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.

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

First and foremost; If you see something, SAY SOMETHING.

That means if someone violates these rules or otherwise negatively impacts your experience as a player, you are obligated as a player to speak to an admin as soon as possible, because we're not going to be able to practically respond to an issue that happened a days ago. We have plenty of active admins who can be contacted through Skype, Byond, our chatroom, and the forums.

Also, to make our rules easier to read, because there's a lot of them, most rules have a short version. At least read that. It'll take like 5 minutes.

You must be 18 or older to play

No exceptions. Even normal Space Station 13, you're supposed to be at least 18 to play many servers. No one else really enforces that, but we do.

This extends to underage characters. Do not attempt to play a character who is a child. The game's character minimum age is 17, so saying you're any lower than that will result in an immediate and permanent ban until you prove you're of age.

Obey the global rules.

The global rules are on the forum, because they cover all interaction in the community, even outside of the server.

Click here to view them.

If an admin says "refer to rule" whatever and what you find here doesn't make sense, try checking this link.

A quick summary of what is relevant in-game (may not be up to date):

• Do not post anything that is OOCly illegal.
• We are here to have fun, so if you are not having fun, please to take a break and tell us admins why you're not having fun.
• Please be respectful of other users OOCly. You can disagree with someone without being a hostile douchebag.
• Abuse of any site function or game mechanic with the goal of disrupting the site or others' access to or enjoyment of will not be tolerated.
• Legible English is required to use this website.

Basic common sense stuff that shouldn't need to be written

The most important rule is don't have fun purely at someone else's expense. Below are some notable examples that should be obvious.

• Don't grief or troll or abuse memes. You know what this means. Don't play stupid.
• Don't break into places for no god damn reason / because you're just bored. Have an actual reason. At least be wanting to steal something worth selling. Jeeze.
• Don't randomly kill people (RDM) for no good reason. Vore is a notable exception obviously.
• Don't pressure or force people to RP in vore or sexual scenes they aren't OOCly okay with.
• Don't vore or attack someone without RP unless both parties agree to battle (or at least imply it, like a suspect running from security or resisting arrest).
• Don't powergame (having an unrealistic advantage, or abusing game mechanics to immediately robust someone while they are trying to roleplay normally).
• Don't godmod (pulling advantages out of nowhere, or ignoring disadvantages).
• Don't metagame (using OOCly obtained knowledge ICly, or telling in OOC things that happened IC during that shift).
• Don't metahate (abuse of overblown IC motives to justify picking on the OOC player behind a character).
• Don't do other dumb shit that would make people view you as a toxic player. For example, if you play asshole characters, balance it out with likable characters.
• Don't abuse global OOC with off-topic nonsense. Keep discussion in global OOC both brief and relevant, as no one wants to hide it to avoid nonsense because it's an important communication tool on an ERP server.
• Don't make stupid characters who completely don't belong in our lore (Pokémon, overpowered ex-spetznas, MLP, kitsune with magic powers, etc.)

That sorta thing. Basically, don't be an asshole.

There's probably more that could be listed, but that's all we can think of for now. If you don't already know what bad behavior looks like, you'll (usually) get a fair warning if you can't find a specific rule covering it, but make a note to remember for the future. The guide to Not Getting Banned expands on a lot of these but should not be taken as an official rulebook if it contradicts anything here.

There will always be things that are too obscure to be written down. That doesn't make them okay. If they disrupt roleplay (breaking character) or make the server not fun for everyone else, then it's probably not okay. Every shootout, every robbery, every murder, every fight, every threat, every conflict should have some interesting quality about it to redeem it from otherwise just being shitty. All server rules and policies are based on this philosophy. If you can't have fun without intentionally making someone else's time shitty, you're not welcome in Vorestation.

If you somehow end up being one of those people who continually pisses people off but somehow constantly evades the rules, you'll be given a last warning to knock it off (because at that point we're sure you're either doing it on purpose or incapable of feeling empathy), and then you will be banned if it continues even still.

