Player & Character Consent

Discussion in 'Rules' started by Pinkbat5, Jun 26, 2021.

  1. Pinkbat5

    Pinkbat5 pocl v3.6.7 Staff Member Moderator Diamond Donator

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    Player Consent

    Consent is the right of the player to request that a severe consequence– such as severe injury or death– not happen to their character. Consent rules generally exist to ensure that players can avoid the mutilation or death of their character if they don’t want to RP it, and have done nothing to ICly provoke or deserve it.

    There are three levels of consent:
    • Severe injury consent, which covers life-threatening injuries such as severe bleeding, gashes, punctured lungs, damaged organs, amputation, etc.
    • Death consent, which covers the death of the character.
    • And irrevocable consent, which covers actions that players never have to RP if they don’t want to– such as rape/ERP, slavery, mind control, infection with the FEV/shifter virus, or the permanent death of their character.
    Mild injuries, such as bruises, moderate bleeding, broken bones, minor gunshot wounds and stabs/lacerations are never protected by consent.

    Characters can lose consent for severe injury and death through IC action. This can occur through three ways:
    • The character has attempted to inflict severe or lethal injury upon another. Attempts to inflict severe injury result in loss of severe injury consent, and attempts to kill other characters results in death consent being lost. Death consent is also lost if a character pulls out a lethal weapon in a clearly threatening way– even if they, in their mind, did not intend to use it– or provokes someone who is already holding a deadly weapon (this falls under point 2.)
    • The character has behaved in a way that actively invites injury or death. For example, screaming “do it” when a gun is aimed at one’s head, sincerely threatening someone’s family, blackmailing someone with life-ruining information, or refusing to flee from an enraged wild animal. If injury or death is reasonably avoidable, and the character does not take the opportunity to avoid injury or death, they lose consent. This method of losing consent can be ambiguous, and doesn’t apply in every situation (for example, if a gun is held to a character’s head and they’ll be shot unless they transfer over their entire life savings.) If you aren’t sure if an action can lead to loss of death consent, contact staff and give context.
    • The character is in an event that requires they give injury or death consent before entering.
    Finally, especially graphic or otherwise upsetting RP of a nonsexual nature– such as detailed surgery or torture RP– may be TLDR’d at the player’s request. If the upsetting RP is not happening for any especially good IC reason, the player may request for staff to intervene and void the interaction altogether. For example:
    • Faction Red and Faction Blue are at war. Bob, a member of Faction Red, is captured by Faction Blue. Faction Blue wants to interrogate Bob for information on Faction Red’s defenses. Bob’s player doesn’t want to do torture RP, so they agree with Faction Blue players on what happens to Bob without actually RPing it.
    • Bob gets into a fight with Killstabber, a cannibalistic floran. Bob loses and is knocked unconscious by Killstabber, who takes him to their ship. Killstabber wants to chop off Bob’s face and eat it. Bob’s player is okay with Bob being injured in general, but doesn’t want him mutilated in that specific way because they find it upsetting. Bob’s player talks to staff, and staff decides that Killstabber can’t chop off his face. Killstabber just beats Bob up instead.
    Lost consent is eventually restored if not acted upon. If a character pulls a gun on another character, but ends up leaving without injuring them, that second character can’t track them down and kill them two days later. The length of time consent remains lost depends on the situation, and is typically handled on a case-by-case basis by staff. Generally, lost consent lasts for as long as the other character has a good reason to feel threatened or retaliate.

    These rules are meant as general protections to make RP enjoyable for everyone. They are intended to be used in good faith. Attempts to exploit loopholes or 'cheat' the rules above (ex. baiting other players into giving up consent and then killing them when their character can’t retaliate) will be considered metagame, and may be voided or punished.

    Finally, if you aren’t liking how an IC situation is happening, it’s encouraged to speak to the other RPer OOC before getting staff involved.
     
    WowGain and 9K like this.