Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

(This Code of Conduct was modified from the one produced by Garden of Destinies LARP (http://gardenofdestinieslarp.com/), with permission.)

Every roleplaying group has a code of ethics by which it governs itself. These social rules may or may not be spelled out in print but they exist nonetheless. Requiem for New Babylon is no exception and while nothing in this document is likely to be revolutionary to an experienced gamer, we want to make sure that we have maximum transparency so that all participants know where they stand.

# Table of Contents

* Discipline
* Unethical Behavior
* Model Player Behavior
* Staff Structure
* Staff Conduct
* Player Bill of Rights (and Not Rights)

## Discipline

Requiem for New Babylon has a specific escalation for violations of policies. In every instance, the judgment of the Staff and the Staff alone is the final arbiter of all Discipline. Please note that this is not a “counter;” two Stage 1 warnings are not automatically a Stage 2 warning by default, although in some cases such an escalation will occur.

### Stage 1: Official Warning

Staff will issue an email regarding your violation in detail.

### Stage 2: One Game Suspension

Staff will inform you that you are not allowed to participate in game for one month.

### Stage 3: One Year Ban

The person is not allowed to participate in game from one calendar year from the date of warning.

### Stage 4: Eternal Ban

The person is no longer allowed to participate in Requiem for New Babylon events eternally, including any future games in the New Babylon setting.

In some cases, and at the sole discretion of the Requiem for New Babylon Staff, suspensions and bans from other games may also be honored as well.

### Note About Warnings

Warnings will be erased from the record after six months. While multiple instances of a single stage may happen (such as various Official Warnings for various different infractions) being at a particular Stage for one reason can be justification for going to the next Stage for an unrelated reason. For example: a person who was given an Official Warning for inappropriate OOC disrespect of other players is then caught using powers not on their character sheet.

### Appeals:

As a Staff we understand that not all of our calls will be the right one. The time to dispute any call that we make, whether rules or discipline, is not in the heat of the moment. Players are welcome to dispute any call we make via filling out the form provided at: (to be created). PMs to Staff via social media on such subjects will be ignored. The writing should not simply state that you believe it was unfair but the exact reasons why it was unfair using clearly explained logic. Appeals to the opinions of others such as “X saw it happen and X also agreed that it was unfair” will not be taken into consideration. We are looking only for your own perspective and not the votes of others. Appeals are recommended to be both respectful and succinct.

## Unethical Behavior

Requiem for New Babylon extends a high level of trust and goodwill. We the Staff extend this trust and goodwill to the players and we expect the same level of trust and goodwill to be extended back to us. The behaviors described below realistically covers anything that damages the out of play level of trust and goodwill that we wish to cultivate as part of our game, and as such engaging in them is a sure way to earn Warnings. All of the below behaviors are thus considered to cover our online-controlled spaces as well as our at-game spaces.

Players who, at the sole discretion of Staff, appear to be threats to the safety of those participating in Requiem for New Babylon may be banned immediately. We reserve the right to research any concerns that are brought to our attention, and Requiem for New Babylon Staff reserves the final judgement on all such matters with the understanding that any and all factors may play into their determination.

### Cheating:

Cheating means violation of the out-of-play rules. This includes using abilities your character does not have or claiming that rules exist where they do not. While we understand that some new players may not have a full grasp of the rules, the best policy is to be cautious, not make any pronouncements you are not 100% sure of, and when in any amount of doubt to ask Staff.

### Disrespect:

Any and all discussion of rape on site or within official game online discussions will be considered a violation of respect. This also includes a ban on comments and actions that are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise hateful. This rule also extends to game related images that contain items and symbols that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, gender, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views. This list is not exhaustive, but includes Nazi, white supremacist, and Confederate memorabilia. Players with such items will be asked to leave and will likely receive some level of disciplinary action (as discussed above).

In-character prejudice against vampires and demons is fine; out of play prejudice is not.

## Model Player Behavior

The above rules are intentionally broad but we would like to spell out some guidelines of *Shoulds* that indicate the kind of environment we’re trying to create.