Roleplay until roleplaying stops being feasible

Short version: In most cases, roleplay. If someone is shooting you, stop trying to type and shoot back. Or run away. Otherwise, roleplay normally. Sometimes, it's better to handle things with good old robust mechanics, but usually that isn't the case.

This rule is always difficult to explain but it's pretty obvious when it's being broken. If someone charges into a room with no words, no emotes, and no reason, and starts attacking someone, they are probably breaking this rule. Game mechanics are meant to enhance roleplay, not overshadow it. Most of the time, interactions can be roleplayed, including combat. However there goes the old saying that "YOU CAN'T DODGE BULLETS!" which is still true, and no one is going to expect you to suddenly hold still and type out a lengthy response while an assistant is actively beating you with a toolbox.

Security is the job type most likely to run into this rule often. It's not against the rules to just run away from security, but it's also not against the rules to no-RP-robust their ass when you catch up to them. Otherwise, if you have to use your weapons, use the "aim" mechanic first, or at least roleplay up until the point where you go, "Okay, fuck it," and stun them in the ass with your baton. If your target still tries to flee while you're aiming at them, then you're not breaking the rules by shooting them. Keep in mind they are not disallowed from trying to attack you either in an effort to get away.

In the case of antagonists (who are usually played by trusted players or admins on Vorestation), they will usually give a deliberate warning shot and miss, to signal that the engagement should be fought with robust mechanics. At the very least, in the case of melee enemies (like Xenomorphs), they will roleplay before charging.

As with all IC interactions, the scenario has to be believable and realistic in the first place. Attacking others for no good reason is still covered by other rules.

Being into vore is a REQUIREMENT to play here!

Just be into SOME kind of vore. Any kind of vore!

At least be okay with vore. If you're bothered by vore, why the hell are you playing here? Go somewhere else.

Respect people's OOC preferences related to ERP

Short version: Try to always check someone's OOC notes before starting a scene and do not violate their preferences regarding ERP.

For example, if I want to roleplay with someone, and I see they aren't into anal vore, then I am not allowed to shove them up my ass. If they do not like male predators, then they do not get to play with my male predator.

Keep in mind, while OOC preferences are nice, they can't cover everything. At any point you are allowed to speak up if the direction an RP is going is making you uncomfortable. Obviously this doesn't protect you if you punch a security officer in the dick and they zap your ass into the floor (see the next rule). However, it does disallow them from shoving an electrified cattle prod up your rectum if you aren't into that shit. Just say something in LOOC. If they don't listen, call an admin immediately and stop responding to the RP.

That being said, restrictive preferences are bad for you, so don't over do it. That isn't a rule, but just good advice. Don't complain you aren't getting any RP when you're one of those people who's "Prey only, must be female pred only, willing vore only, non-digestion only, same-size only, no fat chicks, must shit gold, etc." idiots. You know who you are. You have only yourself to blame.

OOC notes are required

When in the character setup menu, click the OOC notes button to include preferences about whatever you dislike and will never play with that character. We assume everyone in V.O.R.E. has generally open preferences but respect any particular dislikes someone might have.

Filling your flavor text is nice too but not required as badly.

If someone you are roleplaying with failed to include OOC preferences in their OOC notes or flavortext, then you can safely assume they are open to anything vore-related. (This doesn't mean ignore them if they speak up in LOOC to say they are not comfortable with the scene, obviously. That breaks other rules.)

If your Vore/ERP preferences are violated, say something

ERP stands for Erotic RolePlay. Your preferences are anything you say "do" or more importantly "do not" in regard to ERP. Everyone who plays on this server comes here with the knowledge that it is a predominantly vore themed roleplay environment. While we allow other kinds of play, they aren't the focus of the server. If at any point, you do not want to participate in any form of smut, you are obligated to say so in local OOC chat. In-character actions or fighting back are not considered valid ways of saying "No" because it's in-character. You must say in OOC, "Stop" or "No" or something along those lines. If you are ignored, they are breaking a rule.

