Judge Class 2025 - RPLOG

Participants

• Greyson
• Junes
• Kaguya
• Kira
• Kuricha
• Mal
• Rosemint
• Syntax

Date

18/5/2025

Log

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "HELLOOO! And welcome to the first recorded judge class since 2016! This is entirely OOC and non-canon, but I will be handing out cookies and shit once we're done."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "While this is non-canon and technically OOC, we're using the IC chats so that the logger can pick things up. HI FUTURE PEOPLE ON THE WIKI!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You are welcome to ask questions ICly, but know you are a dork and you will be judged. <3"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "BUT I ask that you don't flood chat with nonsense or unrelated stuff. People are going to be reading this for later usage, after all. Any questions before we get started?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Excellent! Let's begin then."

(Junes) Junes decided to raise a hand and a few fluffy tails "can we ask questions in the middle or wait till after your done talking?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You can ask in the middle if it's important, but it's better to wait until I ask if people have questions."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Awesome timing by the way. XD"

(Junes) Junes snickers!

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Alright, first thing's first. What is a judge?...I'm writing the answer, don't go cutting me off now."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "People crave events and the staff recognizes that a static world in which nothing changes is prone to become stagnant as far as the RP community is concerned. If people's actions have no impact on the world or the world never changes, it can really drag things down. But staff have their own lives as well not to mention tasks they have to do for the game. That's where judges come in!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Judges are player volunteers who have been determined by staff to be trustworthy enough to run canon events for the community! That's right! Unlike other MMORPG's, it is entirely possible for the players to have an impact on the overall world's story! Wow!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "But that comes with a lot of responsibility. Judges aren't just running whatever they want. They are representatives of the game and its setting and are expected to not just run solid events and ensure everyone plays nice but also ensure their events respect the world they are running it in."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Think of yourself as a guest dungeon master in a D&D game you are temporarily taking over half way through the campaign. There are certain expectations that once the real DM comes back, things aren't totally haywire."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Anyone can request to be a judge, but you should only request to become one if you don't just want to run canon events but run them for other people. Running events isn't just for YOUR benefit. This is most definitely a public service and there will be times where judged events need to be run that might be entirely removed from whatever pet project you have cooking in your skull. Remember: You can always ASK a judge to host an event based on your idea. If you're only interested in becoming a judge so you can run events for yourself and your small group of friends? Probably don't."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Staff expects judges to be as inclusive as possible and we'd be a little miffed if you just became a judge so your private events could come with special rewards."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions about what a judge is and when you should consider becoming one?"

(Greyson) Greyson raises a hand, "For those curious about becoming a judge, what would you recommend as practice or preparation beforehand? Aside from just reading up on commands or a few bits and pieces from logs like this one?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Do you mean in the lead up to your event?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Or in preparation to become a judge?"

(Greyson) Greyson shifts his hand in a so-so motion, "Lead up to your first event or before becoming one in the first place, yeah! Both of those work!"

(Junes) Junes raises a hand and offers "maybe like a practice run of your first judged event?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "To become a judge, you mainly need to show staff that you are a good RPer, a decent person, and have your heart int he right place. Becoming a judge, theoretically, is easy. That's actually one of the reasons why we have judge "levels"."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'll elaborate on levels after this round of questions."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I can also go into more detail on how a judge prepares for events in the next section."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "What I will say is that judges don't need to be an expert on ALL of the game's lore. Knowing as much as possible is important, but what matters most is that you know everything you need to know specifically for the scene you want to run."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "So, for the purposes of just becoming a judge, the main prep work you should do if you ask me are two things. Make yourself known in the community and psudo-run a scene or two based around your character"

(Mal) Mal taps the microphone, before leaning in. "A good way to judge whether you, yourself, are ready to be a Judge is by participating in other Judges' events. It ties in with showing Staff that you are a good RPer, and decent person. Other Judged events, and even public RPs that aren't judged at all. I know there's a great Taco Tuesday just about every Tuesday in the Zephyr Lobby, for starters."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Excellent point, actually! Yeah, actually ATTENDING events is also a great strategy to prepare!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Just note that, just like RP styles, all judges have their own styles. The best example of this is actually the recent three out of bubble events that were run"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Part of the difference came down to learning from the events that came before, but each person had their own ideas as to what was possible, what wasn't, and what they'd prevent."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "This is one of the reasons I encourage judges to post rules and expectations for an event at the start of it and provide potential warnings (be they dangers or content warnings) in the event description."

(Greyson) Greyson nods, raising a finger "Might be a question for later, but related to the more recent events on the FOB. How would you recommend judges deal with plot conflicts or inconsistencies if something unexpected comes up?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "GREAT question and I will go into that later."

