Player Code of Conduct

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Foreword

The purpose of this policy is to outline what is considered to be unacceptable behaviour in the Avalore community that cannot be tolerated. This is a policy for both players and staff members alike.

The philosophy of these guidelines are based on the Paradox Tolerance [link], wherein that in order to have a social group remain tolerant long-term, it must be pre-established that tolerance does not extend to tolerating the intolerance of others.

Avalore being an 18+ server does not equate to people automatically consenting to the out-of-character discussion of, or the in-character acting out/exploration of explicitly mature and dark themes in any scenario. All players must be made aware of this topic before the roleplay by acquiring informed consent.

For anything regarding harassment, abusive behaviour, or elsewise user safety, please see our Safety Policy tab at the top of this page.

Player Conduct Violations

1. Causing Harm: Causing the intentional injury, distress, damage, or detriment to another person, whether physical, emotional or social, will result in a ban. This includes doxxing (i.e. the searching for and publishing of private and/or identifying information of another person on the internet).

The promotion of ideology that advocates for the harm of vulnerable groups likewise has no home in our community and will not be tolerated. All of the above misconduct falls under our Safety Policy.

2. Threatening & Harassment: Telling someone that you want to harm them or otherwise cause them pain and suffering or wish them similar, no matter the intent to follow-through, will be met with an immediate and permanent ban.

Harassment may involve threats, but can also extend to the intentional embarrassment, humiliation, sexual harassment (see #3), discrimination (see #4), blackmail, and overall the causing of harm to a person or people.

3. Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment, as outlined in our Safety Policy, will result in a permanent ban irrespective of:

• How much time has passed since the report
• If it was one or multiple instances
• If offenders are a player or member of staff/admin
• If offenders are held in good regard by the community

Should this policy violation involve a minor, please report it immediately.

4. Discrimination: The mistreatment and/or negative treatment of a person or group, whether through one’s direct actions or decisions, or through more passive aggressive means. Discrimination happens to groups that are minorities, and/or are otherwise made vulnerable and are disempowered socially, politically, economically, etc.

Discrimination can be outright or less obvious to those not on the receiving end. It may be based on a person’s race, gender, religion, culture, sexuality, disabilities, and more. 

Intentionally misgendering others is considered discrimination. As we are human, unintentional misgendering can happen; acknowledge it, correct yourself, and move on with the conversation.

5. Mature Language & Usage of Slurs: As an 18+ server, mature language is permitted though should not be spammed, nor should the language used be excessively sexual, crass, or graphic (moderator discretion).

6. Slander & Falsification: Making false, unfounded, or baseless statements about a member of the community with the intent of affecting their reputation, and/or falsifying evidence in reports warrants administrator intervention.

Plagiarism of creative works and ideas is a form of falsifying information and is taken seriously.

7. Misrepresenting Your Age: If you are a minor and are found to be misrepresenting your age to staff, you will be temporarily banned and are welcome to appeal once you are of age. At moderator discretion, a small grace period may be allowed to wrap up roleplay, and plan a date to return. 

This is in the interest of keeping minors safe online, as fostering a space that is truly safe for minors on the internet is very difficult even for large organizations, and we are a small unpaid team of volunteers. 

If you are a minor and are facing sexual harassment in any form within our community, it is still a violation of our Safety Policy, and we please ask that you please report it so that we can keep everyone in our community and adjacent communities, safe, including yourself.

Staff Code of Conduct

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Thank you for volunteering to help Avalore as a community, and a big welcome if you are new to staff!

Staff membership is a volunteer position and not a social status, and should be treated as such.

Please note that above all, structure and policy are intended to make people’s lives easier and not be something you have to tie yourself into knots in order to properly adhere to; all policy for Avalore exists to serve people, not restrict us. As such, open discussion is encouraged on policy, and some will likely need to be modified over time as the server grows and changes.

Principles

1. Foster a space for fun as opposed to being the fun: You are here to help foster the already existing community and platform. The fun already exists from the players (including us, as staff are players too!), we’re here to encourage and maintain that space. 
   The best staff experience for players often means that you will be working in the background and not center stage: our goal is not to be just performers on a stage but to immerse players into the setting and experience and enhance their stories, and ensure players get their time to shine.
   
   
2. Be anti-busywork: Reject busywork and high-friction systems that eat up time for staff and/or players. Say ‘no’ to manual paper pushing and form filling, and work to reduce and/or eliminate it in as many areas as possible.
   
   
3. Participate in the community: As a creative hobby community, the emphasis is on community and your roots. Forming and maintaining authentic, rewarding connections with others will be your foundation for success, and will keep you grounded. Embrace new, shy, and inexperienced players, and their mistakes, as everyone was once in their position starting out. The impression we leave on them can impact and help shape their creative future. 
   
   
4. Maintain healthy boundaries with volunteering: Value and respect your free time, and your need as a human to have time away and do other things. When volunteering for Avalore, work on things that are genuinely of interest to you, and say ‘no’ to things you feel you don’t want to do, cannot do, or otherwise do not feel would be realistic for you. Be compassionate towards yourself and take time to notice and acknowledge when you need to alter your boundaries, both as you settle into your staff position and as your needs naturally fluctuate over time. Do not force yourself to do things you have no passion for, as it is not sustainable and will lead to burnout long-term. 
   
