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Engagement with Other Players

This is the absolute most important consideration to make. While this predominantly applies to romance roleplay, it is equally important to consider for other circumstances. When pre-planning a bit or pursuing multi-round roleplay with another character, always check in and make sure the other player is aware of your plan and is interested in participating.

Do not surprise people with romance rp. For example, before planning an in character date or confession of feelings, ask the other player involved.

Do not surprise people with grudges and rivalries that result in persistent negative interactions between characters. For example, two characters who consistently have verbal altercations or interpersonal conflicts outside of antagonist roleplay.

Utilize pre round OOC chat, the discord server, or DMs to be certain the other player is open to roleplaying these with you.

When pre-planning a bit that involves another player and/or their character make sure you get their permission before going ahead with it.

Examples of when you should get consent before engaging include but are not limited to:

  • Making kodepiiae copies of another player's character.
  • Creating relatives of another player's character.
  • Anything relating to romance, rivalries, or grudges between two or more characters.

Always remember you have multiple tools available to check in with people, and it is vital that you use them.

The most prominent and immediate tool to use is LOOC chat to check in with another player in the moment and tell them if you are okay with an interaction or want it to stop.

OOC is also available between rounds and a great tool for coordinating quick and loose plans for an interaction such as teaching someone a role or letting two characters meet.

The Impstation Discord or your Discord DMs are other places you can coordinate. While we encourage spontaneity and the stories that arise from it, there are times when a more detailed discussion is needed. This is especially useful in a case like character romance where detailed consent is vital between players.

In the event that a player does not respond well to a check in and continues involving you in something you did not and do not consent to, you ALWAYS have the ability to ahelp or send a modmail and have admin assistance in resolving the situation. Games are meant to be fun, if another player's actions are going beyond what is acceptable, the admin team is there to help.

What is a bit?​

A bit is a series of actions strung together, almost always but not universally in the service of comedy.

An example of a bit would be a mime spending a round constructing comedic nonlethal traps for other players to get caught in, or a clown who will consistently make large messes and comedically blame other players for doing so.

Essentially, if you are spending effort to string together jokes and elements of your behavior for a consistent effect, that is a bit.

Antagonists are a key part of the Impstation server. By playing on this server you inherently consent to interactions with those playing antagonists. Impstation does not operate on opt-in or opt-out for antagonist targeting. Everyone playing in the round has the potential to be targeted.

However, if you believe an antagonist is going beyond what is appropriate you are encouraged to use LOOC or ahelp about it.

These actions are purely in character and part of the game. No part of an antagonist's actions reflect the player's beliefs, actions, or feelings. No malice should be attributed to antagonist players for the actions they take as part of the game so long as they are within server rules.

Examples of what you may encounter with antagonists

  • Verbal harassment
  • Lies about your in-character traits and/or actions
  • Stalking
  • Sabotage
  • Physical assault
  • Stripping your equipment, including your jumpsuit

Romance Rules​

Romance roleplay is welcome in this community and because of that it is important to make clear the boundaries on what is and is not acceptable. When participating in romance roleplay, always keep in mind that your interactions are visible to the entire server whether it be via ghost observation, admin tools, or replays of rounds. Conduct yourself as if you are 100% visible to everyone on Impstation, because you are.

It is acceptable to roleplay romance between characters, it is not acceptable to repeatedly and habitually ignore other aspects of the game to engage with said romance roleplay.

It is not acceptable to excessively roleplay amorous physical interactions. We do not want to see descriptions of whether or not your kiss is using tongue, or if your significant other has particularly soft skin.

