Avalikia Ranting About Her Philosophy in Regard to the Rules

[Avalikia]

Expanded Version

This version of the rules is primarily here for if you want to know why a rule exists or have a very niche 'would it be against the rules if I...?' question. Warning: This is long and entirely unnecessary for you to read, except perhaps if you get referred here or are bored and looking for things to read.

General Rules:

1. Treat everyone with respect, no exceptions.

   
   I think I understand why people can be jerks on the internet - feeling anonymous can be freeing. However, if you're older than about fourteen then you've been on the internet for long enough that you ought to be over the 'I'm going to say this thing just to upset people' phase. Also, this corner of the internet is a space I made, so everyone here is my guest and I expect a certain minimum level of behavior from my guests so that everyone who is behaving themselves and is trying to have fun don't have to put up with someone who is not.
   
   To that end, I take an extremely dim view of people getting into some sort of an insult war. Whoever started it is more to blame, of course, but it takes two to tango so someone willing to go down to the other person's level is no angel either. It's always possible to step away from your keyboard until you're calm enough to reply appropriately if you feel like you need to defend yourself, and if someone is being abusive you should inform a staff member.
   
   And by 'abusive' I generally mean saying anything nastier than 'you're a jerk', 'you're an idiot', or something at approximately that level, once. Calling someone a jerk is simply informing them that you think their overall behavior is unkind, and it's definitely fair to say that people do things that make you question their intelligence, so it's okay to express those opinions. However, once you've told them once then you should assume that they now know how you feel about them - telling them repeatedly or in much harsher terms is neither necessary nor tolerated. It's also never appropriate to wish harm on others, let alone telling them to harm themselves. I'll probably warn someone before I kick them out for this, but perhaps not if it's bad enough.
   
   The one and only exception to all of the above is that I, personally, like to have an open-door policy as the head admin. This means that I'm not going to punish you for whatever you say to me in private - feel free to express whatever you need to express however you need to express it. I realize that sometimes people need to vent, sometimes they have a hard time saying what they need to say if they feel like they need to censor themselves, and I have a reasonably thick skin so I can take it. So if you want to give me a piece of your mind, have at it. It's only what you say or do in public or to other people that will get you in trouble.
   
   I consider no subject to be off-limits when it comes to OOC conversations - yes, that includes sex, politics, and religion. (Though with sex and other applicable topics, remember that we're PG-13 here.) I actually enjoy exploring other people's opinions about these things and other topics that some find to be a bit more sensitive, so I'm not about to say you can't. However, when it comes to such topics I expect them to be approached with polite curiosity and not hostility or ridicule. Deciding that everyone who holds a particular opinion are automatically horrible people is the sign of a bigot - maybe they have thoughts about it you hadn't considered, maybe they're uneducated on the subject, or maybe they have another reason for their opinion that you'll never know if you don't talk to them about it. Or maybe you'll find out that they really are a horrible person - if so, tell them they're stupid and move on. If you can't handle such conversations, do everyone a favor and opt out of them - which is always an option.
   
   As for the staff, remember that they're people too - which means that respect not only applies to how you treat them but also how they treat you. If you feel like a staff member is not behaving themselves or if they make a decision you disagree with, let a higher-tier staff member know. The tiers I usually use, from lowest to highest, are moderator, admin, and head admin. However, while you're waiting for that to happen, you're expected to comply with whatever they're asking of you until the situation is resolved.
   
   If I myself am the problem, still let me know and I promise that I will take your complaint seriously and reexamine my behavior. That doesn't mean I'll agree with you but I'm human too and thus may break my own rules, so telling me that I have done so may actually help me realize I've done something wrong. And unless the forum is going through a phase where I'm staffing it solo, you may appeal any decision I make to the whole staff - meaning I'll get their input on the situation. I still have ultimate authority in the end, but I try to pick people whose opinions matter to me and who are willing to speak their mind to me to be in my staff, so the best possible people to change my mind would be the ones talking about it with me. And if the whole staff rules against you, you may ask us to discuss it a second time, but if that doesn't work you're probably just plain not going to get what you want, sorry.
   