   
5. Value transparency, communication, and open-mindedness: Both for players and other staff, be proactive and honest in your communication. Develop and work on a willingness to provide a non-judgemental space to question both others and yourself, and to learn from what both the world and other people have to offer you. Approach others under the assumption of good faith until proven otherwise. Conflict is a natural and inevitable aspect of social relationships and community. While it may be intimidating, developing a tolerance and openness for healthy and curious conflict will foster creativity, personal development, and closer bonds when navigated in a respectful, constructive, and non-reactionary manner. 
   Transparency is expected and necessary for staff teams to work together as a whole, and it is likewise foundational for the playerbase to have a sense of trust in the server and its volunteers.
   While you are encouraged to speak openly and transparently, we also maintain an ‘open-door policy’ in cases where you may not be comfortable discussing something in front of others. 
   
   
6. Be yourself: Avalore is not a faceless corporation, a for-profit business, or anything else. We are a group of creatives on the internet. This is a creative hobby community, and your unique personality, perspective, and experiences are an asset to the staff team that should be appreciated and utilized in full.
   Players, like staff, are also human, and want to be talked to like people and not an anonymous customer service representative.
   We’re here to have fun and be creative and play, after all!

Staff Code of Ethics

Failure to adhere to the below while you are a staff member will result in a player ban, including retroactive discovery of any said violations.

1. Player and staff confidentiality: Exercise caution when it comes to private matters. Player confidentiality–especially regarding sensitive discussions and personal information–is your responsibility, and should be taken very seriously. This likewise applies to other staff members’ personal information and privacy.
   
   
2. Player privacy: Do not monitor players through logs or invisibly observing roleplay without reason. This should only be done in official investigations, otherwise, players are completely entitled to their privacy.
   
   
3. Do not abuse your staff powers: Do not misuse staff permissions to give yourself or others in-game advantages, skip in-character development, to gain favour, or in ways that are otherwise disruptive to the server and players.
   Teleporting yourself to someone or vice-versa is acceptable, but use basic discretion (e.g. don’t teleport someone mid-roleplay to interrupt them).

Mental Health & Burnout

[WebMD Page on Burnout]

Burnout is best dealt with by being avoided altogether when possible, as it’s far easier to avoid the crash and having to recover.

Staff are both encouraged to and expected to recognize and communicate their needs, as well as adapting workload as needs change. Check in with your friends and other staff members.

You are volunteering for a hobby community, and your individual mental health and real life take priority over running the server always. A staff member may be put on sabbatical or demoted by admin if there are serious concerns regarding their mental health, ability to say 'no' to additional workloads, or similar (see below).

Staff Absence & Inactivity

Demotion (Removal from Staff): A sometimes scary word, note that this is not intended as punishment to staff members who are demoted and that it is not necessarily permanent in all cases. 

Demotions are done if the admin team has come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, a current staff member is unable to complete their staff-related duties reliably at this time, are unable to reliably communicate with the staff member, are unable to uphold staff conduct, or feel they are otherwise unsuited to the position. Common examples of when demotions may occur include:

• Violation of Staff Code of Ethics
• Bans
• Probationary period demonstrates unsustainability or that the staff member is otherwise unsuitable for the position
• Staff members are unreachable or difficult to regularly contact for an extended period of time
• Staff member is unable to perform their regular staff duties for a sustained period
• Staff member demonstrates bad-faith conduct (e.g. deceitfulness, dishonesty)

Demotion is not an excuse to publicly speculate on or treat demoted staff members differently as players.

Availability, interest, and energy are all things that fluctuate in a person’s life and that is expected and normal. Others may find they try out staff and that the position just simply isn’t for them, and that is also okay. 

All work done by volunteers no matter how big or small, how short or long their time on staff may have been, is deeply appreciated and we thank them for contributing to Avalore and its community. 

Sabbaticals: A period of rest from work, staff members can take sabbaticals or may be put on sabbatical by the administrative team after discussion with said staff member if it is decided to be in their best interest (e.g. burnout, mental health, busy with irl). Staff on sabbatical may choose to leave the server entirely for this period, or only engage with it at a player-level, and are encouraged to what they feel will best assist their rest and creative motivation.

Sabbatical can be taken at any time, however, it is expected for staff to give as much heads-up as they reasonably can to admin so that any necessary duties can be accounted for and covered during this time of leave.

Sabbaticals cannot be indefinite, and are expected to range from a few weeks to at most a few months, though of course this is up to admin discretion as everyone’s circumstance is unique. You may also initially choose a shorter period and check-in again to see if you would like to extend it if a week or two doesn’t end up being enough for you.

Vacation: Likewise with sabbaticals, please give the admin team as much advance notice as you are able to if any of your staff duties need to be covered during your absence.

