Rules

Welcome to Eclipse Ridge

Upon exiting the visitor center, it is presumed that you have familiarized yourself with and committed to adhering to the sim’s established rules and regulations below.

Rules are not meant to be exploited to avoid consequences or create problems; rather, they serve as guidelines to enhance a positive experience and safeguard the community. Any attempt to circumvent or exploit the rules by ‘bending’ or finding ‘loopholes’ is deemed a violation of the sim rules and may lead to disciplinary action.

In the realm of Eclipse Ridge, where immersion reigns supreme, it is essential to treat each other with dignity and respect. Remember to exercise patience with those who are new to the immersive experience, fostering a supportive and welcoming environment for all.

General Rules

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Discrimination

Harassment, bullying, sexual harassment, and hate speech in any form are strictly prohibited in our community. OOC discrimination on the basis of anyone’s IC or OOC race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other forms of abusive or discriminatory language will not be tolerated and is prohibited.

Roleplaying IC discrimination on any of these IC grounds is allowed only with OOC consent. If a scene veers toward IC discrimination on any of these grounds, please check in with your scene partners OOCly either in IMs or in double parentheses in local chat. By no means is it acceptable to force IC discrimination RP on other players if they have expressed discomfort with it OOCly, nor is it acceptable to hide OOC bigotry behind an IC veneer of “it’s just my character.”

Remember, you, the player, create your character’s backstory and are responsible for their actions. Respect other players and their OOC limits. In-character actions have in-character consequences, but some circumstances might be considered extenuating. If you’re unsure or have questions please feel free to open a ticket or reach out to a mentor.

18+ (Character & NPC) no exceptions.

Due to the mature nature of the sim all players are required to be 18+, as well as their characters. Though we cannot verify players’ ages in real life without being intrusive, this rule goes by the honor system. Should we find out there are minors on sim, they will be immediately ejected.

Eclipse Ridge is an “Adult” rated sim

Roleplay with sexual activities could occur in a public location. Be aware that ICly sexual activities performed in public areas are subject to disruption or lead to other consequences.

Human Presenting Avatars Only

No cartoonish (this includes anime) looking avatars, hypersexualized, or child avatars under any circumstances. All avatars must be realistic and human-looking, even for non-human races when in human form. We aim to make this sim as realistic as possible within the urban supernatural genre, and we are not a sex sim. Any persons with avatars such as these will be contacted and notified to change their appearance.

Multiple Characters

Multiple characters are allowed on the same account and alt accounts. To prevent abuse and metagaming, however, there are requirements for each.

Multiple Characters on Single Account

Storylines cannot intersect and your characters cannot know one another.
Each character must have a complete different look from the other
Must wear a titler to indicate what character you are currently playing if multiple are on the same account

Multiple Characters using Alt Accounts

We understand that this does not have to be disclosed but ask that the same guidelines are followed as the single account guidelines.

Family Members and Siblings

We understand that these types of roles can be important to building a character’s stories. But issues can arise when those roles are played by the same individual. The use of one account to play multiple characters as family members or siblings is not allowed.

Again, we understand that an individual does not have to disclose their alt accounts. However, we ask that you please limit it to 1 family member or sibling, follow the multiple character guidelines, and to limit how often the two interact in the same scene.

Players should get OOC consent to share information between family members to avoid metagaming. It is best practice to pass information through at least one point of separation. For example, Player tells another player who then tells family member.

If questions, please reach out to a mentor or submit a ticket in Discord.

Avoid Disruptive Behavior

To maintain sim immersion and ensure a respectful environment, we kindly ask that you refrain from using actions that may be disruptive on sim. Please avoid using gestures, sounds, objects, scripts, chat spam, and excessive particles. Additionally, please be mindful of your script count while on the sim to prevent lagging for others.

Refrain from spamming the local chat with profane, illicit, or intentionally disruptive gestures in the landing zone, on-Sim, or in any in-world group chats.

Regarding Children and Pregnancy

Pregnancy, NPC prim babies, and child NPCs (off-screen) are allowed. However, roleplay that causes harm, whether physical or otherwise, to children, including feeding or turning of NPC children, is strictly prohibited. In the case of pregnancy, roleplaying harm or abrupt/spontaneous termination involving other characters is not permitted without clear and explicit agreement on the outcome and IC consequences for all those involved in the story/scene.

For instance, roleplaying that another character’s actions caused a miscarriage is not allowed without OOC discussions and agreement from all parties involved.