   

2. You're either an adult or a teenager cool enough to hang out with adults. Act like it.

   
   Yes, I know that adulting is hard, but I do expect everyone here to do it. A lot of the things people do in forums like this that cause a real headache to the staff or other players basically amounts to the person thinking that other people should be responsible for handling things they're perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. Well, I don't think that I should have to put up with that.
   
   The activity rules here are very clear and I go to great effort to maintain the points page - it's your responsibility to go look at it and keep track. I don't think I should have to give people an individual warning that they're about to be deleted for inactivity, especially since that encourages them to wait until they get a warning to finally post - the points page is the warning.
   
   I also frown upon pretty much any excuse people try to give for why they haven't posted. If people haven't replied to you, you always have the option of starting new threads with other people - or open threads for if you're really having trouble finding anyone. If your dog died and you're just not emotionally able to handle writing posts right now, I empathize, but I also point out that I try to tell people all the time that it's a good idea to horde enough points so that if you need to unexpectedly take a break for a few weeks you can do so without worrying about it. It's really not my fault if you haven't.
   
   Also, if you have a problem with something you're expected to either address the problem yourself, get the proper help from someone to get it taken care of, or accept that it's a problem that is not going to be solved and stop griping about it. Because some problems just aren't solvable - I would agree that it's a problem if your favorite player went inactive, and the new player who took over their canon isn't as exciting to you, but there's nothing I can do about it. And that's not me saying that you should keep such problems to yourself and silently stew about it - it's me saying that you should accept that the situation is the situation and move on.
   
   On the note of getting help, you're expected to ask the staff for help when you need it. However, if it's an issue between you and another player that isn't a flagrant violation of the rules, instead of going straight to the staff you should try to politely talk to them about it like an adult. When it comes to interpersonal messes, all a staff member can honestly do is threaten to use the banhammer if things get out of hand - though don't hesitate to request that service if you need it. And remember that the staff are able to help you with anything else that is making it difficult for you to enjoy the site, including characters, plots, and such.
   
   Now, I've experienced it myself, so I know that it can be intimidating to talk to the staff on a forum - especially if you're new and don't know them very well yet. I'm not sure what to say to ease that except to promise that I'm a nice person who tries to pick nice people to be on my staff - none of us bite. But whether you're intimidated or not, you need to be able to talk to the staff if you need help - think of it as good practice for the next time you need to ask your boss for a raise. This is especially true if it's about something that will get worse over time - most issues are easier to address if they're taken care of early.
   
   

3. This site is rated PG-13.

   
   You may say that if we're all supposed to act like adults, why can't our characters act like adults? A valid question! The most important reason is that it's against the ProBoards TOS - just because you've probably seen other ProBoards forums completely ignoring that fact doesn't mean that we should. All it takes is someone pointing it out to them that we're not following the rules, and they're the boss, so how about we don't play that game?
   
   A second important reason is that sites that allow smut often turn into sites where that's the main thing anyone does. This is mostly because there are certain players whose main interest is smut, and while I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that - I myself like steamy romance as much as the next person - I also like action, violence, and other genres. By not allowing it, players who are looking for a place for smut will go elsewhere, and players who are more varied in what they're looking for will stick around.
   
   The third reason is that I just plain don't enjoy moderating other people's smut. It's not nearly as fun to police as it is to write or read...
   
   But something that I wish to emphasize is that your characters ARE fully allowed to do whatever they want - when it comes to sex it's perfectly acceptable to make it abundantly clear that it's about to happen or has happened and for pretty much anything else the limitation is more about how descriptive you may be. This means that it doesn't stop the characters, only the players.
   
   So on to the gritty details, which I'll attempt to explain in full because pretty much any conversation clarifying what is and isn't PG-13 gets pretty awkward pretty fast for everyone involved, so I'm going to try to make it so you don't have to. Though if you're still unsure, let me know and I'll edit this to be even clearer so the next person doesn't have to.
   
   No matter the context, any part of the body that is normally covered by gender-appropriate underwear may not be touched by either their owner or another character, with or without clothing. Also, breasts and butts may be mentioned, but anything else in that area should not be mentioned, described, or appear in any pictures you use for any purpose, except possibly art (but you should really probably ask first...).
   
