Rules

    We recommend you actually read our Terms of Service, however the version listed here is a short version regarding our Rules.

Rule #1 - Be kind to guests, your fellow players and staff. Treat everyone politely, with respect and act civil towards the players. We encourage our players to make peaceful relations with other players, as it enhances the Imperia experience and emphasizes peace within the channels. Be polite, mature, however don't be too overly sensitive. If someone is joking about some sexual remarks, then don't go flying off the deep end as if you have been gravely insulted or violated. Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all. Although the management does not ask anyone to agree with every opinion that is presented, the management does ask that all opinions be tolerated.

Rule #2 - Do not try and rile people up for your own amusement. There is no reason for ego-bashing, playing "I'm better than you are!" games, and using insults to press unnecessary emphasis on points in arguments.

Rule #3 - Learn self control. Going off on emotional tangents is also heavily discouraged. We understand that you may feel upset due to unfortunate RL/RP events, but we advise that you handle the problem without venting it into your roleplay or onto others in channel. If you need to vent, take it to #Grinding_Stone, ask a friend in a PM, or ask in #Imperia if you could talk to someone about your problem. The management suggests that should you find yourself in an irritable mood, do not log on (or if you're already logged on, log off). If the irritable mood is spouted by an argument or by something that occurs in the roleplay, the management recommends that you take a five to ten minute break to cool down. This does not entail changing your nick name to something offensive to other players while you are away.

Rule #4 - No arguments in #Imperia. We have a large number of players in Imperia, all with different characters, all with different viewpoints. Despite our desire to avoid them, arguments will break out. However, we ask that you avoid whenever possible starting arguments in either #Imperia or the IC channels. Excessive rudeness, vulgarity, offensive sexual comments, using hurtful slander, and unnecessary roughness towards unpopular suggestions are also ill-conducive to this community. Antagonism under the veil of a joke and "refraining" from commenting on someone's behavior are frowned upon. If you have qualms with someone, settle them directly in PM, or in #Grinding_Stone instead of beating around the bush. Situations will be handled on a case-by-case basis, with kicking/banning as deemed necessary by the OPs. If you choose to open discussion on sensitive subjects such as religion, politics, or other sensitive topics, do not be surprised by a "GS Call" (explained later). There is no reason for unnecessary rudeness, or being insulting. Action will be taken on a case-by-case basis. Though players may not remain aware of it, we are all human beings here, not machines to be cast aside once their purpose has been fulfilled. While some people DO deserve to be mocked (spammers, invading bots, etc.), constantly insulting everyone is no way to make a point. Instead of bashing someone's ego to smithereens, try showing them a better way to do something.

Rule #5 - Respect the GS Call. A "GS Call" is when an OP calls for an argument to be moved to #Grinding_Stone. Only OPs are permitted to make a "GS Call". If an OP makes the call, no matter who you are, you are REQUIRED to move the argument to #Grinding_Stone or drop the conversation altogether. Anyone who does not move/drop the conversation will receive an automatic 3-day ban from the OOC channel. An OP ignoring the "GS Call" will receive a 5 day ban from the OOC channel. This ban also applies to any OP abusing the "GS Call" option. When someone makes the GS call, it means that one or more people are offended by the discussion, and that must be respected. Furthermore, there shall be no more "but it's not an argument!" claims. If it's offending someone, then it might as well be an argument. It's best if you just move it to GS. Remember that you too could end up in a situation like that some day, and you would want the same respect when you are offended by a conversation.

Rule #6 - Ops have the final say in arguments. All decisions made by the mediator are final, and can only be overturned by a channel manager or Zarak, though they usually stick by the mediator's decisions.

Rule #7 - Remember that we stand for quality. We are not elitists - we merely pride ourselves on what we have built here. We are advanced roleplayers, in an advanced channel. Imperia is not for the absolutely new to IRC - commonly referred to as 'newbies'. However, we do welcome new people on the condition that they are willing to learn the nuances of Imperia's universe and design. One common nuance is the variety of roleplaying styles we incorporate. While we frown -deeply- on bad grammar & spelling, there is a wide variety of other aspects among our players, such as length of posts. There is no standard 'required length' for posts. Our players vacillate between single-line posts and two paragraphs each. Conversely, there are instances of typing that are not accepted here. Gratuitous use of punctuation marks - a line of exclamation points (!!!!), for example - h4k3r/733t sp3k, TYPING IN ALL CAPS, and use of excessive colors...all of these are offensive, and in no way promote a professional atmosphere. You will receive three warnings for such annoyances, the fourth warning will result in being kicked from the channel until you can cooperate.

