Help Topic: Safety tools
Category: Communication -- There are no limitations on this command.
How do safety tools work? You can check SAFETY TOOLS for a quick run-through of syntax,
that can be otherwise found in the end of this file. Because safety tools can be important,
we want the syntaxes to be especially easy for visually-impaired players to find.
Song of Avaria is a game with character conflict, but we don't want players to feel as
though you are pitted against one another. A player who is initiating conflict may
feel anxious that others are not enjoying the scene, and a player whose character is
on the receiving end of conflict may feel anxious that the situation is going farther
than they are comfortable playing.
For that reason, we have safety tools: a method of communicating swiftly and effectively
that you are uncomfortable with the given roleplay situation, and our retcon system, so
that you may negotiate together with other players about how to amend recently-logged
character actions.
We hope this will make for a smooth and comfortable story experience for everyone.
However, if a player is abusing safety tools in order to repeatedly evade in-character
consequences or otherwise behave in annoying fashion, please report them. You can do
this anonymously or directly. Read HELP REPORT for more information. If you report a
player, their actions will be under scrutiny and the situation will be investigated by
staff. Please do not use safety tools to try to "win" at PvP, as this is the opposite
of their intended use.
Safety tools are entirely OOC. Please never mention them in roleplay, not even in an
abstract fashion, as it doesn't make sense at all. Do not reference a retcon. As far
as the story is concerned, retconned events never happened.
Extra notes on XCARDS:
A colored xcard will show in a room, warning incoming players. A red xcard will stop
new roleplay emotes.
Using a red xcard will record a report that can be overviewed by staff. It will
also show up on your account notes.
Using a yellow xcard does not mean that the other player is required to stop the conflict,
but it does mean that things should be written about in a less aggressive and graphic
manner, and possibly FTB'd (faded to black, using the FTB command).
Green and yellow xcards come without limitations or caveats, and we hope players will
feel free to use them whenever it feels useful.
When someone issues an active xcard, it is required for other players to respect it. If
you have a problem with how someone is using the xcard system, it is a separate issue, so
continue to respect the xcard -- but also REPORT that person.
Extra notes on RETCONS:
The retcon feature discussed here is for immediate situations. In cases of a long-term
retcon, you can accomplish that by speaking to involved players through OOCMail, discussing
which logs need to be deleted, and planning to re-do those scenes via cutscening or
other methods. You can also ask staff for help with this through REQUESTS.
A mechanized retcon used as mediation of a red xcard will erase the specified text
from your log, and the logs of others present.
You cannot retcon past the contents of your current log, or the logs of others in the
scene. You also cannot retcon further than 7000 characters of text. When you need to
do a retcon, try to do it as soon as possible after the upsetting event, and try to
minimize the amount of writing that must be deleted.
Retcons do not change the mechanical reality of a situation. Before proceeding with a
retcon, it's a good idea to move your position or pick up a dropped item or whatever
it is that will reset you to the original state you wish to be in when the story
resumes.
While it's necessary to respect someone's need for a retcon, it's also important to
respect the wishes and roleplay of everyone involved in the scene. This is why the
retcon process is a negotiation, and not a simple demand made by the person issuing
the red xcard. If you do not like a retcon proposal, offer a counterproposal -- make
a proposal of your own, and propose it to the room. A red xcard will not be resolved
until a retcon has been accepted by everyone involved. It does not need to be the
card issuer's retcon proposal that is accepted. It only needs to be a proposal that
has been judged as acceptable by everyone involved.
Please avoid retcons as much as possible. They are only to be used in situations that
legitimately upset you more than you can emotionally handle in real life -- not because
you made a spelling mistake or anything like that.
In niche cases, something troubling might occur with retcons where -- for example -- a
character sneaks through a situation-in-progress, spies briefly on the matter, and then
continues onward to go gossip with their friends about it. Later, those players still
in the situation decide to retcon it... but the sneaky spy has already spread rumors
about everything! This case needs admin intervention, and is why we have put some
limitations on retcons, so that hopefully a case like this would occur very rarely.
Again, if you fear that anyone is abusing these safety tools, please REPORT them.
Usages:
Use the xcard command to issue a card to the room.
XCARD < GREEN | YELLOW | RED | CLEAR >
GREEN means: I am fine, but need a moment to think.
YELLOW means: This is getting uncomfortable. Please dial it back whenever possible.
RED means: I cannot tolerate this discomfort. We need to retcon.
CLEAR will clear all currently-active cards in the room.
It's possible to add an optional note in parenthesis, such as:
Example:
xcard green (AFK five minutes, keep playing without me!)
Automatically, red cards will clear once a retcon has been accepted by everyone in
the room. Green cards will clear in five minutes. Yellow cards will clear in twenty
minutes.
Use the retcon feature to propose a retcon.
RETCON starts a new retcon proposal.
RETCON TEXT < text phrase > sets to which line of logged text you want to roll back to.
RETCON PROPOSE will send the retcon out to the room as an option.
RETCON ACCEPT <character name> will mark your acceptance of their retcon proposal.
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