Forum Rules

Read these rules and live by them! They will be what will come between you and the admins!


FOR THE POTENTIAL NEW MEMBERS

1. Please read the rules (not too hard, you're already here!)

2. Please reserve your character in the Characters thread (located HERE). You can see which characters are taken, as well as reserve one while you work on an application. You should check back to this thread to see when your application is due. You will have 1 week to complete your application before it is considered dropped and your character up for grabs. If you want an extension, PM Kiku.

You can find the requirements for the application HERE.

3. After you reserve a character and are approved by the admin, you will have 1 week to complete your application. Your app should be posted in the PENDING APPLICATION section. Once you are either accepted or denied, the application will be moved to the appropriate thread.

4. Once you are approved, post in the Introductions thread to let us know more about you. After that, please take a walk around the worlds...see what interests you~

5. If you find a world you are interested in, post up a Character Profile in the Character Database (found in 'The Basics' subboard in each world). [NEW!] Please at least post the basics (like name and age and anything you can) before jumping into the RPs. If the plots are confusing, you have no ideas for your profile, or you just are plain new to RPing...jump into the alternate realms and start RPing there, or ask random people to RP with you. All of us love to RP and love to brainstorm, so let us work with you~!

GENERAL FORUM RULES

1. Do NOT start drama in this forum or in the chat. This forum is made for RPing, not for dating, fighting, or drama of any sort. The chat is made for general conversation and occasionally random RPs. If you have beef with another member, do NOT involve other members! Keep it between you, them, and/or an admin/mod if you cannot deal with the issues yourselves. If an admin finds that you are involving other people by telling them things that should not be told, then you will be warned. This is a drama free forum... unless it's in RP form. Which brings us to our second rule.

2. Do not mix OOC with IC. If you hate someone out of character, do not bash them in character, and if you hate someone in-character, do not bash them in real life. This is very important.

3. This is a MATURE forum! Although this is a mature forum you must mark all 18+ RPs with a warning.

4. Use correct grammar and punctuation. If English is not your first language, that is understandable. However, laziness is unacceptable. No one is perfect, but please try to check over your posts.

5. Please be active in this forum. We understand that real life is more important than roleplaying, but your account WILL be deleted if you do not respond to activity checks. These checks will happen only once a month, and you will have 1 week to respond. Failure to do so will get you warned, and if you do not respond to the warning your account will be deleted/character put up for grabs. The admin is the only person allowed to give exemptions. If you do not contact the admin (Kiku), you will be expected to follow the rules of the check.

Furthermore, you do need to be active in between the checks on the forum itself (this, being a RP forum, does in fact go without saying most of the time). While the board does not maintain a minimum post per week that you need to meet, we do expect you to post. If you are holding up RPs and plots or have not posted for a week, the Mods/Admin reserve the right to send you a PM to remind you to post, and/or to set a deadline for your next post before they put your character up for grabs again. Excused absences (e.g. absences for a week) do exempt you from the rule, but ONLY IF a mod or the admin have approved your absence. (See #6 under RPing for the Warning/Bans for inactivity)

[NEW] There are times in which extenuating circumstances will see you needing to take a long, extended leave of absence. These absences are subject to admin approval. While things (like medical leave, sudden death in the family, etc.) are things you cannot predict and may not be able to take an absence for, there is a point in which you must decide whether you can or cannot maintain activity with the RPs/plots and thus make a choice whether to continue or not.

There are also those of us who have school or work, which keeps us busy for a good part of the year. However, an absence extending beyond a week is, just as any other long absence, subject to admin approval. It is better to take a new absence each week you feel you will be too busy to post than to take a long absence with unclear dates. Absences of this length will be subject to admin approval, and if the admin feels you are abusing the absence system in any of the cases listed above, the admin reserves the right to issue warnings (see #6 under RPing for the Warning/Bans for inactivity) and if the case continues, to revoke your character, delete your account, and put your character up for grabs once more.

