Rules

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Revision as of 05:23, 29 February 2024 by Borgar (talk | contribs) (Removed HumiliatedTrovalto from the Rules contributor list. For obvious reasons.)
Hey! Important Server Information!

This is information used by Admins on-server! Please make sure to read these contents and understand them; ignorance is not an excuse!

Looking for Standard Operating Procedure or other in-character policies? Check Jobs for a comprehensive list of roles (including Antagonists) and our policies regarding them, or Space Law for a list of all in-character crimes and the Guide to Security.

Bubberstation Rules

Authored by Dr. Fragenstien#5867, Nut#6378, Floof Ball#0798, Snaffle15 and bohnjangle#2417

For past and present headmin rulings, see Headmin Rulings.

OOC Conduct Rules

Core Rule X:

Discretion and Intervention Rule[1]

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 [2]

Show respect to all individuals. Be mindful of your conduct with other players. Use common sense. Hate speech, harassment, spamming (emotes, phrases, etc.) 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 [3]

Avoid metagaming[4]. This includes:

  • utilizing information that your character wouldn't naturally possess within reasonable limits.
  • assuming the intentions or goals of any antagonists or enemy players without witnessing them or being informed in-round.
  • Actively communicating with others players OOC about the events of the round, whether on the server or on any other server, during that round. This does not include plans to join games together, or talk in-character, particularly if they do not have negative consequences.

This is one of the only rules on Bubberstation that enforces on actions in other servers, be careful.

Core Rule 3: Misused Mechanics Rule[5]

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, otherwise you are responsible for the consequences of your actions.

Hiding on the interlink to avoid consequences (such as Security hunting you, or an antagonist seeking to assassinate you) falls under this rule as well.

Core Rule 4: Good Sportsmanship[6]

Conflict is a core principle of Bubberstation’s roleplay; Suiciding or raging ("salting") because you got caught or converted is against the rules, and will result in administrative action.

Additionally, It is against the rules to respawn as the same (or very similar) character in the same round without permission from an admin.[7] Looting people who are SSD before they are valid to be placed in cryogenic storage is against the rules, with exceptions allowed for things like antagonist objectives and station critical items like the nuclear authentication disk.

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. 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. Cryoing or ghosting over a simple brig sentence is considered bad form; 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.

Core Rule 5: OOC Forgiveness

This is a policy that extends across the rounds and is inherently integral to the life of round-to-round situations. It entails from harassing someone over OOC concerning their antagonist actions within the round to other failures. If a Doctor botches a surgery in one round and you refuse to be treated by them in another one, it isn't fair to that player to deny them the opportunity and hold something against them for the actions of a prior situation.

However, in the regards of antagonists, this means if an antagonist carries out actions against your character, you are not expected to remember this in future rounds. Such as the example of

  • Antagonist Methods (An antagonist killed you with a trap, so in a future round, you see them setting up a similar trap so you immediately deduce from your out of character experience that they are an antagonist this round)
  • Player Failures/Mistakes (Give fellow players the opportunity to correct themselves)

Special Rule: EORG

EORG (End of Round Grief) is essentially a deathmatch at the end of the round. This is only at the following times and areas:

  • Interlink (the place the shuttle lands at); avoiding any one in dorms there.
  • As soon as the 'round end' timer begins (not during any transit period).

EORG prepping to a severe extent may be frowned upon: the difference being when you do it 30 seconds to a minute before landing, and just bringing things onboard to do it. When the round end timer starts--you may have fun; not at any other period.

Roleplay Rules

Roleplay Rule 1: Storytellers [8]

It is the responsibility and expectation of all players to create an ideal environment for roleplay, where players cooperate to create a fun and engaging story. Attempts must be made to preserve roleplay when possible. This means that you are in violation of this rule if you:

  • Use OOC terms IC, even if it's sugar-coated ("Add me on the company Discord," ":3") or fail to properly separate IC and OOC chats,
  • Violate the description of your character in roleplay (Also known as "breaking character,") for any reason, though exceptionally so if it is harmful to others,
  • You have not put in minimum effort to create, and play, a character.[9] This means that your flavor text needs to make a minimum attempt to describe your character; your OOC notes should make a reasonable effort to communicate your OOC preferences, and none of your character descriptions should contain memes, or references to them, in place of real description. Expect that if you have egregiously low-quality descriptions, admins may request you leave the round and re-write them in order to play.[10]
  • Any NSFW descriptions of your character should be contained entirely in NSFW Flavortext.
  • You should make all efforts to ensure the station is not rendered uninhabitable, or majorly structurally compromised by your actions.[11] If you're unsure about whether your chosen strategy will cause issues with regards to this rules, submit an ahelp.

Roleplay Rule 2: Intent and Escalation[12]

Assume at all times that any interaction with another player is going to involve roleplay first and give them the space to do so. This part of the rule is specifically geared towards those who want to shut-down potential standoffs out of the blue.

However, 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.

  • This applies when someone is already roleplaying with you, or anyone else, indicating that the time for talk is over.
  • This does NOT apply if there is not someone already roleplaying/talking with you.
  • If any party involved calls for assistance from other players[13], attempts to flee without indication, or otherwise attempts to use this rule to gain an undue advantage in combat, that is a violation of this rule and repeat offenses may be handled administratively. If this happens, it can be considered an escalation and attacks can be thrown freely.
  • This is a rule specifically against attacks with improper or low escalation that do not have a need to be such. Therefore, surprise/spontaneous attacks or ambushes are allowed so long as the following is true:
    1. The player poses a threat if not swiftly dispatched.[14]
    2. The player is not roleplaying during the time of the ambush.
    3. You have strong IC justification to attack the player in the manner that you are.

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.

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 [15]

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
  • leaving them in a location they cannot reasonably escape or interact with any other characters.

Functional round-removal is still round-removal.

This rule does not apply if it is unreasonable to contain the character, such as antagonists who revive themselves, teleport, or have explosive implants, and Security Officers that keep rushing to fight after being revived; when in doubt, adminhelp for a ruling.

Roleplay Rule 4: Station Integrity

Unless directly related to your objectives, do not intentionally and excessively grief, or intentionally make the station generally uninhabitable, as an antagonist or otherwise.

Examples of this are:

  • Plasma flooding distro
  • Destruction greater in radius than a Syndicate Bomb or Maxcap
  • Shocking all the doors as AI
  • Putting a ridiculous amount of power in the electrical grid

Roleplay Rule 5: Believable Characters and Self-Antagonism[16]

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. If they aren't sufficiently believable, expect that you meet administrative action.

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. Essentially, treat people in-character based off of who they are in-character.

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.

Job Guides and Space Law are IC documents and violations should be handled IC where possible, but repeated violations, especially as command or to the detriment of others’ experience, can be punishable with a job or server ban. Problems with command staff not behaving in a reasonable manner should be treated OOCly if to a severe degree, as command staff are vital to station integrity and hold a lot of power over the crew.

Self-Antagonism

Self antagonism is where a player, that is not an antagonist, breaks Space Law or Standard Operating Procedure, effectively making themselves an antagonist by pitting themselves against the rest of the station. In order to do this, a player must have strong in-character reasoning to do so, or have an accepted OPFOR, otherwise they risk facing administrative action. Exceptions may be made at admins' discretion for cases that apply the Discretion and Intervention rule.

Roleplay Rule 6: Victory is Secondary[17]

Playing with the sole intention of achieving/denying greentext (the victory condition for antags) is not allowed. Examples include:

  • Powergaming (using, often breaking into, multiple departments in order to grant yourself obscene advantages, abusing excessively powerful gear, et cetera),
  • Validhunting (Chasing antagonists as a role that is not meant to be doing so),
  • Killing an antagonist on the shuttle right before it takes off so they do not achieve their escape objective.

Conflict with characters should be fueled by IC reasons that come through interaction and reacting to their actions, not solely because of their role or status as an antag.

ERP Rules

ERP Rule 1: By Moths, For Moths [18]

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 [19]

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

  • Have baseline, non-disabled human intelligence.[20]
  • Being able to communicate in some form.[21]
  • Being of sexual maturity for its species. All characters must be mature and over 18 years of age.[22]
  • Not be a real animal or a station pet of any sort.[23]

ERP Rule 3: Closed Doors and Foul Deeds [24]

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.

As a member of Command, you shouldn't leave the station's Z-levels in a non-emergency without clocking out[25] and returning your job-specific equipment to your locker. This includes going to the Interlink. Failing to do so repeatedly, especially if it leads to the displacement of the nuclear authentication disk, will lead to administrative action.

As an Antagonist, once you leave the Interlink, you must ahelp for permission to return there. Using the Interlink to evade consequences is, again, not allowed. This rule cannot be used to metagame antagonists; attempting to ask an antagonist to go to the Interlink to catch them is right out.

Abusing these rules to harass people engaging in ERP or to avoid IC consequences for your actions is forbidden.


Reading through the rules before you whitelist? Check out our Guide to Whitelisting page for help filling out your application.