   As long as the above is being followed, full nudity is allowed if it's in written form. However, when a character is in that state of undress there's a strict 'look, but don't touch' rule as long as either party would see it as sexual in nature, but not otherwise. If a character wants to get sexual with a nude person, the fade to black and/or skip ahead should occur before the first touch.
   
   If the characters are clothed, on the other hand, the fade to black and/or skip ahead should occur around the same time that underwear starts making its appearance (if it's being worn...). A bit of underwear-clad romance is allowed, but pausing at underwear for an extended period of time just to avoid having to stop is frowned upon.
   
   Two delicate but important matters: Because of the serious nature of rape, while attempts are allowed any successes should at most be implied and require the full consent of the players involved, if not the characters. Also, pedophilia is not allowed. Specifically: anything beyond child-style kissing involving a character under the age of 13 with someone more than 2 years older or younger than them, sex involving any character under the age of 16, and sex involving a character under 18 with anyone over 2 years older.
   
   The only violent acts that aren't allowed are those that violate the rule above about where characters may be touched. However, there is a limit to how graphic you may be in descriptions - try to leave it up to the reader to decide just how much detail is in the picture in their heads without skipping over any details that are actually important to understand what is going on. For example: if someone's leg has been ripped off, I need to know if it really was the entire leg, just how badly they're bleeding out (do they need instant help to survive or can they wait a sec?), if they're still conscious and screaming, and other such details. What I don't need to know is exactly what the stump looks like or what it sounded like when the injury occurred - it's a mess, blood is everywhere, it really hurt, and that's all I need to know.
   
   Similarly, with pictures it's okay if there's some blood, superficial flesh wounds, stitches, and similar things, but nothing more than that in a photo or realistic picture, please! Also, be wary of any other 'gross' things, like feces.
   
   Profanity is allowed in roleplaying posts as long as it isn't too frequent. How much is too much is difficult to quantify specifically, mostly because it depends on which words (harsher words should be less frequent) and in what context (some words are harsher depending on the situation). However, like a PG-13 movie, no profanity should be thrown out casually and the harshest stuff shouldn't appear in every post or even in every thread - save it for when it really counts. If in doubt, feel free to ask a staff member if you're worried that you might be going too far.
   
   Profanity is to be avoided but not banned in the out-of-character areas. When interacting with your fellow players, always remember that we come from a scattering of different places and backgrounds - words that aren't very offensive to you may be quite offensive to someone else and vice versa. So do try to make an attempt to be thoughtful about the words you use, but also make an attempt to be chill about it if someone else is harsher than you would prefer. Deciding that you don't need to even try or, on the other hand, becoming the language police are both excellent ways to both make everyone else uncomfortable and get me on your case.
   
   And finally, when it comes to alcohol, drugs, smoking, and other such things, the only thing you need to avoid is glorifying the illegal use of real drugs. Glorification is when you, either as a player or by proxy through your character, act like it's great to be totally irresponsible and that the consequences are nonexistent or small. For those unfamiliar with what the age laws would be in Gotham, it's 21 for alcohol and 18 for tobacco.
   
   

4. Stick to the theme.

   
   The thing about the specific theme of any roleplaying forum is that there's probably always going to be something about it that each individual person in the forum isn't quite happy with. In this case, maybe you wish that the board was less focused on Gotham because you're somewhat more interested in other things in the DC Universe or, on the other hand, maybe you really hate it when characters not normally associated with Batman show up. Maybe your favorite part of the Batman timeline is somewhat earlier and later than where we have it. Maybe you're a bigger fan of the Nolanverse, the New 54, or would prefer things to be much more exactly like the 90s comics than what we do here. There's probably at least one thing.
   
   But the thing about the theme is that it keeps everyone on the same page, and that's pretty important. It reduces the amount of chaos to a manageable level when everyone agrees on what we're doing, and I'd assume that you wouldn't sign up here if you didn't have some interest in roleplay that fits within our particular theme. Of course, I recognize that there are other considerations - maybe you can't find a good, active board that caters to your favorite niche, or you have friends here - so maybe it's not the first thing you would have picked, but you're interested enough to want to be here even if it's not fully what you would want.
   