(Junes) Junes shifts a bit and adds with a quick tailwave "any words of encouragement or advice for starting as one? even as a player thats been perusing the lore for a while, engaged in plenty and part of many scenes in and out of judged ones...it can be somewhat nerve wracking knowing whether or not you are ready. however i do know that notes and having options outside of the main goal if things go akew is important and same rules similar for GM'ing in other games help but nerves can be rough!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "and as a solid reminder: If you ever are unsure of the lore or if you could run something, staff ACTIVELY encourage you to not just talk to your fellow judges but file a general support request! Heck, you can ping me (screwbucket) personally! Also, for future readers, I am a member of staff as well as a judge. XP"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "So if the general uncertainty is what's got you holding off, trust me. You'll have plenty of support."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Anything else before we continue on"

(Junes) Junes smiles with a nod hearing syntax's response!

(Mal) Mal is one such Judge that's willing to help; he sits around with a lot of dusty knowledge and tidbits. "All you have to do is ask, really - it's that simple! Most people are happy to answer any questions."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Alright, next, let's cover what many likely came here for: What are a judge's responsibilities and what can they do?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Let's start with a judge's responsibilities since this is the part of being a judge where you are actively being restricted and can't just do whatever."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Not being an asshole is kind of at the top of the list, but I would hope that's obvious."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Just behind that is keeping your events in line with the overall world. While that obviously means not contradicting all of the lore that already exists, that ALSO means not creating new lore that could be extremely intrusive on future content."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For example, while there isn't any lore that states that Zephyr can remotely mind control the entire city by hijacking the bubble, one could imagine a world in which they are capable of doing that. However, if that were to be done, it would kind of throw the entire world into kind of a worst case scenario and be kind of an end game."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "A judge needs to consider the potential scope of what they want to do both for the sake of not burning themselves out but also to not accidentally cause a ripple across the entire world so massive that it ruins everyone's day."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'm sure you're wondering how the fak a judge is supposed to figure out scope!

I'm glad you asked!"

(Syntax) -Why has no one heard of this before or might not immediately have heard about it after the event concludes?

-What would happen if this became wide spread or more widely known?

-Can the event occur more than once? Why or why not?

-Who would be most interested in the outcome of this event? Why?

-What aspects of the world will this change the most?

-How confident would you feel suggesting your idea to a member of staff if not Nuku himself? Why?

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Keeping a story's scope in mind is VERY useful for planning as well. Understanding the ramifications of what you want to do can help figure out potential future threats and how to avoid starting something that has consequences you don't want for the story or players."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "This list is actually super useful for NON judges as well!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "While this is important for non-judges to consider what to make canon, players obviously don't have the same rights as far as enacting canon as judges do and this can help you prevent implementing story elements that wouldn't be acceptable as canon should it come up in a judged event."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I actually recommend this checklist (or something similar) in just about every MMO I ever interact with. It's usually far more important in other games due to players not being able to influence the canon at all."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "As for how a judge researches for an event to figure out the answers to that question, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the game has been around for a long time and the record keeping for judged events hasn't been great. The good news is that staff are often willing to give the green light on new events if you have good justifications. If you want to dive into old events, however, they are all listed on the wiki!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions regarding respecting the game's lore? Or, god forbid, not being an asshole?"

(Greyson) Greyson raises a hand.

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Shoot, Grey!"

(Kaguya) Kaguya also raises a hand actually, has a dumb question!

(Greyson) Greyson muses, "For scenes in areas that maybe haven't seen development for years- or sometimes over a decade given the age of FS as a game, how would any of the above rules on 'consistency' change? Would it be possible to argue that enough time has passed for something new to be made from the old location, or should newer scenes still try to follow along the same sort of story-arc that the original creator was working on before they left?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "That is actually a great question and one that I have personal experience with!!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Eureka as a zone, prior to me getting involved with it, had remained mostly untouched since, like, 2013. Give or take a few years. It's also hilariously how I became a member of staff. I wouldn't stop bugging Nuku and he was eventually like "You want it? IT'S YOURS!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For content that hasn't really been updated in a long time, you should at a minimum try and figure out the original intent of the zone."

(Kaguya) Kaguya softly churrs "For missions like the FOB, we were able to take the tower without any issues that couldn't be dealt with but what does happen if a judged scene...fails? Would there be another judged scene in the future to retake the tower again or would that just be it?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For example, Eureka stands out from other areas because it is primarily protected by remnants of the US military, was a front line for China's invasion, and has the highest number of insect based infections. It also is one of the few zones that has an explicitly visible criminal underworld."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For older concepts that have gone untouched, you can also bug the staff (as I did) to get more insights as to what is going on. In some cases, like me as a member of staff and Eureka, you can even get more immediate and certain responses (since that zone is basically entirely under my area of interest)."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And for things such as Out of the Bubble lore that has very little information? That's part of why judges are important!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Areas of the world that have had little story exploration are actually SUPER useful for judges because the only thing you might have to do is avoid introducing something that turns into a metaphorical pandora's box of ramifications."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "As an example, Firecracker was interested in introducing something into OotB content that was heavily inspired by the Stalker series. Pockets of abnormal anomalies created by malfunctioning mako nanites."