Avalore Safety Policy

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**This document discusses mature topics.**
Some uncomfortable and potentially upsetting topics related to sexual abuse will be discussed out of necessity. Please take breaks as needed while reading and check in with yourself.

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Foreword

This document is intended to serve as a multi-function resource for the community, including:

1. What consent and boundaries are, and what they look like
2. What grooming, predatory, and otherwise sexually abusive behaviour is, and how you can identify it
3. The administration team’s procedure in response to conduct that puts peoples’ safety and wellbeing at risk

While romantic and intimate roleplay is allowed on Avalore, roleplay of an erotic nature is not. Some activities however inevitably occur off-platform in online communities and are beyond staff control, which may include erotic roleplay and/or OOC sexual relationships both online and in-person. As such, this resource is aimed towards harm reduction, safety, and education.

For moderation issues unrelated to our Safety Policy, please open a moderation ticket in our Discord server. When in doubt, ask a member of the administrative or moderation team.

Consent & Age of Consent

Consent is an agreement between participants, in this context, specifically to engage in sexual activity. Before engaging in sexual activity with a person, you need to know if they want to be sexual with you. It is also important to be honest with one’s partner(s) about your needs, and what you want and don’t want.

Without consent, sexual activity is considered sexual assault and/or rape.

The age of consent is considered by Avalore to be 18 years of age.

Physical sexual activity includes any form of sexual physical contact, such as touching, oral sex, and penetration.

Digital sexual activity can include sexting, erotic roleplay, sending/receiving porn, sending/receiving images and videos of one another, engaging in sexual activity in voice and/or video calls, and more.

Freely Given: Consent can only be truly and authentically given when the person giving it is not being pressured or influenced by outside sources such as manipulation, threat, or substances.

Reversible: Anyone can decide at any time that they no longer want to participate in a sexual activity, no matter if it’s with a stranger or a familiar partner, and even if they have done it before. 

Informed: True consent can only be given if the person is properly and fully informed of what they are consenting to participate in, and agree to it. Misrepresenting or omitting facts or one’s intentions is lying and is not okay.

Enthusiastic: Sexual activity should only involve things a person wholeheartedly consents to doing and wants to do, and not because they are expected to do it or feel like they ‘should’ or ‘have to’. It is important to check in with your partner(s) in general during sexual activity, and especially if they seem to be hesitant or uncomfortable at any point.

Specific: Consenting to a single activity (e.g. kissing) does not mean that the person has automatically consented to engaging in further sexual activity. Having improper expectations of what a partner wants without properly communicating it does not mean they are ‘leading you on’, and a person can always choose to stop.

There are laws that specify who can and cannot consent to sexual activity. People cannot consent to sexual activity when:

• They are a minor (under the age of consent) sexually interacting with an adult
• They are under the influence of substances (e.g. alcohol, cannabis)
• They are unconscious
• They are under threat of harm to themselves or another
• They are being coerced, guilt-tripped, blackmailed, or are otherwise being manipulated or lied to

Learn More: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/relationships/sexual-consent

Sexual Coercion is “the act of using pressure, alcohol or drugs, or force to have sexual contact with someone against his or her will” and includes “persistent attempts to have sexual contact with someone who has already refused.”

Learn More: https://www.loveisrespect.org/resources/what-is-sexual-coercion/

Sexual Blackmail (aka ‘Sextortion’) is a form of sexual exploitation where the victim is threatened with the possibility of publicly sharing nude or sexual content of them (e.g. images, videos, voice recordings), by a person who demands something such as additional sexual content, sexual activity or money from the victim.

Learn More: https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/what-is-sextortion/view

Manipulation is when one attempts to control or influence a person in dishonest and unhealthy ways. Manipulation may be done intentionally and consciously or unconsciously; no matter the reason, it is still extremely harmful and unacceptable behaviour.

Manipulation can take many forms, including lying or distorting facts, guilt-tripping and shaming, blaming, socially isolating a victim, lovebombing, gaslighting, and more.

Learn More: https://www.verywellhealth.com/manipulative-behavior-5214329

Sexual Predators & Grooming

Sexual predators are people who seek out sexual contact with another person in a predatory or abusive manner. People who are sexual predators may or may not have committed sex crimes — like sexual harassment, assault, rape, and pedophilia — but all sexual predators have sought out inappropriate contact in one way or another.

Predators try to manipulate their victims, and may otherwise attempt to acquire images or information about their victim to try and blackmail them.

Predators often go on to hurt others in similar ways. This is why it is very important to talk to both to report any violation of Avalore’s Safety Policy [here - link tbd], to prevent someone using our community as an avenue to hurt other people.

Learn More: https://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/signs-sexual-predator

Grooming is when an adult sexual predator builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.

Grooming can occur online or in-person, and while it is more often for it to be done by a trusted adult in the child’s life, predators can be people who are initially complete strangers or mere acquaintances to the victim.

Grooming can happen over a short or long period of time. Groomers may also build relationships with the child’s family or friends, or otherwise try and be held in good regard in their community, in order to appear trustworthy. Groomers and predators at large may try and enter positions of authority in real life or online in order to gain better access to minors and other vulnerable individuals.