   It's important, however, to remember that everyone here probably feels at least to some degree the same way about it. Even I feel that way sometimes, and I'm the one who picked the theme - mainly that sometimes I think it would be cool if we were in a different part of the timeline when different things happen. But the other thing that is important to remember is that the things that other people wish were different are probably not the same as yours - you might find a couple of people who agree with you, but it's not going to be the whole board.
   
   That being the case, remember that by playing here you've agreed to the theme, which means that if you either accidentally or on purpose try to shift the theme of the board in the direction of what you wish it was, at some point I'm going to have a problem with it. And I say accidentally because it's actually easy to do without thinking when you make decisions that are just you trying to have more fun. For example, if you favor a canon character who doesn't normally live in Gotham, it can be hard to continue to find solid reasons why their life keeps revolving around Gotham over the long run, and you find yourself neglecting to do so without realizing it. In such cases it's important to notice this and take measures, or else I'll have to do so. If I don't, then everyone will drift away from the theme, won't be on the same page, and we descend into chaos. And don't get me wrong, chaos can be fun, but I prefer a carefully managed level of chaos over complete chaos.
   
   

5. We like to play rough here.

   
   It's a fact of life that different people find different things to be fun, and none of it is wrong unless someone gets hurt. The tricky thing about that in a setting like this is that some people find it fun to roleplay the horrors of humanity - or at least a PG-13 version of such. Someone who has never done it themselves may find it weird that normally mild-mannered and nice people would enjoy roleplaying out a torture scene, and someone who has may find that it's not their cup of tea, but some people really do like it and get some good catharsis from stuff like that - and there's nothing wrong with that. Where it does get sticky is that not everyone wants to participate in or even view such material all of the time, and that reason can range from being a simple preference to being a reminder of actual personal trauma that they don't need right now. And as a practical matter, it's really only possible to cater to only one side of that equation.
   
   Because this is a Batman forum, and one whose theme is not limited to the animated series (though we really do like the animated series), I think that it's very important that those who want their characters who are supposed to be horrible people to actually behave like horrible people are allowed to do so. Everything on this forum requires the consent of both players, and anyone attempting to convince someone into doing something they don't want to do with more pressure than by going 'pretty please' is not acceptable. But it's also not acceptable for someone to use their right to refuse too frequently - it isn't that it's wrong for you to do so, it's that if you need to do it frequently it really does hamper the ability of those you roleplay with to do their thing without feeling like they're walking on eggshells. It could simply be that you need to find a kinder, gentler forum - which is just how it is sometimes.
   
   And because we're explicitly a forum where people play rough, any attempt to make it not be so will be shot down - if it doesn't break rule #3, it's allowed, end of discussion.
   
   

6. Have fun.

   
   As the saying goes, you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. I can make a forum, I can try to run it well and make sure there are cool people here, but I can't make you have fun. There may be difficulties that are outside of either or both of our control that make it not fun here and there, but I can only do what I can do and there comes a point where it's your fault if you're not having fun and you're the only one who can fix it.

Roleplay Rules:

1. Use good roleplayer etiquette.

   
   I don't expect to actually have to enforce this rule except on the rarest of occasions because most of the people who end up here have been roleplaying for long enough to know that having bad roleplayer etiquette makes it so that nobody wants to play with you - it's mostly self-enforcing that way. I only bother to put it down as a rule so that nobody can complain that they weren't doing anything wrong if they're so bad that they need to be kicked out immediately instead of leaving when they slowly run out of people willing to give them a shot.
   
   Though I do have some tips for those who are accustomed to roleplaying in different genres, which may mean that you're less familiar with what the etiquette is for certain elements more likely to be found here:
   
