faq
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
That's a very good question. You see, a while back there was a little apocalypse. Technically the Norse guys won out and Ragnarok happened. But as it turns out, a certain god amongst them had the whole thing rigged so that he'd be the last man standing. Once the dust settled, the world was empty and in ruins, and we were left with one bored Trickster God. Now, Loki lives for mischief and chaos, and so he soon realized the folly of his ways.
However, by 'realized the folly of his ways' we don't mean he turned over a new leaf and tried to make the world anew. Oh no. He just set up shop in the ruins of Las Vegas and started summoning mortals from here and there to keep himself entertained with. That's you.
CAN WE LEAVE?
Sure. No, we mean that. You're absolutely free to walk on out of here. There's no barrier, no magical devices to keep you in. What we do have, however, is miles upon miles of barren, scorching desert. And a dead, empty husk of a world outside of that desert. But hey, if you want to try your luck, who are we to stop you?
CAN WE DIE?
Why yes. You silly mortals are so dreadfully fragile, in spirit and in body. Loki has made provisions for this and will revive those fallen under certain conditions. Each character is granted a total of three revives. After three, Loki decides that you're just not worth the trouble and tosses you in the recycle bin. That means if your character dies for the fourth time, they are permanently dead and you may not pick them up again. Someone else may app for the perma-dead character, but not until they've been dead for a full OOC month, and the character must be a complete reset with all memories of the game world/previous CR lost. (Whether other characters remember their previous CR with the reset character is up to individual player discretion.)
That's not all, however, as Loki doesn't do favors for free. Each death comes with a penalty. After a character is revived by Loki, they are brought into Loki's private game room, whereupon they're made to spin a roulette wheel. All around the wheel are name placards reading 'sight', 'sound', 'taste', 'warmth', and 'memory'. Whatever the ball lands on is what the character will have to pay Loki for their revival. (The sense paid can be OOCly selected by the player, or randomly assigned by us.) Sight, sound, and taste will result in the loss of the sense while warmth will make it incapable for the character to feel warm. Memory will be any one major milestone in the character's life, something which they will be constantly aware of the absence of.
Anything lost to Loki as payment for debt may be bought back, but revives are limited to three. As an added note, deceased characters must spend a week in stasis before Loki will revive them.
RIGHT AND WHAT WAS THIS ABOUT UNDERAGE CHARACTERS??
Loki can't stand children. They're too unpredictable in all the wrong ways and just cause a lot of problems and moral outrage he doesn't want to deal with. They can be fun like birthday presents where you don't know what you're getting until you open the package, but he just doesn't want them in his city until they're ready for unwrapping. Instead, all children under the age of 18 are deposited in a void known fondly as Pleasantville. It's a hellish dimension which is only ever partly cloudy with sunshine at a balmy 78 degrees. (Fahrenheit.) There's nothing in it but cookie-cutter houses and uniform lawns, perfectly trimmed hedges and trees. All there is to eat is tea cakes with lemonade, and the only people who are there to interact with are Stepford wives. For more detailed information on Pleasantville, please see the requisite section on our Setting page
Once the boys reach their 18th birthday, provided that they haven't lost their minds, they're dragged into Dirty Vegas.
Note: If you prefer, you may have your character grow up to age 18 in his regular canon setting, provided this does not send him into the territory of AU. Feel free to contact the mods if you're not sure. In all cases, however, we will be judging aged-up applications much more strictly. Applicants will need to demonstrate how their characters have aged and matured, either in Pleasantville or canon, and we expect to see the requisite changes in maturity evident in their personality and samples.
SWEET, SO I CAN BRING MY 6-YEAR-OLD TO PLEASANTVILLE?
Sorry, but if you're under age 13, Loki doesn't want you at all. Pleasantville's a vacation, not a way of life.
WELL, WHAT ABOUT MY 400-YEAR-OLD SHOTA? OR MY 7-YEAR-OLD WHO IS REALLY 18?
Any character in a body that looks or behaves as underaged will have to be physically aged up, either by Loki's magic or by some canon mechanic. All residents of Vegas must be aged, physically and mentally, to that of an 18-year-old, regardless of chronological age.
