Wiki Sections
Golden Rules
Follow these rules whether you are in-game, in Discord, or otherwise utilizing any TRGNetwork community space:
1. Respect Fellow Guild Mates
We’re all flawed persons behind a keyboard, not Internet dragons to slay. In a polarized world of echo-chamber social media bubbles, small disagreements trigger nuclear overreactions. This is not a personal Facebook or Twitter feed, it’s a diverse community of roleplayers. We have games and storytelling in common but otherwise lead different lives. The occasional disagreement is par for the course. Take this as a challenge to step outside your comfort zone and listen and learn. Present your disagreements constructively and back them up with reason. Agree to disagree if absolutely necessary, but take extra care to follow-up, clarify, and maintain peace between guild mates. This is your greatest responsibility in this community and if you fail in this responsibility, you will not keep your space here.
2. Do Not Unnecessarily Start Or Perpetuate OOC Drama
Roleplay in-character (IC) drama is encouraged, player out-of-character (OOC) drama is not. If OOC drama occurs, resolve it as adults. Never start, participate in, or perpetuate OOC drama. This doesn’t mean sweep OOC issues under the rug if they need to be resolved. Instead, please be proactive if you sense something amiss — or be receptive if a guild mate comes to you with an issue. It is encouraged to reach out, listen, and clarify. If OOC drama sparks between guild mates, do not fan drama through gossip, harassment, or needlessly getting involved in drama that did not begin with you. If a guild mate loops you into OOC drama, remember that you are rarely given all sides of a conflict and people tend to make themselves the hero of their own tales. Please help the community by remaining level-headed, take into account the side that has not been told to you, and encourage resolution by all parties.
3. Resolve Issues You Start Or Are Involved In
You’re the first in line when it comes to your conflict resolution. To repeat a line from #2: Be proactive if you sense something amiss and reach out to a guild mate — and in turn, be receptive if a guild mate reaches out to you with an issue you’re responsible for. Please first attempt to peacefully and privately resolve the issue between involved parties. If this fails, then route the issue to Officers or Admins for third-party mediation. Please include screenshots of incidents to leadership so they are given the most accurate information possible. Note that the Officers/Admins will not take sides on the issue and will speak to everyone involved in the incident. Any misconduct by any party throughout mediation will be dealt with accordingly — in other words, there is no binary “right/wrong” if lines were crossed by any party throughout the process. Conduct yourself at your best at all times. See #1 and #2.
4. Keep In-Character And Out-Of-Character Lines Separate
In roleplay, what happens in-character, stays in-character. In-character motives are not (and should not be) out-of-character motives. Stay separate from your character at all times. This also includes not using IC moments as a shield if there is suspected OOC drama. This street runs both ways! Everyone (fellow guild mates, Leads, Officers, Admins, etc.) reserve the right to “pause” the roleplay camera and ascertain if everything is all right out-of-character. We encourage anyone in moments of doubt to reach out, work out, and clarify. This paves the way towards IC fun and trust by all parties involved — essential ingredients to good roleplay.
5. Have Fun
Games are a hobby, not a lifestyle. Those who unhealthily make video games or roleplay their life, are overly “salty” (a gamer turn of phrase for overly negative), or treat guild mates as a means to an end (e.g., to sate game or roleplay addictions), do not have a place here. We’re here to build a community of mature hobbyists that support one another’s game play and roleplay, not dopamine addictions. Be a guild mate who helps us bring moments of joy, OOC personal (and IC character) growth, and inspire creativity in fellow guild mates.
Diversity Policy
We are a diverse community of players from all walks of life. We have guild mate representation across gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, body type, religion, mental illness*, and more. Our commonality is gaming and roleplay, and we believe our diversity enriches us individually and as a community. We learn and grow as people when exposed to life experiences outside our bubble and it is our individual responsibility to listen. Therefore, everyone has a starting seat at the table, the rest comes down to how they conduct themselves under the Golden Rules.
In addition, in the importance of defining clear policy: Slurs and derogatory terms towards others, including usage in memes, are not acceptable, and will incur disciplinary measures as deemed appropriate based on the offense.
