Rules

These are the rules for the server and are subject to change without notice. For further clarification, also see the guide to Not Getting Banned. If you did get banned, there's probably a good reason for it, but if you disagree, you can always appeal your ban.

These are rules, but they are not infallible or concrete. If something feels wrong don't do it, or admin-help it first. Above all, use your common sense, listen to the game staff, and keep the game fun for everyone.

If you disagree with the rules as they currently stand, talk about it on the forum or with admins and maybe we can improve them through some healthy criticism and debate.

List of non-rule admin decisions you can review: Admin Rulings

You must be 18 or older to play on this server

There are no exceptions. If the staff suspects that you are underage for any reason, you will be banned from playing on the server until you are able to prove to the satisfaction of the staff that you are at least 18 years old.

• Use of real world slurs, ‘lolspeak’, and other indications of immaturity may be taken as signs that you are underage.

• Knowing another user is underaged but not reporting it is considered grounds for an immediate, permanent ban.

• The age of consent in your country is irrelevant. Your opinion about this rule is irrelevant.

Obey the community's global rules

The full global rules are covered here. These rules apply everywhere, including Discord, the server, and even private discussions with non-admins. However, not all of the global rules are even possible to break in the server, so this wiki page only covers what's relevant to the game server. The overlap from the global rules are:

• No spam.
• No OOCly illegal discussions or content (such as child porn, drugs, piracy, real world threats, etc).
• Respect other users, and don't intentionally drag private conflicts or in-game conflicts into public OOC (such as on the Discord server, the forum, the in-game global OOC channel, or anywhere else).
• Don't intentionally abuse server functions to upset (grief) people, or derail discussions. You know what this means, don't play stupid.
• No complaining about bans unless it's on the ban appeal forum.
• Type in legible English.

If you got banned for something that happened in Discord or on the forum, you're probably looking at the wrong page. You want this link.

Be respectful to other players

This is a game, we're all here to have fun, but try to make certain your type of fun fits our server and doesn't ruin things for others. Don't be overly offensive, rude, rapey, violent, or insulting OOCly. With IC there's some wiggle room, but there's still a limit to how much people will tolerate before they get sick of you, so keep it in moderation. When in doubt, use LOOC.

• Racial slurs/epithets, derogatory/defamatory language against social groups, and generally any other category of bigoted language is not allowed (as covered by the global rules). Using this language ICly is still not allowed if it pertains to any real-life social group. Saying that “all Tajara look the same” is fine. Saying that “all niggers look the same” is not. Also, being part of some real life social group doesn't grant you immunity to this rule or some special ticket to use these slurs.

• Under normal circumstances, do not harm, vore, or otherwise inconvenience characters whose player is idle, ghosted, or disconnected entirely. There are some exceptions to this rule, as follows:
  • If they've disconnected/idle for more than 30 minutes, you can put them in cryosleep. If you do that, take away all of their belongings except for their jumpsuit, shoes, ID, and PDA, and return everything else to its rightful department.
  • If they've committed a crime, jail them as you normally would and conduct their sentence even if they aren't connected. 20 minutes in the brig is still 20 minutes in the brig.
  • Some players will say in their OOC notes that they're okay with getting devoured while AFK or offline. As long as you don't break these preferences, it's okay to do things to them.
  • Emergencies bypass this rule. If it's an emergency and you need something an idle player has to fix it, you may take it.

ERP preferences must be respected

Players should have their ERP prefs listed in their “OOC Metainfo” or “OOC Notes” on their characters. You are required to respect these preferences so long as they pertain to ERP. If you are unsure about the meaning of some of their preferences, then use LOOC to discuss it with them. If you accidentally go against someone’s preferences, or someone else goes against yours, work to correct it as quickly as possible, even if that means just deciding in LOOC amongst yourselves that ‘this didn’t happen’ and going your separate ways.

• It's called VORE station for a reason, and not just because of the acronym. This server was created by and for people who are voraphiles. Things might be happening around you that you're not into. If you can't accept that you might be exposed to things you don't enjoy, or actively seek to prevent people from engaging in said things, you will be asked to leave.

• Even if you aren't into vore when you arrive here, it's strongly suggested you do not have "no vore" in your OOC preferences. That's kind of defeating the point of the server, and we've had a lot of people end up enjoying vore who weren't into it when they first arrived here. Go with the flow; experiment a little. We understand that some people may not like the idea of vore but we encourage people to try new things. If you don't, you'll never know what you might enjoy.