The internet and online communities can be particularly vulnerable places that groomers utilize to find children, because they may pretend to be a younger person, and can access children more directly through private messages that other people cannot see or moderate. 

Grooming can take many different forms. Some common behaviours include:

• Developing Trust & Keeping Secrets: Abusers may attempt to gain the trust of potential victims by giving them attention, affection and compliments, making them feel special, giving them gifts, and by sharing “secrets”. Secrets may be used as a way to train them to keep their relationship and sexually abusive behaviours a secret.
• Desensitization To Sexuality: Groomers will often start being sexual with victims in small ways that appear harmless, while intentionally slowly escalating it to get the victim used to it without noticing. On the internet this may look like bringing up increasingly sexual discussion and topics, sending sexual images, suggesting erotic roleplay, and more. It is important to notice and listen to yourself if something someone does or says makes you feel uncomfortable, especially in DMs.
• Manipulation: Manipulation is when one attempts to control or influence a person in dishonest and unhealthy ways. In regards to grooming, manipulation is most often seen as:
  
  • Isolating the minor from their friends, family, and community
  • Deceiving the victim into believing the abuse is their fault, that their loved ones will reject them if they learn of it, that no one else will want them, etc.
  • Lovebombing, wherein someone showers you in an unsustainable and often overwhelming stream of excessive compliments, attention, affection, and/or gifts
  • Threats of harm to the victim and/or their loved ones’ wellbeing

Learn More: https://rainn.org/news/grooming-know-warning-signs

It is always okay to talk to loved ones about something if someone’s behaviour makes you feel uncomfortable, violated, unsafe, or otherwise ‘weird’ in a way you can’t quite identify. Abusers rely on their victims not talking to other people so that they don’t realize they are being mistreated, and so that they cannot process or identify the feelings they have in response to abuse. 

They may attempt to misdirect you by making you feel shame and guilt over believing it is your fault for being abused or that you are somehow complacent to it. This is not true, and it is in fact very normal and common for survivors of sexual abuse to initially deny even to themselves what is happening, or say that they consented when they didn’t, or otherwise blame themselves, because it is a very painful reality to have to come to terms with and process. This is something many abusers know and may try to take advantage of. 

Safety Policy Violations

A violation of Avalore’s Safety Policy will result in a permanent ban with no appeal, requires no warning, and are issued immediately upon administrative team consensus.

Reversing such a ban is unprecedented and would require both server owner approval, as well as the admission of new evidence, or proof of the prior evidence having been fabricated.

The offending player(s)’ username and Minecraft UUID are expected to be reported to the Minecraft RP Community Safety Discord server by Avalore’s admin team. 

Violations of our Safety Policy include:

1. A player breaches sexual consent
   
2. A player breaches the age of consent clause
3. A player is found to be grooming a minor
4. A player assists another in breaching the Safety Policy
5. A player is found to be stalking, harassing, and/or doxxing another person or player
6. Any other player action(s) that are believed and agreed upon by Avalore administrative staff to be dangerous or harmful, whether that is to themselves or another player

If able to report someone to local authorities believed to be responsible for a serious crime, or if they are otherwise believed to be a danger to themselves or others, Avalore administrative staff is expected to. It is however understood that this may not be an available option due to the nature of online moderation and internet anonymity.

Reporting a Safety Policy Violation

A safety report is the first step for any concern or complaint about another player’s behaviour or actions. This is a high-priority urgent report that will be looked at by the administration team, and will flag the issue so that it can be handled in a safe, private, and respectful way.

There is no set format to a safety report, as long as it is properly accessible by admins. It should include anything you find to be of concern. At minimum a name of the player in question and a testimony or screenshot must be provided in order for us to be able to investigate the report.

Testimony includes accounts from yourself and other players. Evidence may include screenshots of text-based exchanges, voice/video recordings, recordings of voice calls, etc.

In order to submit a safety report, please submit it [here - link coming soon] or directly contact an administrator, as moderation staff are unable to issue permanent bans for this kind of policy violation.

Safety Report Procedure

An internal staff ticket will be made in the Avalore Discord server that only administrative team staff has access to, in order to discuss the report. All admin staff are expected to be involved. 

It should take on average 1-2 days or less to receive a response, unless additional time is required to investigate or reach a decision. All tickets are archived for internal records.

Banned individuals will not receive an explanation for the ban. Players who knew of the situation and either chose not to report this, or actively encouraging the offender to interact with the community after their banning, will be banned as well.

Safety violations on other servers will be carried over to Avalore, and likewise we work with other servers to try and keep our communities mutually safer together.

In addition to more contextual inquiries, common questions that can be expected for admin to ask include:

• How old are the players that are involved in this report?
  • Do we need to verify their age? (Government-issued ID may be requested)
  • Is there a significant age gap?
  • Has there been any talk of involved players lying about their age?
• If the report is lacking in evidence, who can we talk to to corroborate the story?
• If the report was submitted by someone on behalf of the victim, how can we get into contact with them?
• What are the safety violations implied?
  • Are they present in the report?
  • If there are no safety violations, what can we do to ensure this player cannot escalate this type of behaviour?
• Is this behaviour still happening?
  • If so, do we need to issue an immediate investigation ban?
    
