A working knowledge of these policies is your responsibility, should you choose to join us here at the World of Vale. As with the law in real life, ignorance of these policies is not a defense. Since they are subject to change without notice, you should refresh your understanding of the rules listed here regularly; you will be held accountable to them.
Here at World of Vale, roleplay is not an option; it is mandatory, and an enforced requirement. Should you not enjoy roleplaying, this is likely the wrong MUD for you -- kindly look elsewhere, and save us all a bit of trouble. The only OOC allowed in the MUD must take place within designated OOC lounge areas. If any IC information is disseminated via these means, rest assured that the staff will react quite harshly.
However, for those who enjoy consistent, rich, and well-wrought roleplay, we will strive to provide an atmosphere as conducive to these elements as possible. In addition, as a staff we will make a conscious effort to reward those who demonstrate exemplary roleplay; play well enough, and you just might find bits of the game world revolving around your character.
World of Vale is a role-play intensive MUD, and the successful player here will take that quite seriously. As a result, many and sundry experiences are depicted in the gameworld; not all of these experiences are necessarily pleasant, nor do they agree with everyone's sense of propriety. Our only rule is this: in order for such roleplay (e.g. roleplayed sex or torture) to proceed, explicit out-of-character consent must be obtained from all parties involved. (Note that, by definition, legal consent cannot be given by a minor.)
If any of the involved parties withdraws their consent at any time, the roleplay must stop, with absolutely no exceptions. Simply "fade to black", and then roleplay the consequences of whatever activity has been skipped rather than focusing on the activity itself.
Finally, please remember that we strive to provide a family-friendly environment, and an enjoyable experience for all ages. Therefore, if you choose to engage in any arguably objectional roleplay, the onus is on you to find a relatively private place in-game for it to take place. If someone should happen upon your scene by chance, travelling through a public area, and they find its content objectionable, you will be treated as if you consciously chose to involve them in it without first obtaining their consent.
Any violations of this rule should immediately be reported to staff. Please be aware that we keep complete logs of all player interactions on our server for just this reason.
World of Vale is a roleplaying game. It is played only at mud.worldofvale.com, port 10900. It is not played over ICQ, AIM, IRC, or any of the other chat/IM clients out there, nor is it played with your roommates, circle of friends, or real-life beer buddies. Information regarding in-character happenings in the game needs to stay solely between the players and the administrators involved; if we as staff learn that any information gained OOCly has been exploited by a player to shape the outcome of in-game events, we will take measures to rectify this, up to and including possibly reversing said events.
Likewise, carry-over of in-character information from one character to the next is strictly forbidden. You may not play a relative of a previous PC, or any other accquaintance that would entail the sharing of IC information, without prior staff clearance.
The use of ANY TRIGGER OR SCRIPT to send input to the MUD is expressly forbidden in World of Vale. This includes, but is not limited to, triggers that prevent your character from being disconnected due to idleness, triggers or scripts that focus on skill gain, and scripts to move your character from one place to another ("speedwalks"). Conversely, however, triggers used client-side for things like coloring certain text strings or tripping alert sounds when certain events occur are not in breach of this policy, as they do not send any input to the MUD and do not attempt to garner an unfair advantage. Any infraction of this policy will be dealt with quite harshly, particularly if the infraction involves powergaming.
Our built-in mudmail system, Mud-Mail, is provided for the convenience of our players, for things like scheduling RPTs and other such OOC matters. Dissemination of IC information through this system is strictly prohibited, as is harrassment of any kind. Lastly, using this system for the advertising of goods or services, a.k.a sending "spam" mail, is also against policy. Infractions of any of these statutes will be dealt with quickly and harshly.
For the separate policies governing usage of our web forum, please click here.
We require that each player stick to a single game account in their time here, so the staff is better able to track their past characters and roleplay. Furthermore, neither multiplaying nor alternative characters are allowed on World of Vale. Each player may only have one (1) character alive and in-game at any one time. If you wish to create a new character before the death of your present one, you must first retire your active PC from the account menu.
If, for any reason, you wish to use a second account from your computer's IP address - such as allowing a sibling or spouse to play, or visiting a friend's house and playing from there - you must clear this with the staff before doing so. Our IP-tracking system will tag you as a multiplayer, and if you only give us your excuse after you are caught it will not sit well.
All infractions of this rule, whether the registration of multiple accounts or multiple living characters, are punished quite stringently - so please observe this policy carefully.
