Kyrusia wrote:Euroslavia wrote:1) Keep it PG-13. The standard for both the forums and game is the US movie rating "PG-13". Mild swearing may be tolerated, mild sexuality may be hinted, but explicit or excessive versions of either or both may result in proportional mod response. Anything that crosses this boundary is subject to punishment depending on how far it goes.
Erotic roleplay and cybersexing are forbidden on all areas of the site -- forums, rmbs, or telegrams. Engaging in these anywhere on site will lead to warnings, bans, deletion or being declared Delete on Sight (DOS), depending on a player's prior history here.
Offensive Material: As mentioned previously, we use the US movie rating "PG-13" standard. Mild swearing may be tolerated, mild sexuality may be hinted, but explicit or excessive versions of either or both will result in moderation intervention.
Let's also take a moment to look at the
Terms and Conditions of Use that all players agree to abide-by when they create an account (emphasis added):
Terms and Conditions of Use wrote:You may submit content to NationStates.net so long as it is not obscene, illegal, threatening, malicious, or defamatory, does not invade the privacy or infringe the intellectual property of a third party, and does not constitute "spam." You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, attempt to "hack" the site or another player's account, nor otherwise mislead as to the origin of information.
There are limits, and yes, there is wiggle room due to the nature of a narrative (a roleplay), but that does not mean one can go off the rails and start posting what they want and say, "It was for narrative reasons!" That will get you smacked just as readily as posting gore will; doesn't matter if you
really, really, promise, pinky-promise, double-dog-swear it was purely for innocent reasons. If you post something that seems to be for shock value or just trips across the line, traipsing into "R"-rated territory, you will earn something on your record - ranging from an unofficial warning all the way up to DEAT and beyond, depending on how far across the line it goes - be that in a roleplay or otherwise. If it's obscene, illegal, appears to be done for malicious reasons, or any of the others, it will be acted upon. "It's just roleplay!" is not an excuse.
Here is an older post from a similar question:
Kyrusia wrote:Secondly: as the
rules state, the NS forums adhere to the "PG-13 Rule" as well as the rule against posting
offensive material. What you should ask yourself is whether or not what you want to include - be it swearing, implied sexuality, a certain degree of violence, etc. - is being added
to add value to the narrative, not simply for "shock value." This is a good litmus to follow, combined with remembering that any such thing becoming excessive (such as swearing) or explicit (such as sexuality) is likely to push you over the threshold and may result in punitive actions. You
can consider appending a "Mature" tag to your posts, but understand that
this does not suddenly absolve your responsibility to ensure what you post is not violating the rules; in other words: putting a "Mature" tag does not mean you can suddenly break the PG-13 rule, it simply serves as a warning to other
players that your post/thread may contain
mature or sensitive topics (which can cover a range of things and
still be PG-13; genocide is often the example used here). [...] just remember: ask yourself whether something is adding to the narrative and keep anything from becoming excessive or - especially in the case of sexuality - explicit.
[...] if done poorly, if it crosses into the "R" rating, etc., you are likely to be punished with the post disappearing to the bottom of the Evidence Locker. Violence, implied sexuality, etc. can be done tastefully and in a manner that evokes an emotional response in the reader; this, if it is to be included, is how it
should be done - not for shock value, not for gore porn. We have all manner of atrocities roleplayed, usually within the boundaries of the rules, on this forum on a daily basis; even so, some posts
do break the rules, and we will act on them accordingly.
If a player does not feel they can portray something without breaking the rules, don't try. This is the best way to think about situations such as this: "If you don't know if it'd be acceptable or not, don't post it."
Hopefully this answers your question and provides greater context to the PG-13 Rule.
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:14 am