Rules of the Game
General Rules
- All playing should be written in third-person, making the posts and comments read in a novel-style. For example:
Good: She took a seat across the table from him, smiling softly. "Hi," she said, giving him a tiny wave.
Bad: *she sits down and smiles* Hi! *waves*
- Canon play in the communities are not rated. HOWEVER, the following is to be noted:
- Sexual relationships - exist and are implied but not explicitly described. If you have a situation arise, 'fade to black'. The general rule of thumb is 'clothes come off - move to journal'.
Violence - exists. Players MUST obtain permission from the other player before engaging in any sort of extreme violence, however.
Language - is unrated. But please use language in moderation.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco - must be used in moderation if at all. When it comes to drugs, only drug reference allowed is gillyweed. All others has no limit, but really shouldn't be overused.
- Sexual relationships - exist and are implied but not explicitly described. If you have a situation arise, 'fade to black'. The general rule of thumb is 'clothes come off - move to journal'.
- Mary Sues / Gary Stus. No, no, no, and no. Want an idea? Look here!
- Body models must be age appropriate. Body models may not be cartoons or sketches; Body models need not be approved right away, but beware that no unapproved images may be used! If a body model is unavailable due to usage by another player, and said player leaves The Game, you may pick up the previously wanted model. If a chosen and approved model does not have plenty of images that reflect the character's personality, a new model may be approved. If a previous player's PB preference had bearing on a model, that player left the game, and the character's player wishes to use their preferred model, a new model may be approved. We will restrict changes; if you abuse this system, we will not allow further changes. The Game players voted to allow this -- poll found HERE.
- Godmodding = No. For details, look here; this is a good example, because it describes not only a character which can do darn near everthing without breaking a sweat, but also puts the spotlight on a lesser from of Godmodding that's often ignored -- puppeting. If you wish to smack another character, or hex them, you must word it in a way that gives the other player ample time to react. A good RP'er will strike a nice balance and use their better judgement. We don't want to see people who are terrible at Defense or Charms block every hex thrown at them. That's not realistic. Let your character get bloodied up once in a while!
- OOC (out of character) comments may be made, but only within your actual replies. Do not make a comment in a thread that is strictly OOC, as it will alter the point count. Reserve those for the OOC community!
- OOC vs IC information must be adhered to. If a student and professor are having a relationship, your character must discover this in-game, and not use the player's OOC knowledge. If a private thread was accidentally left open, then it's possible for them to be discovered. If it's labeled private, your character can't claim to have overheard conversations, etc.
- Please be considerate if you know that you'll hold up a thread due to a lack of time, internet connection, etc -- let them know! Either give them permission to puppet, skip, or remove your character from the threads. Iif you're given permission to puppet another person's character, you must keep the puppeting true to the character's personality. Also, do not make any drastic decisions with the character without the player's permission.
- A minimum post rule is in order; your opening posts must be at least one full paragraph (5-7 sentences), and any subsequent comments in the thread must be at least three full sentences long. The event of a 'one-liner' may happen, but please make it extremely rare. Any posts under this will not earn points.
- The Timeline operates on a weekly schedule. Once every two weeks, a new week will be posted. Each week will have a name and a Timeline Post to keep up with the days, the weather of each day, any Daily Prophet headlines and articles, and other miscellaneous information.
- You may thread anywhere, at anytime, during a given week so long as your characters are not in multiple places at the same time! Use the Timelines to keep you straight about where your characters have been and when! If you mess up and have a character in two places at once, you will not receive points for your contribution of the post. If it happens again, you will lose points. Third time and you're out. In the Plot community, you may only have one thread per character each IC week -- we don't want the plot community to have too much focus on it! All UK adults should post in the UK community, and all Hogwarts residents should post in the main game community. Exceptions allowed during holidays and Hogsmeade weekends (will be announced), and for adults in Hogwarts -- they may visit Hogsmeade at any time.
- Your thread posts must give the following information outside of the LJ-cut:
Week Name/Date/Time:
Location:
Open To:
Currently Involving:
The opening of the thread must be put behind an LJ-Cut. An example post can be found here! If you do not know how to make an LJ-Cut, please see the directions here.- Also, it is highly encouraged that you create 'Open' threads. While yes, closing a thread to other characters will keep you from having to worry about other characters wandering in, this is the way life really works. Unless you are in a secluded area, you're likely to have traffic and we feel as if this should be taken into consideration.
- Also, it is highly encouraged that you create 'Open' threads. While yes, closing a thread to other characters will keep you from having to worry about other characters wandering in, this is the way life really works. Unless you are in a secluded area, you're likely to have traffic and we feel as if this should be taken into consideration.
- All canon characters exist, but your character is not connected to them. Your character(s) may interact with the canon characters if a post becomes available, or if a canon character joins an open thread. Requests for threads with canon characters will be considered by the mods. The exception for this will be characters who attended school with canon characters, but they will still be only acquaintances.
- Names that are too similar to canon characters will be denied.