• Conversely, those of you foolish enough to put ‘Anything goes’ into your preferences do so at your own risk. If you can't think of what you like, at least just make a list of what you don't like, or you will probably regret it. Saying something like, ‘Open minded’ is not ideal either, but it is still better if it's accompanied by a list of notable dislikes.

• If you are uncomfortable with an ERP theme that you hadn't thought to add (or didn't know existed) to a list of dislikes in your OOC notes, speak up in LOOC as normal, but remember to add it immediately afterward so it doesn't happen again.

• Do not kinkshame others. This includes overt comments about someone’s ERP preferences being ‘wrong’ or ‘immoral’, but also includes passive-aggressive remarks related to preferences, such as public remarks suggesting that you won’t go near someone because of their OOC ERP preferences. If you have negative feelings about someone’s ERP preferences, don’t interact with them, and keep it to your damn self.

• Do not attempt to force yourself into ERP scenes where the other party (or parties) involved are not comfortable with it, or not even actually participating. This includes (but is not limited to) repeatedly jumping into people's food as a micro, trying to do ERP that a player has blatantly stated they are uncomfortable with, trying to guilt players into having a pity RP with you, doing hit and run ERP, filling drinks with your bodily fluids, etc. You get the idea. Don't do that.

• AFK/SSD/Disconnected players are not valid targets for any ERP unless their OOC Notes specifically permit otherwise.

The dorms are protected

• The ‘dorms’ area on the map are reserved for ERP and are ‘protected’ from interruption. It is a violation of this rule to break into occupied dorms or harass players in dorms.
  • The only exception is for security to arrest those who have committed crimes. Security is not allowed to indiscriminately inspect dorms for crimes, but a known criminal hiding in a dorm is not protected by this rule.
  • Conversely, it is not permissible to attempt to use dorms to hide from security, or to make their job of finding you harder. The dorms are for people who want to ERP in privacy. Don’t involve them in your shenanigans.

• Dorms are protected from all (or almost all) random events. Radiation, meteors, etc should not interfere with your scene in the dorms.

Speak English

• We are an english server, all OOC communications are expected to be done in english. It's alright if your english is rough and imperfect, just as long as you make the effort and we can reasonably understand it. This also extends into IC communications, but is more flexible as some characters have heavy accents.

• Having a character sometime speak smatterings of other languages, such as a German curse, or a Japanese curse is acceptable, but speaking exclusively in these languages is not.

Roleplay as long as it's feasible

• This is an HRP (Heavy RolePlay) server. You are expected to roleplay your actions with other players as long as it's feasible. If someone engages you in purely ‘robust’ (aka game-mechanics driven) combat while you were attempting to roleplay with them, with no reasonable provocation, please use the admin-help feature to inform an admin.
  • Reasonable provocation would be things that deem you too dangerous to be given even a chance to talk. For example, openly wielding a gun while threatening people, charging someone with a knife, trying to create a hazard, or being the target of a manhunt.

• If a fight does begin, you're not expected to type out every gunshot and dodge and attack. That would be absurd. Generally, you roleplay up until the point that it makes sense to start attacking, and then use game mechanics from there. You are allowed to respond to ‘robust’ violence with your own, if you desire, though you should attempt to return to roleplaying as soon as feasible. The environment is not designed for a focus on action, but rather for character-building and roleplaying. When a fight is over, resume roleplaying.

• Movement is considered a game mechanic for the purpose of this rule. Wordlessly running at a security officer who is attempting to arrest you, or wordlessly fleeing from them, is considered engaging in game-mechanic combat. The security officer has valid cause to stop trying to roleplay and stunlock you into the ground.

Do not join with an inappropriate ckey

• Ckeys, better known as BYOND user names, must be appropriate. If any are deemed inappropriate, the ckey will be banned and you will be unable to play on our server until you make an account with an appropriate name. Ckeys that violate BYOND's terms of service may also be reported.

Do not misuse Global OOC

Many servers simply mute global OOC. We do not, because the OOC command is useful to have on in an RP heavy server.

• Global OOC is used, for instance, to contact someone you were typing a reply to had walked out of the room before you were done, and you're trying to ask them to come back. It's also useful if you're a new player, or an old player exploring new mechanics, who asks something like, "How do I make Tricord again?" or something short and similar. Short, sweet, and relevant OOC messages are generally okay. Welcoming old players returning, or new players joining, is also generally okay.