By that same logic, characters who are physically and mentally mature but may not have the chronological numbers to back it up are welcome as-is. Please contact the mods if you have any questions about this.
SO WHAT HAPPENS IF WE DON'T GET WITH THE PROGRAM?
Failure to entertain Loki and play by his rules is punished a little differently than what you may be used to. After two weeks of no sexual activity, insomnia sets in. What little sleep you do get is riddled with nightmares. After a week of insomnia, you become erratic, psychotic, and increasingly self destructive. Soon, and inevitably, you will make an attempt on your own life. At this point someone can either make an intervention on your behalf, or you can die.
The exact length of time a given character can go without becoming suicidally insane is dependent on the mental state of the character in question, and left up to the player's discretion. Normal humans can generally only go a max of 3-4 days without sleep before succumbing, while less-stable characters may not even make it more than 2. Please keep your character's tolerance to insomnia reasonable; repeated violations of this guideline will result in us having to enforce a stricter insomnia rule.
For characters who are resistant to sleep deprivation or do not need to sleep in the first place, please see our section on sleep exemptions.
AND WHAT COUNTS AS ENTERTAINING THAT DOUCHEBAG?
First of all, he'd much prefer you call him Loki. Secondly, Loki's a nice guy. He's not picky. It just has to involve sex -- as long as someone else gets you off, you're both golden. Penetrative sex (as required for certain achievements and avoiding insomnia) simply means sex that includes two people and a sexually penetrative action. This can be oral sex, fingering, sex with penetrative toys, penetrative appendages (tentacles, etc), or even illusionary penetration; so long as one part of the tab A/slot B equation is human, at least one orgasm is achieved, and the penetration is realistic enough to be believable (in the case of illusions), it will count as 'penetrative sex'. We leave exceptions to these guidelines up to player discretion, but will revoke this privilege if we find it is being abused.
However, just doing that won't get you very far in Dirty Vegas. If you ever want to do anything besides eat gruel and live out of a cardboard box, you're going to have to fulfill achievements.
WHAT THE HELL ARE ACHIEVEMENTS?
Achievements are set by Loki every 2 weeks, and are the only means of earning a decent living in Dirty Vegas. They are prominently displayed on all the electronic billboards in the city. Completed achievements are paid in poker chips, which are the only form of currency used here. Being a god, Loki intuitively knows when an achievement is completed and the chips simply appear in the possession of those who have earned them.
Chips are enchanted to be unstealable, though characters are allowed to trade chips among themselves in exchange for services, etc., as well as trading the actual goods they buy with their chips.
The actual objectives of the achievements vary wildly. Primarily they are various sex acts, but they can be as inane and random as Loki fancies. We accept suggestions for future achievements at the suggestion box.
There will be a minimum of four achievements for each 2-week period; each week they may be completed up to four times per achievement, but any more than that won't earn any chips. For example, if someone completes an achievement 5 times in the first week of the period, they will only receive chips for the first 4 times. However, if they complete it a sixth time in the second week of the period, they will receive chips because the week has turned over.
Achievements normally net an average of 1-2 chips per achievement, but occasionally higher-stakes achievements will appear.
Also: Penetrative sex acts where one or both parties get off is always active as an achievement. It can be be repeated up to four times a week like a regular achievement. This is always worth 1 chip. If you perform an achievement that has penetrative sex involved, you'll be awarded chips for both those acts combined.
As far as accounting goes, there is no official record of how much money any one character has. We trust our players to keep track of their spending and we don't mind if the accounting isn't immaculate as long as no one is abusing the system.
WELL THEN WHAT THE HELL DOES SHIT COST?
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here's a basic mock-up just to give you guys a general idea of the cost of living in Dirty Vegas.
Buying back a payment paid to Loki for a revival costs 20 chips.
Higher grade luxury items/personal items held by Loki cost 6 chips.
Small luxuries such as cigarettes, decent alcohol, luxury foods, and better clothes are 3 chips.