Remember this only applies to Vore and other forms of ERP. If you're getting your ass kicked by security for example, this rule doesn't cover that. If they're using unbelievably excessive force, that is covered by other rules.

Within the vore mechanic, if your OOC preferences are being broken despite speaking up about it, there is a button called OOC escape. It's your safeword and your lifeline if you end up in a situation you genuinely, OOC, do not enjoy, and your partner is ignoring your OOC complaints to change course or stop. You, as a player, have the ability to get out of any situation within this last-resort mechanic at your fingers. However, it is also your responsibility to make sure that people know where your limits stand. A little heads up before the scene starts can save a lot of headache in the long run. If someone repeatedly, and deliberately violates your preferences, however, don't hesitate to bring this to an admin's attention.

If you aren't into vore at all, find another server. Everyone in this server assumes everyone involved is okay with vore. If you're not okay with playing predator or prey, and don't even enjoy watching, then that's not fair to other players who are expecting everyone to be into vore in some manner or another, and you will be asked to leave. If you want to ERP that badly, you can find alternatives. (Also, this doesn't mean players can deliberately eat you because you're "violating" the rules by being non-vore only. That will get them punished through backseat admin rules.)

No Kinkshaming

Short version: Out-of-character kink-shaming of any kind will be punished.

If you don't like a scene that you're not involved with, then leave them alone. If it's not possible to leave them alone because they're in a public area like the bar or a hallway, you may call security to kick them out. Otherwise, leave them alone.

That said, don't kinkshame-bait either. If you come on acting like you're into pedophilia and shit, then whine about kink shaming, expect to just be banned. Even we have our limits. You're smart. I think you can figure out what they might be. Despite how much the headmin JerTheAce loves his guns, for example, his gun fetish isn't protected by this rule, so he can't just shoot people then go "MUH FETISH" when they complain.

Do not log out in locked dorms

This is self explanatory. Those rooms are for smut. Not your personal AFK box. Don't be a dick.

Three strikes of repeated abuse will result in a day ban. Three more strikes will be three days. Three more days (total of nine) will be a week ban so we can be absolutely sure you get the message. Admins will keep track of offenses with playernotes and will attempt to contact you when it happens, but since you logged out, there's no guarantee we'll remember to poke you when you're next online.

If you get banned for this, it's really easy to appeal. We only want to make sure you actually read this damn rule so you know to obey it.

Stay in your own department

Short version: If you didn't log in as a certain job, and you aren't reassigned, don't do someone else's fucking job unless it's an emergency.

It's viewed as powergaming if you're doing jobs that you weren't asked to do, and godmodding if you shouldn't know how to do them at all. This applies to career assistants especially. If you knew how to do surgery or start the supermatter or build robots, you wouldn't be an assistant all the time. At least have the Head of Personnel change your job first.

Also don't go rushing to do someone else's job if the department in question has active staff. It's not fair to them if you deprive them of the job they signed up to do, even if you do have access and you do know how to do it. (E.g. Station Administrator chasing down criminals despite a perfectly capable security staff.)

This rule is more loosely enforced during emergencies or when powering the station at round start, but still don't get involved if engineering has people--even if they fail to do their job properly. Just complain to their superiors in-character, or alert an admin out-of-character. Sometimes there's a perfectly good IC reason why the station is having a blackout.

At least try to do your job!

Short version: If you're not in a vore scene, keep yourself busy by doing your normal job. You'll find more RP that way.

Vore isn't the only thing that happens on the server. If you habitually join as jobs beside assistant and don't perform your job's most basic functions, you'll get job banned because it hogs the slot from people who actually want to do the job. For example: An Engineer who doesn't start the engine or set up solars and instead runs straight to the bar for scene hunting is probably breaking this rule. On the other hand, if you got ambushed and ate before finishing your job, then that's just life on VORE and everyone will have to live without power for a bit. Just be prepared to answer admin inquiries.

