Rules of Play

G1. You Must Obey NLR (New Life Rule)

Upon engaging in any form of conflict roleplay and experiencing a death, you are required to adhere to the New Life Rule (NLR). This entails roleplaying as if you have a form of amnesia and have forgotten the last 10 minutes leading up to the conflict. You may not return to the location you were intentionally killed. In the context of conflict roleplay, death results in your character being considered injured. (see P3. Injuries from Conflict Roleplay & P4. Recovery from Conflict Roleplay)

In PvE scenarios, you are permitted to return to your place of death. There is no obligation to act out the full NLR if you perish due to a creature or environmental hazard. If your character dies outside of conflict roleplay, you may return to the death site and continue roleplaying as if knocked unconscious. This rule also applies to parties accidentally killed by conflict roleplay crossfire if they were not involved in the conflict in any way. It is strictly prohibited to rob the body of an unconscious character; instead, limited interaction such as feeling around in their pockets is allowed.

G2. No Power Gaming

Power gaming  is when the player is making character choices based on optimizing game mechanics, as opposed to fleshing out a character concept.  It becomes powergaming when a player chooses to min/max solely based on how many advantages it will give them. This means that the player tries to make an optimized character, using as many sources as possible, to make the most efficient, overpowered killing machine instead of trying to stay true to their character concept. 

*E.g. Power gaming is when the player can tell you his character's average damage output per second, but not where said character comes from.

G3. No Godmodding

Godmodding is a term that describes a player reacting to another player without giving a chance for said person to respond. Your roleplay should be an attempt, but you cannot force people to do actions. 

Avoiding godmodding is rather simple, the easiest way to do so is to leave an opening for the other player to respond to. For example:

Shaking her head, Jane frowned at Steve, clearly disgusted by him. "You've had enough, you drunk," she snapped as she reached out and snatched the glass out of his hand.

This interaction could easily be changed to this:

Shaking her head, Jane frowned at Steve, clearly disgusted by him. "You've had enough, you drunk," she snapped as she reached out, intending to snatch the glass out of his hand.

Only a few words were changed, yet the second one isn't godmodding because it gives Steve's player the chance to respond and decide what happens next.

The most important thing to keep in mind when trying to avoid godmodding is to give the other player the chance to respond to the action.

A Documentation by Jewelclaw of the RPG-D

G4. No Metagaming

Metagaming is a term that describes a player’s use of Out Of Character knowledge, concerning the state of the game to determine their character’s action. Discord, any streaming service, tribe logs or voice calls are not in roleplay. All information MUST be obtained by your character in-game.

For quality of life, these channels are within character knowledge: Bulletin Boards, Tribe Recruitments, Raven Alerts and the ‘Looking for Roleplay’ channel listed on the official Discord for VitalityRP. *see Discord channels for more information. 

G5. Always Be in Roleplay

If you want to convey something out-of-character (OOC), try to keep it immersive for everyone else. If you are lagging, say you have a headache, if you have to go AFK, say you need to stare at the sky for a second and meditate. Just generally try to keep everything in RP. If you need to speak in OOC, you must use chat and put (parenthesis around your text to signify you are OOC). Please keep all out-of-character text limited as possible to allow it to be immersive for the other players. Use designated OOC channels on discord for non-roleplay discussions. 

G6. Keep Roleplay Comfortable

This is an 18+ server, we do not allow ERPing on the server. Some roleplay may involve triggering topics, please try to avoid acting out these scenes. If you are uncomfortable with a scene, you can ask in OOC “()” that the direction of the roleplay changes. If the issue persists you are allowed to leave at any point. If you are unable to leave or you are completely uncomfortable with a situation, please create a ticket and staff will assist you as soon as possible. Abusing this rule for power gaming purposes will not be tolerated.

G7. No Nameplating

If you have just met someone, you do not know their name. You must acquire character names, tribe names, base locations, and tame ownership by being told in-game. You may also use posted signs or mailboxes with names as valid reasons. Using game mechanics to find the identity of a person, tribe or tame is not allowed. However, you may identify people by their clothing, racial traits or any other physical features.

G8. Documentation

It can be very difficult to get an accurate account of certain situations; staff will do their best to put the pieces together to come to a reasonable conclusion for any issues in the server that may arise. Whether initiating conflict or being confronted by another party, documenting can be very helpful.  Keep tribe logs, screenshots of in-game chat, screenshots of your possessions, and recordings of game play and interactions for proof when opening a ticket or answering a ticket being opened against you. It is highly recommended that you record when engaging in conflict roleplay.

G9. Character Appearance

Characters must be 'realistic' in terms of appearance and must not have inappropriate proportions. 

Changes to your character’s appearance must be sparing/gradual and have an RP purpose.  Changing your character’s appearance too frequently or to avoid recognition after conflict to escape consequences will result in having your mirror privileges removed.

G10. Character Rerolls

Players are limited to only TWO character rerolls per season. Rerolling your character too often can be an issue with roleplay, affecting any connections or relationships in-game that you have created with other players. Please keep in mind, when you reroll your character that you lose all previous information obtained in-game including all relationships you have built with any other characters.

G11. Value Your Life

Your character must realistically fear for their life when they are threatened with weapons or severe harm from other means. When you are overpowered by a group or situation your RP should reflect that. It doesn’t mean you must do whatever you are told but that you must react realistically.

For example; if you are held up by a group of thugs in the woods and they demand you empty your pockets or they will shoot, you have options. You can pass out from fear, you can run away screaming if they lower their weapons or look away, you can shit yourself, or you can try to negotiate. What isn’t allowed for example, is a response of “I don’t care, shoot me lol.” 

G12. Inactive Notice - LOA

If you are going to be inactive for more than 7-days, open an LOA ticket in discord. This will keep your base, tames, and items safe from demolition, not theft. The length of the LOA must be stated in the ticket and can’t exceed 30 days without Admin approval. Any base that has been inactive for more than 7-days without an LOA ticket will be demolished without notice.

*If your base is demolished for inactivity, admins are not required to replace any lost items or tames.

G13. No Claiming Dinos

You may NOT claim abandoned tames.  If you find tames that are claimable, open a ticket and give coordinates (Lat, Long) so a staff member can handle the situation. *Stealing soul balls or tame jars with tames inside is illegal! 

G14. Interfering with Taming/Killing 

Once a player/group has begun the process to tame or kill an animal, you may not involve yourself in any way. This includes picking up, killing, moving, knocking it out, trying to distract the party, kiting wild dinos, or any other means to interfere.  You can only help if you are invited to do so by the player/group.

G15. No Parasaurs 

Parasaurs may NOT be used in turret mode to alert you and your tribe of another player's location. If you wish to be alerted of a player's arrival, set up a bell for them to ring.

G16. No Mail Fraud

You may not impersonate another player using the mailbox system, in order to receive their mail. Mailboxes must be either under your character’s name, settlement’s name, business’ name, or a set of coded numbers for privacy.