    

Permanent Bans & Appeals

Please see [here - link tbd] for our page on moderation strikes, and how bans and appeals work on Avalore.

Anyone who makes a report that is found later to be purposefully false with the intent to harm the reported player will be banned, with appeal up to administrative discretion.

Requesting Information

While ban reports are publicly available on the Avalore forums, specific reasoning may not be provided in the interest of privacy for those affected and/or to avoid concerns with accusations of libel. 

That being said, administrative staff are able to verify permanent bans for those who inquire privately and we are happy to do so.

 

Safety Violation Statistics

As of October 4th, 2024, there have been 2 safety policy violation reports made, with 2 resulting in a permanent ban, or about 100%.

Resources

USA: 

• https://www.loveisrespect.org/ 
• https://rainn.org/
• https://1in6.org/

Canada: https://endingviolencecanada.org/sexual-assault-centres-crisis-lines-and-support-services/

International: https://www.hotpeachpages.net/ and https://malesurvivor.org/

Roleplay Rules

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1. Read and follow our Roleplay Standards tab at the top of this page.

2. No Metagaming: Don't use out-of-character knowledge to influence your in-character decisions. There are obvious exceptions in good faith (e.g. going to a tavern to drink because other people are there) but acting on information your character doesn't know (including information from other characters or players) is not allowed. See below for more examples.

3. No Powergaming: Abide by our combat system laid out on the Mechanics page. For social interactions or casual fights, players can choose to combat freeform without needing to do dice rolls, however if all players involved do not agree or there are any disputes, combat should be handled through the established system

4. Alt Abuse: You may roleplay as characters who interact with one another or are related, but they cannot benefit the other in any way as that would give a player an unfair advantage versus others in roleplay (e.g. transferring roleplay information and knowledge between characters, giving yourself weaponry or gear, spells or lifesaving aid in conflict, using yourself as an in-character alibi, using one character as as crafting mule for your other, etc.)

5. Inappropriate Roleplay: Roleplay that contains banned topics such as erotic roleplay or excessive gore (see below) is not allowed on Avalore. Other sensitive topics such as mental illness may be part of a character’s arc, however, player conduct and roleplay surrounding these topics have certain expectations.

If you are excessively leaning on such topics, or generally misportraying/disrespecting a mental illness or other condition, you are subject to a warning or ban depending on severity. See the Roleplay Standards tab for more.

6. Inspiration From Real Life & Media: Roleplay must take place within the server’s established lore and medieval-fantasy setting. Please avoid writing your roleplay as 1:1 replications of real-life individuals or events, and likewise

7. Disrupting Roleplay & Trolling:

Do not intentionally disrupt other people’s fun for no good reason, or simply for personal gain. Do not engage in trollplay.

Courtesy of LOTC’s Roleplay Quality Standards page

See the Roleplay Standards tab for more. Players found to be repeatedly breaking this rule will receive warnings, and subsequently may receive escalating bans if the issue persists.

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Metagaming

Other examples of metagaming include:

• Logging onto the server and beelining to the tavern because your friend was roleplaying and got into a brawl, and messaged you on Discord for help
• Having your character know about or suspect another character’s secrets or weaknesses because you read it on their character profile or heard people talking about it in a voice chat

Powergaming
Other forms of powergaming that cannot be resolved by in-game systems include:

• Emoting NPCs that give your character an unfair advantage
• Giving your character advantages through unfair means (e.g. powers from a backstory that Avalore’s lore team did not approve)
• Forcing desired in-character results by wording your emotes in consequence-oriented ways instead of action-oriented ways
  • Should disagreements arise, this is when players can default to rolling if freeform roleplay is not working out in an agreeable manner.

Inappropriate Roleplay
The following forms of roleplay and topics are strictly not allowed to be acted out in any capacity via roleplay on Avalore:

• Erotic roleplay 
• Romantic roleplay when any involved character is under the age of 18
• Sexual violence and abuse
• Incest

Forcing or coercing another person into roleplaying about these topics on or off of our platform is considered a violation of our Safety Policy (see tab at top of page).

Roleplay Standards

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Expectations of player conduct do not apply when it is regarding harassment, exploitative, or abusive behaviour:  this is always in violation of Avalore’s Safety Policy and should be reported urgently.

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Foreword

This is a document intended to be used as a reference for what is expected roleplay conduct on Avalore, and in what contexts. Players are not expected to remember this entire document, instead this should serve as a resource and reference should these situations arise while roleplaying on our server. Portions have been bolded to help navigate for referencing.

Much of the mentality and approach to roleplay that inspired the philosophy of this document is based in the “Yes, and…” concept in improvisational acting, as roleplaying games are a collaborative writing activity. As per Wikipedia:

Yes, and ...", also referred to as "Yes, and ..." thinking, is a rule-of-thumb in improvisational comedy that suggests that an improviser should accept what another improviser has stated ("yes") and then expand on that line of thinking ("and"). The principle does not forbid disagreements between the improvisers' characters, but states that one should not reject the basic premises introduced by the other person, as this would throw them off and harm the flow of the scene.