   • A character's NPC minions/assistants/followers/etc. are generally considered to be extensions of themselves, so you should assume that you don't have permission to control them or decide if they get hurt and such, just as with someone else's actual character - especially the more important ones. You can usually tell which ones are important because they have names, personalities, dialogue, backstories, etc. If there are unimportant NPCs about and it would be convenient if you could control them a bit, feel free to ask the other player if they're cool with relaxing this rule - they probably are as long as they trust that you'll use that power for good.
   • Other NPCs may be thrown into the action at will if it makes sense for them to be about, and the person who introduces them into the scene is the one who gets to control them for the purposes of that thread unless the players involved agree otherwise.
   • All disguises are assumed to be impenetrable unless the player of the character wearing it agrees that it isn't. Remember, we're in the same universe where Lois Lane is fooled by a pair of glasses. Similarly, other forms of subterfuge like whether or not someone's secret hideout is findable is up to the player of the character involved - these things are treated similarly to combat, where it's the player of the character being attacked who decides, but they're expected to be fair about it.
   • Speaking of combat, there are instances where two characters who are greatly mismatched may end up in a fight. I'm not talking about situations where one character is clearly stronger but the other one is smart enough that they have somewhat of a chance, but situations where the weaker character honestly has no chance. In those situations it's appropriate for the players involved to note that to each other and for the player of the stronger character to be given permission to manhandle the weaker character as they see fit, as that trades a relatively long and pointless combat sequence for a quick but satisfying description of the badass way the stronger character did the takedown. However, it's important to never assume that you're in that situation - someone's character or even the NPCs they're with may be more capable than you know. If in doubt or disagreement, regular blow by blow rules apply.
   
   

2. Keep your canon in canon.

   
   The way I decide whether or not a canon character is still behaving in canon by deciding if the character on this forum is still basically the same person as the character in the comics or animated series or wherever they came from. Mind you, exactly what type of person a character is can be drastically different depending on exactly which comic you're talking about, and that's why I like to keep things flexible - a lot of these characters have been reinterpreted in very different ways over the years, and I like to give the writer of each character here the same ability to interpret their character as they deem it best. And I don't care if you bring in an element or three that clearly came from a movie or something else that you like, especially if you have good taste. I only care whether or not the character you end up bringing to the table is very recognizably the character that you claim that they are and not some weird AU version of them.
   
   I also care about whether or not they stay that way. It's natural for character development to happen, but each canon character has a different range of just how much they might change. It's canon for certain villains to eventually decide to give up crime and maybe even help the good guys, but not all of them, and even then they only do so at a certain point in their careers, for example. It's canon for certain heroes to change their minds about what tactics are acceptable, but not all of them. Things can get tricky if you decide to explore territory with your canon character that has hardly or never been done with them before in anything you might use for reference, but it's unusual for characters to dramatically change their personality or abandon deeply held beliefs. So even if your canon character went through an experience that was drastically different from anything that happened to them in the comics, how much that would change them is far from infinite. But all I expect in the end is for you to keep your interpretation reasonable.
   
   

3. Don't be OOC in the IC area.

   
   Being OOC in the IC area is a quick way to break the immersion of anyone reading the posts, so please refrain from doing so. Try to keep any OOC notes to a bare minimum, and only if they're really needed there to understand the post. While you're strongly encouraged to keep in communication with those you're roleplaying with, try to keep it in private messages or in other OOC areas of the forum - it really does help a lot.
   
   

4. Do not completely reformat your posts.

   
   I'll admit right now that this is a personal pet peeve of mine, but I also immediately insist that I have a point with this. I understand that the intentions of those who reformat their posts aren't bad at all - they think it looks better that way, and/or they feel like it makes the post more personal to their character with a different font and such. There's nothing wrong with those intentions. The problem is that whatever you choose is something that every pair of eyeballs on the forum has to deal with, for better or for worse, and it's very easy to accidentally pick something that is harder on the eyes than you think it is.
   
   I myself was quite surprised when I started learning about how much of an effect different fonts and colors can have on how tired your eyes feel after reading a webpage - it seems like such a small thing when you're looking at the page, but the sheer difference in how tired your eyeballs are by the end of the page can be dramatic. I look back on the websites I was working with before I learned all this, remembering thinking that I was being conscientious with my choices, but I was wrong. That's why I think that one player's desire to beautify and personalize their posts is not more important than everyone else's eyes - just because you mean no harm doesn't mean that you aren't causing harm. And while you may actually know enough about the subject yourself to make good choices, it's a lot easier for me to just disallow it for everyone than to have to police everyone individually.
   
