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A Guide To What Needs Approval
Topic Started: Aug 30 2011, 05:38 AM (261 Views)
Cypriss
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DISCLAIMER: this is a NON-STAFFERS opinion, and as such is not RULE OF LAW, it's an OPINION. So don't take anything said here as THE RULES that overwrite what someone else on the staff says. Basically this is just how i do things as a successful member of several years. Staff, feel free to comment on or refute anything said here. Members, feel free to ask questions if anything is unclear.


Okay, so there seems to be some confusion on what needs staff approval lately, and that's understandable. Hyakuji has a complex history of allowing members to run fairly large and involved events without much oversight. So a new person may see these and try to imitate them. However, unless you know what the boundaries are you may cross a line you didn't even know existed..

Let's begin with the very important distinction of NPC VERSUS PC.

A PC is a Player Character, and it's a character run by an rper with an approved bio and powers that were also approved by staff. It's a fully functioning member of the city's community and can join threads, start threads, join events, and in general participate freely.

However then there are NPCs.... THIS IS WHERE IT GETS CONFUSING.

And finally there are Pseudo PC's, which i will explain shortly.


NPCS
Okay, so NPC. An NPC is a non player character, if this were an anime it'd be that one character whose name is never given or whom only shows up once or twice. It's an unimportant side character, or a character that fills a role you can't with your own characters. There are three primary types:

Villain, the group, Random Person

Villain

The villain NPC exists because we only get two character slots, so sometimes you need to introduce another character to be an overarching rival, enemy, or person from your character's past. These characters can have powers and can show up pretty often, however the distinguishing factor is in WHAT CAPACITY they show up.

THE BASIC RULES:

1) An NPC should never have an entire thread to himself

2) an NPC should never cause lasting damage to the city on a large scale

3) an NPC should never dramatically shift the landscape of an area, group, or location long term

If your NPC breaks one of these rules, you should contact staff and seek formal approval because what you're doing is no longer just a 'personal' plot, but one that effects Hyakuji itself.

Alien invasions, giant robot attacks, bombs that blow up large places. Nuclear power plants being sent into meltdown. All of this is on much too large a scale for your personal plot. However if you and this NPC have a fight that ultimately only effects you and the others in the thread then it's not such a big deal and staff approval probably isn't necessary.

The easiest way to determine whether you need staff approval is this: if the events of the thread last 3 threads? Probably not. Anything more: yes.

NPC villains get to be 'on screen' more out of necessity. They are recurring villains that need developed and fleshed out and as such they are given some leeway when it comes to acting too much like a PC. An entire thread between a villain and a PC can be allowed, because it allows them to gain valuable character depth. But this doesn't excuse treating them like a full fledged character, ESPECIALLY if they haven't been approved by a staffer. Their powers are unregulated and thus highly open to being abused which is unfair to other rpers.

GROUPS

NPC groups get really questionable, and almost always require approval. Actually, for the sake of being simple. ALWAYS GET A GROUP APPROVED. Groups, by nature, shift the scale of power. A group of ninjas that serve you makes you much more powerful than other rpers, a group of secret police gives you much larger influence, a group of powerful villains makes you a lethal threat on a large scale, all of this means it needs to make sense and it needs to be limited in some capacity. Groups should NOT be used frequently, and only in the capacity that they serve to the plot that got them approved.

MEANING

If you got a group of.. er.. let's say detectives in london approved, you should only use them in london and only for that plot. If they start popping up in Hyakuji rather frequently to stop crimes they aren't NPCS anymore, they're PCS and that is not okay.

A group of invading aliens should only be in the invasion thread AFTER approval, ninjas in their ninja plot, etc etc. Using groups of NPCS in a general sense as hand servants or to fight your battles is hugely disruptive and cheapens the experiences.

RANDOM PERSON
The 'best friend' from class, the 'kind upperclassman'. This character is just there to fulfill a vital role for that thread, and as such it is the most limited in use. A random person should NEVER be a participating member in a thread in an extended sense. These roles should be filled by actual rpers. It's one thing if they serve a relevant plot purpose, such as a rival on the baseball team or something, but if you are rping two people for an entire thread and this person persists into other threads it's no longer an NPC, it's a PC. It's a member of the community.

This is probably the most frustrating to manage, so here are some guidelines.

1) Can the NPC be replaced by a PC and the thread still works?

2) Is this npc becoming tangled into a pc's character plotline?

3) Does the NPC have powers? Are they absolutely needed for the thread?

If the answer is yes, then you're probably rping a PC, not an NPC and you should probably drop it or rework it. NPC's are not meant to develop, grow, and change. They're just background people we use to insinuate the entire school isn't the 30 rp'd chars active at any time. You should be careful not to elevate an NPC to the role of a PC as all this does is give you additional char slots which is unfair.

If you're not sure, iffy, or just to be safe talk it over with staff.

PSEUDO PCS
A pseudo PC is a character approved in your bio that's not your main character. EX: Chizu's Aether, Fragger's Otoha, my Thanatos. They are spirits, embodiment of powers, ghosts all that have limited effect on the forum with powers that were approved along with the main character's. These are different from an NPC because the rules with them are more lax. Because they were approved they are pretty much free to act on their own, but their narritive should follow one golden rule:

A pseudo PC is always an extension of the PC and as such their story should be advancing, or directly related to, or effected by the pc's story.

EX: Aether drifts off from Chizu and chats it up with some other aeromancer because of a fight they had: A-OK

EX: Aether drifts off from Chizu and chats it up with someone just because Chizu's rper wants more threads: NOT SO MUCH OKAY, BRO. RETHINK THAT SHIT.


Now for a few more things...
PERSONAL PLOTS

I only have one rule with these. If your personal plot effects more than your character, it's not personal. A personal plot is NOT a site-plot that can effect the whole forum and toss it into a massive event. And if it does? GET THAT SHIT APPROVED.

PLOT DEVICES
Your character stumbles across a diamond ring that launches a set of wacky hi-jinks? That's fine. But if the plot device you create for a thread has any special powers, grants abilities, or in any way gives your character some sort of boost in power it needs approved just like an NPC or plotline. If a mod sees SUPER DEMON PACT RING OF AMAZING STRENGTH in your signature, you'd better be able to point that mod to the thread you got it in, and the staffer that approved it. Powers are approved for a reason, that's to give everyone equal footing. Randomly finding new weapons, artifacts, techniques, or masters to teach you new abilities without them being approved is a BIG NO NO.

CONCLUSION
Okay, that's all i have to say.

The number one rule to take away from this is NO ONE WANTS TO LIMIT THE STORIES YOU CAN TELL, but we do want to keep it fair and balanced and to do that the staff needs to work with you to make sure the changes you're making to your character, and the site, are keeping in spirit with heart of the site.

Generally, if you get stuff approved first, and you don't do anything overly drastic, you should find everything approved easily.

:3 have fun~
Edited by Cypriss, Aug 30 2011, 05:46 AM.
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Lelil
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Born with a heart broken from the start
Awh, man...

I think I'm "breaking" some of the random-person-npc-rules despite talking to Hiro and Cap about it and npc's >___<

*goes to pm mod*
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Cypriss
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lol, well if it was approved by two staffers it's prolly fine.

like i said, with approval these things are okay to over look.
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