Acceptable Use Policy

From The Yuriban Encyclopedia

Policies

We've got some policies that are given here in order to make sure that everyone's aware of them. These aren't exhaustive, but cover some common and important ground.

Acceptable Use

The MUSH has the following acceptable use policies. Violating these policies makes a player a good candidate for the sanctions listed at the bottom of this page. The admin are the final arbiters of what's a violation. Play nice. :)

Badnesses:

Intentionally trying to damage the MUSH database, server, or site will result in @nuking, site-banning, and contacting your sysadmin.
Lying to an admin
Subverting any MUSHcoded system
OOC harassment
Unwelcome public profanity
Spoofing another player

The admins think that the AUP is clear enough for players of good faith, and broad enough to give the admin leeway in dealing with players of bad faith. But here are a few clarifying notes:

This is just a game. Play by the rules or find a game that has rules you like better.
The admin write and interpret these policies, and they are not subject to debate. Appeals should be directed to Yuriko.
We consider an act 'unwelcome' if we don't welcome it, or if other players of good faith are offended or distressed by it.
A nice guideline is Don't Be A TinyJerk by Claire Benedikt.

Harassment

The admins decide what constitutes harassment, in the interest of a pleasant game for everyone. The following are some guidelines, but NOT a complete list:

Any insult that's directed at a demographic group (ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.) is harassment.
Page-bombing, threats, insulting use of profanity and not leaving someone alone after they ask you to quit paging them or to leave their rooms is harassment.
While Shoujo-Ai MUSH considers itself a "community of players" a very neighborly community, often leaving our front doors unlocked as a gesture of friendliness (like in Mayberry, RFD), that doesn't necessarily mean that we want folks barging in all the time (like Kramer on Seinfeld). You never know what you might be interrupting. So be careful to ask before entering. Entering private areas after being asked to stay out, or @tel'ing randomly into private areas, is harassment.
Do not ask admin for further clarification or examples of this policy. If you're really unsure, talk to Yuriko. Test the waters at your own risk.

If you receive unwanted pages or @mails, it is appropriate to either ignore the communications completely or to make a single request that the offender stop trying to contact you. You can also use the 'ignore' command to block messages from the offender; see '+help ignore' for details.

Please realize that if you continue to participate in an inflammatory interaction with the player you feel is harassing you, you may be viewed as equally harassing them.

Objects

Don't go around peoples' areas and taking anything that you can pick up. Also, don't leave your own objects in public areas when you log off.

Character Names

Your name should probably not have numbers or special characters (other than - or _) in it, and be seen as reasonable in a roleplaying environment. You can change your name by typing '@name me=newname'.

Race, Magical Powers, Genitalia

If you wish to play a character who is non-human or has any powers exceeding human limits, you will need to request approval from a staff member while still in the newbie room. Ease of approval for the rest is typically dependent on, and directly inverse to, how counter-theme the character and abilities are to the theme of the MUSH.

Male characters, and any characters with male genitalia are expressly forbidden. Male characters irreversably and permanently turned female via Jusenkyou are not subject to this policy. Male characters already presently created and approved at this time are protected under a grandfather clause, as of 21:25 UTC, July 26th, 2008.

Dress

In general, nudity is tolerated around the village, and completely acceptable in the Hot Springs area. However, those with non-female genitalia should not be nude in public (male locker rooms are an exception). Yuriba is an environment for female-female interaction, and some women are upset by male nudity. Also, it is expected that you should have at least one clothed description, in case someone asks you to get dressed.

While in public, any nudity should be of non-sexual description, except in areas that allow sexual activities (see below). Please avoid mention of conditions that portray arousal, or excessive detail. Your description, and non-DARK items you are carrying should not have significant societal connotation towards non-normal sexuality (e.g. no bondage collars) if you are in public. What you do in your own home is fine, but it should not be publicly clear to others.

Guide to Setting Multiple Descriptions

Sexual Activity

Yuriba is a relatively open environment sexually. For example, it is considered perfectly normal to see female-female displays of affection or even sex in the Hot Springs area or in the Tree House, for those inclined to participate in public. Most other areas may be used for that purpose, but you should stop if asked to do so by anyone. Sexual activities should NOT be performed in the Starting Hut, Village Square, or any of the roads. Public acts should be of the 'vanilla' variety, and should not involve characters under the physical age of 13. If you wish to perform or make reference to anal sex, watersports, bondage etc., please do so in a private area. Sexual contact that is not female-female is restricted to private areas.

Public vs. Private

An area that most players can reach by walking through exits from the Starting Hut is considered public. All other areas are considered private. For example:

An area whose entrance is @locked is private.
An area accessible only through a portal or via @tel is private.
An unlocked bedroom in a residence linked to the village is public, so lock your doors if you wish to engage in non-vanilla sex.

Public areas are considered public even if no one else is there, because someone could walk in at any time. Also be aware that objects in the room may be puppets that log or relay everything they hear.