Rule #8 - Speak with words. You may think that placing the odd smilies (o.O, <.<, ^___^) in every single line is cute but people in truth find it to be a sign of stupidity. Also do not use emoticons in Role Play posts.

Rule #9 - No Advertising/Spamming/Flooding. Do not advertise your channel, do not spam us with some ASCII Art, and if you are intentionally flooding the channel then we will ban you.

Rule #10 - No Theft of other player's property. No unauthorized use of another's plot/roleplay property, which includes:

Thieving is inconsiderate, idiotic, and indicative of the thief's lack of originality. Any person found thieving will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis (possible permanent ban). However there is one more addition to the rule.

Rule #11 - No Corruption of Public Opinion. Public opinion is to be kept public - trying to sway public opinion in your favor for any reason OOCly is grounds for an immediate 3-day ban from #Imperia on the first offense (and a case-by-case basis, if need be), a 7-day ban on the second offense, and a permanent ban for the third offense. The following are examples of violating public opinion sanctity:

This list is incomplete, and left so intentionally. If you're thinking of circumventing this rule, you won't be around long enough to do it. This is the only warning.

Rule #12 - #Imperia is a front desk, a lobby, a reception room. We have new players, guests, affiliates and diplomatic allies visiting. Remember that.

Rule #13 - No Harassment (Abusive/Vulgar/Sexual Language/Sensitive Topics). We don't put cursing under a Harassment rule - hell, we curse all the time. This rule is in effect against abusive and degrading language, such as homophobic insults (gay, ghey, fag, etc.). This and other insulting language (if we have to go into further detail, you probably use this language) almost always leads to explosive & disruptive arguments, and so is not tolerated - at all. Be respectful of your fellow players if you want their respect. If you don't want respect - if you're content to insult everyone around you - you will end up a very lonely (and very banned) person.

Rule #14 - Maintain IC/OOC Separation. There are two realms of knowledge in IRC RP - the information & wisdom your character possesses, and the information you as a player possess of the game you're participating in. While it is required that you, the player, know what your character knows, the reverse is not true. This is what's known as In Character Knowledge/Out of Character Knowledge separation, or IC/OOC Separation for short. If, for instance, you know OOCly that your character is about to do something really stupid - say, step on a poisoned dagger because he's got a blindfold on - and you change his walking pattern to avoid the tack because you (the player) know of it, you have violated IC/OOC Separation. Most often this separation violation occurs when a player doesn't want to lose a character in a fight or sudden change of circumstances. Nobody wants to lose their characters, but IC/OOC separation violating is flat-out cheating. Keep the character acting as they would in the given situation. Want to keep it safe? Don't send it charging into battles all the time. All knowledge the player possesses OOCly of a character, event, news, scene, plot, or relationship cannot be 'suddenly' learned by your character. If your character needs to know something, RP out getting the information. Anything learned in our OOC channel remains there, unless a logical IC explanation exists for how the character learned it. Keep IC and OOC separate at all times.

Rule #15 - Pay Attention to your surrondings. We at Imperia cannot stress enough the importance of attentiveness while roleplaying. Whether you're sitting in the Twisted Blade or in the middle of a pitched battle, you must know what's going on. This means reading all the posts that players make, in case something they do will affect your character. For instance, let's say that your character is sitting in the Twisted Blade. A dwarf is at the bar, roaring in laughter at some joke. Loud noise. Does your character have sensitive hearing? Then they should be flinching or asking the dwarf to be quiet (although we're not sure how effective the asking would be). Let's say a troll came in the door. Trolls are very large and heavy. Their stomping would make the floor and some furniture shake. Do not ignore the likely fact that your drink is rattling across the table. Perhaps a villain is attacking someone next to you. Would it be wise to sit there and calmly drink while a rampaging bad guy is slashing wildly? Only if your character is a severe masochist. We hope these examples will illustrate that it really is futile to ignore your surroundings and pretend things don't affect you. They do. Bear it in mind while playing.

