POSTING

Character Creation • Character Combat • Player Conduct

1. Posting Format and Requirements

In-character posts to the XPG site should be composed in third-person, past-tense format. We have found that this is the most readable format when dealing with such a large number of player characters. You should write: "Don walked outside, inhaling the cool night air deeply into his lungs as he pondered the events of the party he was at.", as opposed to "I walk down to the corner store, craving the delicious taste of Mrs. Smith's Fudge Chunk cookies and cold beer."

Posts should be a minimum of 100 words. One line posts will be edited or deleted by site staff. One word posts will result in disciplinary action against a player.

2. Definition of and Rules on Assumptive Posting

Assumptive posting is when a player posts another character or NPC. You may not create dialogue or actions for other player characters or non-player characters. That is the domain of the storytellers and the other players. You may, for example, write that you are attempting to hit someone, but you may not write the actual contact. It is up to the recipient of the punch to make that choice. After all, you may be Baron Von Badass, but Pepe the One-Legged Orphan Boy might slip and fall just in time to avoid your patented Barrel-Roll Orphan Eviscerating Attack.

For another example, say you were trying to sneak past security. You may write that you are attempting to sneak by. You may even mention that you step on a twig and make noise or that you are being exceptionally quiet. You may not, however, assume that the guards don't see you (or do see you, for that matter), even if your mutant power is sneaking past guards. That is the decision of the person controlling the guards.

We realize that this is a gray-area rule and that sometimes it may be difficult to conform to. Basic guidelines to keep in mind when posting are:

a) Will this cause bodily harm to the character I'm doing it to? If the answer is no, you can probably do it without repercussions. You may assume slipping and catching onto another character to regain your balance, or using your mutant power if its, say, causing flowers to grow harmlessly in place of someone's hair. You may not assume kicking someone in the junk or using your skin-melt-off-the-bone mutant ability.

b). Will this unbalance the story? If what you're about to write has the potential to derail the plot, you should leave the outcome open so a storyteller can work with it. Do not automatically assume that you cut the correct wire and diffuse the time bomb strapped to Professor X's chair.

c) Most importantly, is this realistic? Would your arch-rival suddenly offer you his hand as you clung for life to a cliff ledge? Would your wind gust power really blow away the rush-hour traffic? Would the prom queen really give you the time of day? Would security really let you pass unmolested if you were twelve feet tall with fangs?

When using another character not played by yourself in a post, it is, as a general rule, necessary to get permission from that character's player first, either by sending a draft copy of your post or clearing it with them via IM or the like; in either case, it is necessary to put OOC mention of such into your post. Occasionally it will be acceptable to make a reply for a character who doesn't post for several days, such as in simple yes/no questions, but again this should be avoided without consent or, failing to get that, consulting a Moderator or Assistant/ST. Please try fielding questions of this nature to a moderator or assistant ST before asking James, as he's a busy guy.

Violations of this rule will be handled according to the severity of the infraction, ranging from edits or deletion to suspension (or banning in the case of repeated severe offenses). Everyone gets one warning. When in doubt, ask.

3. Player Character Acknowledgement vs. Creating NPC Characters

If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you must create a character to fulfill a certain need, take a second to consider whether or not a character already exists that can fulfill it. For example, if you find yourself needing a lock picked, don't create Jimmy the Shiftless Thief. Turn to Gambit, the resident ex-crook. If you want to learn to play the guitar, don't go into the city for lessons. Turn to one of the student guitar players for assistance. Not only does this help us avoid amassing a huge back-catalogue of NPCs, but it also creates a good sense of community and role play. After all, how well would you like it if someone desperately wanting to know if treasure was buried in the backyard went to the huge expense of hiring an excavation team when your mutant power was X-Ray vision or metal detection? Don't ignore or avoid other characters!

If you do still feel the need to create a character, please keep in mind that you may not create mutants, especially students or villains! That is the domain of the site staff. If your need can only be met by a mutant that is not in existence, please ask a storyteller or a mod for permission. Having other mutants in your character history is fine, but don't assume you can bring them into the active story line.