• Global OOC is not for idle banter, ranting, things pertaining to incidents in the current round (see previous rule), in-depth explanations (an explanation that takes more than a few lines), shitposting memes, or discussing topics not relating directly to the game. If you want to chatter OOCly, go to our Discord channel, which is linked from the home page at https://vore-station.net/ or use LOOC so as to not disturb the rest of the server.

• Also, if someone does misuse OOC, do not complain in global OOC about their misusing of global OOC. Not only are you just making the problem worse, that is considered being a backseat admin, which is prohibited by other rules.

Keep IC and OOC separate

• IC (In-character) and OOC (Out-of-Character) actions and knowledge should be separated as much as possible. Don't use OOC channels to discuss what's going on IC until after the round is finished, don't use OOC knowledge to do things your character wouldn't know, such as operate medical machines when a cargo technician. You are not playing yourself in the game, you are controlling a character with their own wants and knowledge and the IC/OOC boundary is to help reflect that.
  • Note that these same rules apply to LOOC as well.
• Don't complain in OOC when your actions IC get you in trouble. This is self explanatory.
• Disconnecting or using other OOC means to avoid IC consequences is against the rules. If you do urgently need to leave the server even though you're being punished, your options are either to surrender and get it over with, or use admin help to inform the admins, "I know Security is after me, but I have to go because (some emergency)." Failure to take ten seconds to tell an admin before disconnecting may result in harsher punishment.

Metacomms/gaming, multi-keying are not allowed

• Metacomms: Using third-party programs, such as Discord, IRC, Skype, or even the BYOND pager, to discuss and share information of the ongoing round. This excludes other players, can contribute to toxicity among the playerbase, and is often a tactic used by griefers and thus is a no-go.

• Metagaming: Using information obtained from elsewhere to influence IC decisions and actions. Your opinions or knowledge of other players or characters obtained via OOC methods should not direct your IC actions. If you have an OOC grudge against someone, you may not try to antagonize them IC, for example.
  • There is one exception to this. Asking in LOOC to be cloned after a vore scene is fine.

• Multi-keying: Logging in with multiple BYOND accounts on our game server. There is never any legitimate reason for you to do this and thus is not allowed.

Create and play server-appropriate characters

Although this is a roleplaying server based around the completely fantasy fetish of vore, that doesn't mean anything goes because that is possible. Suspension of disbelief is still important to a good experience, and breaking that suspension of disbelief is bad for roleplaying. Characters who break that suspension of disbelief are not allowed.

• Play a reasonably sane and mature character, give them a non-immersion breaking first and last name, do not play obvious reference characters, or characters from published works without a special character application approved for that character.

• Keep in mind that people do not like pain or dying and usually try to avoid it without good reason. Give your character a reasonable set of strengths, fears, and weaknesses. When writing things for IC, write things out that sound like speech, not emoticons or lolspeak.

• The setting contains no magic. Your character cannot have any superpowers, magical abilities, or anything that does not exist in the setting or cannot be reasonably replicated with game mechanics. If they are not someone who has a good reason to work on the station, they should not occupy any normal job slot and should be a ‘Visitor’ only.
  • The exception to this is purely private roleplay. For example: If your character and another character are in a dorm by themselves, and the other is OOCly fine with it, your character can display potentially supernatural abilities. This is limited to that roleplay, though. You should not discuss anything about that in public. Use magic at your own risk however, because technically the moment your RP is discovered by someone else, it stops being private, putting you in potential violation of this rule.

• Obscenely oversized or undersized characters are forbidden. Minimum height is at least a few inches. Maximum height is about 30 feet. Anything more or less really pushes the already shaky believably of micros or macros existing on the station--and that's coming from a server whose theme is eating people.

• If you are playing a whitelisted species such as Diona, Vox, Xenochimera, or whatever else we add in the future, you are expected to play the race as they are canonically meant to be played.

• OOC Notes and Flavor Text is required. Your OOC notes must detail your ERP preferences, and your flavor text should not include non-physical attributes (do not include feelings your character has, or how they act).

Do not kill or attack people (including yourself) for no good reason

• This includes yourself. Even in self-defense your goal is to fight off your attack and escape to go get help, killing in a fight should only be done as a last-ditch effort when it's clear it's a you or them situation.