### “Players should…”

* **Stay in Character.** From game on to game off you should be in character as much as possible. Keep out of play asides and out-of-character talk to an absolute minimum. If other players are doing it, try and guide them back into game. Everyone will thank you for it.
* **Be polite with Staff.** No cursing out Staff for game stuff. This includes feedback forms. Don’t like something we did? Feel free to say so. Feel free to give constructive criticism or “I would have done X instead of Y.” Feel free to be firm. Be within the bounds of civility.
* **Be polite with other players**. There will be in-play arguments and in-play rudeness. That is no reason to be out of play rude to anyone.
* **Speak only for themselves**. If you have an opinion feel free to share it and own it. Never say “Lots of people feel that…” If lots of people feel a certain way they can tell us. However, you may feel free to express ideas about how you might feel if a particular thing were to happen to you character.
* **Only allow behavioral bleed in a productive manner**. Bleed is when player feels emotions because a character feels them. This can be inevitable but there is a big difference between Bob’s character cursing out Diane’s character for something that character did and Bob cursing out Diane for something that Diane’s character did to Bob’s character. The reverse is great if you want to be excited about stuff that happened in-play. “That was a great song!” and “I totally did not see you betraying me! What a twist!” should both be enthusiastic statements. If you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all. Feel free to have feelings if that happens. Do not feel free to be rude out of play because of those feelings.
* **Be helpful to new players**. Be helpful in play and out of play to new players. Some characters are unhelpful and cranky and that is fine. When someone comes in new to the game though and has not met anyone else in play this can be a bad first experience. Moderate your role-play with someone at their first couple of games to help them figure things out.
* **Understand they won’t always win**. Characters are not always going to have victory and may not always even get the victory they want when they win. We do not have predetermined outcomes and while the game is not created with the idea that characters will be likely to die every game it is a possibility and should be taken with maturity.

## Staff Structure

Every LARP Staff is structured a bit differently and we would like to make the Staff structure clear for the understanding of Staff and players. We also have included a Staff conduct so that the players may know the rubric by which we are judging ourselves and the game we are running.

### Positions:

* Storyteller
* Narrator

## Staff Conduct

### Ethics of Staff

In order to be clear that we feel Staff is beholden to players, we also have a code of ethics for our Staff of guidelines and rules.

1. **Storytellers and Narrators will never be players.** Being a Storyteller is a huge power and responsibility that we do not take lightly. Being a Storyteller gives great power to influence the future of the game and craft secret plots. Storytellers who resign or leave Staff on good terms may play the game immediately unless there is a consensus otherwise.
2. **Retcons will not happen.** The experience of playing a story is important and you can’t edit your memories. If it happened, then it happened, even if an honest rules mistake means it could not have happened that way technically.
3. **Staff will study the rules and setting.** Over 100+ pages of rules plus custom content  is difficult to have at your fingertips but the Staff will all endeavor to be familiar with the rules.
4. **Narrators will not be players at the same time as being Narrators.** For full time Narrators this means that they do not have a character on the books accruing Refresh while they aid Staff. For PCs allowed to Narrator scenes as an NPC that means they cannot be a PC in that scene. Players currently serving temporarily as Narrators are not allowed to make rules calls for scenes they are a part of.

### Staff to Players

Ethical guidelines for dealing with players:

1. **No special treatment for personal favors**. Giving Staff a ride to game is one thing. Helping Staff do personal laundry is another.
2. **Communication is shared**. All official contact should be conducted through the game email or the Discord server. We will strive to answer all emails in a timely manner.

## Player Bill of Rights (and Not Rights)

### Players are Entitled to...

1. Experience a safe, enjoyable gaming environment.
2. Expect transparency in every possible aspect of the game’s management and design. The Storytellers’ reasoning will be made as available as possible without spoiling content.
3. Freely provide feedback to the Storytellers regarding any and all aspects of the game and its community and have that feedback fairly considered, in full, by the Storytellers. The Storytellers will read all submitted feedback, though we may not always (or even often) respond. Respectful discourse on aspects of the game, setting, or community will be open, free, and unmoderated. Under no circumstance should the player be made to feel silent or face fear of retribution for disagreeing with Storyteller actions or opinions.
4. Be treated cordially by all members of the game community -- players and Staff alike.

### Players are Not Entitled to...

1. “Win.” Challenge and loss are essential parts of stories. Not every course of PC action will be a viable solution.
2. Have their feedback used in every case. Storytellers can and will disagree with conclusions and observations.
3. Abuse, harass, shame, or otherwise mistreat any other participant, whether Staff or player. The Requiem for New Babylon community is and will always be a place of communal respect and safety. Abusive behavior, unlike respectful discourse, will be moderated with prejudice.
4. Forgiveness. Violations of rules, be they mechanical (that is to say, cheating) or social (breaking Code of Conduct) will be considered and punished appropriately. There will be no circumstance in which immunity should be expected due to temporary emotional distress, confusion, lack of rules knowledge, or any other extenuating circumstance.
5. An instantaneous response. Staff must be given time to develop a response to your approach. This can include during Investigations or during game; please be patient and let things play out as they need to.
6. Precedent. Staff decisions are not categorically binding and can be revisited in the future.