6. It is alright to question rules IF you are prepared to back up your complaints. Asking questions is the best way to figuring out why an admin/mod is telling you to do something. If you are only questioning the rules or the admins/mods because you do not like the admin and/or just want to be troublesome, you will be warned. If you do not stop, you will be suspended. If you want to question your suspension, you'll have to then e-mail Kiku (the admin) to talk about it.

7. In this forum, we do understand that real life drama happens and you may need to get some pent up feelings off your chest in the form of a nice, long rant. HOWEVER, if you feel the need to do so, please, as a common courtesy to people who may be RPing or chatting in the Group Chat, talk to someone that is willing to listen in a PRIVATE MESSAGE outside of the chat.

8. The Mods and Admin's decisions are final! This was something that went without saying, since the Mods/Admin are your authority figures here. If a Mod/Admin tells you not to do something, you are not to do it. However, if you feel you have been treated unfairly, you may bring up your concerns with another mod/the admin.

CHAT RULES

1. The Chat is not the place to RP private RPs! While you might be the only two people talking, other people might be there. Please take private RPing into private messages. Use the chat to just chat, or start random RPs that involve everyone who is there and interested. If any problems arise, contact Kiku via PM or e-mail.

2. Things Allowed in the Chat are as follows:
- Quick RPs (be sure to involve everyone)
- General chatting
- Plotting for future RPs
- Using brackets to indicate a short comment unrelated to the main topic of discussion.

Things Not Allowed in the Chat:
- Sexual or explicit content (that includes blood, gore, etc.)
- Insulting someone via swearing OOC (IC? It's gonna happen, but move it if someone complains)
- Using brackets to hold a long conversation unrelated to the main topic being discussed (i.e. planning)

3. The Chat Mod will issue a warning or a ban to rulebreakers. The Chat Mod is responsible for making sure that the rules of the chat are being followed by everyone. A warning will be issued for minor offenses, and a ban will be issued for either repeat offenders or a larger offense. The length of the ban depends on what you've done. If the Chat Mod isn't present, a PM containing a copy/pasted version of the chat log should be sent, and the Chat Mod will issue the warning/ban the next time the person is online.

The Chat Mod and Admin will discuss a course of action if someone continuously breaks the rules or is causing massive problems. Questions can be directed to either Gil (Chat Mod) or Kiku (Forum Admin).

4. The Chat Mods and Admin's decisions are final!If a Mod/Admin tells you not to do something, you are not to do it However, if you feel you have been treated unfairly, you may bring up your concerns with another mod/the admin.

RPing

1. Please label your threads. Please be sure to place warnings in your titles. All topics will only be visible to members, but warnings should be placed just as a courtesy to others who are not interested in reading more explicit material. Please label your RPs as Open if everyone is allowed to join. If your RP is a closed/private RP, please specify who is in the RP. This is both for organization AND for the ease of finding other peoples' RPs that might later affect your own plots. If you do not remember to do it, a mod might ask you to edit or might edit it. You may do this within your first post, if you do not wish to stretch the title, but you must specify it somewhere.

2. Use brackets if you are going to break character, unless you are in the OOC section. Try to keep OOC comments in the RPs relevant to the RP, such as translations or comments on an action. If you want to have a discussion OOC, please do so in the appropriate thread.

3. Roleplay in paragraph form in threads. If you are posting a chat log, you do not have to convert it. However, if you continue the RP from the chat log on the forum, you will be expected to continue in paragraphs. Try to give your posts a decent length (they do not have to be novels, but try to avoid only one or two sentence posts). This is a literate forum, and the more you write the more your RP groups will have to respond to.

4. Try to keep the majority of the RPing done on the forum, but most importantly RPing for plots! We all live in different timezones and this allows us to better keep up with the plots and involve as many people as we can.

