Rules

Bubberstation Rules

Authored by Dr. Fragenstien#5867, Nut#6378, Floof Ball#0798, HumiliatedGoblin#9093 and bohnjangle#2417

OOC Conduct Rules

Core Rule X:

Discretion and Intervention Rule

All rules are to be followed to the spirit, not the letter. If you have any questions or confusion about a rule talk to an admin before acting. Rulings may be done in accordance with what is best for the situation, rather than what is noted here, in the interest of the server and round. If you disagree with the decision of an admin, submit an appeal on the Discord. First and foremost, the responsibility of staff is to maintain an environment conducive to enjoyable experiences for the players, and will thus follow this rule similarly.

Core Rule 1: Mutual Respect Rule

Show respect to all individuals. Be mindful of your OOC conduct with other players. Use common sense. Hate speech, harassment, or otherwise abusive or toxic behavior is not allowed. Maintain honesty at all times, and if you have made a mistake please refrain from obscuring that information.

Core Rule 2: Mis/Metacommunications Rule

Avoid metagaming, communicating with players outside of the game or misusing meta-knowledge to impact the round. Generally, refrain from utilizing information that your character wouldn't naturally possess within reasonable limits.This includes assuming the intentions or goals of any antagonists or enemy players without witnessing them or being informed in-round.

Core Rule 3: Misused Mechanics Rule

Deliberate abuse of unintended mechanics or exploits, outside the game or within it, to further your in-game means is considered to be an OOC rulebreak. This rule operates on good faith, namely, that there is interest in leveling the playing-field where appropriate to other players. This includes using ghost roles to significantly impact the station or raiding ghost role areas - any significant interaction between the station and ghost roles  should be pre-approved by submitting an OPFOR request or contacting staff. Hiding on the interlink to avoid security or antags falls under this rule as well.

Core Rule 4: Good Sportsmanship

Conflict is a core principle of Bubberstation’s roleplay. Not everything will always go as planned, and things may happen that you couldn’t predict or didn’t want to happen. We encourage players to play along in unexpected scenarios, but we can’t make people play when they don’t want to. Suiciding or raging because you got caught or converted is against the rules. If you find yourself converted to be an antag you didn’t want to play, you should LOOC your new “team” to let them know and cryo. If you’re an antag and you get put in perma, you’re allowed to cryo, but if you’re just brigged then you’re expected to take the punishment; it’s the risk you take when you play antag. If you think that other players are forcing unreasonable punishments on your character, Ahelp for a ruling. Remember that it is against the rules to respawn as the same character without asking permission from an admin.

Roleplay Rules

Roleplay Rule 1: Storytellers

It is the responsibility of all players to create an ideal environment for roleplay. Roleplay is a cooperative experience, and you are expected to provide for that when possible. Attempts must be made to preserve roleplay when possible. This includes making all efforts to ensure the station is not rendered uninhabitable, or majorly structurally compromised by your actions. If unsure about whether your chosen strategy will cause too much damage or disruption, submit an ahelp.

Roleplay Rule 2: Intent and Escalation

Assume at all times that any interaction with another player is going to involve roleplay first and give them the space to do so. Before ending roleplay and transitioning to combat mechanics, use either LOOC, an emote, or the Combat Indicator to indicate clearly that the situation will now be resolved with mechanical combat. You do not have to wait after using the combat indicator to initiate combat, but do wait if your opponent’s typing indicator is still up. Combat is automatically initiated and any claims of improper notification are null if one party attempts to flee or calls for backup by yelling for help, using a radio, or using a PDA. If you do not wish to continue combat, you can use the ‘surrender’ verb, but do not hold it against anyone if it isn’t honored in the heat of the moment.

Roleplay Rule 3: Round Removal

Do not do anything that would prevent a player from playing the round as their character. This includes but is not limited to: leaving their body unrecoverable, making drastic alterations to their character without their consent or leaving them in a location they cannot reasonably escape or interact with any other characters. Functional round-removal is still round-removal. Round removal is allowed if it is unreasonable to contain the character, such as changelings, antags with explosive implants, and security that keeps rushing to fight after being revived; when in doubt, adminhelp for a ruling.

Roleplay Rule 4: Believable Characters and Self-Antagonism

Your character must meet these standards:

• Be at least 18 years of age and physically and mentally mature
• Not be a copy or direct reference to an existing character in media or a real person.
• You may base your character’s species off of an existing character or species, but the species should be written to fit the setting.
• Should value their job, their life, and the lives and feelings of others at a believable level.

Avoid the use of netspeak, OOC mentions, and game-terms. Have in-game and in-character reasoning for the things that you do. When playing in conflict or opposition to others, such as by breaking Space Law as a non-antagonist,your actions should be believable of someone behaving in their workspace or community. The reputation of characters should be an IC result of their IC actions, and personal OOC feelings or behavior should not be a factor in interactions. If you are displeased with the reputation your character has built with another character, it is recommended to communicate OOC and come to an understanding. You can ask an admin to help moderate this discussion.

