Miscellaneous Rules Index
Some rules are too niche or theoretical to require placement in the Core Rules. This post serves as an index for these miscellaneous rules, which are listed below:
SOTF Mini Advanced Rules
Derivative Use of SOTF Mini Rules
Other sites have, from time to time, taken an interest in using rules, roleplaying guides, etc. from SOTF and SOTF Mini. We have a specific set of circumstances and rules regarding what we do and do not allow to be used freely.The actual meat of the rules (rolls, inactivity timers, Hero and Swap Cards, and so on) can be used by anyone for any endeavor. We'd love it if you'd credit the SOTF sphere as the origin, and we ask you to put everything into your own words. Game mechanics, however, are not something that can be guarded by copyright, and most of SOTF's mechanics originate on the old V1 site, the work of members long since departed.
If you wish to use the actual text of SOTF's rules or roleplaying guides (these posts, the Core rules, or any old iterations of rules or roleplaying guides), however, we are more particular. You can always link people to the rules as hosted on our site. This gives us a boost to visibility and does not in any way represent a problem to SOTF Mini. It may, however, be a shaky solution for certain endeavors, as it does prevent most modification and leaves a user at the whim of our changes to the rules.
Really, the ideal is to rewrite what you need in your own words, but you are welcome to petition the staff for the right to rehost the text of some or all of our rules. Staff may well deny such a request, but are amenable to approving it if convinced. In all such cases, we require credit to be given to the authors of the rules and the site, a link to the site to be provided, and some iteration of this rule to be included such that any others seeking to create derivative rule sets using our actual text come back to us for permission.
Staff Rolling Errors
While notable/severe mistakes in the rolling process are vanishingly rare, staff feels it is still in the interests of the community to have an explicitly-detailed procedure for their handling publicly visible.A mistake in rolls caught before they are posted is easily dealt with. If the error is simply in noting who was rolled (if, say, staff pasted the wrong name) then a note will be appended to the logs and they will be posted, with the character actually rolled noted as rolled and the inaccurately-noted one not.
If the error is more severe (the wrong size of die being used for the roll, say) then the rolls will be rolled back entirely to the point of the error and redone from that point. All valid rolls prior to that point will stand, but rolls after it (even if producing otherwise-valid results) will be redone, because every character rolled produces small changes to the probability of SOTF's system. All logs of all rolls will be provided in such an occurrence, unless the entire set of rolls is redone, in which case only the new set will be provided unless there is significant request for the original, in which case staff will consider the request and grant or deny it as they see fit.
In the event of the most common rolling errors (rolls made prior to the official start of rolls, multiple staff members rolling at the same time at the start, and so on) the incidents will not be logged if they occur right at the start of rolls (when they occur the vast majority of the time) and will be explained and moved past but retained in the logs if they occur later.
Mistakes in rolls caught only after the rolls are posted are more severe, and while they have not actually happened in site memory, we do have some contingency plans in place.
If a character is accidentally left off the rolling list for some reason, they will be subjected to a special set of rolls upon discovery. This will take the form of a number of rolls equal to the number of characters rolled in the last set of rolls prior to discovery, with probability increasing by one point each time the character is not rolled (to represent the bump in probability from other characters being rolled). If the character is hit by these rolls, they are in fact rolled, and go on their own set of timers as usual (three days for cards, which anyone may play to save them, and seven for a death [either theirs or that of a character sacrificed for them via card]). If a character has been left off the list for multiple rolls, they will only face the gauntlet for the most recent set. If they have been restored to the list and faced rolls since the error, they will face no further penalty and will not run the gauntlet.
This is, needless to say, an inelegant situation that does not feel good to anyone. It does, however, seem the best of a set of bad options with regard to fairness. No character can fairly get a free pass, but at the same time there's only so much revision that can be done.
