Romantic and Physical Roleplay Consent Policy
The players are more important than the game. These policies are intended for those who are 18 or older, and no romantic or physical roleplay should involve anyone beneath this age. At NO time should any player ever be asked to compromise their OOG boundaries to serve their character’s IG motivation or truths.
Telling a player that declining physical contact or romantic content is “bad roleplay” or “not what their character would really do” is harassment, and may be grounds for suspension or banning.
BOTH physical roleplay and romantic roleplay consent can be revoked by any player, at any time, and must be respected.
The player is expected to use whatever steering is necessary to cease the connection.
Phrases like “I suppose we just grew apart” and “Things just changed!” may be helpful here.
Please remember that while the roleplay being negotiated is in game, the negotiation is entirely out of game. This means that if you request consent to express romantic interest in a character, and the player declines during negotiation, your character has not been rejected in game.
Rather, you are responsible for the idea that your character has never felt an attraction to the other person’s.
Thus, playing “the scorned lover” in this situation is inappropriate, and may be viewed as in-game retaliation for an out-of-game rebuff, and would be considered harassment.
If any player feels at any time that their right to roleplay consent is not being respected (if a player engages in unwelcome physical roleplay without requesting consent, for instance, or after consent has been revoked), this is an addressable concern, and should be brought to staff attention via speaking to an owner or player rep.
Romantic Roleplay
The line between in-game and out-of-game attraction is blurry on both sides.
New players in particular may feel social pressure to “play along” with romantic roleplay in order to fit in, or because they are assured that the pursuit is solely in-game.
This opens the door to serious issues with harassment in-game.
Players should have the reasonable expectation that their character, like themself, will not be objectified, harassed, or pursued without their consent.
To that end, we have a Romantic Roleplay policy in place that requires an out of game conversation to proceed between any players who wish to engage in romantic roleplay, both PC and NPC.
If player 1 wishes to engage in roleplay of physical or romantic attraction to player 2, they briefly go out of game by placing a hand on their head and stating “Roleplay negotiation”, followed by the specific form of attraction that they wish to roleplay going forward, e.g.:
“Roleplay negotiation; do you consent to my character having a romantic crush on yours?”
Player two now has a number of options, including:
“No, thank you.”
“Yes, and I may reciprocate the crush, if that is acceptable.”
“Yes, but if you choose to do so the crush will be entirely unreciprocated.”
Note that romantic roleplay consent does NOT grant physical roleplay consent unless explicitly stated.
Physical Consent
There is absolutely no room for debate in a physical roleplay negotiation.
If a player declines a physical interaction, they do not owe an explanation for why, nor should you ever make an effort to talk them into it.
OOG boundaries are not subject to either IG or OOG pressure.
Some players may set up long-standing consent agreements with people they know well, that follow boundaries that are familiar to them due to OOG boundary agreements.
This is fine, but those agreements are always subject to cancellation on either person’s end, and no player should ever attempt physical roleplay with a new player or someone they do not have established boundaries with without expressly requesting consent.
Additionally, no individual physical roleplay negotiation should be interpreted as the setting of an ongoing consent agreement.
The consent is on a case-by-case basis, meaning that if the player consents to being hugged once, you must still obtain fresh consent the next time you want to hug them.
If you want an ongoing physical roleplay agreement with another player, you must specifically request that, and negotiate it clearly.
If at any point they wish to terminate that agreement, they may do so, and are not required to provide an IG or OOG explanation.
At any point physical contact with the intent to cause real bodily harm is not allowed in any form, with or without consent.
Reckless contact is also disallowed; if it is logical an action is likely to cause real injury, even by accident, you shouldn’t do it.
As a reminder, please keep in mind that non-consensual sex does not exist in this game world, and cannot be consented to.
Players may neither request nor consent to roleplay that includes elements of non-consent.
Alliance Atlanta takes this policy very seriously; if you at any time feel uncomfortable or feel the policy is not being upheld, please see a member of staff.