SoP and Space Law are IC documents and violations should be handled IC, but repeated violations, especially as command or to the detriment of others’ experience, can be punishable with a job or server ban.

Roleplay Rule 5: Victory is Secondary

Playing with the sole intention of achieving/denying greentext is not allowed, usually through powergaming and/or valid hunting. Conflict with characters should be fueled by IC reasons that come through interaction and reacting to their actions, not because of their role or status as an antag.

ERP Rules

ERP Rule 1: By Moths, For Moths

Bubberstation allows players to roleplay sexual content alongside violence and disturbing themes in SS13. Players must acknowledge the possibility of encountering uncomfortable content. Kinkshaming is prohibited, and any observed rule-breaking should be reported to staff. Witch hunts are strictly forbidden; let admins handle investigations and punishments. Disable ghost ears and eyes if you wish to avoid seeing unwanted content. All scenes featuring non-con, dub-con, gore, vore, watersports, monsters, and scat must be filtered with Subtler Anti-Ghost. If you intend to RP a fetish beyond vanilla and are unsure where it falls, ahelp.

ERP Rule 2: Character Eligibility

To use a character in an erotic context, they must adhere to the following:

• Have baseline, non-disabled human intelligence.
• Being able to communicate in some form.
• Being of sexual maturity for its species. All characters must be mature and over 18 years of age.
• Not look like a real animal or being a station pet of any sort.

ERP Rule 3: Closed Doors and Foul Deeds

ERP protections can be classified into 3 categories: Public, Private, and Protected.

• Public spaces have no protections against interruptions. ERP is allowed in Public spaces as long as it’s generally vanilla. Themes containing sexual violence, unsanitary fetishes, or niche interests considered uncomfortable by most are not allowed in Public spaces, including visibility to ghosts. Public spaces are considered anywhere that people are expected to be or need to be in, such as in departments, operating theaters, brig cells, or the SM engine.
• Private spaces are still a part of the station, and you are still considered to be a part of the round even in a Private space. If a scene in a Private space is intruded upon, they are expected to leave if asked unless they have IC justification to be there or interrupt. If your objective target is in a scene in a private space, you should ahelp to get a new target. Proper justification includes requiring someone in the scene or needing access to the space and waiting or finding an alternative is impossible. Be considerate to other players and avoid getting unrelated parties involved in uncomfortable subject matters. Private spaces are considered places that the average person has no reason to be, such as  windowless rooms that are locked, private offices with window shutters, abandoned rooms in maintenance halls, or remote places in space or lavaland.
• Protected spaces should never be intruded on under any circumstances. Protected spaces include private rooms on the Interlink, locked rooms in the Ghost cafe, and locked rooms in the hotel.

Command staff and Antags should not leave the station without submitting an ahelp. Abusing these rules to harass people engaging in ERP or to avoid IC consequences for your actions is forbidden.

ERP Rule 4: Lewd Description

NSFW parts of flavor text must be marked as such by a divider or disclaimer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What about [insert specific scenario here]?

The rules cannot possibly cover all possible scenarios. Like always, admins reserve the right to make rulings in the best interest of the server and its community. That said, it’s entirely possible that we missed something important! Always be asking questions, and if we see the same thing happen repeatedly, we can add that here as an example.

What counts as “IC justification” to interrupt an ERP scene?

First of all, if you’re not flexible enough to pivot if your ERP is interrupted you should take it to the interlink. The game will not stop for you if you’re on the station.

Now, what is and is not an okay justification? In general, you shouldn’t have an issue if you follow the guideline of “if you need someone or something in the space or the space itself and there are no alternatives” you’ll be fine. Here are a few examples:

Okay

• The supermatter is going critical, and the only person with engineering access is in a scene. You can drag them out to do their job.
• The beds are full in medbay and you need to use the operating theatre, but there’s a couple making out in there. You can kick them out.
• You’re a detective and you return to your office to a couple assistants making a “mess” in there. You can kick them out, or work around them, but you do not have to give up your office to them.

Ahelp

• You have a kill or theft objective but the room they’re in is being used for sexy time. Ahelp to get a new objective, or use wall peirce LOOC to check if they can be cool with your disruption

Not Okay

• Barging into a dorm because you “need to take a piss”
• Breaking into the HOS’s office while they’re in a scene to handle a single prisoner while the warden and other security is available.
• Remodeling a maint room people are hiding away in for their scene.

Ew, the Cringe Indicator?

The point of this rule is to try to get players to make sure people are aware that Roleplay is over and combat is starting. This includes using the Combat Indicator, but does not require it specifically. The goal is to achieve the bottom right of this chart. We expect players to roleplay out their conflicts as much as possible and make sure everyone is on the same page when conflict must be resolved through combat.