If a character is erroneously declared rolled when they are not, the reaction varies based on time of discovery. If discovered during the window for cards, the change will be publicly announced. The character will be spared from rolls, and, if another character was meant to be rolled instead, they will be added to the rolled list. Any such addition will have its own full timer for cards and deaths.
If the character in question has already died, the mistake may be reversed only if less than two weeks has passed since the error in rolling. This is not timed from the death. In such cases, the death will, should the handler desire, be undone, and staff will work with those involved to smooth plotlines and writing as much as possible. No characters will be added to rolls, even if they should otherwise have been—instead, they will face the same gauntlet as faced by characters left off the rolling list, if no rolls have since been conducted, or staff will shrug and move on if rolls have happened.
If the character in question has not died but card time is over, they will be removed from the rolled list and no longer required to die, even if it has been more than two weeks since the error. They will not be replaced by any character who theoretically should have been rolled, but such characters will face the roll gauntlet unless further rolls have been conducted since.
It is worth repeating that these rules are making the best of a bad situation. They are certainly flawed, but we feel they are less flawed than the other methods considered for resolving such errors. Moreover, errors of the sort to prompt these resolutions have never in the history of SOTF Mini actually been made—this section is, by and large, an officially-sanctioned precaution.
General Staff Errors
Staff errors will, generally speaking, be corrected as quickly and cleanly as possible, with an eye towards leniency. Staff are human and make mistakes. Sometimes these affect handlers or the game. It happens. Here is how we will deal with specific situations:If an error is made by an individual staff member, and it is in direct contradiction to these rules, and it is caught within the space of two weeks (fourteen days), staff reserve the right to require changes be made to bring the situation in line with the ruling. For example, if a staff member, acting alone, approved a character to find an old rifle left out in the woods, this would be a clear violation of the rule forbidding the scavenging of actual weapons in the arena. If this was caught quickly enough, staff would request the editing of any posts to remove the problematic element. While inconvenient, such changes made relatively quickly do little to damage overall game integrity and handler experience.
If such an error is not caught within two weeks, it will be noted but allowed to stand unless absolutely crippling to the integrity of the version (if, say, a staffer established that the collars did not actually work, and somehow this went unnoticed for a month).
If an error is made by the staff team as a collective, whether or not it is in contradiction to these rules and regardless of when it is caught, it will be noted but allowed to stand unless either an agreement with the handler can be reached or it is crippling to version integrity. The staff team may be considered to be acting as a collective either when they specifically note such, or when the shared Mini Help account is the method of communication used. Staff should not use the Mini Help account to handle queries unless they have secured the input of the team as a whole or are very sure their response falls within established rules (or note explicitly that they are making an initial judgment call that is not an official ruling).
If an error is made by an individual staffer but is an edge case not directly in contradiction to the written rules, it will usually be allowed to stand unless it is either very minor and quickly caught, it is an issue on which an agreement can be reached with the handler, or it is of critical threat to game integrity. For example, if a staffer unilaterally granted permission to violate the area thread limit in the interests of speeding a death set a day after the thread currently in the area, that would technically constitute staff approval of an exception, but would not follow the proper internal staff procedures for such and would be a situation very unlikely to gain such approval if properly discussed. Nonetheless, it would be allowed to stand unless the handler in question agreed otherwise, and staff would deal with the situation by working closely with all involved to avoid continuity snarls and by reminding the errant staff member of the proper procedures.
Note that all of the above applies only to honest mistakes. In any cases in which a staff member is found to have intentionally abused their authority for the benefit of themselves or others, the situation will be looked into very carefully. If the beneficiary was complicit, then they and the staff member will both face serious repercussions. If the staff member was acting alone, they will face serious repercussions and, depending on the severity, their actions may either be allowed to stand or be reversed. Note that these instances of intentional abuse may well lead to a staff member's removal from authority, or even their banning. While we would hope nobody selected for staff would cause such issues anyways, one's imminent departure from staff or the site does not constitute a blank check to wreak havoc.