We recognize that players will lose their connections from time to time for reasons beyond their control. We ask that players recognize that we have no control over those kinds of difficulties either, and that although we empathize when it results in the loss of items or even in character death, we regret that, absent extreme mitigating circumstances, we cannot and will not make individual exceptions to resurrect PCs.
Provided that it is in-character, player killing is allowed on WoV. However, we do ask that you bear in mind that people often invest a great deal of time and effort in their characters; this is not a HnS mud, where once you kill their character they pop up safe and sound at a respawn point. So, please think carefully before engaging in any such activity; often, there are excellent and interesting RP opportunities to be had as alternatives to killing.
Conversely, as a victim, if you feel you are being treated harshly or unfairly by another player-character - chances are you may be right. As long as it occurs during the course of in-character roleplay, however, and does not violate one of the other policies listed here, such is perfectly acceptable behavior. Remember, not all roleplay you come across will favor your character; adversity is a fact of life in Vale just as it is in our own world.
As mentioned elsewhere, on WoV, PC death will be permanent 99.999% of the time. In-character resurrections are, like in our own society, little more than the stuff of myths and legends. If we resurrect anyone, it will likely be in an OOC fashion, to remedy a flaw in the code that perhaps lead to their deaths in an equally OOC manner. So, please bear this in mind, if you are considering petitioning the staff for a resurrection; if your death was the result of a code bug, it may be a reasonable solution. If not, you are quite likely better served by spending your time creating a new character concept, and submitting a new application.
As hard as I try, the code is obviously far from foolproof. It is, after all, only code; it lacks the sense of judgment that (most) human admins have, and thus will never be as good an arbiter of situations as a sentient being. Those who seek to take advantage of this weakness to accomplish their own ends, whether it's powering up their characters or wreaking havoc on others, will be dealt with quite harshly. Being aware of a bug and not informing the staff, so that it remains for you to exploit, is strictly against our policies.
While we very much appreciate the enthusiasm of our playerbase, and their desire to bring friends and acquaintances from the community in to join our world, we felt this deserved an explicit mention. Posting an advertisement to a forum reserved specifically for MUD promotions is okay - wonderful, even - but promoting WoV in other places, such as within other MUDs, on their game-related discussion forums, and on unrelated websites and mailing lists - is most assuredly not. Infractions in this particular area will be dealt with swiftly and harshly by our administration, as we become aware of them.
On sites that allow you to rate World of Vale, such as MudMagic.com, or mudconnect.com, this policy applies to biased cross-voting. That is, please do not rate us highly and then deliberately rate other MUDs poorly to attempt to increase our ranking. This gives us a bad reputation and therefore damage us in the long run,
Donations are not accepted at this time.
For the most part, members of the admin staff should be viewed in much the same way as the DMs of traditional pen-and-paper roleplaying games. We are here to enrich your roleplaying experience in a way that mere code could not; we strive to ensure that IC actions will carry realistic ramifications, and that the gameworld is balanced and enjoyable for our players. We are -not- here to favor one faction over another, to give you a free Holy Avenger because your character was raised by a secret, holy order of crusaders, or to play ridiculously overpowered PCs. There are a great many restrictions on any PCs that a staff member may choose to play; rest assured that no favoritism is tolerated.
With regards to player-staff communication, we have an open-door policy here. You are always welcome to contact us in a variety of ways; the web forum, the in-game boards, or writing an email to our staff mailing list are all acceptable. Petitioning up for assistance while in-game is also an efficient way to reach a staff member. However, please remember that we are all volunteers, and we do receive a great deal of such traffic; while we will try to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible to your concern or question, it may take some time.
While we put a great deal of confidence in the sense of judgment and fairness espoused by each of our staff members, we do recognize that sometimes, two people simply do not mix. If you believe that you have been treated unfairly due to such personal bias, and you do not feel as if you could communicate this clearly to the staff member in question, you are always welcome to send an email to our staff list, explaining your position calmly, clearly, and politely. If this effort is made in good faith, we will review the situation as a group, and attempt to ensure that a decision is made that is free of any possible personal enmities. However, if you simply write an email to our staff list that consists mainly of a rant, a flame, or an attack on the staff member in question, rest assured that at the very least, you will be ignored; at the very worst, sanctions may be imposed.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to resolve difficulties through discussion, and we are required to take action to see a matter to its close. Although each situation is unique, the following are the general guidelines that we consider when deciding an appropriate sanction for a policy breach, or repeated instances of the same or similar offense: