InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Save the last dance"

scotopiamod (scotopiamod) wrote in scotopia_mod,
@ 2008-01-05 15:27:00

D. RULES

THE RULES
• This is meant to be a plot-driven yet low-maintenance game, and as such posting requirements are excluded. Just keep in mind that you should be somewhat active. Pointless posts and posting for the sake of posting are generally less wanted as opposed to posts focused on benefitting and advancing the game and the plot.

• You should make some attempt at maintaining a British style of speaking, including the grammatical conventions (ex: colour vs. color, etc.); we don't expect perfection, but it makes the game seem more authentic!

• NO OOC DRAMA. It has killed a decent game on more than one occasion and this being a low-maintenance game, we're focused on having fun.

• Hold Challenges are permitted, but please keep in mind that we will only wait for your challenge application up to 24 hours past the reception of the initial holder's application. Timeliness is everything.

• Character Limit is 5; if you have four female characters and are planning on taking a fifth, that fifth should be a male character.

• For RPing threads, use the following format (or some close variation!):

• For Journal entries, characters cannot read what is written Privately or as a ~~strikethrough~~. Keep in mind that what you know is not necessarily what your character knows. Journals are first person and threads/logs are third person past tense, so it reads like a story.

We have had a lot of questions regarding the breaking of privacy hexes and as such have developed the backstory as well as a few ground rules about it.
• Ministry thought that the journals would be a good way to keep tabs on the wizarding community under the facade of a temporary culture fad, but then when individuals started hexing things privately, the Ministry had to develop a way to get around that. They've only just figured out how to break hexes now with the use of tools that detect a hex, or some special magic going on there.

• As of right now, only Rufus Scrimgeour and a few other upper-level Aurors are in charge of this project. Rufus is going to approach other Aurors and give assignments like what he's been doing. After all, Mr Scrimgeour can't do it all alone, or else he would never come home to Mrs Scrimgeour!

WHAT IS A PRIVACY HEX?
• A person uses a privacy hex in order to (surprise) make a specific note private to a specific person, or a specific group of people. When certain text is privated, people beyond the scope of the privacy hex cannot read it, or detect it (unless they have some magic-detecting sensor gadgets!). You can't break what you don't know is there, which brings us to our next point.

HOW CAN THE AURORS BREAK A HEX?
• Aurors probably won't see anything important, since the Death Eaters hex their notes so very strongly and the Order, likewise, is capable of providing some really solid magic. Thus, we're explaining it like this: the Aurors are merely scoping the journal systems for any suspicious activity (think similarly to what the US is doing with wiretapping). Again, there's that difference between determining what's important and what's not; the Aurors are looking for bad guys, they don't care about a bunch of teens who happen to be missing their bras and panties after a rowdy slumber party. For the most part, the Aurors have come up with absolutely nothing, and will continue to do so unless we decide on some plot that involves the Aurors actually intercept something.

We cannot have the Aurors catch your character writing about DE/Order activity, or vice versa, unless you give that Auror's player the okay. But I'd like to encourage you to create other means of communication for such important messages. For instance, the Order utilises Patronuses in passing important messages. Some students in-game have sent owls that self-destruct after being read. There are a multitude of other ways for characters to communicate without jeopardizing their own causes, whether that be Order-affiliated, Ministry-affiliated, Death Eater-affiliated or just plain, old not-affiliated.

IF AURORS CAN BREAK HEXES, COULDN'T IT GO THE OTHER WAY AROUND, THUS ALLOWING DEATH EATERS TO BREAK AURORS' HEXES?
• The short answer to this is, Yes. But again, we have to reiterate the importance of hex strengths, realism, and asking player permission. There is definite potential for abuse here, so we're creating and instating a new rule. Students should be far less likely to be able to break hexes than Aurors and DEs, who all (as far as I'm aware) have NEWT-level magic under their belts. Additionally, Aurors (and hopefully some of the wealthy Death Eaters) have magical instruments capable of detecting when magic is being used in a specific spot (such as when a witch or wizard uses magic to hide text to a specific person). This isn't to say that students are wholly incapable of breaking a hex, we're just saying that it's less likely, unless given circumstances that indicate it's okay. We're going to rehash information on hexes here, to hopefully clarify a few things.

HOW CAN WE ENSURE SAFETY FROM OUR CHARACTERS' PEERS?
• Specifying privacy charms. Eg. "This burns into ash if anybody but Joe Schmoe reads it!" An alternative to this, if your character is particularly vying for someone to break a hex and read their thoughts is "A weak hex--capable of being broken." There's another important issue to address. Unless someone says "Oh hey, so-and-so should break my character's hex," you must always ask permission when considering breaking a hex. If you do not ask permission, this is called God Modding, and you will be arrested. (Kidding. But we don't like godmodders very much, so always ask!)

TO RECAP:
• Aurors have initiated a program very similar to wiretapping; this involves breaking hexes within the journals and just trying to suss out helpful information.
• Hex strengths and the abilities of the potential readers are always to be kept in mind. (ie, Aurors and DEs are more capable in breaking hexes than students.)
• Always ask permission before breaking hexes.