Also note that the admins retain an executive veto on all situations under this umbrella. In all instances, however, we will do our best to fully explain the situation unless barred by matters of handler safety and privacy, and any exceptions will be clearly detailed, as will their implications for site precedent.
Conflicting Ruling Prioritization
The prioritization for conflicting rulings is as follows, from highest priority to lowest priority:- Admin rulings that contradict the rules as written but explicitly note and explain such.
- The Mini Advanced Rules.
- Admin rulings that do not get into specifics (sometimes the admins forget the rules too—they only override the rules when doing so intentionally).
- Non-admin-sanctioned staff rulings made by the collective.
- The Mini Core Rules
- Rulings by individual staffers
- Unofficial community "rules" and understandings not backed by any official documentation.
Bans
Generally speaking, bans are a last resort on SOTF Mini. We do not issue temporary bans of fixed duration (one day, three weeks, etc.) from the site. To do so would be massively disruptive to the game, because taking characters out of circulation interrupts not only their stories, but also those of their thread partners. Moreover, it raises difficult questions regarding the inactivity system—would characters of a temporarily-banned handler be immune to inactivity for the duration of the ban? If so, that wouldn't feel very good as other characters go inactive in that time. If not, an inopportunely-timed or notably-lengthy ban would serve effectively as a death sentence to all of a handler's characters. Thus, bans from the site come in two varieties: indefinite and permanent.
An indefinite ban is a ban lasting for at least sixty days. At any point after that time, the banned member may make an appeal. A successful appeal will result in the lifting of the ban, while an unsuccessful one will require a further period of at least thirty days prior to a new attempt. To be accepted, an appeal must demonstrate clear understanding of the reasons behind the initial ban, and must outline a plan of improvement that staff finds persuasive. A handler who appeals remains on final warning for at least six months following their appeal.
A permanent ban is, as the name implies, permanent. Generally speaking, no appeals on such bans will be heard—certainly not for a space of years, at a minimum. Any handler re-banned after an indefinite ban lands in this territory.
Usually, for incidents of poor behavior, jerkishness, and other noxious but non-threatening behaviors, an indefinite ban will be issued. Permanent bans are reserved for repeat offenders, for those who staff deem to pose threats to site or member safety, for those who deliberately and in organized fashion attempt to cheat, and for those staff deem so problematic that they will not be able to successfully reform in any reasonable time frame.
The Mini staff reserves the right to proactively ban members in tandem with the Main site, even if all problematic behaviors have taken place on Main. This is not, however, guaranteed—if Main staff wishes a tandem ban, they'll need to communicate such to the Mini admins and petition for it, and the Mini admins reserve the right to deny such a request.
To be instated, a ban requires either the backing of both Mini admins or of one admin and all non-admin staff who weigh in. The appeal of an indefinite ban has the same requirements. The appeal of a permanent ban must be completely unanimous.
None of this applies to obvious trolls and spam-bots, both of which are banned on sight.
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Excessive Formatting
Please do not use formatting that makes your posts excessively hard to read. Anything that stretches the width of the post window on a standard resolution laptop is an issue—this tends to come about from overuse of size tags or from writing extremely long strings of characters without any spaces. Mini has many skins available to members, so please be aware that a color you use for text may end up difficult to read on other skins. If you must use text in colors outside the most typical primary and secondary ones, we suggest that you make use of the bgcolor code to ensure a static background color (and thus a standardized reading experience).
On the whole, staff also requests that you carefully consider the use of nonstandard formatting. It is allowed, but the story can become very hard to follow when every post is a rainbow of colors aligned unusually. Moreover, such flourishes are generally not particularly well regarded by the site's readers.
Reporting Protocols
To better streamline and de-mystify the reporting process, staff are implementing a new reporting system, effective immediately. Should you have a problem with another user on Mini, please fill out a PM using the following template and send it to Mini_Help, then notify a staffer directly that you have sent the report. The only exception to this process comes if the user you are reporting is a member of the staff team; if you are reporting a moderator, please send the report directly to one of the admins. If you are reporting an admin, please send your report to the other.