4. In-Character Comments/Reprimands as Opposed to OOC Comments/Reprimands

Occasionally, your character will make a mistake in the context of something occurring in-game, as will those of other players and Mods/ST's (we are, after all, normal humans too). It happens. Should your character, for example, be a student and try accessing the restricted sub-level of the Mansion, they may well be headed off or otherwise caught and get a talking to from say Jean Grey or Cyclops, or even get a detention or have to write lines. Alternately, your character may decide to go have breakfast in the cafeteria, only to find out that it's actually lunchtime when they are laughed at for being in pajamas or by another character's snide comments. This should not, in any way, be construed as one player attacking or otherwise picking on you, but rather, an unobtrusive manner of making sure that the storyline maintains cohesiveness.

OOC comments, such as “Boy, I really liked that post", or “Look out now, here comes trouble" made by players are not only acceptable, but encouraged, provided they are done following a post in the OOC section; less so if they are posted solely as an OOC post to a thread, as it could be better handled in an OOC box following an IC post, but we won't kill you for it. OOC reprimands are another matter. An OOC reprimand will occur if you as a player disobey any of the site rules as defined here or by the laws of common courtesy. Please familiarize yourself with the rules now to avoid any unintentional infractions. Depending on the severity of the offense, a player reprimand may be handled by methods ranging from post editing or deletion to account suspension or erasure. We would like to take this chance to reiterate that player harassment will not be tolerated by XPG or its staff. If you as a player have a grievance with another player, be it role play style, perceived slight, or harassment, please take it up with a moderator or a story teller who will then take appropriate action. Do not address the issue via OOC posts on the site as this might be construed as player harassment.

5. Suggestions for Better Posting, for Your Enjoyment and that of Others

Part of the enjoyment in playing an online RPG is the opportunity to read the work of many talented writers. We certainly don't want to place restrictions on your own unique style of writing, but we do make the following requests of our members in order to keep submissions legible and enjoyable:

Try to type up your posts in an offline-type word processing program. Not only does this free you up to hit Refresh every once in a while to see if new posts have come up while you're typing, but, if you feel you have problems spelling, you can run spellchecker to make all of your words clear. Spell check is a gift from the heavens. Use it. We understand the occasional typo, but its very frustrating to read a post riddled with errors. Likewise, if you're looking for a word and you just can't come up with one, a thesaurus/dictionary is a great way of both finding new descriptives and broadening your personal vocabulary. Avoid using Lamer and Leet speak in your compositions. Authors do not say, "ur" for "your" or "lol" for "laughs out loud. Please use punctuation and capitalization. Commas and periods are your friends. They let us know when we can breathe.

Remember to separate your paragraphs, and don't write disconnected ideas down and attempt to put them together in paragraph form. Feel free to get into detail about your character's surroundings, feelings, clothes, or what have you; descriptive detail never hurt nobody except Lenny Bruce. It's easier to take your time the first time and produce a beautiful post than to rush yourself and come out with something that may need editing for clarity... after all, this game's more of a marathon than a sprint.

Don't include more of another person's post than your own writing in your own composition. It's acceptable to cut and past another character's actions or quotes into your writing, especially to clarify what you're reacting to. Just make sure you only include what's necessary; the entire previous thread is not necessary.

Familiarize yourself with the events in a thread before posting. Don't go in and post blindly. Read everything that's happened in a thread before posting something new. This helps you avoid disturbing the plot or ignoring an action or comment directed at you.

Try your best to remember to keep knowledge you have about the game and matters separate from what your character's knowledge of such would be. Often-times these are two very different things. For example, I may play a character that's good at math, but I certainly don't know a thing about it myself. Conversely, I'm an awesome speller with pretty good diction, but that doesn't mean my character necessarily does. Avoid giving your character knowledge of things that s/he wouldn't reasonably know or using exceptional means for getting that knowledge to your character. Other players can, will, and probably should take exception to this, and I can assure you that the ST's definitely will and will eventually mention it to you. Instead, role-play the situation and ask questions that your character in his/her position would reasonably ask, then wait for the answer. It may not be what you, or your character, expect to hear.

And finally, have fun with your character. While it's always nice to push yourself and explore subjects you may not know of or understand, don't get your character into any type of RP situation that might make you feel uncomfortable solely because you think it'd make for better RP. One of the primary foundations of XPG is respect and good-natured fun, and to undermine this would be to do a disservice to everyone involved.

Character Creation • Character Combat • Player Conduct

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