• Suicide or self-mutilation is almost NEVER allowed. Contact an admin if you want to have a character commit suicide. Typically the manner in which suicide is carried out is played as an in-game attention grab and without actual compelling reasons. This can upset those that find this subject OOCly uncomfortable. The punishment for suicide is nearly always a permanent ban, so think about that before you kill yourself.

• Caving in someone's skull for cutting in line, stabbing yourself in the eye with a screwdriver because you are bored or jumping out an airlock because you're sad are all examples of improper killing.

Do not powergame

• Better known as 'playing to win'. As a security person this can be seen as going out of your way and needlessly endangering others to ‘win against’ criminals. As the station AI exploiting loopholes in your laws to get yourself out of them or getting the person who subverted you into trouble is another way. There is an implicit allowance for lawed characters to ERP. You may create loopholes for this reason only.

• While this shares several things in common with other rules, it still is it's own entity. Play to have fun, allow yourself to lose now and again and roll with the blows as it can make things potentially even more interesting.

Do not ‘Self-Antag’

• If you have not been given objectives or a directions by staff to perform certain tasks as part of an event, do not start acting out the role of an antag you may have played on other servers. Don’t break into areas to steal things “just because you’re bored” or “just because I want to annoy security”.

• You cannot have a character with an “antagonist” background without having an approved special character application for that character. Your ex-mercenary ex-ninja ex-cultist is not allowed.

• We play on ‘Extended’ round type at all times, and this means that there are no preselected antagonist roles. Most other SS13 servers have these, but we do not. Any antagonists are staff-selected players, picked to play a specific role.
  • If you are selected to be an antagonist-type role, this does not mean you can suddenly break other rules, especially the 'no senseless killing' rule. You should try to stick to your objectives, or go after targets who will enjoy being on the receiving end. You must continue to roleplay like anyone else.

You are expected to perform the job you signed up for

When your character joins the round, you are accepting the responsibilities that the job you have chosen brings with it. Remember: if you are playing in a slot, you are likely preventing other players from performing that role. It is important that you fulfill the tasks that you have signed up for!

• Security should protect the station from danger, Engineering should ensure that power is up and that people can breathe, Medical should provide treatment to injuries and also cloning/resleeving services, Supply should bring in needed cargo on request, Science should do... science stuff, and Service should provide food. Command's job is to make sure at least these basics are being fulfilled, and to react accordingly in an emergency.

• A player must take into account the qualifications (both physical and mental) of their character’s role before placing them into it. If staff find your character to be unsatisfactory in fulfilling the requirements of the role, we may instruct you to revise your character.
  • This includes majorly disabled characters — quadruple amputees, deaf, or blind characters, and so on — which are only permitted on the station in the Assistant (and associated alt-titles) job slot.

• We reserve the right to ban players from jobs who repeatedly fail to perform to an acceptable standard until we're confident that they will be able to perform the job in question.

• If you are going AFK for an extended period of time (more than 15 minutes), and are occupying a limited-number job slot (any slot other than assistant), you must remove your character from the round using a cryopod (or other similar means) to free the slot. Repeated failure to do this may result in being banned from that job.

• Do not do other people’s jobs. If you joined as medical, do not attempt to hunt down criminals. If you joined as engineering, do not attempt to perform medical treatment on your coworkers. If you are a head position, allow your staff to do work before you do the work yourself; you are a supervisor and manager first and foremost as a head position.

• Do not hijack other people's jobs. For example, if you're a chemist but someone needs surgery, and there's already a surgeon who isn't currently busy, then don't perform the surgery instead of letting them do it. Similar examples exist with every department, so use your judgement. Basically, if you're actively getting in the way of someone else trying to play the game, you're probably breaking this rule.

• Playing jobs that can be called upon at any time to assist other crew members in emergencies waives your right to have interruption-free (E)RP sessions in private, including the dorms. If you join as a paramedic, expect to be interrupted out of private scenes. If you’re an engineer, you are expected to set up power systems and repair any large-scale damage that hampers the rest of the crew, regardless of your intent to have sex with the assistants.

You are expected to obey the chain of command (within reason)

• The Colony Director is the station's boss, so listen to them. Likewise, you should obey your department's Head of Staff unless directly overridden by the Colony Director. If you consistently do not follow reasonable orders, you will be job banned.