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.
  1. ↑ This is for people who constantly toe the line with the rules, and reminds admins and players that ultimately, the role of the staff team is to maintain a positive roleplaying environment, and that the rules are simply a communication of intent to help players to know what they should do to avoid issues with the staff team. They will be maintained to keep this communication open, but ultimately, they are a means to an end.
  2. ↑ This is your "be cool with other players, don't be a dick" rule. No one wants to deal with someone harassing them out of character, and no one wants to deal with racists on the server, and this rule exists to solve that problem. It's not hard to be in line with, but it's necessary.
  3. ↑ This is your rule to keep in-character knowledge separate from out of character knowledge. Your character shouldn't act on things they wouldn't reasonably know, and you shouldn't engage in communicating about the round outside of the round itself.
  4. ↑ Metagaming is communicating with players outside of the game or misusing knowledge gained through OOC means to impact the round.
  5. ↑ Ex: No infinite money glitches, no hacking, that sorta thing. Also, ghost roles should not interact with the station unless approved.
  6. ↑ This is your standard rule against things like suiciding/ghosting when you get caught, as well as people respawning as the same character in the round. In general, be a good sport, play along with other people doing their job, even at your own expense.
  7. ↑ This bit here isn't enforced perma-death for your characters, this bit is just to make sure your dead catboy doesn't suddenly come back as a security officer while his corpse is being operated on in the medbay lobby.
  8. ↑ This is for all the people who want to have a fun roleplaying server, but don't actually want to go the extra mile to contribute to roleplay on it. The environment is maintained by staff, but chiefly by players, so it's important this rule exists to remind the average player that it's their part to play, that they follow the rules and create engaging roleplay with other players.
  9. ↑ A character, chiefly a fictional one, is defined as a created or simulated person in the world, played by the player (You!). Allowing the beliefs of the player to excessively take over the actions of the character is considered poor form.
  10. ↑ This includes, but is not limited to, using character generators or AI to skip the process of writing a description, though using aids or getting help is totally fine. Use common sense: it's more about side-stepping the required effort for every player than about the specific tool used.
  11. ↑ Essentially, there is an upper limit to the amount of destruction, damage, or disruption you can cause as an antagonist before you start being considered murderboning and face administrative action.
  12. ↑ This rule is chiefly against type-baiting, essentially using roleplay to grant yourself a mechanical advantage while the other person's guard is down. This is detrimental to roleplay on the server, so therefore we do not allow it.
  13. ↑ Yelling, radioing, PDAing, et cetera. Listen for the sounds of these devices.
  14. ↑ "Immediate Threat" is defined by anyone that can easily defeat you in combat in proper, honorable combat. It may also extend to anyone with access to security or command comms. As an example, a doctor cannot be an immediate threat alone, but a doctor armed with non-standard items such as a firearm or syringe gun may very well be. When in doubt, roleplay first.
  15. ↑ Rounds are 2 and a half hours long, as of writing, and can go for even longer. The last thing anyone needs is to be out of it and unable to play their character in the first five minutes. If this happens to you by accident, feel free to ask admins for a revive.
  16. ↑ We want our players to play believable characters, and also to create believable conflict with other players during the round. To this end, this rule was made.
  17. ↑ This one is pretty tough, and it's essentially for playing to win, rather than playing to create an engaging story. Killing all the antagonists in a round may be fun for you, Captain, but everyone's bored for the next 2 hours, and the antagonists are sad they didn't get to roleplay with anyone.
  18. ↑ ERP is allowed and encouraged as an option on Bubberstation, however, some things should not be seen. Be sure to use your subtler anti-ghost if things are too raunchy for ghosts' eyes!
  19. ↑ Essentially, a list of all of the traits that people find distasteful or ugly in a character, ESPECIALLY with regards to ERP. This is basically the harkness test with one extra step. Do not make characters that even come close to violating these rules. Do not include content in your flavor text, OOC notes, or anything similar that even hints that you engage in this content. It will be a permanent ban, this rule is zealously enforced to maintain a clean environment. If you are unsure if your character adequately meets these rules, feel free to ahelp and ask for an admin to advise you, we'll be happy to help.
  20. ↑ This means no playing feral characters, no playing people who are severely mentally disabled or childlike, et cetera. Being an idiot alone is not enough, we are all stupid.
  21. ↑ This means that unfortunately, your blind and deaf quadraplegic OC is probably not allowed to ERP. Characters that only bark or otherwise lack a defined means of communication are also right out, as they cannot consent. Sign language exists, and while characters should be able to consent, depending on preferences they may not need to.
  22. ↑ This means no trickery with "my race matures at age six." This can be true for your race, but you cannot be below the age of eighteen for any reason, or below the age at which your species matures, if it is different from 18. For example, if your elf's race matures at 100, then your character cannot be below 100. Naturally, you decide if your race matures at a year over 18.
  23. ↑ This means you cannot ERP as a crab, corgi, Ian, birdboat, a cow, et cetera. This does, however, mean you CAN ERP as a dogborg, pAI, ashdrake or other lavaland monster, station robot, and many others.
  24. ↑ Essentially, a list of types of areas on station and how they should be handled with regards to ERP scenes. The other person doesn't necessarily need to be doing ERP for this rule to apply, however it is the main situation in which it does. No area on-station is truly protected, use the Interlink dorms if you want that scene protection.
  25. ↑ The machine to clock out is located in the cryopods room on-station, or on the Interlink in extreme cases.

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