I would like to call attention to Gameplay Rule 5

[Ben]

5. Character Profile Use. Your character profile is to be used to describe your character and for no other use. Advertising items and services for sale in-game, stature votes, links to other websites or using the profile to communicate with other players is not permitted. The only exceptions to this is having a link to a website / forum on the Dark Grimoire Players Network (DGPlayers) or an in character journal on DGPlayers. Profiles that are found to be in breach of this may be deleted without warning.


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Rule and Enforcement

This rule is heavily abused by the community, from people advertising services to calling out other players to listing meeting dates to linking to all kinds of images and websites not included in the Dark Grimoire Players Network.

Consider this warning that this rule will be enforced MUCH more often from now on. People who have profiles that do not conform to the rule will be deleted without warning. If that does not work to stop this problem, other sanctions may be added. This heavier enforcement starts tomorrow, Sunday, so be sure to change your profile before then to bring it in line.

Part of the roleplaying environment is to have people's profiles be uniform in their purpose and content. The profile is not a place for you to put whatever you want... it has a specific purpose, to describe your character's physical characteristics and, to a lesser extent, their back story.

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The Perfect Profile

The PERFECT profile would include ONLY information that a stranger could learn by looking at your character. That means you would actually have to roleplay with other people in order for them to learn your backstory, your motivations, your loves, your hates....

Yes, roleplay... imagine that! Having profiles that are novel length describing everything that has happened to you during your life is roleplaying "cheating," because it basically makes strangers who have never met you before psychic mindreaders. You might not realize it, but this is greatly diminishing your own gameplay experience, and the experience of anybody who meets you.

[Ben]

Examples for people having trouble with this:

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EXAMPLES IN A PERFECT PROFILE THAT MAKE THE GODS HAPPY AND PROMOTE GOOD ROLEPLAYING. This category is mostly made up of "first impression" type information... things that somebody who stops and stares at you for a few moments or minutes, observing you carefully, can see or figure out.

"Sylar has shifty eyes, and he always seems to be looking for his next kill."
"Bruce carries himself as most billionaires do, although some can detect that he has a dark secret."
"Eva is quite stunning, and always takes the time to do her makeup and comb out her hair before taking part in the day's hunting and festivities."
"A long, festive cape adorns her back, billowing dramatically whenever the wind gusts."
"His hair is the color of desert sand, his eyes blue as Lake Valorn."
"Conan, standing nearly 7 feet tall, has a huge puff of bright red hair adorning his massive head."

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EXAMPLES OF THINGS THAT, IN A PERFECT WORLD, WOULD NOT BE IN ANY PROFILES. NEVERTHELESS, THESE THINGS ARE ALLOWED BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T ALWAYS WANT TO BE UNLAZY AND HAVE TO "MEET" EVERY NEW PERSON. These are the types of things that people should not know just by looking at you... they should have to get to know you through roleplaying to learn them. BUT, when tastefully presented, we forgive your lack of roleplaying in presenting these things upfront instead of during gameplay and conversation, because we know some people just don't want to repeat their backstory 3 times a day for weeks and weeks until they are famous. Motivations, history, relationships, and other personal tidbits fall in this category. Also note that the more famous you become, the more "okay" it is to have a profile with these things in it. Like, if you are the High Queen of Valorn, people mostly know your backstory. If you are Joe N00b, people probably haven't heard your life story being told around the campfire, though.

"Luke was mentored in the ways of a warrior by his sponsor, Yoda."
"Although Sonny is known as a bit of a loner, he was bonded recently to his beautiful partner, Cher, and they have planned a wonderful life together."
"Veronica was born into a world of intrigue. Her father, Keith, taught her the ways of a rogue detective from a very young age."
"Dresden has recently decided to take on the task of becoming an enchanter, when he reaches the right level of training."
"Chuck's blinding roundhouse kick has defeated many enemies, including the Zombie Ravager and the Sea Dweller Death Lord."
"Kratos lost his family when he mistakenly struck them down in the heat of battle. He has vowed to defeat the Demon Lord and to seek vengeance on the forces of darkness, whom he blames for his family's death."
"Clark is not from Valorn, and is not sure where he was born. He was adopted by his parents, simple farmers from Fartown, as a baby, and was raised as their own."
"Chino is a proud member of the guild, "The Sharks," which he just recently joined."

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EXAMPLES OF THINGS THAT ARE NOT ALLOWED. These things are indelicately presented, unartfully listed things that have always been against the rules, but are just now being enforced heavily. Get rid of them now.