Roleplay

First off, it should be noted that this is not a 100% RP (Roleplaying) MUSH. Some people just come here to socialize. Thus, it's usually a good idea when roleplaying about potentially controversial issues to let all of your RP partners know that this is just RP, and allow them the option of not including themselves. Issues that might upset people often include infidelity, fighting, abuse, etc. You're still allowed to RP these things, of course. We just expect you to make sure you're not upsetting anyone OOCly when you do so. In general, please be responsible and mature with your RPing; this includes letting your roleplay partners know OOCly when you are uncomfortable with a situation.

This leads into the most important and primary rule involving roleplay, namely that you should not engage in RP that is non-consensual. This means, in short that your poses (and descriptions) should not assume how other people respond to you or your actions. Instead of saying 'Mary_Sue runs up to Betty and takes her purse, running away before she can be caught.', go for something like 'Mary_Sue runs up to Betty and tries to grab her purse off her shoulder and keep going.' This lets the other player decide for themselves how their character would respond to the situation. Not doing this and writing actions like the first is called "powerposing" and could be grounds for sanctions in extreme cases. Situations can be powerposing or non-consensual RP without assuming another character's actions. RPing that your character is wearing a belt of dynamite and threatening to blow themselves up is a good example of this. It is possible to also communicate with another player OOCly or via the page command to okay an apparently powerposed action; however, you should be very careful doing this in public as others in the area may not be aware it was worked out ahead of time and think you're breaking rules.

Yuriba is intended to be a peaceful and relaxing place for residents and tourists alike. Because of this, violent roleplay (IE: physical aggression like pushing, shoving, kicking, etc., outright combat, or other such acts) is strictly prohibited on the grid. The staff are not intending this to be Pleasantville; verbal and emotional conflict and downright rudeness are still permissible. However the second things degenerate into a physical conflict, there can and usually will be consequences. The threat and action of violence almost invariably count as non-consensual RP; others have little or no choice but to react. Because of this, the player, as well as the character, often feel like they are being forced into doing something against their will. Consequentially, physical violence or the threat of it on grid will be responded to with sanctions.

If you absolutely must engage in physical combat-based roleplay, then you should follow the same rules that have been laid down for non-vanilla sexual activity. It is to be kept off the grid and done in private areas. (See 'Public vs. Private' above for what constitutes a private area).

Database

To keep the database size manageable and good character names available,

Players may be purged if they are inactive for more than 6 months. Players who do not have a description or other attributes on set on themselves and do not own any items may be purged after 7 days of inactivity. Players who are @set ON-VACATION may be purged after 10 months of inactivity.
When players are purged, anything they own may be nuked or chowned to the MUSH (if it's publicly useful).
We use building quotas to limit the number of objects a player can create. If you need an increase in building quota to create something that will be useful to the MUSH, speak to an admin. Excessive quota sharing between your own characters is discouraged.
No more than 5 characters per IP. If you already have 5 characters and want to make another one, please recycle one of your existing characters instead. Also, so that others have more of a chance to play as their favorite anime characters, no more than 2 of your characters can be a character from an anime/manga/game series.
To mark one of your existing characters for deletion, you must destroy all its objects and delete all its attributes by typing the following commands. Do not do this unless you are absolutely sure about deleting your character and its possessions, as it is not reversible!

   @link me=#0
   @dolist lsearch(me)=@set ##=!safe; @nuke ##
   @wipe me

Then, don't login to the character for a week, and it will be automatically deleted.

Guest Accounts

Guest accounts can be used for any purpose by players who have not registered characters, other than to do things which violate the AUP such as malicious coding, spamming or harassment.

Guest accounts can be used at any time by registered players. However, this is discouraged unless there is a good reason for it. The principle good reasons for a registered player to use the guest account are to contact staff if you're having difficulty accessing a character you've created or to test code. Discouraged reasons for a registered player to use the guest account are using the guest account to check who's logged on, or the last date someone logged on (this can be achieved by using the interactive query page and/or typing WHO at the login screen), using the guest account to roleplay, or pretending to be a legitimate guest.

Sanctions

These are the general sanctions to which a player who violates the acceptable use policy above is subject:

Verbal warnings from a staff member for minor issues.
A written warning from the staff for major, or repeated minor, problems.
Temporary jailtime (anywhere from a few day to a few weeks, depending).
Permanant imprisonment of a character or characters unable to learn their lesson from the above.
@sitelock is the last resort for players unable to play nice. Players may petition Yuriko at israphel@gmail.com to be reinstated, though if you've reached this point, such is unlikely. Evading a sitelock through changing service providers or anonymous proxy is grounds for immediate reinstatement of a sitelock upon admin confirmation.

Other sanctions are also possible, depending on the circumstances.

Leaving the Newbie Room

New players who have read these policies and agree to abide them can leave the Newbie Room by typing:

agree to policies

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