Code: Select all
[b]Subject Of Report:[/b]
[b]Date Of Incident:[/b]
[b]Description Of Incident:[/b]
[b]Evidence:[/b]
[b]Desired Resolution:[/b]- Subject Of Report: This is the handler you are reporting. If you are reporting multiple handlers, please fill out a new report for each one; this makes bookkeeping a lot neater on staff's side, as different handlers may have different histories, situations, etc. We look into each incident with context for its surroundings, but also as an individual occurrence.
- Date Of Incident: This is the date on which the incident occurred. Please report incidents as quickly as possible; the more time passes, the higher the threshold of problematic behavior staff requires to take action. If someone insulted you months ago, while unfortunate, staff is unlikely to dig the issue back up. If the situation is more dire, it will be treated accordingly.
- Description Of Incident: This is a brief summary of what happened and why it is problematic. Do not say to just look at the evidence. This is not helpful. We want to know why you specifically had a problem with what happened, and how everything played out from your perspective, to better understand where you're coming from and have a better chance at finding a good resolution.
- Evidence: In many cases this will likely be the longest section. This is logs, images, etc. We would like everything included in the PM, rather than linked to elsewhere; links can expire or fail to function. Ideally we prefer screenshots to text logs, though understand this may be impractical for some members or when the logs are especially lengthy. Please include any and all relevant context; if the incident occurred in chat we'll be looking it up anyways.
- Desired Resolution: This is not a spot to ask for punishments. Do not ask for anyone to be banned. Doing so will hurt your case. This section is instead for discussion of what you see as an ideal outcome. In many cases, it can be as simple as the offending member ceasing the problematic behavior and not lapsing back into it. In some instances, however, incidents may raise bigger problems or expose systemic flaws, and this is the place to address those. If you think there is some way a system or rule could be improved, this is the place to touch on that.
Within the context of Mini, violations of our rules governing respectful behavior are grounds for a report, as are violations of the minimum age clause, the honesty in personal information clause, the restrictions on multiple accounts, and the rules governing conduct around the rolls, including requesting kills and requesting Heroes. If something is not technically under the umbrella of a rule but still feels disruptive in a negative way, feel free to report it and note suggestions for adjustments in the Desired Resolution section.
Staff does not rule on issues occurring outside the confines of Mini unless they present a clear, credible, and serious threat to self or others. This is the realm of issues such as suicidal statements or threats, sexual misconduct, and legitimate threats of violence. Note that the bar here is not "someone was especially mean to me," or clearly fanciful (if still inappropriate) musings from thousands of miles away but several notches higher (mentioning your address and threatening to SWAT you, say). Is it the sort of issue where you're informing the front desk at your apartment, campus security, or your employer due to fear of the actions someone may take? If staff gets involved with off-site issues, this is the tier we're looking at, and alerting the appropriate authorities is extremely likely to be our first action. We take seriously all threats of suicide and do our best to inform those in a position to intervene immediately. A list of international suicide prevention services may be found here.
If you are having off-site difficulties with a member that do not reach the tier warranting staff intervention, we suggest you address them in the appropriate venues. Complaints regarding the Survival Of The Fittest roleplay and its Discord server or wiki should be addressed to that staff team. If you are having issues with someone PMing you when unwelcome, we suggest you block them and, if necessary, report them directly to Discord. Staff are not the social media police, and unless there is a major issue we trust and expect our members to resolve non-site-related interpersonal conflicts without staff intervention. We have seen these issues in the past, and they descend quickly and inevitably into tangles of contradictory stories and incomplete accusations that are outside our wheelhouse and above our pay grade.
Once a report is lodged, staff will reply to your message confirming receipt. If you do not receive a confirmation reply within 48 hours, please notify a staff member, ideally the same one you initially notified when you lodged the complaint.
