***Forum Rules and Guidelines***

[Teanos]

Rules & Guidelines for Monarchy, Monarchs Glen and Stories of Tonan

1. General Rules for the Message Boards (this post)
2. Terms of Service for website accounts on monarchygame.com
3. Tribunal
4. Defamation
5. Roleplay Rules

This is a PG-13 rated board system. We do allow the discussion of more adult topics, however the following rules will be enforced.

• Abusive or disruptive behaviour is not permitted. Such behaviour includes Harassment (threatening or causing distress or inconvenience to any person or people) and Trolling (saying deliberately provocative things just to stir up trouble).
• No racism, pornography, hacking/warez, or other unethical discussion or content.
• Extreme vulgarity and/or sexually explicit topics may be edited and/or removed at the Moderators' discretion.
• Please be cautious of thread-jacking. Thread-Jacking is defined as purposely taking a thread off topic, Moderators will split the 'jacked' content out into its own appropriately named thread, at their discretion. Excessive thread-jacking may result in a warning. This will also be left up to the Moderators' discretion.
• Topics involving politics, religion, sexuality or other such controversial topics should be made in the Debates and Rants forum.
• If you see a post which you find offensive, please use the built in reporting system by clicking on "Report Post" and allow a Moderator to deal with the situation.
• Think before you post, and try and have fun. If you are not having fun, chances are anything you post will ruin the fun of others.
• All posts must be written in English, posts in other languages (unless accompanied by an English translation) will be deleted as spam.
• All posts which have been made to advertise an external website or service will be deleted as spam, along with the account that posted them. If you would like to promote a website, product or service, please get in contact with an administrator who may open a thread for you at their discretion. The only exception to this rule is when advertising your game or roleplay in our guest-friendly advertising forum.

These rules may be edited and changed at any time. If you wish to contact a member of the staff, then please do so through Private Messages.

We usually operate a three strikes rule, however, in the case of account created just to spam, this rule is suspended in favour if an instant IP ban. This rule may also be suspended at the discretion of the administrators.

Possible Sanctions Include

• 3-6 hour cool down ban - These will be issued if it seems like a member of the community might end up getting themselves a more serious ban. They can be issued by any moderator who feels that doing so is in the best interests of the community or the player.
• 7 day Ban - Usually reserved for minor offences or first time offenders.
• Permanent Ban - For major rule breaking, repeat offenders or for creating an alternative account to circumvent a ban. Note: using a friends account to circumvent a ban may result if your friend also receiving a ban.

Account Deletion
We will only delete accounts from Monarchs Glen that have zero posts. If an account has posted then it cannot be deleted in order to retain the integrity of threads it has posted in. We will also not rename a username after it has posted. The only exception to this rule would be accounts that have been created to spam the boards. These will generally be deleted, but only after all posts made by the spam account have been removed.

Last Edited : Feb 14th 2013

[Kaz]

Terms of Service for website accounts on Monarchygame.com

The following rules concern the overall site and game systems.

• Multiple game accounts are not permitted. This means one account per IP address. If there are multiple players in your household get in contact and let us know, otherwise you may be banned as a part of random multi-account checks
• Please be respectful of other players and do not use in game communication methods to spam or harass others.
• When communicating using game and site based messaging systems, the monarchs glen message board rules also apply
• We usually follow a three-strikes-and-your-out warning system before banning an account. However, warning steps may be skipped in certain circumstances.
• This is our Privacy Policy
• This is our Cookies Policy
• The Terms of Service may be changed at any time without warning. Please check the rules thread on a regular basis

Last Edited : Apr 23rd Jan 2013 (added links to cookies & privacy policies)

[Kaz]

Tribunal

The Tribunal Forums are intended to serve as a place to discuss rules or other issues that come up between members of the community. All sides get their say and then the staff will come to a final desicion.

Tribunals can be open or closed, and can be requested by sending a PM to the Staff group.

Last Edited : Apr 18th 2011

[Kaz]

Defamation

Defamation laws exist to protect individuals or organisations from unwarranted, mistaken or untruthful attacks on their reputation. Posting a defamatory statement on an Internet message board or community area is the same as publishing it in a newspaper or magazine and can result in a court case if a formal complaint is made.

To avoid breaking defamation laws in your posts, please ensure that you verify the information in your posting, especially when presenting negative statements as facts. Also avoid jumping to conclusions, exaggerating or making subtle implications. Remember that adding the word 'allegedly' to a statement does not stop it being defamation.

Both you and Monarchy Game can be held liable if you make a defamatory statement on this website. So we will remove postings where we have insufficient evidence to defend publication of your statement. This means the moderators may err on the side of caution when considering some posts.

Last Edited: Jan 22nd 2013

[Kaz]

Roleplay Rules

Registering an Account / Characters

• You may register as many posting accounts on Monarchs Glen that you feel you may require.
• These accounts can be for OOC use (in the appropriate forums), exclusively as roleplay characters, or a mixture between the two.
• Should you wish to roleplay several characters using the same posting account that is also fine. However, if doing so, please make it clear which character you are roleplaying about.
• These boards contain functionality to switch between accounts via a drop-down menu. To enable the account switch you will need to register an account on the main Monarchy website, then use the Identity settings in the user management area (Called `Tool`).
  
  General Posting Rules
• To facilitate correct spelling and grammar, we recommend that you write your roleplay posts using a word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word, OpenOffice Writer etc). Doing so will make your posts much easier to read and understand for others.
• Language: Swearing is generally permitted. However, the language cannot be used to severely abuse. (please note that this is from an IC roleplay perspective, OOC swearing with intent to insult or harass would be in breach of the primary site rules).
• Sexual Content: Sexual content is permitted. References and writing about genitalia and sex acts are permitted, but explicit detail is not. (please note that this is once again from a roleplay perspective, we are not interested in OOC sexual references. Any images would be considered a breach of the primary site rules).
• Violence: Graphic violence is permitted. Explicit description or in-game narration violence is allowed. (once more, this is relating to IC roleplay, OOC descriptions or threats of violence would be considered harassment).
• Please mark threads to signify if they are open or closed to new posters. Any unmarked thread is to be considered open to new posters. The exception to this rule would be threads that are clearly old and abandoned. Please post in the appropriate OOC thread, and double-check before considering joining an old story that has not seen posts in a while.
• To ensure thread continuity and avoid confusion, please ensure that any threads set during an earlier time-frame are clearly marked
• When a roleplay thread reaches somewhere between 60 and 80 posts it should be wound down and a new thread started. Think of this process a bit like chapters in a book, rather than a regimented rule. It is best to start a new thread at an appropriate time for the story, not in the middle of the action.
• There is no minimum word count requirement for roleplay. That being said, most roleplayers would prefer that you write at least a paragraph (4 sentences). If joining a thread, please do your best to try and make the minimum length of your posts at least as long as the shortest post currently in the thread.
  
  General Roleplaying Rules
• Please ensure that you stick within the Time Era of the Tonan world. Tonan is a medieval fantasy world, meaning no guns, computers, electronic gadgets, motor vehicles etc
• Please write in the third tense when describing the actions of your characters (e.g. He, She, It, They) rather than first or second tenses (e.g. I, We, You). The exception to this rule would be when first or second tense is used within spoken dialogue between characters.
• No Plagiarism. Please ensure that your roleplay is original.
• No Godmoding. Please ensure that you have permission before roleplaying actions or words on behalf of another players character.
• No Powerplaying. Please try and keep in mind that your character is not immortal, and has faults and weaknesses like everyone else.
• No Metagaming. If you are privy to future storyline information, please do not post about it ahead of time.

Last Edited: Jan 22nd 2013