(Greyson) Greyson raises a finger, "That- does bring up another question... when it comes to making /new/ areas, are those done with personal deeds, or something staff can help you assemble?"

(Junes) Junes raised a hand but looked over to kaguya this time, making a gesture to syntax and getting the okay the hissune answers "about that! it really depends but for example, one event i had been part of was a rescue effort for the previous team...or another where we had taken so long they presumed our team was lost but came back...but yes efforts can possibly be taken to try and unscrew the situation but other times that simply may be it but typically there are options and of course suggestions or solutions aside from that contextually, a town not receiving supplies in time may have ventured out to get resources and upon return the new mission is to find the missing townspeople! lots of possibilities or sure!"

(Kuricha) Kuricha raises a hand with a Kweeh-stion..?

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Sorry, that one took a bit to answer. I let Junes type that up so I could finish this, but yes! A judged event can theoretically fail and what happens next is really up to the judge and the players."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'll answer Grey's question last as it does have a few important extra points. Go ahead, Kuricha"

(Kaguya) Kaguya nods at the Hissah's question and gives them a thank you thumbs up!

(Kaguya) Answer!*

(Kuricha) Kuricha speaks up and is mute says "Kweeh!" but it translates to; "How involved is the Judge's character allowed to get into the scenes they run, or do they have to sit it out and let the other players have all the spotlight?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Oh, AWESOME question, actually! Remember how I said that your role as a judge is more so for the community than for yourself?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Your question actually ties into something dungeon masters in tabletops have to contend with themselves. Can your character be just as involved as the players? Yes...but it can be VERY difficult to separate your powers as a Judge and your meta knowledge of the situation with the actions of your character. Ensuring your character doesn't hog the spotlight away from the players is actually kind of the easier part."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The far harder part is both running a scene in which you are aware of everything that is going on and playing a character who...well. Doesn't."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "My general advice for judges is, if your character is involved, give them a supporting role of some kind or give them something to do while the players are active in the scene."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For example, when I ran the FOB event, Wolfwood was off fighting off smaller adds that would have distracted the players as they took down the two bosses."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "In past events related to the Enigma Complex, Syntax was often staying behind and providing admin support while the players went into the dangerous lower levels."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "So while you are not forbidden from being just as involved as the players, you'd basically be judging on hard mode."

(Mal) Mal thinks it's not out of the question to have your character be the one *initiating* the scene. "Say, being the one HIRING this little band of mercenaries, or being the one with the job posting, as examples. But that's more a personal stance - I don't like to take it any further than a supporting role, though, much like Syntax."

(Mal) Mal gloriously bellows "It can get very complicated after a certain point, and you might have people start eyeballing you funny for always being part of the group doing cool things, in the scene *you're* running yourself."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "As to Grey's question! Land deeds serve two purposes. They make rooms permanent (so they don't expire) and they give you ownership over them. That means you can install outpost equipment, put locked doors on them, whatever. It's yours. However, there are some rare instances where there is good reason for a judge to request a member of staff to create NEW rooms that are not associated with a land deed. This is actually something I am willing to do in Eureka for Eureka based judged events."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The BIG caveat, however is that you do not own that land, you have no say over it or what happens on it in present or in future, and it has to make sense to remain and be a visitable location after the event and not just a corner nobody goes to."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Rooms created or modified in this manner are owned by the entire community. You cannot claim ownership after the fact."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And as a judge, you cannot introduce reasons why nobody but you can run events there."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Rooms created for free in relation to judged events are *explicitly* just as open to use as any other non-player owned space."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions on that or anything else we've discussed before I move on to the next judge responsibility?"

(Kuricha) Kuricha nods hir in agreement with reply to hir kweeh-stion, and liked the way Narwen ran their scene to. It seems like being highly active would make Judging so much more difficult and perhaps detrimental to the other players experience. I know its personal preference but that scene was alot of fun and we never even met Narwen's character in the scene and it set a good example.

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I have seen it done well, but it is VERY hard to do."

(Junes) Junes nods "any advice or tips on creating said rooms? or like...where you can find commands for things like parsing or look traps to spruce and spice up the rooms themselves while writing?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'm going to save that as an after party question, Junes, since that's not generally something a judge needs to worry about."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "String parsing is a whole other beast."

(Junes) Junes nods "it, truly is"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Anything else before we move on?"

(Kuricha) Kuricha raises a hand haz another Kwee-stion??~

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Go for it, Kuricha"

(Kuricha) Kuricha says "Kweeh!!" but it translates to "What are the maximum and minimum limits for players joining your Judged scene?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Great question because that leads into my next subject!"