Basic necessities and staples are 2 chips. Food packages fall under this category, and will contain a reasonable amount of whatever sort of food your character requires. Pre-made food is worth more than raw ingredients, so a few sandwiches is worth roughly two or three days worth of basic cooking supplies.
Around the city there are vending machines which dispense food packages for 1 chip. Damage to these vending machines will result in something very unfortunate happening to the offender. First abuses will earn the miscreant a mild electrical shock, while repeated offenses will see a rapid and mysterious loss of clothing. Clothing lost in this manner can be repurchased from Arni for 1 chip per garment.
Hygiene products are free. Choosing not to use them may result in penalties, because Loki has delicate sensibilities. Additionally, STDs do not exist in Vegas. If your character had one prior to coming to Vegas, he will find that he's been magically cured.
Sexual accessories (lube, condoms, toys, clothing, whatever) are free and readily available at the Planet Hollywood. Lube is also present in every room's bedside table.
Currency from your character's world is not accepted in exchange for chips, and indeed does not even exist as far as Loki is concerned.
To redeem chips for non-edible goods, all transactions can be made in the Bellagio's front desk. Just speak to Arni, and try not to make too much eye contact.
MY CHARACTER NEEDS THIS ITEM TO SURVIVE, CAN THEY GET IT HERE?
If there is some medicine or the like that your character requires to live/function normally, they will find a two-week supply among the items given to them on entering Vegas, and further supplies will be available to purchase from Arni at the rate of a basic necessity (2 chips for a generous amount).
WHAT ABOUT HOUSING?
For the first two weeks after their arrival, all characters will be housed in the Hotel Mirage. It's not the vision of splendor it once was, but it's only crumbling in a few places and the rooms are all more or less still in order. After two weeks, however, the characters will be expected to either find a place to squat in the city or have made enough pocket change to buy themselves a room.
Rooms at the Mirage only have to be paid for once. They start at 10 chips and every room upgrade beyond the basic guest rooms costs 2 chips per level up. ( 2 extra for the King Tower Deluxe, 4 for the Mirage Suite, 6 for the Hospitality and so on and so forth. )
Besides the Mirage, the Bellagio Hotel is the only part of Las Vegas that still exists in all of its former splendor. Rooms at the Bellagio start at 20 chips, with 4 extra chips per room upgrade.
Room fees only have to be paid once, but there is a monthly fee of utilities. Utilities run 4 chips for the Mirage and 6 chips for the Bellagio. If you fall behind on your rent, your AC/water/electricity goes off but the room is still yours.
For quick rendezvous, rooms with basic necessities are available for rental for the price of 1 chip per night or 4 hours.
Characters are welcome to share rooms and rent in whatever way they see fit - so long as the rent is paid on time, Loki doesn't care.
Both the Mirage and the Bellagio have a dining area that serves both food which can be bought with chips and the life-sustaining gruel Loki allows for the freeloaders. The homeless can get showers in the communal showers by the hotel's pools. Please use them.
BTW, WHERE'S OUR SHIT?
Right, about that. Upon arriving, your characters can have on them whatever general items would usually have been in their pockets. Beyond that, Loki keeps all of your characters' most prized possessions in a desk drawer. If your character has any emotional attachment to something, Loki probably has it. If your character has eschewed the materialistic preoccupations of this world, Loki will have nothing to take. These items can be earned back with chips.
The clothing included in their welcome packages can be anything you want.
Please note that these items are only taken upon arrival in Vegas - characters can keep personal items while they are in Pleasantville.
WHAT CANONS CAN BE APPED?
We accept all forms of popular media, provided it is readily accessible to an English-speaking audience. Media only available in Japanese/with Japanese reference links is okay if and only if there's little to no expectation it will ever be released in English or there is a reasonably accurate translation available (subtitles, scanalations, etc); characters from the latest blockbuster anime or super popular video game series will have to wait, as these will likely be released in English eventually. We can't handle other languages at this time, sorry.
DO YOU ALLOW OCS?
Yes! Presently we allow both standard OCs and fandom OCs; this option has been opened up to include both existing and first-time players. Please see here for more details on applying for an OC.