When To Follow Roleplay Standards

In general, these standards should be adhered to by default, and especially when uncertain, unless otherwise agreed upon by all people involved in the roleplay. If other community members raise concerns about the quality of your roleplay, it is important to acknowledge it and prioritize the quality of the story for everyone if needed.

However, if there are no complaints brought up then there is (typically) no concern. Therefore, if all involved parties are having fun, none of Avalore’s rules are being broken, and server lore is being adhered to, you will be left to your roleplay without objection.

Be mindful of whether your roleplay is contributing to another player’s experience, or being intrusive upon it. Be respectful of other players’ creative effort, fun, and personal out-of-character boundaries as you would want them to be respectful of yours, and respect yourself by communicating when you are not having fun or are uncomfortable.

Our golden rule is keeping in mind that roleplaying games are designed to be collaborative storytelling experiences, which operates under the assumption that all players are approaching the activity in a cooperative effort to craft a narrative. It only works and stays fun if it remains a group effort with some give-and-take.


The Principle of Equal Exchange

Remember that players are all here to have fun and progress their character’s stories, including yourself. Therefore if you take from a player, it is expected to give in return. 

This may be in a material sense (e.g. crowns, in-game items), but more often at large it is through the roleplay story and experience (e.g. character development, engaging story, generating roleplay that accommodates other players).

Avoid taking the uncreative and easy way out of roleplay situations just for the sake of ease. While your character can inherently be a person that takes or causes harm, causing harm or chaos merely for the sake of it does not mean it’s inherently good or engaging writing that people want to participate in. You are expected and encouraged to be creative, a bit flexible, and discuss roleplay out-of-character to come to agreements to progress roleplay in a way you find rewarding.

Doing an action to another character because it benefits your character, or because it’s fun for you as an individual is not enough reason alone to always get your way with making something happen in roleplay, and promoting character development and the story is expected to take priority. 


OOC Etiquette in RP Events

Everyone enjoys having their turn in the spotlight, and that’s a good thing! But only as long as you are able to remain aware that other players also want to participate and have their fun and progress their story, too; even if their idea of fun in roleplay may not fully align with yours. A roleplay exchange is not fun if one player comes away feeling they’ve gained something, while the other(s) feel they have merely lost valuable time they could have been spending elsewhere, and this especially goes for roleplay events which can take 2-3 hours or more. 

Minecraft at large is a sometimes slower medium than others for roleplay due to the time it can take to type, and the inability to move and talk at the same time in-game. As well, the chat UI can get flooded quickly when there are a lot of messages, and it can be easy to lose sight of what’s happening and who’s saying what. This is especially apparent when in a roleplay event with a large number of players, as opposed to smaller freeform roleplay settings.

Because of this, please be mindful while in roleplay events and avoid:

• Flooding the chat by over-emoting
• Talking OOCly in-game using RP channels with use of brackets 
• Slowing down event progression by typing unnecessarily long emotes
• Tabbing out and excessive AFKing
• Meme/joke emoting or ‘trollplay’ (see Emote Standards below)

Remember, if you find any OOC channels distracting while roleplaying, you can mute them by using /ch leave <channel name>, and rejoin with /ch <channel name> (or it will reset upon relogging).

Additionally, please do not invite more players than you have listed if you make a post in the Event Request Thread without first informing and getting the consent of the DM(s). DMs prepare events and event builds for a set number of people, and adding more without warning can greatly diminish the overall experience for both the players and DM, and add a lot of extra work for them. 

As per Reedie’s Guide to DMing, it is recommended that at most the DM-to-Player ratio is 1:6.


Value DM & Player Time

Most people do not have as much free time as they’d like. Please respect other players’ time by not disrupting roleplay or by drawing out OOC conflict over something in-game into an hours-long dispute. Likewise, please try and resolve conflicts and issues yourself before requesting staff involvement (note this does not apply to our Safety Policy, reporting rule violations, etc).

It takes time and effort for DMs to set up events for players, especially campaign events. Show up to events as on-time as you are able to, and inform DMs you will be absent if you know in advance so that another player can fill-in. Give events your full attention and avoid multitasking so that the event can progress on-schedule and conclude satisfactorily for yourself and everyone else involved.


Emote Standards, Trolling, Joking & Memes

Powergaming via emotes is primarily addressed and preventatively resolved by our in-game systems. As per Avalore’s roleplay rules:

Abide by our combat system laid out on the Mechanics page. For social interactions or casual fights, players can choose to combat freeform without needing to do dice rolls, however if all players involved do not agree or there are any disputes, combat should be handled through the established system.

At minimum, players are expected to use proper punctuation, capitalization, and utilize the in-game emote and dialogue formatting when roleplaying to the best of their ability for coherency’s sake. As long as roleplay can flow reasonably well and there aren’t complaints, you’ve met the expectation.

Courtesy of LOTC’s Roleplay Quality Standards page

As outlined in the beginning section, joking in-character and via emotes is allowable as long as:

• You are not interrupting or detracting from other players’ roleplay experience
• You are not breaking Avalore rules or violating server lore
• You tone it down if asked by another player

Out-of-Character Boundaries, Player Consent, & Mature Themes in Roleplay

Every person’s boundaries are different, which is why it’s always important to ask others before engaging in or otherwise broaching mature topics in roleplay that may relate to real world experiences and serious traumas. Topics not permitted on Avalore in any capacity can be found by going to the top of this page and clicking the ‘Roleplay Rules’ tab.

Mature topics permitted on Avalore include (subject to next paragraph): 

• Suicide and self-harm
• Addiction and substance abuse
• Abuse (e.g. verbal, physical, emotional)
• Mental illness
• Childbirth and fertility issues
• Child death and miscarriage

Topics such as these while permitted in some capacity come with certain expectations in how they are roleplayed and explored. It is expected that players will depict these topics with both nuance and a good amount of respect to them, especially if they are something not personally experienced (see ‘Respectful Representation of Real Life Groups & Issues’). 

Roleplay involving these topics should not be conducted in a place where players can accidentally stumble upon it without prior consent, nor should it be depicted in-detail during roleplay, fetishized, or glorified.

Acquiring player consent in advance regarding these topics extends to player events and event storylines.

Erotic Themes in Roleplay

Explicit sexual content is not allowed on Avalore or within its on-platform roleplay, and this includes erotic roleplay. 

Avalore staff are unable to moderate player interactions off-platform and we therefore we cannot take responsibility nor officially associate in any capacity with any erotic content based off of Avalore or any related creations, and we are unable to moderate it. The only moderation Avalore staff will do regarding off-platform behaviour will be if it is in violation of our Safety Policy.

As an 18+ server, allusions to sexual content and sex work are permitted within the Avalore setting, but should not be excessive, repetitive, be used as a way to discuss your own OOC sexual interests, or otherwise used in a way that may make other players uncomfortable (including OOC moralization of said subjects). Keep it mature and classy; we are all adults and know that sex exists. Sexuality and its impacts on culture, gender, and personal character relationships are all excellent avenues to explore in roleplay; however expressing or trying to fulfill your personal sexual fantasies through our server is not appropriate or welcome.

If you feel a player may be using roleplay to mask out-of-character sexual advances and intentions or other harassment, or is utilizing off-platform erotic roleplay as an avenue to harass or abuse another person, or if you believe a minor is being harmed or is at risk of harm, please refer to our Safety Policy (tab at top of page).


Player vs. Player Conflict in Roleplay

The intent of our mechanics system (link) is to use it as a general fall-back when OOC disagreements arise mid-roleplay, especially for combat.

Faction-level conflict will be addressed in-depth later on once Avalore as a server has developed enough for this to be an issue.

The general above written standards regarding ‘give-and-take’ as well as in-character conflict and consequences, applies wholly. 

Additionally, it is considered good etiquette and we expect players to:
A. Be considerate of other players’ availability if a combat scene begins to drag out (1 hour+), and work to either conclude it in a timely fashion or continue another agreed upon day

1. Respect staff volunteer’s time by trying to communicate your out-of-character needs as well as general desires and goals with your roleplay if needed, before involving staff or making a ticket. This however does not apply to harassment or other abusive behaviour whether current or past, which violates our Safety Policy (top of page). 

Everyone has times where they feel intimidated about initiating roleplay, bringing up boundaries, or expressing their feelings about ongoing roleplay, especially with someone you don’t know well and/or don’t know if they may receive what you say negatively. However, these are practices that are encouraged on Avalore, and effort should be made by each player to cooperate with each other, and respond in a mature and respectful manner and work together to negotiate roleplay that is fun and engaging for all participants.


Maintaining a Health Emotional Boundary With OOC & IC

It is expected that all players on Avalore are able to remain cognizant of the fact that there is a separation between in-character and out-of-character, and to be able to both leave in-character conflict behind once out of roleplay, as well as be able to emotionally regulate oneself enough to not take in-character interactions personally. 


Player Consent Regarding In-Character Conflict & Consequences

Player consent to in-game combat is intended to be considered and respected, but may sometimes be waived in certain contexts established as violent and may not always apply to feeds explicitly stated OOC as non-lethal. If a player misleads another by turning an explicitly non-lethal feed into a lethal attack or through other means, consent may be required and applied. Otherwise, the lethality of the interaction may be redacted in retrospect.

Consequences can be intimidating in-character. That being said, everyone has to face consequences and adversity sometimes including our characters, and it can invite a wealth of character development in a way you may have never thought of on your own. Consequences are generally balanced to not be overly-punishing in Avalore, as this is all for fun.

Because of this we kindly ask that players avoid trying to skirt around in-character consequences by abusing OOC policy/player consent. Conduct such as this often falls under metagaming or powergaming (read more under ‘Roleplay Rules’ here) which is against Avalore rules.

Remember, give and take is key. Consequences are expected with certain actions, and ultimately they are intended to bring more fun roleplay and development. Cheesing your way out of it every time is no fun for you or anyone else. 