(Junes) Junes tails wag and add as a question "oh! this came as an issue but could be answered later, relevant to combat and skill checks between veterans and more recent or even new players, any advice on keeping it enjoyable for both to participate without veterans doing everything or newers players having the chance to accomplish similar things? i know you you do them but, id love to add it here and hear other thoughts about it!" they add an illusionary sparkler effect around them for cheeky emphasis~

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The next major responsibility a judge has is not wasting the time of players and ensuring you give people ample opportunity to attend. Because this is all text based, events can run long in large part because not everyone is a monster like me and can type anywhere between 80 to 90 words per minute. As a judge that means that not only are you setting time aside in your own day to run the event but people are also sacrificing time out of their day.

So. How do you balance all of that? Well. First, you should limit the number of people who attend your events. Not only does this give you as an individual an easier time focusing on each person and giving everyone a chance to shine, but it also enable people who are slower typers more time to reply since there's fewer people before and after them."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "A judged event requires at least 2 people not including the judge. While there are no rules for a maximum number of attendees, as a judge, you should figure out what you are most comfortable with."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "My personal abject maximum is 7 people and that's SUPER pushing it"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "A far more comfortable number just about any judge should be able to handle is 4 people."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If you want to handle even more people, rather than running one event with a ton of people, running multiple smaller events is preferrable or even asking other judges to run events with people who couldn't attend your initial event."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "But not wasting people's time actually also extends to June's question. Some players have been playing for so long that their characters have CRAZY stats. This isn't as bad as it used to be before we implemented a cap on the number of high level stats you can have, but it is still possible to have a skill at nearly 60 when the normal cap is 40. How you handle this is kind of a personal preference."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "My personal strategy is to heavily reward players with super high stats to reduce their cap closer to or even below 40 with reroll dice."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "But you could also introduce rules to limit people from going beyond those max caps."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Or...not at all. The CORE goal is to ensure that everyone has a chance to be useful during the event."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "While reducing extreme stats helps with that, it's not a cure all and you still have to give everyone a time to shine."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Respecting the time of players extends to respecting their consent and agency as well, though. I mean, they're kind of separate topics, but this lets me address them at the same time. :P"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "As a judge, you do, theoretically, have the power to demand a player +retire (ie: DELEETUS)...but you should keep in mind how huge of a deal that is for everyone both involved and also who just knows the character. Character death is a pretty big deal. If character death is a possibility as a result of the event, you should make that SUPER clear both when advertising the event and prior to starting it."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "That also extends to any content warnings for sensitive or extreme content. Yes, that includes noncon."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If you surprise players with something that they did not agree to and you never told them about, they have every justification to just leave the event and leave YOU a mess you are obligated to clean up."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If you don't warn players about potential long term harm that could come to their character or sensitive content that could arise and drama happens as a result, staff are more likely going to be sympathetic to the players if a warning was not given before hand."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "To join a judged event is to surrender the absolute power a player has over their character. You should ensure that, when they do that, they know what that could mean in that event."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions about respecting player time and agency?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Alright, the next responsibility are player rewards!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "This is both something you are responsible for as well as something you probably should do if you want to encourage people to attend your events."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "When people attend an event and actively participate, you can run commands to deal out rewards to players! This can be exp, loot, influence, reward tokens, or a general buff. However, you can only deal these out when you are running a canon event!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "That means that the event must fit within the world as described before, there must be at least two players in attendance not including you, and the event must actually serve a purpose. Events that are just glorified orgies do not count."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If something is not accomplished beyond you getting your rocks off, it does not qualify for rewards."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Well, not the rewards I mentioned. You can still provide SOMETHING! There is a certain command you can use for non-canon events but it doesn't yield as much as canon ones."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I just ran the command and those that have run judged scenes will note that it's not too much. It's something, but not much."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You can only give so many rewards depending on how long the event has run with the general guideline being around 4 group rewards for an event that runs 9 hours. I think you can do more, but eventually the command will stop giving out anything."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Outside of direct rewards, judges can also progress duties that require a scene to progress and advance pending research projects!"

(Rosemint) Rosemint squeaks, "I did have a question about that. How often do the scenes to progress duties pile up and do they ever clear on their own without a scene?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If judges stay on top of pending scenes, not often. But we've had a long lul of judge content which means there's a huge pile of pending scenes that need to be run. They won't auto-complete."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I think one of the research projects has literally been pending for over a decade."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "It was actually mentioned in the last judge class in 2016 as still needing an event to progress."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Was kind of hilarious to see honestly."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "So if a duty or research is currently pending an event to progress, SOME judge needs to take up the mantle."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "That's one of the reasons why it's important for judges to do events for things besides their pet projects."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions about rewards?"

(Mal) Mal commands "Also to note, a Duty only really needs a scene if Players are making progress fulfilling it. A Duty with a lot of attention will need a scene faster than an untouched Duty. And, of course, the scene usually has to do with the Duty - hence, making progress to push it to its next stage."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yup! I guess I should emphasize that events to advance research or duties should uh...be related to what you are advancing. XP"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And one last requirement until we move into the next section which is still also a responsibility but it deserves its own entire bit to itself!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You must be able to make coherent, understandable messages. That means complete sentences and all that jazz. Players need to be able to understand the scenario you are putting before them."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Players might be allowed to not be great at writing, but as a judge, you need to be able to string sentences together! If, for nothing else, the players to know wtf you are trying to portray!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "ANY questions before we move into the next section?"

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "What's a good balance between prewriting things and writing in the moment?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Hmm...good question. I'd say, generally, the best things to have prewritten, even before the event starts, are descriptions of rooms, creatures, pre-scripted events, etc."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "It might be hard to anticipate what players will do, but things that you KNOW will come up are good candidates to have pre-loaded."

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "That makes sense, thank you."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Anyone else?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Alrighty, onto the last major responsibility a judge has besides crafting stories and what was mentioned above! Enforcing good RP standards! As a judge, you should and are expected to ensure players are playing nice and not conducting themselves poorly. This isn't just about OOC behavior but also how they are RPing. Note that is less about RP style and more so about them taking part in practices that are not good for the health of a scene."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The three main things you need to intervene on are: Metagaming, Godmodding, and Imping. That last one is a term I came up with, so don't worry, I'll be explaining what that is when I get to it."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "First, Metagaming. This is when a player uses knowledge that they have OOC and have their character know it IC despite there being no justifiable reason for them to know it."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For example, if one of their characters knew my character was a spy and then their OTHER character also knew despite their two characters not even knowing one another and/or the characters having no reason to exchange this information? That would be metagaming."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "It is ENTIRELY possible to do this by complete accident."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "In the example I gave, it is possible the player literally just lost track of which of their characters knew what."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Frankly, a spotty memory is one of the more common roots of metagaming. If you think it's happening in your judged event, you are entirely within your right to ask for justification as to how they knew something."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Does anyone need further elaboration on metagaming?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Alright, next up: Godmodding. This can come in many forms and goes by different names, so I'm going to split this into two categories: Powergaming and puppeteering."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "It's basically all about making yourself the strongest, best around at some aspect."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "OPE! I did the first part OOC My bad!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Powergaming is when you go out of your way to make your character broken/over powered to "win" the scene and steal the spotlight. This is less of an issue in Flexible Survival as we have explicit stats and ways of proving when we have specific powers or items, but someone could still theoretically try and worm their way into trying to be the strongest dude around so they can hog the spotlight."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "It's basically all about making yourself the strongest, best around at some aspect."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'll fix that in post."

(Junes) Junes notes "or some way to circumvent things in a way that wasnt intended...for example, having a womb for rent with a mini-server that has not only regulation nanomagic but a room for each and claiming you own every nanomagic usage even outside of bubbles to use freely from the installed mini server providing the bubble."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "PRECISELY, yeah."

(Rosemint) Rosemint tilts her head, "That seems like a very specific example."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'll chalk that up to Junes wondering how miniservers inside a womb for rent would work out of bubble. XP"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Hilariously, though, the obvious answer to that is that miniservers are not servers in of themselves and are still reliant on proper nanite bubbles to work so a miniserver within a womb for rent would cease functioning once they left the bubble."

(Junes) Junes laughs nervously "uhh...yes it is! it was, something i considered but decided against when buying a mini-server from someone cheap but deciding against that for obvious reasons! so dont worry im not planning on it"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Also, a far more likely scenario is someone using magic origin traits to try and cheese a scene when nanites wouldn't work."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Remember: Your goal is to tell an interesting story. If someone's action would basically entirely ruin a scene, you have every right to bullshit your way through an explanation as to why it fails to work."

(Rosemint) Rosemint now wonders what would happen if she made Regulation Nanomagic into a Tail Ringlet power... Magical cartoon powers for everyone?

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And for the PLAYERS, this is also something to keep in mind. Just because you CAN do something doesn't always mean you should."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You should also focus on trying to ensure a scene remains fun and interesting."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions on Powergaming?"

(Junes) Junes nods "yep! not as fun when you arent capable of chatting or accomplishing anything, teamwork makes the dreamwork!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Anyone else before I move into puppeteering?"

(Junes) Junes notes "a little thing, just because you can! does not mean you always should. communication is important both in and out of character and as always have you and their fun in mind for the scenes!" their tails wag a bit but sitting back seemed done for now

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Awesome! I did say that but still! Reiteration! XP"

(Junes) Junes "oh and double checking that as well, my bad!"