Role Play Rules

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We are a “Masquerade” Sim

Eclipse Ridge only thrives because of enforcement of The Shroud. Supernaturals are strongly encouraged to maintain the illusion that werewolves, vampires, and witches are just works of fiction, myth, and imagination.

Consent Based RP

Consent is required between parties for things such as player character deaths, etc. This also includes making sure another player is okay with the storyline you are wanting to pursue. Consent also applies to adult situations and actions. If there are any issues, we will require logs to verify if there was or wasn’t any consent provided.

Furthermore, if you or a group of people plan on robbing, thieving, breaking in, or vandalizing, etc. a business, faction headquarters, or a private rental, you must get consent from either the renter, the business owner, or the faction lead in order to proceed with the roleplay scene.

We are a Para RP Sim

We are a para/semi-para rp sim. Para RP is an interaction with another character (or multiple characters) in paragraph form.

Post Length

Para roleplaying can be one paragraph or many, and the length of the paragraphs can vary widely. Most paragraphs consist of 3-5 sentences.

We don’t have specific post length requirements. While a single line of dialogue can sometimes suffice, we encourage you to write as much as you feel necessary. Please refrain from criticizing other writers’ post lengths. As a general guideline, try to mirror the writing style of the person you’re responding to, but don’t feel obligated to write an essay if that’s not your preferred style.

Avoid Thought Posting

Thought-posting is when a player includes content in their post that is considered an in-character thought that no one else would be able to hear or react to. Thoughts within posts are okay, but please keep it minimal. This is largely to prevent players from insulting others in thought posts that they can’t react to.

Posting In

If you encounter an ongoing RP, you are not considered IC unless you introduce your character into the roleplay. While it’s not mandatory, it’s considered good practice to seek OOC consent from the participants before joining an RP.

If you’re eavesdropping on an RP, it’s essential to announce your presence. When roleplay occurs within a building and a character is outside, they cannot eavesdrop or listen through walls without explicit consent. This includes situations where a character might possess supernatural abilities that would enable them to do so.

It’s considered poor form to listen to an RP OOCly (out-of-character) without the consent of the participants. If you’re interested in reading someone else’s ongoing RP, it’s crucial to request their permission. This ensures respect for the privacy and immersion of the roleplayers

Canon & Established Characters

Because RP is a way to personalize collaborative stories with friends old and new, many of us draw from our favorite shows, books, games, and movies when stepping on sim for the first time, and recreating and living some of our favorite tropes and story beats can be an unforgettable experience.

You are welcome to name your character however you please, but you cannot be your favorite character complete with their history, powers, and everything else. For example, you can be called James Kirk, but you cannot be James Kirk from Star Trek.

Additionally, be aware that characters familiar with that source media may draw attention to your character’s name. You are responsible for clarifying this to players whether in IC or OOC to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings.

Characters of your own creation, used in other roleplay situations, are absolutely welcome when adapted to Eclipse Ridge’s lore. We do ask that you familiarize yourself with our Species and settings as posted on our website before adapting your character to play here.

If you’re drawing a blank when it comes time to invent a name or backstory for your character, don’t worry! Our friendly Eclipse Ridge Admins and Mentors are always happy to brainstorm with you and help you craft your characters. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us in the ⁠ask-staff channel or file a ticket on Discord.

In-Character Consequences

No good deed goes unpunished, indeed, bad deeds are often dealt swift retribution, be it by the victims, their friends and family, or the long arm of the law. As stated above, Eclipse Ridge is a consent based roleplay sim, and player limits should be respected at all times. This, however, does not grant a player exclusion from severe and permanent punishment, and those who commit serious acts of ill-harm, evil, assault or worse, and no one is exempt from revenge, retribution or justice.

In some instances, a player’s life may be forfeit as a result of their actions; therefore, it is important to remember that in-character actions will often result in in-character consequences.

Avoid Godmodding, Metagaming, & Powergaming

Godmodding: is in essence when someone’s character has the ability to do practically anything without limits or boundaries. This can be referred to as autoing in fights where all your hits connect and you never allow your character to be hit. It can also be controlling another player’s character. Which should be avoided without explicit permission.

Metagaming: the act of using an in-game mechanic, any external information, or a roleplay concept to favor their own character or story, and give them an unfair or unrealistic advantage.

Powergaming: Is a term describing players who are interested in only winning or maximizing progress towards a specific goal, to the exclusion of other considerations such as storytelling, atmosphere and camaraderie.

Updated 8.30.2024