In the event of something serious going on that directly pertains to your job and no one else can currently respond to it, like you're the Chief Medical Officer, and someone is bleeding to death in the lobby while you're banging the only nurse on staff that shift, you should probably zip up your pants and go help the poor bastard who's bleeding to death. You can always go back to your scene. As a rule of thumb; the higher up in command you are, the more responsibilities you have. Be prepared for them.

That being said, please don't join as an assistant all the time to avoid all responsibilities. The whole station becomes stagnant and boring when no one is doing jobs. What makes VORE Station more attractive of an option for RP than a chatroom is because there's so much to do besides vore and smut. Work together and do something interesting. Your job shouldn't make it impossible to do vore, but if you're not eating/being eaten, don't sit in the bar doing nothing all day. You're hogging job slots which is unfair and not realistic.

Don't complain in OOC when your actions IC get you in trouble

Short version: In-character actions have in-character consequences, and going out of your way to get a reaction from other crew or security means you will get a reaction out of them.

So if your own shenanigans gets you in trouble, that's your fault. For non-vore crimes, if you think you have been excessively or unfairly punished or retaliated against, use adminhelp, or preferably play it off ICly and contact a lawyer, other security, the Captain, or CentCom. If your complaints reach the admins and they don't think you were treated unfairly, then you probably weren't treated unfairly, so stop complaining. Or just don't complain in the first place and enjoy the ups and downs of roleplaying in a fictional world.

Naturally, vore-related crimes are excluded from this rule - you should be granted OOC leniency if you get brigged for a vore crime. In-character, you'll still be punished as normal, but out-of-character you are entitled to a time-skip (E.g. Space Law says 60 minutes in the brig, but you really spend only 5 while everyone RPs like it was the full 60 minutes). Also we won't ever permanently fire or execute a character for eating someone, and someone trying to enforce the death penalty on you--or permabrig you--for doing vore, and you're not okay with that, then that someone will be punished by the admins for breaking common sense rules.

Don't call for help if you don't want it / Don't deliberately interrupt ERP scenes

Short version: If the victim isn't calling for help, and it's not in a public area, then don't be a white knight by getting involved. If you find a scene by accident, give the scene a fair chance to finish, and then you can interrupt if you want.

Security is allowed to force scenes to move out of a public area and into a dorm, or at least into their own department, but until someone calls for help security may not stop a scene entirely. Unless security can prove a crime is happening, they aren't allowed to interfere, and this is already true for all laws under code green. Not just vore. If you walk in on a scene anywhere beside the dorms, security and other staff have every right to ask questions without needing to seek OOC consent from the predator's player. The predator should have taken better effort to hide. It's security who actively go looking for scenes to wreck who are breaking this rule.

It's not very realistic for all crew to be expected to turn a blind eye to someone else's suffering, so here's some advice to avoid awkward situations like that:

• If you are predator, try to steal your victim's means of communication (headset, PDA, making them wear a gag, tying them up so they can't struggle) so they can't summon help, and don't brag about your catch if you don't want to get caught.
• If you are prey, ask your predator OOCly if you have the capability to call for help. If your predator was smart enough to take your gear away, this should only apply if someone accidentally stumbles on your scene.
• If you are prey, don't pull some hidden weapon out of your backpack and start stabbing the shit out of them from inside. If you have a weapon, or you choose to try to resist being eaten in that way, roleplay each attack until your predator gives up or you succumb.
• Don't whine if your bragging (as pred) gets you in trouble, or calling for rescue (as prey) makes someone actually try to come rescue.
• Try to actually be clever and stay hidden as predator. It's really awkward when someone stumbles on a scene by chance, so at least have a good convincing lie prepared, or use a room like a fire closet or abandoned room or other low-traffic area. If the scene is supposed to be a quick grab and gulp, you can ask anyone catching you to give you some time to progress the scene (since typing is slower than game mechanics) but avoid making them let you get away with it entirely. You still got caught after all and it's no fun for them if they're forced to turn a blind eye when it breaks character.
• If you see an unwilling scene with xray vision or thermals, you're already violating NT's privacy laws, so just keep your mouth shut because you'd rather not lose your job over it. CentCom doesn't care if you were saving someone's life because CentCom is run by cold and unfeeling bureaucratic assholes.
• If you're the AI, unless you see blood, you have no reason to assume anyone is being harmed. Follow your laws normally. If it still annoys you, you can nag the predator if the prey hasn't been scanned and call it accident prevention.