(Kira) Kira sips their coffee. "To add to the powergaming there are crafty ways around it for judges who can think outside the box. Such an example is using illusion nanomagic to circumvent a confrontation and thus trivalizing a combat focused scene. Remember that such nanomagics require rolling and its not untoward for a GM to fudge the numbers a little and have say one or two members succeed the roll to see through it and muddy the waters for success, it leads to a circumvention of the conflict now but a leadup to something later. That in mind remember that your choices are for the betterment of the scene and fun, not just to keep it in line."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yup! It's your scene and your rules. You should try and be fair to your players, but hey. If they're cheating so can you. :P"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Next up is puppeteering. It's pretty straight forward: This is when you make a post explicitly writing for another player without their permission. That could be an action, feeling, opinion, whatever. It's the difference between "I stab you" and "I attempt to stab you" or "You feel terrified by my presence" and "You likely feel terrified by my presence."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Unless you are given explicit permission OOCly, you should not presume to know the actions, responses, or feelings of other characters."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yes, this DOES, in fact, extend to JUDGES. Unless the scene involves mind control or some other mind altering effect, you should instead focus on explaining what is going on and give clear indication of what a sane response would be with or without any rolls that are done."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "In fact, this can go a bit further as well."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Even if you do a roll to indicate that something did occur, it's best practice to only have your post go only as long as it needs to for the other person to pick it up."

(Junes) Junes nods "this from what i've heard has been a rough patch especially for uber fox dedicants and those using pheromones."

(Rosemint) Rosemint nods, "The way I've always heard it explained for GMing is that you control the world around the players and what happens to them, but not what they do or how they feel."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If Junes rolled to see if they would shoot me and rolled 6 marksmanship and I got 5 evasion, they should only describe up to the bullet flying through the air."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "@Rosemint, that's a great explainer. There are obviously things that can bypass that, though such as the pheromones...BUT! Here's the big ol' butt. Butty."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Even in scenarios like that, you should not describe the way a character reacts in response to it."

(Junes) Junes "mmhmm, and its up to syntax whether or not to brace their wound, hurl an insult or even grin and prepare a counterattack back!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For example, as a character @Greyson has a lot of hang ups around wonton sex and lewdity. It's why he has such an insanely high willpower. But let's say he rolled willpower and just botched it completely. He is under the sway of the pheromones."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Because of what his character is and who his character is, Greyson might very well become insanely horny...but how he REACTS to being insanely horny is another question entirely."

(Mal) Mal commands "Under the sway, barring intervention from some other source, such as a SUCK."

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "And yet that still does not give the right to the inducer of those pheromones to describe how he behaves, yes. "

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "He could become VIOLENT as he lashes out in response."

(Junes) Junes notes "and in looking at emotional nanomagic it also has a note about ( +help emotions )building plenty more on this topic"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "My character Wolfwood would FLEE as they tried to find a secure location they could masturbate and avoid succumbing to temptation and having sex with a mutant."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "As I said, the only time you should be dictating precisely what a person does in response to something is if mind control is somehow involved. Like...direct mind control."

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "Personally I'd probably refuse to rp with someone who tries to mind control my characters without vetting it with me ooc first. "

(Greyson) Greyson nods, "Your traits that mechanically affect your character are usually /intentionally/ left vague as well, your character is, ultimately, still a person, however heavily infected. How you play them /is/ typically up to you, along with all the consequences of those actions. If you need some inspiration, try 'fex Form name' and take a look at your form's victory and defeat messages if you want your mutations or infection to influence you a little bit more!

(Junes) Junes wiggles their tails around "people can have many different reactions to a feeling, we're all different after all!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yup! To all of that. It's why even judges are barred from it."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "In fact, mind control is one of those things you should give a content warning to ahead of an event."

(Junes) Junes "consent is crazy important after all"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Losing control of your character is pretty damn frustrating if you aren't given prior warning that it can happen. This is a little different in tabletop games since there's way more of a give and take, but in a situation like Flexible survival where you NORMALLY have complete control of everything about your character?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yeah, losing control is definitely something a judge should add to the warning label"

(Rosemint) Rosemint has No-Mind Control in her WI for a reason, yes.

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions about puppeteering? "

(Kira) Kira does raise her hand. "In the event that say a player is trying to puppeter another in a judged scene what is in your thoughts the best way for a judge to handle stepping in both in character and out."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'm actually going to cover intervention after I cover Imping but keep that in mind!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Put a pin in it."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Imping is next and last. It's short for "Poisoned Implication". It's when what someone posts is neither overpowered nor writing for another player but the implication of it being true imposes some kind of truth onto another character that was never agreed on. The simplest example of this could be eating someone's cooking and declaring it tastes horrible as a matter of IC fact without finding out how well it was cooked OOCly. Your character could, of course, be lying. But unless that's established, it implies the person who cooked the food sucks at cooking."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "A more complex example is this: Imagine you are the chief of security for a military complex. Someone asks if their character can have been discovered hiding out in the complex and is being brought to you for interrogation. So far so good. You agreed they bypassed security and got into the base but were eventually caught."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Where it could go off the rails is if the spy revealed that they hadn't just gained access but have been covertly hiding around the base for months and that none of your security measures or guards ever realized they were there."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "They then break free and start to escape but none of your security measures work on them until their character who is also part of the security team intervenes and somehow has EXACTLY what is needed to stop them when everything you had failed."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "There is a bit of powergaming going on towards the end, but note that even if you were able to stop them from escaping in the second half, the fact that they were hiding out in the base for MONTHS was not just never agreed upon but comes with a hefty implication that your guy just kind of sucks at his job."

