Board Rules

[Links Tyrell]

Board Rules

01 – Board Rating
Due to the presence of minors on the internet and the young average age of the Sonic fandom, Aftermath RPG is rated at PG-13. Therefore excess swearing, violence, graphic detail and sexual related material is not allowed here. This includes any OOC topic or within the RPG itself. Inappropriate material, links or posts will be deleted as soon as it is noticed by a staff member.

02 - Profile Critiquing
Sonic Aftermath is a message board designed for one thing in principle, roleplaying! As such you will find that we scrutinize profiles a lot closer than you may find at other boards. This is not a personal attack and in no way is it meant to make you feel bad about your character or annoy you. Instead it is our way of making sure that things are kept fair for all players.
As such, if we ask you to change or omit something in your profile then please, listen to our reasoning and construct your response sensibly. We are not asking you to change it because it’s a bad idea or we don’t like you. We are asking you to change it because it will adversely affect the enjoyment of everyone here at Aftermath. Maybe a move or ability is too strong and need a weakness or removing, maybe an aspect of your characters history is troublesome, whatever the reason we will not ask you to change it if we see no problem with it.
Of course there are times when we see things and conceive it to be different to what you had intended. If this happens then please correct our thinking and let us know what you really meant, often a simple wording change can solve these problems.

03 – Spamming
A rule you see on just about every message board but one that sometimes gets forgotten. To us here at Sonic Aftermath, spamming if basically any post that is either irrelevant, pointless or down right silly.
Within the RPG this would include excessive OOC posts in topics or multi posting within topics (unless you're on your own).
Within other areas of the board, spamming is considered to be replying with two word or one line responses, excessive advertisement pushing, bugging people or pointless multi posting in chat topics or dredging up ancient topics.
Spamming is not generally considered bad within the chat box providing things don’t get out of hand. Obviously filling up the chat box with constant pointless posts will be considered spam, use common sense please.

04 – Flaming and Abuse
However good natured a person is people tend to get angry, it’s only natural. At such times people want to express this and can ultimately lead to flaming or abuse towards fellow players. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated here at Aftermath. We run a welcoming community and do not expect our members to worry about flames or abuse towards them.
If anyone feels they have been the victim of abuse or a flame, they should report this to a member of our staff immediately. We will then pick it up with the accused and try to find out what happened.
In order to avoid such incidents ever occurring though, instead of flaming or abusing someone regarding something report it to the staff. We are here to help and if we can solve a problem we will.

05 – Goding
The definition of goding is something that varies from person to person. Some people are of the impression that the moment they start loosing their opponent is goding, whilst some others think that a Ka-ma-hameha that can blow up planets isn’t goding at all.
Whatever the personal interpretation of goding is, here at Aftermath we have our own definition. Goding is anything that can be deemed unfair or excessive when compared to everyone else. We are well aware that this is a Sonic universe and as such the levels of reality you may expect in some other RPGs is slightly bent. Players can generally be faster, stronger or quicker than real life and there in lies the fun. What makes an action into a god post is taking this liberty too far.
Several key items stand out here, firstly hit taking. Either not taking any hits regardless or the situation of ‘forcing’ hits on others are both considered goding. This is commonly known as ‘Force Dodging’ and ‘Force Hitting’. You can neither dodge everything that comes your way or be sure that an attack will hit your opponent. We ask for sensibility, you can dodge as you see fit but walking into the middle of a gun fight and not getting hit is not going to look good on you. Neither is dictating exactly where you hit your opponent and the effects of the hit.
Secondly is over powerful moves. This is generally weeded out during character application but please be aware that large moves have their limit and you won’t be shooting down any battleships with your toy neutron bazooka!
Common sense people, come on! We know you have it, just act maturely and nothing bad will happen.

06 – Attitude
Being a community site we would expect you to treat others here as you would in the real world. We’re all friends here, enjoying a common interest and it is in everyone’s best interest to get along. If you’re having trouble fitting in, feel free to contact the staff and chat to us. We may have things to do but if anyone needs help we try to do what we can, or at the very least direct you to someone who can be of more assistance.
Attitudes towards other players and the staff should be respectful. There is no point in creating hostility as this can lead to flames or abuse, which as mentioned is not tolerated here. We’re here to have fun and make friends, let’s do it!

07 – Inactivity
A famous phrase here at Aftermath, especially amongst the staff, is Life > Board, meaning that matters of real life are always more important than the welfare of the board. As such we do not expect members to post regardless of their RL situation. However, we do ask one thing if you are going to be away for an extended period of time. This is to let us know, there’s nothing worse than waiting for someone to post who has suddenly vanished without a trace. If you know you’ve got a break coming up let us know in the absence forum and if needed we’ll make arrangements so things can continue until you get back.
We also appreciate that people don’t spend each and every day sat in front of their computer. Therefore when posting in an RPG you have 72 hours to reply after it becomes your turn to post in topics with a posting order. If you don’t post in this time then the next player can skip you out and continue.
Anyone who has been inactive for a month or more will be classed as ‘inactive’ and their profile(s) will be moved to the inactive character profile forum until they return. If a player has been classed as inactive then anyone has full right to carry on without them if they haven’t already done so.
Anyone who plays an official character should be aware that they are playing a pivotal role in the RPG and as such are more strictly regulated in terms of posting. We normally prefer official characters to be played by active posters and as such Official characters will become available for someone else to play after only 2 weeks of inactivity instead of a month for fan characters.

08 – Character/Art Theft
Although it may be tempting to use a design or idea that someone else has used we ask that you be careful. It may be alright to borrow an aspect from a character you have seen but there is a fine line between merely copying one aspect and copying the entire character. Here at Aftermath we have a zero tolerance policy for character theft. Art theft is also not tolerated and any art used without the permission of the owner (unless it is fanart of an already existing character of your own) will be removed when discovered.

09 - The Staff and You
The staff at Aftermath are a mixed bunch and we often have different ideas and notions about what we should do and what’s acceptable. We also live in very mixed time zones and our online times and are not the same. We try to be available to solve issues when they arise but we also trust you, as an approved member, to act responsibly at all times. As such we tend to have a very lax attitude in terms of what you can and cannot do in order to allow you to explore different possibilities and ideas without outside interference.
We will, however, listen to you should you contact us directly. We are always available for a simple chat or to discuss ideas and like to build up relationships with players. We also take complaints seriously and if you have a problem with either a situation or another member then please contact us and we’ll do our best to sort it out.

[Copyright Note: All rules are the property of Links Tyrell and Sonic Aftermath.]