This should be painfully obvious, but just in case it isn't, if you are OOCly not enjoying the scene, and it involves ERP, then you should say something in LOOC and ask it to stop. If that fails, call an admin. This is a situation where OOC rules have been broken and admins should be alerted--not have some security officer play backseat admin for you.

As a recap: Security is absolutely allowed to intervene in unwilling scenes. If the victim is calling for help, no matter where in the station it's happening, including private dorms, Security can interfere. If the prey isn't asking for help, don't fuck with the scene. It's that simple.

If you stumble on an unwilling scene by accident, even if it's in public, it's fair to assume that usually the scene would be brief before the victim is inside of the predator. If you bump into such a scene by accident right in the middle of someone being swallowed, and ICly want to interfere, then at least state your intentions in local OOC, and give the predator and prey a reasonable amount of time to finish this part of the scene before you interfere. This can usually be done in a few posts of roleplaying the action of swallowing. The moment the predator finishes their meal, you're green light to interfere and call for backup maybe. Continue roleplaying as normal. The predator is not allowed to demand you ignore the scene entirely unless it's happening in dorms. Predators have to accept the fact that sometimes they will get caught, and will be protected less by the rules proportionate to how public their scene is. Predators who want complete immunity to any consequences when eating people should just roleplay in a chat room instead of a game. Time dilation is difficult to moderate in the context of a game, and it's better for all parties if time dilation is just disregarded. If you get caught in a public scene, and it can't be wrapped up in 10-20 posts each, then you're probably taking too long, and are more likely to get caught. Predators are more interesting to play with when they take steps to prevent unwilling prey from being noticed.

Remember, if you OOCly don't want the scene at all, you should say something in local OOC. That is covered by common sense rules.

This is all further elaborated upon in the Guide to Vore.

Don't mess with disconnected or AFK players

Short version: If they're offline, don't dick around with them until they log back in unless it's too urgent to wait. Exceptions can be made if their OOC notes say it's fine to do certain stuff to them while AFK.

Under normal circumstances, do not harm, vore, or otherwise inconvenience a character whose player is AFK or disconnected entirely. There are some exceptions to this rule and here's what they are. If you cannot find your exception here, don't mess with them.

• If they've disconnected more than 10 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 (or don't, and risk trouble with security).
• If they 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 like to put notes in their flavortext to indicate 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 will bypass this rule, such as taking the Captain's ID to call the shuttle because the supermatter exploded while the Captain was offline.
• When it comes to vore, this also applies to the dead or abandoned bodies of player characters. If the person you're eating is or was someone's character, OOC consent is required to eat them.

Experience is required for any head positions

Short version: Don't take a head job if you don't know how to do it. Unwillingness to teach subordinates is also considered breaking this rule.

If you demonstrate you lack at least a reasonable amount of experience, such as a Chief Engineer unable to start the engine, or a CMO unable to do surgery, you will be job banned from the position until you gain that experience.

The higher up the chain of command, the more scrutiny you will get. Therefore, Station Administrator is the easiest to get job banned from. So do your job well, or play another job. Don't take a job just for the access it grants. Furthermore, new players expect you to be able to be able to teach them how to use the game. If you just yell at them "CHECK THE WIKI" or worse, act hostile toward them, you will be banned from the job and possibly the whole server for at least a few days.

Non-believable characters and fan characters are not allowed without approval from admins

Short version: No fan characters, no psychos, no dumb criminals, no pranksters who start shit literally every round, no magic powers, no elite military training, etc. Don't make obnoxious snowflake Mary Sue characters. Also don't murder the assistant who threw a banana peel at you or do other excessively violent retaliations.

