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ALL WORDS ARE AWESOME WORDS!!!! (tryslora) wrote in rp_tutorials,
@ 2010-07-29 13:37:00

Rules
One thing I hate doing when I'm working on a new game is writing up the Rules post. There's such a fine line between saying too much and being too restrictive, to being too laid back about things. So I'm wondering a few things...

1. Can anyone point me to what they think was the absolute perfect set of rules/faq/information that they saw in a game they played in?

2. What rules do you like seeing, or expect to see information about?

3. What rules are a complete turn-off to you for a game?

Thanks to all! And as always, thank you to everyone in this community for all of the wonderful resources.

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warning tl;dr ahead!

spiffynerd
2010-07-30 07:32 am UTC (link)

1) I ~~may be~~ am definitely biased, but I like the rules at the game I'm currently modding. I personally think the perfect set of rules really depends on how you're running your game. At my game, we're really laid back about things--activity requirements are incredibly easy, we approve almost everything players want to do--it's just the way we run things. I've played in games before with even less rules than we have; I've also played in games with more rules, and I'm usually not turned off or onto a game by the kind of rules they have. The most important thing about which rules you choose is that you set out the rules you think you'll need in the beginning and then stick to them. If you decide later that a rule needs to be amended, post it in a public place, like the OOC community, so all players know about it. Don't expect them to check the rules page after they've joined, except when it comes time for an activity check and they're looking for the requirements.

2) That brings me to my next point. People know that most games are going to have something in the rules about acceptable behaviour, and usually just skim over this section. At my game we've condensed this into "don't be a dick"; some people like to spell this out more, which is probably more friendly to people new to RP. Both appers and existing players are looking at your rules pretty much just for activity requirements, character limits, posting lengths--numbers stuff that they have to stick to. I'd advise bolding this information, so they can catch it while skimming.

I use the FAQ as sort of a catch-all. It's the last thing we did at my game. After writing everything else, when things pop up that you've forgotten and don't fit anywhere else, that's where to put them. Don't expect players to check that either, unless they have a question. New players will usually read it during the app process, though.

3) To me, the tone of the rules/FAQ page is probably more important than the actual information. I've been RPing for a while, and so I know most of the rules that go along with it, so I'm looking for two things--the above-mentioned quantitative requirements for keeping up with the RP, and the personality the mods present. More than any other page, this is sort of a first impression of the mods' personalities OOC. I have been completely turned off of otherwise awesome-looking games by mods who seemed unfriendly or flat-out rude in answering FAQ questions. As said above, I don't like length requirements, but that's a personal thing because my writing style tends to be extremely concise and I have trouble stretching my posts to meet them.

...maaaan that was longer than intended. xD Hope it helps!

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	forgot something :\| spiffynerd 2010-07-30 07:35 am UTC (link)
	One more thing about the FAQ--if a player IMs you with a non-character-specific question OOC, once you've answered it, add it to the FAQ. Chances are if they've asked, someone else is wondering, and if you don't, you might forget what you said and give a different answer if asked later. Or maybe that's just me being scatterbrained. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: forgot something :|

tryslora
2010-07-30 04:25 pm UTC (link)

Oh no, it's not just you being scatterbrained, it's excellent advice. I try to remember to either update the FAQ or go back to the other reference pages (like my settings page) to update it when I'm asked a question. Having a proper FAQ will help for when people ask me questions there's no page for already...

And thank you for the samples, and more importantly, for the advice on tone. Once I stopped trying to be all business-speak and proper, the rules/faq started flowing right out of my fingertips, AND it sounds like me. I like this much better than any rules I've written before. So thank you.

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