Staff handle reports internally, and do not discuss warnings issued with members outside the staff team. Generally speaking, we take a light hand; if we agree that a line has been crossed but the offense is not particularly severe or part of a noted pattern, we'll likely send the offender a quick and polite request to knock it off and/or a reminder of the rules. If an incident is more severe or an issue is recurrent, we will likely give the offender an official warning, which may come with a note of consequences for further offenses. Should further offenses occur, the consequences will follow. We do track and takes note of all issues, to establish if behavior forms a pattern.
Consequences for persistent or particularly egregious behavior may include a ban from the Discord server and/or wiki, removal of certain privileges (sending PMs on the board, say), or even a ban from the site as a whole. We do not issue punitive temporary bans, and ban as a last resort. Generally speaking, bans for behavioral issues are indefinite, while bans for repeat offenders (those who have already faced indefinite bans) and those responsible for major safety concerns will be permanent.
If a ban occurs, or if a rule is changed, this will likely be obvious. If a warning or reminder is issued, this will likely be indistinguishable from the outside from staff declining to act. This is by design; staff do not want reports to be weaponized or to lead to retaliation and wish to protect handler privacy as much as possible. Staff will also act on our own initiative if we notice problematic behaviors, but in many cases it can be difficult to tell where the line is and we encourage all members to speak up directly and/or report if they are made uncomfortable. While staff may not act on every report, we will at the very least read them and open them to internal discussion.
On the other hand, please do not abuse the report system to harass or target handlers. If we come to believe a handler is persistently abusing the report system, we may bar them from using it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact staff!
Guest Writers
Sometimes, handlers have wanted to bring other writers in assist in scenes or posts, either contributing writing to the posts made by the primary handler or else posting from their own accounts as extras in the scene, wildlife, hallucinations, etc. Generally speaking, Mini encourages creativity and handler freedom, but as such activities fall outside the primary purview of the games we host in most cases, they are subject to the following restrictions:
- Realism: Anything written should have a plausible mundane explanation appropriate to the setting in which it takes place. If your character is hallucinating ghosts, that's fine! If the ghosts are of characters your character never knew existed, or if they're whispering accurate information that your character could not otherwise know, however, that's a problem. Dead characters are dead (that's why we have rolls, after all!) and any cameos should be written with that in mind, and otherwise adhere to our realism guidelines. Remember that in most Mini universes (especially that of the SOTF-TV), the events of the game are filmed and broadcast; it's important to have an idea of what things would look like to an observer watching. Some universes, such as Virtua or certain handler-run AUs, may have drastically different standards; if in doubt, ask staff or the game-runner.
- Host Character: Guest writers may not start threads, and may only participate in threads including active, living characters participating in the version.
- Permission: As scenes involving guest writers are often off-the-wall or unusual by normal game standards, it is important to us that everyone involved in such scenes be expressly okay with what's going on. Thus, we require that you secure active permission to include guest posts from any and all handlers active in the scene. This permission may be revoked at any time, and should anyone new join the thread, permission for the continued presence/activity of guests must be secured from the newcomer(s) as well.
- Activity: Many scenes involving guests function loosely as one-shots, with one primary handler writing and others interacting with them. This is fine, however, in order to encourage handlers to make such digressions carefully and with a conscious eye on their impact, and also to keep handlers interacting with the game itself, we are officially classifying such threads as one-shots. This means they do not occupy a thread slot (unless they are open threads allowing other handlers to join) but also means that they do not count consecutively for activity. Additionally, activity will be refreshed only by the first post in the thread, by the initiating handler, and they will be responsible for making another post in an active topic within fourteen days of that initiating post. They are welcome to make as many posts in the topic interacting with their guests as they like, but these posts will not reset the activity timer.
- Staff Fiat: Should staff need a literal summary of what's happening, we reserve the right to request it. Additionally, should the presence of guests prove disruptive, in a specific thread, a character's storyline, or a version as a whole, we reserve the right to put the element on ice at any time and until further notice.