This is to prevent any time your character / the actions of your character make absolutely no sense in the context of the current situation. This can range from having magic powers to fearlessly charging into a battle you didn't need to fight armed with a kitchen knife when everyone else brought mechs. This rule includes 'fan characters'. Do not play characters from other published fiction that you yourself did not create. Only play characters you own, or created.

In a related matter, the phrase "It's what my character would do!" isn't a viable excuse to avoid punishment if you're constantly getting into trouble with security or otherwise being a constant twat. Maybe it's what your character would do, but you know what CentCom will do? Fire you. Eventually CentCom is going to decide you're a liability. That means you will get barred from using the character, and even banned from the server if you ignore this rule with multiple characters. Avoid characters who are suicidal, violent, the not-funny kind of incredibly stupid, or criminals who keep getting caught (meaning everyone knows you did it, not necessarily that you got jailed for it). CentCom wouldn't allow these kinds of people aboard the station. Avoid doing things that would get you very quickly fired, because if you don't have a good reason for your actions ICly, it's liable to get you banned. Even if you do have a good reason, then you have to avoid getting caught.

If you're smart/clever enough to make a character who can do naughty things without getting caught, then this rule doesn't really apply to you. Just don't break the station. Or the people on the station. The rules don't say you can't be a troublemaker. Crimes on the workplace are very believable and common in real life; especially stealing. If you get caught though, you're going to get in trouble. So don't get caught! Or at least put good effort into not getting caught.

"But people eat other people on this station! How is that believable?!" Because it's normal on this station. How is Bluespace believable? Because suspension of disbelief, smartass.

Powergaming also falls under this rule. Nanobots, super strength, special powers, magic, having no fear of injury or death (unless it's willing vore obviously), none of this is allowed. Admins sometimes make exceptions for events, but that's about it. As a general rule of thumb; if you can't reasonably emulate what you're trying to do with the game's mechanics, you probably aren't allowed to do it as a character.

Lunatic characters are also covered by this rule. If you're going to play a nutjob, at least don't play a violently psychotic nutjob. Threatening to murder crew or harm other characters, or damage the station for no good reason other than "lol I'm crazy" all fall under this rule. You're not going to stab someone's eyeballs out over spilling your drink unless there was a lot of crazy buildup to it.

Bizarre names are also not allowed unless they have some backstory to go with them. Pun names are fine depending on the gimmick of your character, but a name like 'Cyber Sun' or 'Napalm Burns' or 'Dark Shadow' are really not good names and an admin might ask you to change them. If it sounds more like an edgy screen name than something you'd name your child, it's probably a shitty name.

For more information check out Character Creation.

Don't hog job slots (suicide / AFK forever)!

Short version: Don't commit suicide. People fucking hate that. Also don't drop SSD for the entire round as anything beside an assistant.

Players who suicide for stupid reasons, abuse the ghost function for stupid reasons, or disconnect/AFK and never come back, are breaking this rule. If job slots fill up, and we find multiple people AFK while others want to use that job, we're going to hand out job bans. Any player found offline or idle for more than 120 minutes when slots are full may be job banned as a result. Suicidal players are usually server banned, because no one wants to fucking hear how depressed your character is while being an attention whore. A lot of us got enough problems in real life, and some of us have actually had real world experiences with loved ones and suicide, or sometimes our own selves. Someone making a mockery of it is just a dick move to these people.

If you're getting off and don't plan on coming back at least put yourself into a cryopod, the residential elevator, or the teleporter to leave the station. If you have to leave urgently and cannot make it to a cryopod, at least say so in global OOC asking someone to stuff you in cryo, and try to PM an admin. That way if you do get job banned anyway, you can at least prove you made the effort to prevent this rule from being broken and the matter was not in your control. Shit happens, and that's ok.