(Mal) Mal commands "This is why I obnoxiously ask so many questions about how and why and when and such-"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "No amount of OOC observation on how the base's security is good enough justification for that newly introduced information because even if there was no powergaming or metagaming going on, the implication of them just assuming they could bypass security for months without ever leaving the base comes with the heavy implication of your abject incompetence."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yes, this is something that happened to me which is why it is so specific. XD"

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "I've heard that put differently in other games, but yeah, it's considered really rude to make those kinds of implications about other players. "

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "To be fair, all of the three terms go by different names"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I've heard puppeteering is called "Bunnying" in other settings"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The same way how in Flexible Survival, sending a message to the wrong server is called a Mav whereas in many other games I've played it's called an MT (Mistell)"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "ANYWAY!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions on Imping before we go back to that pin?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "ALRIGHTY! So, how do you handle bad actors?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "First, the strongest first approach is to ask questions and get clarification"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If something bad was done on accident, this will likely resolve the issue without ever making a single accusation"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If you don't think their answer resolves it? Keep asking questions until you feel asking questions is getting you nowhere and be upfront about it."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If you think you can work around what they did to cause an issue in such a way the issue is nullified? Even better. But giving people a chance to correct things themselves FIRST is often a good way of helping people learn from their mistakes. Hard to know there was a problem if nobody tells you."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If all else fails, you have three nuclear buttons. The first? If the scene is FUBARed to the point of not being recoverable, you can just end it and declare it non-canon. Everyone can keep the rewards they already got, but the scene itself no longer occurred. I'd suggest you locally save the RP log so you can send it to staff if it becomes an issue requiring a moderator. "

(Junes) Junes giggles a bit and adds "similarly for that scenario, not sure if its ideal but...a silly solution to imply it happened yet not to their benefit? suggesting that it was widely known after time and that they were keeping an eye on the spy gathering their own information on what they were after or feeding false information to whoever it was being supplied? just a thought! but of course maybe not the best but an option~"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The second is to boot the offending player. This only works in a custom room (as provided by the privacy screen or by being a high enough level judge), but there is a command player judges can use that sends players out of the custom room and back to their home room."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "However, this is only available at judge level 3."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If they start harassing you or someone keeps msummoning them back in, you can call on staff to intervene."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And, yeah, Junes, that's a great work around!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The last option, especially if you are below level 3, is to call on staff."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "We take bad behavior seriously and if you refuse a judge's demands to leave, a member of staff will HAPPILY do that for them and give you an official warning."

(Junes) Junes shrugs "yeah, the scene can continue as normal with nothing being retconned, yet they have no advantage"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "ie: Your refusal to listen to a judge gets marked as a note on your ACCOUNT."

(Junes) Junes grins "plus a bit silly"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Because, yes, we do keep track of that."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any questions about what to do if a player misbehaves?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And, for the record, PLAYERS can also report judges for behaving badly."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If anything, we will likely be a bit harder on judges for bad behavior as, given the responsibility they accepted, they should know better."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Awesome. Alright, now that's over, it's time for some more general tips for judges who are just starting out!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "First, make a list of rules you will be enforcing for the entirety of your scene. It could be strict, simple, complicated, whatever. The goal is for people to have an understanding or reminder of how you run events, an expectation of what's coming up, and other considerations. Don't make it overly complicated. Just a few bullet points are fine."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Second, remember the golden rule of all improv: Yes, AND. Telling people a blunt 'no' should be avoided if possible. Even if someone accomplishes very little of value by doing something silly or stupid, try and build off of what players do to build out the scene. That doesn't mean you have to necessarily agree that everything players do will work, but you should always try and give some kind of result."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Even if something someone tried fails, sometimes it can still be a good idea to give them some kind of benefit for even trying."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Don't let people regret even trying to do something in the first place. It helps encourage creativity and heavy involvement even by people who aren't sure their character would be as helpful as a veteran."

(Junes) Junes suggests "failing a climbing check could give just enough height to see more at the top or a different foothold, or even falling flat and low lets them see something approaching low or perhaps a little interesting crack in the wall, failing negotiations may not make someone convinced or hostile, but it will show you are willing to speak instead of fight which may count for something later or! searching for an item and only finding...a cool rock!"

(Junes) Junes leans on the desk "its all about creativity but of course does not need to be positive, it just needs some result!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yup! Don't just say that they failed and nothing else. Give people something to build off of."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Next, know your limits! We talked about it earlier but I'll say it again. Figure out how many people you can comfortably run in a scene and don't push yourself to force more in. If you can't work out other days to run the event for whatever reason or get others to run parallel events, offer people who are interested something their character can do off screen so that it could influence the event as it runs or some aspect of its aftermath."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And as for parallel events, the best way to avoid continuity issues is to prevent people who attended one from attending another. If that ends up not working out, get clever about the timeline. Maybe one event is running a little bit before another or something like that. With a bit of clever writing, most plot holes can be destroyed."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And, lastly, my ultimate advice? KEEP. IT. SIMPLE! Don't over extend yourself. If you burn yourself out, you'll never see the end of that awesome arc you had planned. Better you take things slowly than rush out stories and find yourself unable to finish or creating a super complex overarching plot and then can't find the will to even run the first event."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Avoiding over complicating things can also be important for not making joining a storyline mid way through becomes too complicated. Given the limits you'll be putting on attendees, this can become very important down the line."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "And with that, we've entered Q&A! ALL questions about judges are now on the table!"