• If you're playing a role that has AI laws, you must obey these rules first and foremost to the best of your ability. This includes even disobeying Central Command staff if your AI laws are in conflict with the orders given.

• As any role without AI laws, you can disobey orders you think are traitorous, harmful, immoral, or violating Corporate Regulation. Use your judgement and consider whether or not disobeying the order could get you in trouble or get someone else horribly killed.

• If you are given an order or AI law that may break a server rule, please alert the admins for a second opinion before continuing.

You are expected to behave correctly with Clone/Resleeve Memory Disorder

CMD (Clone Memory Disorder) is your character losing memories of recent events leading up to their death. You should not remember how you died, or who killed you.

• This is to keep things a little more sane in-round, and to allow for players with preferences in non-consensual activities to have their fun (with people who share those prefs as victims). It is therefore against this rule to remember and abuse the knowledge of who killed/raped/ate you after being cloned/resleeved/revived to antagonize/persecute them without the agreement of the other parties in the roleplay. They can include this consent in their OOC Metainfo/Notes or discuss it with you in LOOC before or after the roleplay.

• In the event that someone else breaks this rule, your character should assume their word is not credible, and disregard their advice.
  
  

The intent of the rules is more important than the letter

The purpose of the rules is to preserve a fun and enjoyable environment for all players. If everyone is enjoying themselves even while the ‘letter’ of a rule is not being followed, it’s likely that no staff intervention will be required. On the other hand, just because something isn't in the rules doesn't mean it's okay or allowed if it's upsetting a large number of players.

• It is within admin staff's discretion to decide that certain actions violate one or more rules, even if the specific action is not listed as part of the rule. This is simply the job of the staff to interpret the rules. You can appeal decisions to other admins if you believe one has a bias against you, but doing so to more than three staff members will be considered harassment.

• Plenty of rules are left vague enough to cover as much as possible without being too oppressing. Attempting to rules-lawyer saying that "this rule doesn't specifically say I can't do X", even if what you are doing is disrupting the server, will generally be ignored. We assume most of you have enough common sense to recognize what a sane and stable individual would and wouldn't do within this fictional setting.

Listen to admin staff

• One admin's word is usually as good as any other. For example, just because the Server Host says it's okay to do something one moment doesn't mean you can still do it when a Trial Admin later tells you to stop.
  • If this causes a contradiction, you can (and should) inform the new admin of what you were told previously. For example, a Head Admin says you can do something, but that admin has left the server. A lower ranked admin shows up and asks you to stop doing that thing. You can explain that the Head Admin previously said you could do this, but if the lower ranked admin still wants you to stop, then you should stop. (This obviously works vise-versa as well.)
  • Intentionally not telling a new admin about a contradiction is considered lying. It's like asking your mom for ice cream, but she says no, so you go ask dad because you think he'll be less strict.
• Vorestation is not a democracy; our rules and guidelines exist for a reason and we have staff dedicated to enforcing them and help set further guidelines if necessary. However, these rules are always going to be incomplete, and as such, just because something isn't written doesn't mean it's allowed. If a staff member tells you to do something, do it. They tell you to stop, then stop. If you disagree with a ruling, don't try to argue it then and there, especially if things are hectic. Once things have calmed down, or preferably after the round has ended, you can try to contact the staff member privately to discuss the ruling, or talk to another admin if you cannot talk to or cannot convince the offending admin.
  • You can talk to up to three other admins. If all of them are unanimous in their decision, you are probably in the wrong and should give up. If you do not, it will be considered harassment.

• If you have a question over something unclear or questionable, never be afraid to adminhelp. The staff on hand should discuss it among themselves and give you a ruling, from there on if the ruling is in bad judgement, it's on the admin who cleared it, not you. The staff should also NEVER ban you for a complaint against them, so long as complaints are kept private. Even if you're a complete asshole about it, as long as the argument stays private, you cannot be banned just for arguing. Although being an asshole usually won't win an argument, so you probably shouldn't do that anyway.
  • Don't confuse this for "complaining grants you immunity to bans", because that's not how it works. If you are told to not break windows and you complain how that isn't fair, you're still getting banned for breaking windows if we disagree with your complaint. What this means is we won't ban you or make an existing ban worse just because you tell us we're being excessively mean, confusing, or unfair to you or someone else.