Difference between revisions of "Game Rules"

Revision as of 22:21, 25 January 2015

The Capital Rule

"In the Land of Cantr where the Shadows lie. One Rule to rule them all..."

There is one Capital Rule that governs gameplay in Cantr II. Its formulation is simple, but it has many important ramifications:

The game must be played exclusively from the perspective of each individual character.

The spirit of the Capital Rule is that roleplay should be immersive. When you play your characters, imagine diving into their skin, and think from their perspective. None of the actions of your characters should be on the basis of your Out Of Character (OOC) knowledge as a player about other locations, fellow characters, maps, resources, or the history of the game; nor on the basis of your communication OOC with fellow players. That is, you as a player must develop your character solely within the game environment. Play your character from his or her in-game experiences, with his or her in-game knowledge, and taking his or her in-game personality and interests in mind.

Your own Out Of Character (OOC) knowledge may not be used to give your character an advantage over the characters of other players.

The information in this Wiki aside, you may use only the knowledge each character obtains on their own within the game. For example, if one of your characters witnesses an event, your other characters must act as if they have no knowledge of it until they learn for themselves independently in the game environment.

While each player is allowed to create multiple characters, those characters MUST be separate and distinct individuals. You may never use multiple characters together to help each other. Character death is permanent, and reincarnation or other transfer of knowledge or possessions from one to another is not allowed.

You may not have multiple characters as part of the same family, clan, army, company, etc.. They may not share resources, and they cannot join in any activity which profits one another, even from different locations. They must have their own individual interests and goals, and these may not intersect.

If you cannot avoid having two of your characters meet, it is best that one 'sleeps'. If interaction is unavoidable, you must carefully play as if they were played by strangers. But keep in mind, that since you as a player are controlling when your characters are awake and what they know, there are some intrinsic advantages to their interaction that no kind of roleplay can mitigate and which are unfair to other players.

Some exceptions are occasionally made in new and developing regions to allow players to have multiple characters living together. However, it’s never allowed to use more than one of your characters to drag or attack another character. The Players Department monitors gameplay in such cases, so if you believe your characters will be involved in exceptional circumstances, you should seek guidance from the PD beforehand.

You are allowed only one account, with no more than 15 characters. If you share a computer with another player, you must notify the Players Department. Only one player may access each account.

You may not plan or coordinate any in game events with other players OOC, even when to log in. It is not allowed to share maps, resource locations, or any other specific in game information with other players OOC.

Your characters should not have a background story describing the time before they spawned. They can have predetermined personalities or traits, and you can even have them act as if they have a back story, but this should not be made public to the other characters.

The Cantr world is entirely player created, and the history and culture of different locations can vary widely. Thus, it's a good idea to investigate each spawning location before fully determining each character's personality and goals.

There is no magic in Cantr. All characters are presumed to be human. You are free to create characters who believe strange things, but other characters may treat them as insane.

The Four-day Rule

It is not allowed to discuss events Out Of Character with other players that might influence any ongoing action. Even concluded events such as character deaths may not be discussed OOC in the forums, irc, or private communications for a minimum of Four days. This is known as the Four Day Rule.

The Foreign Language Rule

Each character spawns knowing only one language, no matter how many you as a player know. Your characters may travel or meet characters from other language zones and learn new languages in game. But, even if you as a player have knowledge of a second language OOC, you must roleplay for each character a language-learning process for a minimum of forty (40) days. This Language Rule is to mitigate any advantage for multilingual players. You are, however, allowed during this process to describe the actions of your character using any common language, though your character may only speak words learned in game. It's understood that characters will learn grammar from experience, but some attempt should be made to explore it. Machine translation such as google may aid in the language-learning process, but it is never a substitute for real world knowledge. You may not spawn a character in a language in which you have no working knowledge. Characters who use machine-generated language only are disruptive to native speakers and not allowed.

The Non-Consensual Sex Rule (NCS Rule)

There is no general prohibition against sexually explicit roleplay. However, Cantr II is open to players of all ages. Before engaging in any explicit sexual or violent roleplay, you must first secure OOC consent from an adult player. The Non-Consensual Sex Rule (NCS) entails that since minor players are considered incapable of providing consent, you must make every effort to ensure that explicit roleplay is not witnessed by them. Thus, you should avoid potentially offensive language in whispers which might be overheard in a crowd of characters of unknown players. You may request confirmation of player age from PD in private, but it is your responsbility to obtain consent.

The Players Department exists to help all players play fairly. You are encouraged to seek their advice whenever you are in doubt about the application of game rules to your individual situation. You can find links to send messages to the Players Department on your player page. You may also contact individual PD members via the game forum, or the irc chans.

The above rules must always be considered in context. Here is a summary and some important things to remember:

• You may only have one account.
• Your characters cannot be part of the same family or group.
• Character names must be unique, and you cannot recreate a dead character.
• Your characters may not help each other in any way: not by sharing resources, nor working together, nor influencing other characters to benefit each other.
• You may never use two characters to attack or drag another.
• You as a player cannot impart knowledge discovered by one of your characters to another: each character must discover for him or herself in game.
• You may not disseminate game information such as maps and resource locations outside of the game.
• You may never coordinate gameplay with other players OOC.
• You may not discuss ongoing events in game OOC, nor reveal any concluded event for at least four days.
• You should only spawn characters in languages in which you have some competence.
• You must roleplay learning a second language for your characters in game, even if you as a player have knowledge.
• You must obtain adult consent before engaging in explicit roleplay.