NOTE: As of July 2004, we shortened this requirement to now read that all active players must report in to their ST in some manner and also go IC on IRC no less than once a week. 

This is a Very High Player-Participation Chronicle. When you're never around, regardless of the reason, it screws up things for other players, not just yourself. It can make a scene that IC took an hour, take a month to finish, and that's no fun for anyone concerned. It locks other players out of progress with their PCs. We craft storylines and scenes with the expectation that the active cast of characters is available to do their parts in it when asked.

We have had to put a moratorium on people not playing for extended periods of time unexcused, because absences were abused to duck legal RP, and/or fellow players have been stranded for literally months by the discourtesy of someone removing a key character without warning. 

We completely respect every player and ST's right to "have a life," and we know personal emergencies happen. This is not about that. Nobody is being punished for having emergencies. It is about common courtesy, integrity, respect and having the personal responsibility to simply take 5 minutes of your time and making an honest, good faith effort to inform us when you can't play. That is all it takes for us to accommodate your absence without penalty. It's not much to ask, but it is really important.

People need to understand that role-playing games are like many other hobbies and forms of entertainment. They may be optional, but for them to be fun and useful, you do make certain real and valid obligations that when not met, legitimately and reasonably upset those to whom they were broken.

In this regard, it is not unlike being in a theater show, or on a sports team. When you do not show up, recreational & optional or not, it still adversely affects others in a very real and measurable way. The time other players and ST's take away from their own lives, to RP with you, is not fictional, and neither is the inconvenience and annoyance of rescheduling when you don't show up.

When you are not available for long periods of time IC or even OOC, it disrupts the game and unfairly puts other players on hold waiting on you.

So, this policy has been instituted to put a stop to that, as follows:

NB: Any PC that is a mortal that is not in integrity with this policy, may not be converted to a supernatural genre either by choice *OR* by RP, until that PC is in good standing for the two months prior to conversion (in other words, you have taken them IC no less than 8 times (1x per week for 8 weeks) and submitted 4 Downtimes ON TIME.)

If you cannot keep up regular participation, you must tell your ST as soon as you know this. We would like to know when (not IF) you think you are returning to the game, and agree upon the fate and actions of your characters in the meantime. 

If you do not know when you can return, or it won't be anytime in the next few weeks, then the character must be placed on Hiatus and you are responsible for closing out any outstanding RP they need to do, and arranging IC business so they do not unfairly hold up other players while you are away. 

If you lose internet/PC access, most public libraries have Internet, as well as Internet Cafes, and probably friends or family that you know. You can log on from there briefly, or contact a friend who can log on for you and let us know what your situation is. 

If you do not show a good faith effort to keep us informed, you may lose the PC and rights to make any more in here. If the ST's feel you didn't do everything in your power to inform us, this could be considered abandoning the PC.

If you leave the channel because you are removed / banned by an ST, your characters are automatically confiscated. Your ST will decide how they exit the game. If you wish to have a say in that, you can ask your ST, but most people who get kicked out usually don't care, and we don't require it. But the option is there if you wish.

If you stop playing the PC because you don't know what you should be doing IC, that is not an accepted reason to be excused from this rule. You are supposed to be going by your background goals, and/or asking your ST for help, long before it comes to this point. We should not have to nag you to go IC or ask for help. 

Remember, we will allow you to write a legal PC, but if you insist on having one that doesn't fit in well even if it is legal to run one, that is your problem, so you should choose and design it carefully the first time around.

If you leave the channel for good, by choice, in good standing, you are also expected to clean up with your ST about your characters before you go. We just need to resolve the various connections they have to venues and PC's in the story so others know how to react to their leaving.

Players who left the game in good standing (as per the above), and cleared out with their ST, are welcome to return, and even have a possible option of playing their old PC again, at ST's discretion, provided it hasn't been written out of the storyline in a way that precludes this occurring.

If you abandon a PC here (as in break the one week rule) and the character is confiscated, this could potentially be grounds to not allow you to come back, even if we did not actually bother to ban you previously. Having other people's PC's to have to clean up after is an irritating chore for busy ST's, so players who force us to do it contribute annoyance and unneeded work for the Ops. This makes such players the sort that we may be disinclined to want back in here again, since they have shown us already that they disrespect our rules and our free time. 

Requests to return to the game will be case by case, based on the situation, and it is not real likely, if you are accepted back, that you will get your old PC again, even if we have not written it out of the story. It may happen, but no guarantees.

If you do get to return, you will be limited to one PC, unless and until  the ST's feel you can be trusted not to abandon any more, so choose the one you make very carefully, because it's all you got.