5: A quick rule about Nyo/Genderbent nations. While we do not accept genderswapped nation applications to the forum, occasionally a RPer will have the desire to play as one. Nyo profiles include either fully genderbent nations or nations planning on genderbending in their plots (themselves, not someone else). For every 3 canon gendered profiles, you are allowed 1 nyo/genderswapped AU profile. The creation of these profiles is completely up to the individual RPers (no one is required to do it). Please note that not all RPers will be comfortable playing with Nyo nations, therefore, you will want to ask the people you intend to RP with if they are okay with it. Please respect everyone, regardless of their decision.

6. Please respond in a timely fashion to your posts. If you are not responding to your posts on the forum, or you are not responding to your posts but you are RPing in the chat, the mods and admin reserve the right to warn you, or impose a ban until a post is made on the board.

WARNING SYSTEM
- 1st time: Warning - A reminder by a mod or an admin to post in your threads on the forum. This will be done in the chat or through PM
- 2nd time: Warning - An aside conversation, to make sure there aren't any issues preventing you from posting on the forum. You will be told it's your 2nd warning also.
- 3rd time: Ban - A temporary, predetermined ban from the chat until a predetermined number of posts or AU profiles are up. Notify the mod or admin who imposed the ban once you've completed your posts/profiles and the ban will be lifted.

After the temporary ban, if you still fail to post or meet the requirements, the mods and admin reserve the right to revoke the rights to your character, delete your account, and put your character up for grabs. If you are playing 2 characters, the character you most recently applied for OR the character that is least active will be the one that will be deleted/revoked.

SECOND CHARACTERS

1. If you have been active and with the admin's permission, you may apply for a second character. You will need to keep this character active in the plot threads, just like your first. This character must follow all of the same rules as your first. Failure to do so will lose you the right to have a second character and the character will be deleted/put up for grabs once more.

ANYTHING ELSE: And just to make sure you read the rules, say something about your favorite color in your application in the "Anything Else?" portion along with any additional comments you want to put.

QUESTIONS: Post in the FAQ section or PM Kiku (aka, the admin) for help~

The admin/mods reserve the right to edit these rules at any time, should the situation arise for editing or the need for more specific rules.

ABOUT The Worlds' Collide
(Some extra information, for your reading pleasure~)

The Worlds' Collide is comprised of two entities. The first is this forum, and the second is the chat. Both are currently run by Kiku and Gilbert, who act as the admin of the forum and moderator of the forum/chat, respectively. They are the two most reliable sources if you have questions, problems, or concerns, but any of the long-time members of the forum/chat are also very helpful.

The forum is where most of the RPing, plotting, and things you will need to know will occur. Sometimes abbreviated TWC, the forum is comprised of Alternate Universes, or AUs. Each AU has its own setting, plot-line, and premise that is unique from the others. The AUs are not necessarily historical AUs, because the focus is on the characters as humans interacting in various settings, not as them representing their nations.

Non-plot related RPs can also occur. These RPs take the information from the Character Profiles, but make no attempt to fit them in the AU other than to utilize the setting. In other words, they do not follow the main plot and do not alter it. However, the RPers are still expected to utilize the information in their Character Profiles.

The RPers create Character Profiles, or summaries and descriptions of their characters. Each one is unique and tailored to fit the AU. The forum focuses on creatively integrating the human personalities of the nations the RPers represent with the premise of the AU, then taking those personalities and turning them into interactions within the plot.*

RPing occasionally takes place in the chat, but generally the chat is simply a fun place for the RPers to gather, talk, catch up...and occasionally have semi-in character discussions. If there is a RP going on, and you would like to join or say hello, simply do so. The people in the chat will move their RP elsewhere if it is private and the chat will convert back to..well, a chat.

Hopefully this little bit of information gives you more of an idea of who we are and what we are about. If you still have questions or are unsure, you can ask the admin/mod listed above, or post in the FAQ section. We hope that you will enjoy your stay, and join us for the insanity and fun that is TWC.

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*(If you would like to RP a character as a nation, you will have to request an AU with that specific premise as its setting/plot.)