* We offer a welcoming space to openly talk of the day-to-day struggles of mental illness (e.g., our #-share-in-the-light Discord channel). We try to de-stigmatize, support, and encourage healing (or just getting through a bad day). However, individually or as a community, we cannot replace professional help, and we are not qualified or equipped to counsel or treat anyone. We encourage all guildies to maintain healthy boundaries, especially in the case of outward behaviors that harm others. Furthermore, mental illness is not an excuse for breaking for the Code of Conduct, and disciplinary measures will be applied fairly to all guildies.
Politics/Religious Discussion Policy
We live in polarized times where politics/religion has seeped into every crevice of our lives.
We have guild mates whose core self such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, religious views, immigration status, the color of their skin, etc. — inseparable parts of ourselves that are not a choice — are targets in today’s political discourse by figureheads, media, and social media.
We have guild mates who are actively learning about these realities that affect guild mates’ lives who don’t know how to offer support or ask informative questions.
This is everyone’s refuge to rest and learn safely. However, it does not come without active help from everyone.
For years, we held a “no political discussion” policy and enforced it. We thought it was the cornerstone of being a welcoming space. However, as we have matured and learned, we are not a truly welcoming place if we do not understand the pain of the people standing next to us. Therefore, when speaking about a core part of your identity (see above) that has been politicized by society, we do not consider this part of the “no political discussion” umbrella.
Your part in this mission is to provide space for fellow guild mates in this community. This includes when they share and discuss their pain and suffering, and how they are impacted and handling the political discourse that has politicized their lives. Within our Discord, we ask that these conversations be left out of our dedicated gaming and casual socializing channels, so guild members who need a genuine escape from the world and their own troubles know they can find a guaranteed space to do so. For sharing deeply personal conversation, our dedicated sharing space, #-share-in-the-light, is available for active members and can entered via opting into chat roles in #-members-only.
That said, in the case of political hottaking on topics du jour, the “no politics” rule still applies. We are not interested in hosting anyone’s bully pulpit on political topics that do not directly affect them — this includes canvassing for candidates, donations, or shitposting low-quality political memes. There are plenty of other spaces to do that and this is not one of them.
Sexual Harassment Policy
Two things.
One, we are not a cybering or erotic roleplay community. If you do engage in such activity, it is on your own time, consensual, and private. Is not the intent of this community and there are plenty other communities with the structure — and willingness — to support such action full time. Because we are acutely aware of a slippery slope for these activities and an environment of sexual harassment they can perpetuate, we are compelled to include clarification on this matter in this policy. We encourage any unwanted behavior stemming from these activities that breaches the line of consent to be reported, for the safety of the guild mate and the health of the community.
Second and separately, sexual harassment is unacceptable and we will not allow for such activities. Sexual harassment includes but is not limited to:
- Repeated unwanted advances (OOC by default, but can include IC advances if OOC discomfort occurs and IC advances do not stop after OOC meditation)
- Unwanted solicitation for RL photos or cybering (erotic roleplay, sexting, etc.)
- Bragging about any sexually intimate transactions that have taken place
- Sexualizing/objectifying a guild member to them directly or to their peers
- Commissioning NSFW fanart or fanfiction of guild members without explicit consent
- Any other incidents that create discomfort or otherwise undermine the bodily autonomy of a guild mate
If any such behavior has occurred, the offender will go under immediate review and depending on the severity of the conduct, receive an immediate probation or permanent removal from the TRGNetwork. We will also note that this equally applies to offenders of any gender and orientation, and we deeply encourage incidents to be reported ASAP.
Disciplinary Measures
Disregarding the above rules will result in the following:
- Minor issues will result in the issuance of a strike to the offender
- Major issues or not carrying out the terms of a Strike will result in the probationor complete removal of the offender
- Offenders who do not carry out the terms of their probation will be removed from the community and all in-game guilds
Note: Removed or departed members of TRGNetwork do not come back and not for lack of asking. All removals are complete and permanent from our community.