Rule #16 - Emoticons during Role Play. ^_^, :D, %-), @_@, etc.. NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO!!! We do NOT permit emoticons in our roleplaying! Although abbreviations are appropriate in some cases, otherwise, we do NOT permit emoticons! They are a blaring, blatant sign of a roleplayer's lack of descriptiveness and inginuity. 

Rule #17 - No Powergaming/Godmoding/Autohitting. Godmoding and Powergaming is any character that continuously refuses to or constantly evades taking damage of any kind, and is capable of powers and abilities that are absolutes and completely unstoppable.  Autohitting is any strike or attack, worded in such a way, that assumes that the attacked character automatically takes the damage without giving the attacked character a chance to react. Winning isn't everything in roleplay, and eventually, circumstances will put you on the losing side. If you don't want to lose, don't put your character in fights. Should you have any qualms with other players concerning these concepts that cannot be resolved between the players, ask an op to review the situation.

Rule #18 - #Grinding_Stone. Grinding Stone is an open forum. Here mature, rational arguments are condoned, reviews conducted, rolls for IC purposes, and consequences meted out. This means NO VERBAL ABUSE. No, we're not going to dictate what you can and cannot say, however, Verbal abuse serves no purpose; it exists solely to be inflammatory, and it countermands any and all forms of legitimate argument. It also will not be tolerated. Warnings and punishments will be handled on a case-by-case basis. If you want to verbally abuse someone, do it somewhere else. Imperia is a community of adults - if you can't act like one, you won't be here. Simple as that.

Rule #19 - Character Approval is required before playing.

Rule #19A - Once your character is approved, that's it. Any additional abilities, strengths, etc. must be earned through roleplay. Any attempts to insert attributes "after the fact" will be met with extreme prejudice. Also, pay attention to which channel you're approved for - although many characters can go in between our two IC channels, some are "special cases" and can only roleplay in the channel they're approved in without further approval.

Rule #20 - Any major Plots that threaten the city, world, nation, or causes the end of all life as we know it must be submitted to the Forum. Please see the Forum for other details. No running Plots in which the entire planet explodes. Thank you

Bracket Usage
The following is a recommended usage of brackets during RP. This is set in place to keep the RP fluid and consistent.

In-Character Actions
Actions can be done in two ways:
<YourCharacter walks into the Inn, shouting> Hi guys, how's it going?
This can be used in any case, but it is usually used when your IRC nickname is different than the character's nickname. Anything within the brackets counts as an action, while anything outside the brackets counts as what a character is saying.
/me walks into the Inn shouting, "Hi guys, how's it going?", which translates into on IRC as * YourCharacter walks into the Inn shouting, "Hi guys, how's it going?"
This is only used when the IRC nickname matches the character's name. Anything without quotation marks is considered part of the character's action, while anything within quotation marks is considered the character's speech. 

Out of Character Speak
((Blah blah blah))
Usually, this is used to clarify something, correct typos, or ask new players to join the main channel. Otherwise, try to keep speak this to a minimum - arguments are always moved to #Grinding_Stone, and anything that needs more clarification than a sentence should be settled in query or in #Imperia. 

Telepathy
~Hi. I am speaking right now.~
Telepathy can only be used by psionically endowed characters, or those that have characters approved with this ability. This means not -everyone- has it. Telepathy is communication between minds, or in some cases, psions use telepathy to broadcast to the entire room. Some races, such as the Illithid, are only capable of using telepathy to speak because they have no mouth; however, these races must still use the telepathy brackets. 

Sound Effects
*gasp! Crash! BOOM!*
Although this is somewhat outdated and rarely used, you can use asterisks to denote onomatopoeia (using words that imitate the sound they denote). 

    Alot of the following has been stated, and in such detail, as to avoid any loopholes or Rules Lawyers from exploiting gaps in the rules. They are really all simple: Be nice to people. Sadly however, you would be surprised how difficult this is for other players.

   We hope that by implementing these guidelines, we create a calmer, more prosperous environment for the good of Imperia and the channels within.

Rules Credits - "Sarcastic" Sarah and "WeaselMaster" Chris, with amendments by Nicole . And thanks to all the support/contributions from other ops, whom we appreciate for their time and effort.