at most have a blurry, vague concept of where they were.
• If your character is murdered or forced to lose consciousness against their will, including being drugged, put to sleep with gas, or jaunted out of their body with magic, they should not remember any details about the event. You may never remember who murdered you or knocked you unconscious, exactly where you were, who else was present, or the details immediately leading up to it.
• If your character loses consciousness on purpose, such as taking a nap or consensually being sedated, they may remember the events leading up to the moment they lose consciousness.
• Your character may not remember any information you observed while they were unconscious or dead, but you may act on the consequences of that information, such as feeling the incision point when waking up from surgery
• If your character is under the effects of mind control such as a Syndicate mind control implant, USSP revolutionary's flash, or is a cosmic cultist, and are freed of that controlling influence, they should not remember any of the events that occurred while they were controlled, including any actions they took while being controlled or fellow members of whatever faction was controlling them.

Silicon Rules

• You must follow all of your laws to the best of your ability.
• Follow your laws in numbered order, from the top down. Glitched laws without a number still apply based on their position in the list.
• You may not request a law change unless your current laws compel you to do so.
• You must not willingly accept an unauthorized law change. Who you consider authorized to change your laws should be treated with reasonable discretion.
• You must remain consistent with your own interpretation of your laws. Outside forces may convince you to change your interpretation, but even if you are convinced to change your interpretation of your law, you must still remain consistent with that new interpretation.
• The ID on your HUD determines who is crew, unless you have a law explicitly defining who is crew.
• Prisoner job icon, Visitor job icon, and job icons from non-NanoTrasen employees such as Syndicate IDs or USSP IDs are not crew.
• A hostile threat, such as a Zombie or Nuclear Operative, is still crew if it has a valid job icon.