I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT ACCEPTABLE CANONS.
Please see the Applications page!
SO ARE INTERSEX/TRANSGENDERED CHARACTERS OKAY?
Any character who mentally considers himself male, regardless of physical gender configuration, is eligible to apply to Vegas. If your character doesn't have standard male genitals, they will find that Loki has meddled with them such that they're in an entirely male body when they enter the game.
OKAY WHAT ABOUT GENDERSWAPS?
We do allow genderswaps, but only under the condition that the genderswapped character comes from an AU where everyone is genderswapped. So if you want to apply for Kairi, that means he grew up with his best friends girl!Sora and girl!Riku. We leave name adaptations, when necessary, to player discretion.
Please note that we will be handling genderswap apps more stringently than we do other apps. We encourage clearly showing how the gender reversal impacts characterization in the personality section, and stress that the final product should both show adaptation to the circumstances while still retaining core character traits.
Genderswaps are the only AUs we allow.
HOW ABOUT DOUBLES?
No. Nomura, get the fuck out. Dirty Vegas is only allowing one of any one character regardless of whether or not they've been cloned to other canons. If someone applies for Squall, then no one may apply for Leon. If someone applies for Cloud from Kingdom Hearts, then no one may apply for Cloud from Final Fantasy. And so on and so forth.
FURRIES? NON-HUMANS?
Sorry, but we'll have to politely decline any furry or anthro characters in their natural state.
However, we are willing to accept them so long as they are adapted to our primarily humanoid setting. Non-humanoid elements such as anthropomorphic ears and tails are ok, but anything more than that is not allowed. If you have your heart set on a character who is not primarily human in their canon and are willing to adapt them into a human form, please contact a mod.
Common examples of non-humans and their potential modifications are as follows:
Vampires/Undead: As vampires/etc are undead and don't have a circulatory system, they are technically unable to have an erection. Vampire characters with this sort of restriction will either need to be fully humanized or handwaved to have been meddled with by Loki. We leave this to the player's discretion, so long as the end result is the same.
Trolls: A la Homestuck. As far as canon tells us, Alternian trolls are human-like enough to be reasonably assumed to have the same sort of sexual functions. Players are free to keep whatever strange troll biology they like (coloring, horns), so long as they are able to sexually and successfully interact with the human residents of Vegas. Players are also free to fully humanize their trolls.
Transformers/Mechanical humanoids: Upon arriving in Vegas, Transformers/mechanical humanoids will be cyborg'd. The ratio of biological/mechanical parts is left to the player, with one exception: we ask that your character have the correct human anatomy necessary for copulation and that they have enough biological components to theoretically have the drive to get it on in the first place. The presence of any other biological functions (like sleep) is entirely up to you (for how this would affect them in relation to the curse, please see our section on sleep exemption). Furthermore, applicants are free to leave in any ports, cords, what-have-you in the event of future canonmates who'd rather do things cyborgo-a-cyborgo (or any adventurous humans looking for something new), but we ask that you specify in your application what abilities/upgrades/powers your character retains via their cyborg bits. We generally do not limit powers, but we (and the other players) would like to know what to expect.
All other cases of non-human applications will be judged on a case-by-case basis, but generally left up to the player's discretion. We simply ask that they be human enough to interact sexually with other residents. If you have any specific questions, please drop us a line.
MY CHARACTER IS IMMORTAL.
Canonically immortal characters are free to keep their resistance to death, or they can be turned mortal - it depends on what you feel would work best. However, please do not app an immortal character and have them lay about not participating in Loki's games - that defeats the purpose of the game and will result in mod action.
Immortal characters are exempted from the eventual suicide rule of sleep deprivation, but unless they are immune to insomnia they will still have to deal with the effects of sleeplessness. These effects are extremely unpleasant and your immortal character will likely find themselves wishing they could turn off their immortality for a while. Their insomnia can be cured in the same way everyone else's is.
MY CHARACTER DOESN'T NEED TO SLEEP. HOW WILL THIS WORK?