"Best Friends: Kara, Lee, Dualla, Sharon. Enemies: Gaius."
"Will trade $$$ for: crystals, amulet of the order, weapon prims!!!"
"Hey you jerk... you know who you are! You tried to ruin my life here, but I won't let you! Everybody knows what a punk you are!"
"If I'm not around, please leave a message for me. I promise to get back to you."
"You can see what I look like by clicking here!: ::URL::" [NOTE: please remember that this example is actually COMPLETELY OKAY if your picture or other link is located in the dgplayers network. Hosting via dgplayers is an exception to the rule and lets you get away with it.]
"Happily bonded to Bobby Ewing on February 3rd, 2007, at 02 marcs!"
"My guild is the The Gramercy Rifts. Come stop by our website if you are interested in joining!"
"I'd be happy to recharge your energy or cast an enchantment on your weapon... just ask!"
"Vote for me and give me stature, and I will be happy to return the favor! Just send me a message after you vote!"
"Richard, I love you, and would be happy to be bonded to you for the 3rd time. Love, Elizabeth."

[Ben]

POETRY:

Somebody asked about poetry. I personally don't like poetry, but the main problem I have with it is that unless the poetry is tattooed on your forehead, how the heck are people seeing it? If you are claiming you are running around Valorn mumbling your poem over and over and over and over and over...... uhh, crazy.

So, poetry is no longer allowed in profiles. WHAT I SUGGEST is that you
1. start a journal at dgplayers.
2. use the journal to post your poetry
3. LINK to the journal from your profile, because as the prior post said, posting a URL to dgplayers is an exception to the no-URLs-rule, so this would be allowed. You can go: "Georgina is a budding poet. To see an example of her work, go here: ::URL::"

[Ben]

As a final note......

this rule, like all the others, is designed to do one of two things:
either
1) improve the overall roleplaying environment to make this game more roleplaying intensive than any other MMORPG online, by in fact requiring people to roleplay and to weed out those incapable of doing so above a certain level of ability
or
2) to make the community a safer place for players of all ages to come and roleplay without having to fear being hurt

In this case, we are focusing on #1. Changes to this category often have a mixed effect on the psyche of our players. On one hand, if you are here and have been here playing DG for months or years, it is probably because of the very serious roleplaying environment we present. Any other game you go to will certainly have good roleplayers, but the game will also be filled with l33t dudes, power gamers, and other undesirables that tend to take you out of character at inopportune times. These things are eradicated in DG, and that is why the people who stick around here stick around... for the resulting community that quality roleplaying helps create.

BUT changes designed to foster this kind of environment are often painful. The very environment that requires great roleplaying is created by the strict enforcement of strict rules. You CAN'T have a character named "Love Machine" or "Darth Vader," because that takes away from the game experience. You CAN'T fill your profile with out of character information, because that takes away from the game experience. You CAN'T run around Dundee Inn talking about what you watched on TV last night, because that takes away from the game experience. These things are difficult to follow sometimes, difficult to enforce sometimes, but in following and enforcing these rules, we create the very atmosphere that the select group of heavy roleplaying people come back here for time and again.

So... we admins keep on trucking. =)


PS. Although I speak to "change" in this message, please remember that rule #5 above is NOT changed in any way. It looked exactly the same a month ago. People keep acting like we "changed" the rule, so I thought I'd address that concept, even though it is not what is happening here today. =) Happy roleplaying!

[Miranda of Admin]

Just adding a short note about this profile rule.

It is common sense that you can not have masses of engraving or embroidery on an item. Perhaps a few letters on a shield or cloak, or one letter on an item of jewelery, these are alright. But remember the size of the item you are talking about and make sure that whatever you have would be visible to a bystander on casual observation.

Ben talks about lazy profiles, and this kind of thing is an excellent example. If you must put such things in your profile, you could have just a hint at it and let people ask you about it. This leads to roleplay.

Example of something bad:
His shield is always polished. On it you can read the mottoes his mother always taught him growing up;
1. Be polite to others.
2. Always clean your sword.
3. Drink plenty of clean water every day.
4. A smile costs nothing.
5. Life is for living.
6. Sewer rats should stay in the sewer, not in cooking.
7. Always offer help, even to those who don't seem to need it.

Example of better version:
His shield is always polished. On it you can see a faint engraving of '1-7.' He often runs his fingers over the numbers when lost in thought.


Example of bad version:
She always wears her diamond ring. On it is engraved 'To my darling Starshine, on our bonding, I'll love you always.'

Example of better version:
She always wears her diamond ring. It seems to have initials engraved upon it.



As always, thank you to constables for helping enhance the roleplay through monitoring this rules; and to all those players who not only keep excellent profiles but are happy to help others create ones that add to DG and the roleplay within.

[Miranda of Admin]

Some people seem to have forgotten the guidelines on profiles. The constables are trying to help by pointing to people through the profile warning tool where they should make improvements (in particular all the emblems, embroidery and inscriptions on items - see my last post.) I am not happy to see people then using their profiles to subtly protest these warnings.

DG is an excellent roleplay community. Please help us enforce those standards in the profiles that are an outward statement on your character.