   This means that if it's your standard practice to have a 'template' for your posts, sorry but that's not allowed here. And this includes formatting things besides the font as well - blockquotes are for quotes, not for making your posts more narrow. Do not make your posts completely bold, completely italic, or completely anything like that - all of those things actually make it harder for people to read your posts.
   
   What is allowed, and even encouraged, is for you to color your character's dialogue because that actually makes your post easier to read - especially if someone is skim-reading the thread or the person replying to your post is trying to sort out which things your character said from what things they merely thought. It's nice, so do it! And to make sure that everyone picks colors that don't hurt any eyes, I have a place to help you pick a color here.
   
   All other changes to the formatting of your post are also allowed as long as they're occasional - for emphasis, to make it clear that something is a thought, or that it's written down, or anything else that you think helps make your post easier to understand is allowed. It's only not allowed if it's your entire post and you do it all the time.
   
   

5. Communicate with your fellow roleplayers.

   
   Unless another player is an absolute jerk and no amount of attempting to explain to them that they should be nicer works, pretty much any problem you have in the forum can be solved with more communication. If you talk to the people you're roleplaying with, you can make sure that everyone is having fun and figure out what to do if someone isn't. Over time you may get to know your fellow players, which means you know what they like and dislike and have an easier time coming up with fun shenanigans your characters can do together. If you talk to the players you aren't roleplaying with, you may figure out how to fix that and open up whole new avenues to explore with whatever they bring to the table.
   
   And communication is just as much if not more important if things aren't going well - if you're having a problem with another player, it's not going to get any better until you talk to them about it. If talking to them doesn't work, then you may need to talk to the staff to get it sorted out. And if you're having trouble figuring out what to do about a situation, asking others will help - and I betcha the solution will also involve talking to someone in some form. So yeah, communicate.

Activity Rules:

1. Keep your canon character(s) active.

   
   One of the first things that anyone does when they look at this forum or any others like it for the first time is looking at the list of available canon characters - either because they want to play one or because they noticed that we require it. Some will leave based on what is available and won't look at us again. Mind you, I consider a player who has one and one only canon character that they're willing to play to be a bit of a prima donna, and good riddance to those, but if their first, second, third, etc. choice are all taken too, it's going to really discourage them from joining. And they might be a great person - no guarantees, but maybe.
   
   That's why it actively hurts the forum if someone is hanging onto a canon character they don't use - we could be losing potential players over it. If you're actually active with the character there's no reason to feel guilty about it - a player already on the forum who is using the character is always better than someone we don't know yet because they're just as likely to be inactive and terrible as they are to be a great new addition to the forum. But if you're not active there's absolutely a reason to feel guilty - you're in the way of someone who might be better than you if only because they're actually here.
   
   That being the case, I feel no guilt whatsoever about being completely draconian about enforcing activity rules upon canon characters. Booting out inactive characters is not a pleasant task at all - especially if they've been around and active in the past and I like their stuff - but it's also absolutely necessary to maintain the health of the forum.
   
   

2. We don't care as much about original characters.

   
   In direct contrast to canon characters, it really doesn't hurt anything for there to be a lot of original characters laying around doing nothing. Well, unless there's someone who really wants to roleplay with one of them and they're barking up the wrong tree, but it doesn't really hurt the forum itself so I see no reason why I need to get upset about them.
   
   Though for the sheer sake of cleanliness, so we don't end up hanging onto original characters whose players are long gone, when a player no longer has an active canon character I also delete their original characters at the same time - they wouldn't be allowed to play them at that point anyways until they get their canon situation sorted out. Also, if you have an inactive original character and start applying for a new character, I'll use that prompt as an opportunity to get on your case about hanging onto an original character if you're not going to use them.
   
   

3. We use a simple point system to decide who is active and whether or not you may have an additional character. Make smart choices.

   
   If you haven't already learned how to do this with your bank account, then you should definitely learn it now: Think of the worst thing that might happen to you when it comes to making it so you can't post for a while but not so bad that you would quit. Maybe it would be your favorite person in the world dying, or maybe it would be that you go back to college and quickly find out that you're in for a rough semester and won't have time to post until it's over. Got it? Okay, so how many weeks would it take for you to get back to the forum if that happens? Multiply that number by two, because you need two points every week. Now, whatever that number is, never let yourself go below that number of points - not even if you're redeeming them for a new character or something. If you do that, you'll never go inactive - at least, not unless something unforeseeably bad happens to you and, at that point, you probably have worse things to worry about than whether or not you're active on this forum. This is how you make smart choices with your points. Most of the above doesn't really apply right now because we're not using points to track activity.