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "Does being a judge also need a wiki account, for uploading and editing logs?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "To upload logs, no. To edit logs, yes."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "OH! That reminds me!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "REMEMBER: If there is no RP log of your event, it is not canon the same way a normal event is!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "ALWAYS RP log if you are running a canon event!"

(Junes) Junes was laying on the desk, thinking hard and realized, bringing out their double screen mobile gaming device comm unit "oh! just for the sake of it, should judges and or players avoid using exact names for certain products and or copyrighted things?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Mmm...probably. There is a level of fair use at play as far as player created content goes. I'm sure you've seen books where a character is said to drive a Ford. References to media is also fine. For example, your character could be a fan of Star Wars without issue."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "The line likely gets drawn when you want to implement something into the game that's a direct pull from another work. Like asking for a Wookie strain."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "If you CAN make a generic non-copyrighted reference, that would be preferrable."

(Junes) Junes nods "i had also seen a room with the fantastic game, Halo 3 but wanted to double check because of that yes." they put their DS comm unit away with a grin~

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Basically, a reference is fine. Something integral to the world is not."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "For example, a judged scene where Nanites recreate Halo in an area would not be acceptable."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "But a character having enjoyed playing Halo or having the game? That's likely fine."

(Junes) Junes the scaled chimera notes this down

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "But if you aren't sure, ask Nuku. I plan on verifying this after we're done and will update the RP log to reflect it"

(Junes) Junes nods "perfect!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any other judge questions?"

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "Will we need to vet ideas with more experienced judges/staff before running them?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You don't NEED to, but I recommend it until you get into the swing of things"

(Rosemint) Rosemint nods, she intended to do so, just wanted to make sure.

(Mal) Mal commands "I always recommend collaboration and clarification from others - even if you're sure of something, it never hurts to double-check."

(Mal) Mal commands "Who knows, they might even have suggestions to make a scene BETTER."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Yuuup!"

(Junes) Junes shrugs and asks with flitting tails "hmm, how about the situation where half the team is split and cant come to a consensus? for example one half wants to go full on sexual or maybe diplomatic and another half is more violent?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Well, that's very much an IC kind of disagreement. If that happens, the judge gets popcorn."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "But if they ask clarifying questions to try and decide, you should at least try and help!"

(Rosemint) Rosemint sultrily squeaks "I guess granular stuff, like failure scenarios. What happens if, despite things, the team fails the scene?"

(Mal) Mal puffs his cheeks in thought, at Junes' question. "... S'why I always try to aim for an odd-number of players, personally. That's my cheat, really. Barring that, remember what the goal is- did you *intend* for there to be combat? Do you prefer to avoid sexual content in your Judged scenes? It's ultimately, yes, an IC disagreement. You don't have to really do anything until people decide - but if, say, no one can agree how a scene should continue, you *have* the ability to just... Nudge it." He shrugs. "Are they taking too long to decide on a matter? Better decide fast, there's a patrol coming up on them if they don't get it together-"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Also a good strategy!"

(Mal) Mal commands "I imagine you won't run into too many scenarios like that - you have the ability to forewarn people about the contents of the event beforehand. 'Combat-focused', or 'diplomacy-based' beforehand will influence how people behave."

(Junes) Junes kicks their feet and tails waggle trying to think of more questions

(Mal) Mal commands "I believe it was discussed earlier- when it comes to scenes that result in failure, you can always try again later, and tweak the requirements. Going in as the backup team, pulling out the previous team from a sticky situation. Adjusting parameters of the scene- were you supposed to provide supplies to a town? Well, you took too long and they went out looking for supplies themselves. Go find those missing people."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "Any other comments or questions before we close up?"

(Greyson) Greyson nods.

(Junes) Junes shrugs with a smile "i cant think of anything else, but thanks for having this class!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "YUP! And for our future readers, if you have any questions not asked here, please reach out to staff! We'll be happy to answer them! Thanks for coming all!"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "You mind asking that again for the logger?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "I'm appending this XD"

(Greyson) Greyson says, "Actually- on that subject, if a team /does/ fail or get captured in the events of a scene, but without necessarily being asked to retire (i.e. PCs get nabbed and need to be rescued), what's expected of them while waiting /for/ the next scene, given most are usually days, if not weeks apart depending on availability?"

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "That's entirely between the people involved both players and judge."

(Syntax) Syntax chitters "No real official rules beyond make sure the continuity lines up."