Respectful Representation of Real Life Groups & Issues

Diversity and inclusion in characters is welcome and encouraged on Avalore, and is expected to be approached with a level of maturity, nuance, and respect to real-life individuals who are a part of these groups. Utilizing any character–whether another player’s or your own–to make thinly veiled insults or otherwise mockingly portray real life groups will not be tolerated, and is considered in violation of our rules (link).

Concerning the representation of real-life groups and minorities (e.g. body diversity & disability, sexual/romantic orientation, gender, race, mental health): 

Please ensure that all incorporation and inspiration from real-life cultures is explored in a way that is not appropriative; specifically this means that it is often considered disrespectful to real people when their entire culture is diluted down to an aesthetic for another person’s backdrop or convenience (especially when spirituality may be involved), especially when said group has faced cultural erasure and/or discrimination.

Appropriation can be easily avoided by making an honest effort at learning about another real life culture in your personal life and to better inform your representation of it, as well as to address any potential preconceived beliefs you may hold. 

While it is an uncomfortable topic, it is important to acknowledge that we are all human and are capable of doing things that are insensitive without intending to. Should it become an issue that is brought up regarding your roleplay, it is expected that a player should be approached in good faith on topics like these until proven otherwise.


Resolving ‘Low-Quality’ Roleplay 

When finding yourself in a roleplay you are wanting out of, it is important to approach others in good faith and be honest with yourself: is the situation you are in genuinely poor in quality, or is it just roleplay that you do not enjoy? Remember that roleplay that may put your character in a difficult in-character situation does not mean it is inherently bad quality. 

It is normal for players to have preferences in types of roleplay, but as long as it is not violating Avalore’s rules, everyone’s roleplay should still be treated with basic respect. If you find yourself in a situation where the roleplay and/or characters are not to your liking, excuse yourself and leave the roleplay in a mature manner that does not disrupt the ongoing roleplay (e.g. logging off in the middle of roleplay or combat).

Keep in mind that players may be new to the server, and roleplay in general. If you encounter roleplay that is janky or confusing, and a player not emoting while walking around, take a moment to check if they whitelisted recently before passing judgement on their writing. Players come from a variety of backgrounds, demographics, and levels of experience within this hobby. It is our job as more experienced players to help people grow, learn, and have fun within this community and hobby.

We all start somewhere, and that ‘cringe’ feeling when watching a new roleplayer often stems from your own anxieties and worries. Of course, if a new player is being uncooperative, please contact staff.


Handling Rulebreaking Behaviour 

Approach players in good faith until proven otherwise. Let them know their mistake without drawing attention to it or taking it personally, and offer them a chance to undo their mistake if able. If the other player responds poorly and refuses to cooperate, it is then time to submit a player report and go your separate ways with the other individual(s).

While moderation is available for mediating disputes, it should be kept in mind that it is much easier to record wrongdoings and submit a moderation ticket with evidence, than it is to have staff step in mid-roleplay. It also has the likeliness of becoming a drawn out process with delays and the potential for misjudgement due to a lack of time for assessment and discussion.

It is only by holding both ourselves and others accountable that a community can retain its quality and continue to grow healthily, and it requires effort from not just staff volunteers but every participating player as well.


Submitting a Moderation Report

If an agreeable resolution cannot be agreed upon, it is at this point players are asked to submit a moderation report either through our website (click here), or via a moderation ticket in our Discord.

In-Game Rules

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1. Do Not Use Exploits: Players are expected to report in-game bugs and exploits via a technical ticket in our Discord, and not take advantage of them or share with others.

2. No Misuse of In-Game Commands: Do not use creative mode, /fly or /walkspeed or any other plug-in command during roleplay unless said roleplay calls for it.

3. Don’t Grief Builds: Self-explanatory, do not intentionally deface builds. In a similar vein, please do not spawn grief by altering the exterior of pre-made buildings within the Spire's town (bottom of page).

4. Don’t Steal: Stealing in-game items is not allowed, and can be easily investigated via server logs. Players are encouraged to lock their chests using /lock.

5. Use Appropriate Skins: All player skins should accurately represent your Avalore character, adhere to our medieval fantasy setting, and be non-explicit in nature.

6. Don’t Spy on Private Roleplay: Make yourself known and ask for permission out-of-character before spectating roleplay or events that are being conducted in a non-public area. 

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Spawn Build Rules

The Spire (and server at large) is a project that could not have been executed by staff without our very hardworking, player volunteer build team to help us bring Avalore to life in-game. Because of this, there are some rules that we request all players follow when using the premade server-owned builds in the Spire that you can rent through the sign plug-in:

1. Do Not Alter The Exterior of Premade Spire Builds: This includes changes to the building materials/palettes, structure, and windows. Players may be asked to restore any changes which alter the building.
   
   
2. Plots Are Cleared Automatically When Rent Expires. In the event of a plugin failure, a member of staff or the build team will clear the plot as soon as the bug is noted. Players can request to have their interior builds backed up in WorldEdit via a Technical Ticket.