Character Rules:

1. Each player must have an active canon character at all times.

   
   While I've had the pleasure to roleplay with many great and wonderful original characters, to a certain degree it's the canon characters that are the lifeblood of the forum. They're what makes this a Batman forum and not an original concept forum. Mind you, original concept forums can be great, but there's a reason why we're all here and not on one of those. So having a lot of canon characters around helps give this forum it's delicious Batman flavor.
   
   Now, there's a couple of ways to ensure that we have plenty of canon characters around. Some forums do this by banning original characters outright, but as I said I've roleplayed with many great and wonderful original characters so I don't want to do that. Other forums make original characters less exciting by insisting that they must be ordinary civilians and can't be masked or have superpowers, so that if you want to do anything 'cool' you need to have a canon character. I don't like that either because, first of all, I think the whole idea that you need stuff like that to be cool is silly, but I also don't like restricting what people can do with an original.
   
   So my preferred method is to simply require everyone to have a canon character - keeps the number of canon characters high without restricting original characters. It also means that one player who wants to play their original character who is their favorite villain's girlfriend and ONLY that character will take her business elsewhere. Not that I can criticize someone for having an original character who is a villain's girlfriend, but if that's the only thing someone wants to do and nothing else, then good riddance!
   
   

2. No player may have more than two of the most popular canon characters.

   
   This is just your simple, garden-variety 'no hogging all the canon characters everyone wants' rule. Because even if you really are amazing at being more than two canon characters that are really popular, and even if you're a posting machine, it's just not fair for one person to have them all. You can have as many of the obscure ones that hardly anyone wants that you can handle, however.
   
   

3. Canon characters from the entire mainstream DC universe are allowed, with some exceptions.

   
   Gotham is, indeed, connected to the rest of the mainstream DC universe, so it's conceivable for many characters that aren't traditional 'Batman' characters could show up. However, that doesn't mean they're all advised - the weirder it is for that character to be in Gotham, the harder you will continuously have to try to justify their presence. It also means that you're not helping as much to maintain the 'Batman flavor' of the forum as a character closer to Gotham would. But if none of that bothers you and you just plain like that character so much that you must have it, it's allowed. For more about what I count as the 'mainstream DC universe', please see the theme page.
   
   But here's a non-exhaustive list of what isn't:
   
   • Characters that are technically owned by DC Comics but have never appeared in the actual mainstream DC universe, including those from alternate realities or alternate timelines who interacted with allowed characters but never came to the mainstream universe. Examples include: characters from the Watchmen series, V from V for Vendetta, and the Jokester.
   • Characters who are supposed to be dead, like Batman's parents.
   • Characters who are alive but who would greatly warp the timeline if they showed up right now and are probably helpless little kids right now anyways, like future Robins.
   • Characters whose presence in modern Gotham can only be explained by time travel, like Batman Beyond characters.
   • Characters who don't live on Earth and who are so powerful they could and would just flatten Gotham if they showed up, especially if we don't have the right characters on hand to stop them, like Darkseid.
   • Characters who aren't quite that bad but are bad enough that their mere presence is a site-wide plot, unless I approve of said site-wide plot first, like Doomsday.
   
   

4. Original characters aren't restricted.

   
   As long as you keep your canon character active, you can have as many original characters as you can handle and are free to make them be whatever you want them to be as far as superpowers, costumes, etc.
   
   One matter of note is that you may not make an original character who has a blood tie to a canon character without the permission of the player of that canon character or have any other preexisting relationship with a canon character that would require that character's consent. For example, you can't decide to be someone's best friend or even their worst enemy unless they agree that's what you are to them. You can, however, decide that you're their biggest fan or that they're your nemesis and they can't stop you from feeling that way. If the canon character you want a relationship with doesn't currently have a player you'll be allowed to make that character, but if they get a player then that player can refuse to have that relationship.