Loki has planned for this~! While these sorts of characters will obviously be unaffected by an inability to sleep, the symptoms of the insomnia are side-effects of Loki's magic and will still affect the character in question. After two weeks of no sex, sleep-immune characters will still succumb to the usual irritation, fatigue, depression, hallucinations, and eventual suicidal tendencies that come with insomnia. This will simply be a function of Loki's magic rather than an actual biological reaction.
IS THERE A CANON-UPDATE MECHANISM I CAN USE?
Loki is a capricious god by nature, and may very well return characters home or yank them back simply for the fun of it. Feel free to use (but not abuse) this for all your canon updating needs, with a few caveats.
-Characters must ICly be gone for at least a week.
-All progress made by the characters in Vegas will disappear as soon as they leave, and will not be returned when they arrive. This means that their fancy housing is gone, their possessions are gone, and their chips are gone. However, other characters' memories of the removed character will remain intact by default; if you would like a specific character to forget yours after a canon update, please take it up with the mun in question.
-When they arrive in Vegas after the update, they will get the same introduction packet and lose all their personal items again.
-The only exception to these resets is their phone's contact list, which can remain the same as before they left if you so choose.
WAIT. HOW DO I POST? THERE'S ONLY ONE IC COMM. WHAT'S GOING ON. D8
Yes, Dirty Vegas only has one IC community. Logs and action posts alike are welcome there. For logs, paste the template located in the profile and fill it out, then run with it from there. Text conversations (done over the phone) are also acceptable and can be as short as necessary, but please keep in mind that we will be less likely to accept text conversations for AC requirements.
Image logging is also permissible, but due to the difficulty in objectively judging it you will not be able to use it for meeting ACs.
Please try to keep all prose in past tense and all action posts in present tense.
Example prose:
"Hello," greeted Loki, a sharp glint in his eyes and an edge to his smile as he offered the newcomer his hand.
Example action:
Hello. [ Loki offers his hand with a sharp glint in his eyes and an edge to his smile. ]
It is also perfectly acceptable for prose to be no more than a few sentences. Just have fun. And touch each other. Fair enough?
CAN I BROADCAST MY POST TO THE WHOLE GAME AT ONCE?
No -- because there is no longer an Internet in Dirty Vegas, the majority of interactions will be taking place on a face-to-face basis between characters. Everyone does, however, receive a phone for keeping in touch with other individuals from afar; how these work is detailed in the Setting.
AND TAGS?
As far as tags go, our system is as following:
Tag each entry with either *log for all logs or *action for all action posts. After that, tag with [ fandom ] character name (first, last). The tags should reflect all characters involved for better archiving.
I'M NOT SURE I WANT MY SMUT OUT IN PUBLIC…
You are welcome to lock your logs, smut or otherwise, provided other players in the log have no objections and you understand that we do not require the smut to be members-only. Locked or open is up to you, so long as you don't step on any toes.
Do keep in mind, however, that some people are not entirely comfortable with having their smut public, and we would appreciate it if you were to make an effort to help make other players comfortable. We don't like to get involved in player spats, but repeated disrespect for other players' comfort levels will result in mod action.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON MALE PREGNANCY?
No.
WHY THE FUCK ARE WE HERE ANYWAY BESIDES OUR MUNS HAVING A STRONG DESIRE TO HAVE OTHER GUYS STICK IT IN US OR HAVE US STICK IT IN THEM?
...besides that? Nothing, really. You've about got it covered.
I HAVE A QUESTION NOT ANSWERED HERE.
The reply link is right down there. Drop us a line and we'll try our best to answer to your satisfaction. If you have a more private sort of question, find us over at the mod contact post. We also encourage you to read through previous comments, as your question may already have been dealt with there. Alternately, please check the rules, setting, and application pages for any concerns specific to those topics. We may have already answered your question elsewhere.
Note: Some questions may be answered out of order if things come up that we need to confer with another mod about before responding. Sorry for the inconvenience.
CAN WE GET HITCHED? WITH ELVIS AS THE PRIEST? 8D
Yes. Elvis weddings start at 2000 chips.