// ANNOUNCEMENTS_

[eluviomods]

// ANNOUNCEMENTS_ ➣ Applications We've been giving out a number of revisions due to players linking their character's abilities and powers instead of writing them out. We want to remind everyone that we do not accept Wiki links to powers as an explanation of what your character can do. Please be sure that you're writing out your character's abilities on your application! You must write out all of the abilities you want to bring to the game. These abilities need to be explained in a way that would be applicable in a real world scenario. For example, there are no hit points in Eluvio. If your character has a restorative ability that allows them to regain a specific number of hit points in battle, you'll have to translate that into something that makes sense outside of a role-playing game. (For instance: after fighting too long in battle Flower Man needs to take a break to chew on a piece of bark to refresh himself and face a new foe!) If you link to a Wiki for your character's powers, that will be an automatic revision. Please be aware that what you list on your application is what your character will be able to do in the game. For example, if your character can control fire, summon rainbows, and shapeshift but you only list shapeshifting, that shapeshifting power will be the only one of those three abilities your character can do in the game. If you have a character from a currently producing canon, you are allowed to canon update with their new powers. This is just specifically to new characters being apped into the game! ➣ Character Ages A situation arose recently that gave us cause to review the age limits of characters in the game. After considerable discussion, we've decided that as of March's application round, characters under the age of 13 will not be permitted in this game. This is not a decision we made lightly, but one that we felt was necessary in order to preserve the comfort levels of everyone in the game. Simply put, due to the dark and often mature themes that will occur throughout the course of the game, we as mods don't feel comfortable having extremely young characters present. We do understand that there are exceptions to every rule. Some characters are thousands of years old yet have a younger appearance and some are young yet appear to be very old. Whether we allow characters of this nature will be determined on a case by case basis. We may also ask for an explanation of character suitability, regardless of the character's age, if information you provide or information we find on a character's Wiki pages suggest that the character might not be suitable for the game. This isn't a section we're including with the application as it will not apply to all characters, but we do want you to be aware that we may have to ask you for it. As we can't know every character that someone might want to app into the game, we didn't foresee that this might be a possibility. That error is ours and we apologize for any disappointment this decision might cause in the future. ➣ OCs Since the inception of the game, we've been in constant discussion about OCs and whether we'll be able to accommodate them. Now that the game has gotten bigger and we have a better idea of what to expect in running it, we have reached a decision on the subject. OCs will not be permitted. The reason for this remains the same as has been stated in the FAQ. In order to maintain fairness for all, included under the umbrella of OCs are true original characters, player created characters for MMO and tabletop RPGs, malleable protagonists with 50% or more of their history and personality comprised of headcanon, and extremely minor fictional characters who would need to be comprised of mostly headcanon due to their limited time in their respective canon. We know this decision may come as a disappointment for anyone who was hoping to bring an OC to the game and we are sorry for that! We want to treat all characters in the game as fairly as possible with respect to canon nods, surprises, and events and we hope that this decision will ensure that we are able to do so. ➣ Keeping Character Information Current We would like to remind all of our players that it's important to keep character information current and up to date on the Taken List and Player Locations page. It's the player's responsibility to ensure that this information is accurate. If your character has been living at a particular location, make sure that you update the page or claim the location. If this is not done, officially that location is available and others may claim it, use it in a plot, destroy it, or otherwise change it. In order to keep from having to retcon things later, please keep this information updated! ➣ Follow the rules Please remember to follow the rules of the game at all times. We expect players to keep their characters as IC as possible. That's not to say that characters can't change over the course of gameplay! It's normal for characters to experience changes as they encounter new situations, places, and people and we encourage that development to happen. However, we do expect that such growth and change will remain consistent with the character's canon personality, history, and experiences. We also expect players to maintain a firm line between IC play and OOC life and interactions. This is a role-playing game meant for fun and creative writing with fictional characters. It is not a forum to discuss or make statements about real world political or social issues and problems or a way to express OOC difficulties with another player by letting personal feelings bleed over into IC character interactions. At no time is it acceptable to alter or disregard canon in order to use your character as a vehicle for your personal views, opinions, and beliefs, regardless of the intention you might have in doing so. Bending or breaking canon to correspond with personal views will not be permitted. Players who break this rule will be given a strike. If the severity is great enough, they will be removed from the game. In order to prevent any confusion on this issue in the future, we will be updating the rules to reflect this clarification. ➣ Please note As a general rule, we do not discuss game business with people who are not part of the game. We are happy to answer questions from potential applicants that are relevant to applications, game mechanics, or characters they might play here, but we reserve discussions about anything pertaining to the running, playing, or maintenance of the game to those who are currently a part of it and are directly affected by any decisions that are made. In the same vein, we do not discuss mod rulings with anyone who is not directly involved in those rulings. Maintaining player confidence, whether current or past, is very important to us and we feel that discussing individual situations with uninvolved parties is a breach of that confidence. Please be aware that messaging us for information about confidential issues in which you are not directly involved will not be answered. Likewise, we will not be able to discuss administration of the game with individuals who are not a part of it. We hope you understand that none of these decisions were reached without long conversations between the mod team or without taking the spirit of the game and what we hope to accomplish with it into consideration. We want to make sure that the game runs as smoothly and fairly as possible for all. We thank you for taking the time to read through all of this and we will be here to respond to any questions you might have.