Inactivity

NOTICE: Activity rules are extremely important to keep an RP alive and functional. The following rules will be enforced as indiscriminately as possible, so please take special note of them and read carefully below. This article applies to member and mod alike, and little distinction will be made between them.

Our goal in this RP is to make an active group that doesn't feel like a slave-driving operation. This is a delicate balance, and one that we're still feeling out. As such, these rules, like most of our rules, remain open to discussion. Feel free to use the RP Talk forum to give feedback and suggestions.

Rule #1: Communicate

When you know you need to post, and you don't feel like writing, or know it'll take all day or longer before you'll be able to post, COMMUNICATE.

• Don't leave people hanging! We all have real lives and we all have bad days when we can't write or just plain don't feel like writing. The key is to be nice about it. Unless something utterly horrific has happened, the chances are you really can spare the two minutes it takes to shoot out a quick post in the RP discussion area saying, "Hey guys, I'm not going to be around [today/tomorrow/whatever]."

• If you're ever uncertain about whether or not to post (such as if you think someone else should go first), say so. Sometimes, two people will be simultaneously waiting on each other to post and not even realize it. Avoid this by communicating.

Remember, this is a group activity, and we're all trying to have fun with it, but no one can have fun if one or two people are constantly holding things up. If you can't respect everyone as real people and give everyone the courtesy necessary to allow their story to continue, you should probably just write fanfiction by yourself.

What happens when this rule is ignored?

Several things:

1. Someone will probably politely try to remind you when it's your post. This is normal. (This means you should not bite anyone's head off over it. They just want to keep having fun. Imagine if you were bored and in their shoes.)
2. If you keep other players waiting for more than 48 hours (i.e., if someone else has posted, and a response from your character has been needed for 48 hours, and you neither post nor communicate what's going on), any other player may post as your character. Yes, you read that right. Anyone, mod or not, may take over your character as needed to keep the story going. They will need to tell a mod that they're about to do this, however, and they will of course be obligated to try not to flagrantly misrepresent your character in the process, but nonetheless, the power to keep the story moving will be in the hands of the players who are actually wanting to be active.
3. If you fail to follow this rule three times in a thread, your character will be removed from that thread. If you completely vanish without a trace, your character may be removed sooner than that.
4. If this happens repeatedly, you will be disallowed from the RP forums until you're more capable of participating reliably. (We very seldom kick people out over anything unless circumstances are extreme, but we will cut you out of the action for a while if your inactivity is disruptive to other members.)
5. Lastly, if your character is extremely important to story progression (such as if your character is filling some very important role, or is the main antagonist, or something similar), you should take care to not let this happen at all. Other players may not know how to post as your character, so please don't make them have to.

In short, just be considerate. RPing requires cooperation, mutual respect, and common courtesy. Every single person in a group like this is going to have bad days, bad weeks, busy times, and whatever else, and they just won't be able to post, and that's fine. But, if you don't at least communicate, how is anyone supposed to know? Keep us in the loop, and don't take your offline frustrations out on other members. They can't possibly know anything is going on if you don't tell them.

Rule #2: Keep up with important forums

Watch what is happening in the RP forums, discussion forum, and announcement forum if you want to remain an active part of this group. Subscribing to our board's announcement forum in particular may be a good idea. And, obviously, when participating in an RP thread, read every post carefully and attentively.

What happens when this rule is ignored?

You'll miss something sooner or later. Sometimes, announcement posts really need responses from members and concern things important to the existence of the group. Discussion posts sometimes contain important information on where our story is going, which you may need in order to keep your character involved. And, obviously, if you don't make a daily effort to keep up with RP threads you're involved in, you won't know when you need to post as your character.

Rule #3: Don't pester

This is a rule for the flipside. If you're the one waiting to post, don't pester or annoy the person who needs to post. Bring it to that individual's attention once. If you think he or she genuinely forgot, another gentle reminder may be okay. Otherwise, let it go, and, as according to rule #1, take over that player's character at the appropriate time. You really can't force anyone to RP if they don't want to. All you'll really do is raise tensions and possibly even cause someone to quit. Just be polite, do what you can, then move on. Ask a mod when in doubt.

What happens when this rule is ignored?

People probably won't like talking to you very much.

In summary:

RPing with a group is like owning a pet. Sometimes it's really rewarding and great fun, sometimes it's inconvenient, and sometimes it's just a pain. However, you have to put effort into it no matter what and take the bad with the good, or else it will die without your care. So, if it's your post, and you're online, and you're not doing schoolwork, or tending to something else of weighty real-life importance, READ other people's posts thoroughly, then... Post! Otherwise, RP may not be there for you to participate in when you do feel like it.

Post if you can, and tell us if you can't or won't post. Not every post needs to be huge and long, nor should every post be a mini-novelization. Short posts are just fine at times, and often more appropriate anyway. If it takes you longer than half an hour to type up a solo post, you're probably trying too hard. Just participate, try to have fun, and help everybody else have fun, too. We don't want to badger anybody into participating if they don't want to; this is merely for recreation, and always will be. We just wanna have fun.