If you stumble on a player who has been disconnected longer than 30 minutes, try to help them out by shoving them into cryo.

Note that Assistants who AFK forever are exempt from this rule because they have no limit to job slots. Suicidal assistants still get punished.

Don't backseat admin

Short version: If you think they're doing something worth calling an admin over, then call an admin. Don't beat around the bush by trying to use it as leverage against them. That does nothing but stir up unnecessary bullshit and drama. Trying to control players with threats of calling the admins is also punished harshly, even when you are right about it.

Forming an angry mob to kill suspected griefers also counts as this. Obviously if you just watched a dude kill Ian, that's IC justification to go lynch them, but don't go murder some assistant because you think he is part of a raid attempt, or don't jail a player because you think he's ban evading, etc. Even when you decide to go punch an unconscious character because you know the player just got banned, don't be surprised if an admin mistakes you for being part of their troublemaking and ends up banning you too. All the admins see are more attack logs and you beating up a player who isn't logged in anymore, which breaks at least a couple of rules.

Saying "I don't know if that is allowed" or "I think that is against the rules" doesn't count toward breaking this rule. That's just you trying to be informative. This rule is only for abusing the rules to manipulate players, or to try enforcing rules by telling everyone to bully them or killing them or ranting in OOC "YOU BROKE THE RULES!"

Forcing unsolicited opinion into player-admin discussions where you're not involved is also considered backseat admining. If a player is being warned/punished for rulebreaking, we don't want you jumping in to try to defend them. Unless you were directly involved, you likely don't have enough of the full story. Doing this usually just makes the problem worse because all parties involved get confused. Just don't do it. We're sorry your buddy got banned, but there was probably a reason. If you disagree, encourage your buddy to appeal. The admins may have fucked up. It's rare, but it happens.

Don't abuse the 'Vote' function

Players are allowed to call votes for shift end or server restart under the following circumstances:

• The station was griefed/glitched badly enough that the server can't be played, and no admins can be called online to fix it. (Try calling us first via Discord please so we can investigate suspected griefing.)
• It's the middle of the shift (1 hour after start/before ending) and there's less than 10 players online. This usually means the server is in or at the end of its lowest population time between the hours of 2AM and 9AM EST.

Otherwise, please do not abuse the vote function. Players are often unprepared for a restart vote in the middle of the shift, which can create unfair results. Admins may cancel votes at their discretion.

Don't abuse the 'Ghost' function

Don't ghost out of your body without already being dead or being in cryosleep.

If you're in the process of dying but want to get it over with, type 'succumb' into the chat box. If you're actually dying, it'll finish you off. Abuse of the ghost function will result in job bans.

Don't abuse the OOC channel

Short version: The global OOC channel is not for idle off topic banter. If a conversation goes on longer than 10 lines, move it somewhere else, like Discord, or local OOC.

Global OOC is for things like...

• "Hey, I was typing and so-and-so ran off. Can so-and-so come back?"
• "Be right back." / "I'm back."
• "Is this machine supposed to do this? This seems like a bug to me."
• "Anyone interested in doing a foodplay scene with a hungry Unathi? ;)"

For idle banter and joking and memes, use the chatroom or LOOC and not global OOC. For serious discussions that you want input on, ask the forums. For anything that seems broken or could use improvement, use Github. For any problems you have with other players, use adminhelp or contact an admin through the forum PM system.

Telling someone to mute their OOC is not a valid excuse and you will more likely be punished for being inconsiderate if you tell people to mute OOC so you can spam the OOC chat with memes.

Don't abuse the Respawn function

Short version: If you die, or want to change jobs, don't use respawn unless there's absolutely no other way (without calling an admin) that you could come back.

It is okay* to use respawn if you've been dead for a decently long time and you're not likely to get cloned on-station because you're body is in fuck-knows-where space, or you had no scan, or the cloning department exploded, etc. The understanding is that ICly you were cloned off-station. It's recommended that you have a fluff reason (such as a Kitsuhana Life Crystal) to inform central that you require a clone if you're going to be doing this a lot. It is also okay to hit cryo and respawn if you hit the wrong job button when you join - feel free to inform the other players OOCly that they should just disregard the arrival announcement.