Examples of acceptable romance roleplay

  • Giving a brief kiss
  • Hugging
  • Speaking briefly in private and ending the conversation with a hug or a kiss
  • Going on in-game dates which do not take up the majority of the round or neglect job duties
  • Holding public weddings between characters in the game
  • Having a falling out when one character is an antagonist

Examples of unacceptable romance roleplay

  • Threatening or being rude to people who interrupt romance RP
  • Detailed descriptions of kisses or other physical interactions including but not limited to groping, ass slapping, cuddling, and lap sitting
  • “Borderline” interactions are also included in this, if it is an interaction with the goal of titillation or sexual tension between characters, it is not acceptable. Examples of this include but are not limited to physical restraints in private rooms, instructing another character to behave as a pet, and stepping on other characters.
  • In general, avoid fetish roleplay and references. Jokes are one thing, engaging in a fetish is another. Exercise your judgement, if you think you could be touching on roleplaying your own or someone else's fetish, stop immediately and move on to roleplay that is appropriate for a non-ERP environment.
  • Sexual interactions including the nonphysical such as dirty talk or referring to sex that may take place off station or out of game.
  • Isolating yourselves away from the station in order to go on dates while having job duties to attend. Especially in the case of heads of staff or other critical jobs.

Other Relationship Roleplay

While the focus of this segment is on romance roleplay, it is worth noting that any persistent relationship between characters should be approached with the same sensitivity and consideration.

Rivalries and grudges are an example of relationship roleplay which, while not romantic, requires a comparable level of consent between players and respect for the rules of the server.

Character Backstory​

Utilizing backstory found outside of the game should always be an opt-in experience. Using backstory to surprise players, especially when they are not aware you will do so, is poor etiquette and likely to be a frustrating and unfun experience.

An acceptable example of opting in to using backstory in game is pre-planning that a character will bring it up at some point when two characters interact.

It is acceptable to bring up off-station aspects of your character's life such as their hobby, background, job history, or various other details that may arise organically.

It is not acceptable to behave aggressively or dismissively when others do not know details of your background and do not act according to it.

For example, expressing anger in dead chat that medical players did not follow your postmortem instructions is not acceptable.

It is also not acceptable to attack antagonists who have killed your character's significant other without following escalation.

An unacceptable example would be surprising a paradox clone with a quiz on information from a character's backstory. This is not fun or fair for a player who was not able to choose who they would be a clone of and did not plan on researching a character's backstory ahead of time.

“Yes, and” and “No, but”​

Typically “Yes, and” and “No, but” are applied to improvisational comedy, but they work just as well as guidance for a roleplay environment. These are reliable methods used to continue roleplay with others throughout your gameplay. Many otherwise boring or directionless interactions can become surprisingly fun and memorable through using these methods.

Both of these are fundamentally continuations of the conversation. “Yes, and” affirms the first statement and expands on it. “No, but” rejects it and provides an alternative. These are tools used to engage with the events around you and provide a springboard to move forward with roleplay.

Don't be afraid to take conversations and scenes in new or unexpected directions, good improv always begins small before building up to something greater. Sometimes you may fumble a joke or make someone uncomfortable, this happens to everyone and in the worst cases you can apologize through LOOC.

Examples of “Yes, and”

  • Two characters enter their shared workspace. One greets the other with "Good Morning!" And the other responds with "Everyone's so damn chipper these days..." and emotes a lazy wave.
  • A paradox clone walks up to the person they are a clone of and says, “Hey, I went ahead and returned that video we rented.” And the original responds, “NO! I haven't finished watching that!”
  • A crowd of people are gathered talking. One of them tells an embarrassing story (made up by the player on the spot) about another one. The person in question begins to stammer and get flustered while making excuses for whatever it was that happened.

Examples of “No, But”

  • A crewmate approaches the engineering counter and asks for a pair of welding goggles. The engineer at the counter refuses to give them goggles but offers a welding mask instead.
  • Three doctors are standing in the morgue discussing the soul alarms on the morgue caskets. One says to the others, “You know, these things just check for brain activity. Souls aren't real.” The other two turn to the first and insist that souls are a real known scientific quantity and proceed to engage in a discussion on the subject.
  • The captain made a ridiculous new law for the crew to follow. You refuse to participate but make it a point to playfully taunt and mock those that do, especially the captain