- Do not use another character's name if it isn't very common. Jones and Smith, for example, are common and shared by millions. If you wish for someone to not share your character's name, try for one that's more unique.
- Names that are too similar to canon characters will be denied.
- You are allowed two initial characters if you are an experienced player -- i.e., have played in online, text-based RPGs before. If you are new, you are allowed one! After at least one IG week, you will be allowed to apply with another character if you have made at least 100 valid posts. You may keep up to twelve characters total, with 100 posts between each approval. If confused, don't hesitate to ask us for clarification! You will be responsible for turning in all points earned in hih_thegame, hih_thegameuk, and hih_thegameplot; the drop post is located HERE. Tallies can be seen at any time on the aforementioned post as well.
- Do not apply if you do not have the amount of points needed -- if the tallies have not been posted, then you do not have those points. Your character will be rejected for lack of points.
- We reserve the right to reject any application based on the player's ability to follow rules, how often they've played all of their other characters, how well the player plays, and a clean record with other players (i.e., no complaints against them, etc).
- We reserve the right to reject any application based on the player's ability to follow rules, how often they've played all of their other characters, how well the player plays, and a clean record with other players (i.e., no complaints against them, etc).
- Transfer students = No. Your character may be any nationality, but needs to be native to the United Kingdom.
- Keep your character true to their original personality presented in their application. All attributes, hobbies, strengths, and weaknesses must be listed in the application and may not be added in later. Any personality changes can be discussed, so long as the reason behind the change is understandable.
- Characters from other games are allowed here, and vice-versa! Please remember to keep your own characters straight and sorted out, and don't forget to create filters so that other game plot and info doesn't leak into this one. You may not apply to play a Canon Character -- originality only!
- Do not begin creating backstory with existing characters before your application is approved. You may be asked to edit something that can completely throw off your backstories.
- General rules regarding the operation of a school and society must be followed -- students are required to attend class and will be punished if found skiving off, professors are expected to uphold the rules and not show favoritism, etc. Of course, rules are broken all the time -- the point is that you have to expect proper action to take place if a rule is discovered to be broken.
- Character journals are canon! Assume that your character's journal is magicked with a strong Protean charm, allowing those in the character's confidence (or anyone, if they prefer) to read what they've written and 'reply in the margins'. If an entry should be seen by only a select few, you must list those characters allowed to view the entry.
- While not required, character journals are preferred. It makes gameplay easier, gives you a whole journal to play with (icons!), and makes doing filters for Dumbledore and Voldemort easier.
- While not required, character journals are preferred. It makes gameplay easier, gives you a whole journal to play with (icons!), and makes doing filters for Dumbledore and Voldemort easier.
- Anything that happens in public areas is considered common knowledge; if you don't want characters knowing about a steamy kiss or a secret thought to be whispered in confidence, it had better happen in a secluded area! This must be noted in your post under 'location'! Adults (professors and Aurors) are allowed to enter any thread to discipline rule-breakers. Beware troublemaker -- be crafty, or be caught!
- You may take your characters out in any way you see fit, so long as it does not interfere with any of the other rules -- no descriptions of gore or death. You will not be allowed to kill off or remove a character just to make a new one; if this is the case, find someone who might be interested in taking over your unwanted character! Also, if you wish to pull your character out, please let us know beforehand -- we might have been planning on coming to you to include said character in an important plot point, and we'll need to have ample warning to figure out what to do! If you remove a character / pull out of the game mid-week without notification, you will not receive points. It is a hassle for us to have to remove all of the information with no warning, and keep part of it on file to award points for someone who can't time an exit properly.
- Inactivity will result in character removal; if a character or player has not been active in THREE IG WEEKS (roughly a month and a half OOC) without a legitimate Hiatus, they will be removed. We will give one warning in which it may be disputed, links may be given, etc. After that, the character is gone. It cannot be reapplied with, you may not make another character to replace it, etc. Extenuating circumstances may arise for those that prove they are more / can be more active. Legitimate hiatuses are posted in the OOC community and consist of things like a loss of a computer / internet connection and vacations & extended stays elsewhere. Personal sickness and social-conflict (becoming very busy) are valid for only a short amount of time and are not considered 'hiatus-material'.
- Do not apply if you do not have the amount of points needed -- if the tallies have not been posted, then you do not have those points. Your character will be rejected for lack of points.
- You may thread anywhere, at anytime, during a given week so long as your characters are not in multiple places at the same time! Use the Timelines to keep you straight about where your characters have been and when! If you mess up and have a character in two places at once, you will not receive points for your contribution of the post. If it happens again, you will lose points. Third time and you're out. In the Plot community, you may only have one thread per character each IC week -- we don't want the plot community to have too much focus on it! All UK adults should post in the UK community, and all Hogwarts residents should post in the main game community. Exceptions allowed during holidays and Hogsmeade weekends (will be announced), and for adults in Hogwarts -- they may visit Hogsmeade at any time.
If you have a question, please don't hesitate to ask HERE!