However,

• It is NOT okay to just ghost out and respawn in a different job without cryoing. Ever. That already breaks the rule about abusing the 'Ghost' function.
• It is NOT okay to use cryo/respawn as a ghetto job change an hour into the shift because you suddenly want a job change and can't be bothered asking the HoP/Director, even though we have one.
• It is NOT okay to change jobs because the captain just cryo'd and you want to outrank your former boss to get back at them.

That sort of thing. It should be common sense.

*If you do die on-station and you want to respawn instead of being cloned, it's preferred you play another character for the rest of the shift, but this is not required as part of this rule. You can play as the same character if you want if you've been dead at least 10 minutes and no one has noticed. Remember that if you do have a clonescan, but no one noticed yet, you are allowed to metagame with a doctor just to ask in LOOC if they can clone you while you are a ghost.

Admins should avoid OOCly handling issues they are ICly involved in

Short version: Read the long version you lazy admin shits. :U

In the case of a disagreement with another player over OOC wrongdoing over an IC incident they were involved in, unless the admin is the only one currently in-game on the server, the admin should immediately contact another admin to come oversee the situation, so that it can be discussed without bias. The new admin should treat the other admin and the player as if they were normal players. Any rulebreaking should be dealt with as usual, up to and including punishing the admin if necessary. In such cases where rulebreaking is found on behalf of the admin, a superior admin should be contacted immediately for handing down punishment, as equal rank admins cannot ban one-another due to serious problems that might cause. The head admin should also be informed of the situation and its outcome any time an admin has broken rules.

Here's an example of this scenario: An admin is playing John Doe. John Doe is beaten into crit by a rogue security officer Marty Stu, whom the admin believes to be randomly attacking people for no reason. However, the player behind Marty Stu believes he has good reason to attack John Doe. John Doe's player, who is an admin, disagrees. For whatever reason, the admin player of John Doe believes that Marty Stu's player should be punished for his/her actions.

If another admin is not in-game at the moment, then this rule can be ignored. You're not expected to wait until another admin logs in if there just isn't a second one already on.

Admins may act based on their judgement, even if it's not explicitly in the rules

Short version: Just because something isn't written down doesn't mean "it's allowed" or "it's okay" if it ends up disrupting RP for other people on the station. Admins can, and will, act on their judgement, even when it would normally ignore or even break some rules. However they should do so extremely sparingly, and only in the most dire situations.

This list of above rules is just all the stuff we could think of. We'd never be able to list every rule and exception to the rule, so we rely on the players to use some common sense. If you don't like an admin's orders, comply for the time being and contact another admin as soon as possible for a second opinion. Admins are also at liberty to judge what is an "overpowered" character. If it results in a ban, you can always appeal.

It's not impossible that the admin was being unfair. If you ever feel you have been punished excessively or incorrectly, do not hesitate to leave an appeal.

If you feel like anyone is being abusive, please speak up privately so the community can be a better place

Try telling the offending individual first, or tell (other) admins if you don't feel comfortable telling the offending individual directly. In both cases, do it privately. Yelling over global OOC will probably get you banned and then further embarrassed when you find out you didn't know the full story behind the other party's actions.

For example, if it's Ace you have a problem with, and you're not comfortable speaking to him directly about what you're upset about, you can contact another administrator like Joan or Ultimated or whoever else to get your point across. Just because he's in charge doesn't mean he's deaf to the good advice of his subordinates.

For everyone else, follow the directions in this forum post.

Although you can't get banned for not speaking up at all, you're only hurting yourself and the community by not speaking up when you feel you have been wronged. The worst thing that can happen is your opponent disagrees. Otherwise, people generally aren't assholes for no reason. Be respectful of each other, and criticize each other when valid. The only way Vorestation will die as a community is when people stop doing this.