Twenty Rules Regarding Any RPG

1. If it isn't fun any more, don't play it.
2. You fight the gamemaster/dungeon master, you lose.
3. No one likes a munchkin, but they will use the exploits they find anyway.
4. No one likes a rules lawyer. They friggen hate anyone that trys to disguise munckinism as rules lawyering.
5. The game was always better when you started playing, specifically when you first realized you had a grasp of the basic rules.
6. Hate the character, not the player or the game.
7. If you want continuous action without any build up of anticipation or plot, go play Pac-Man or MarioKart.
8. If you hate your alliance/gaming group, find one that you do like, don't stick around to screw people first.
9. As a rule, mixing RL romance and your gaming results in a train wreck...yes there are exceptions, but they only serve to prove the rule and result in you being confronted with rule #1, #6 and/or #8.
10. There is dedicated and then there is addicted--if you don't know the difference, you probably have a problem.
11. Gathering intelligence to "win" a RPG battle/war does not include having an alliance/gaming group member with "certain skills" dive into another player's personal life for dirt.
12. Sexual harassment is not ok, nor ever excusable as being "in character". Also see Rule #9.
13. It's perfectly acceptable to roleplay a walking, talking "richard" with ears--don't be pissed off when people decide to roleplay your destroyer.
14. Not everyone will take the game will an equal level of seriousness or levity...deal with it.
15. When someone yells 'stop' OOC, we stop.
16. Beer and RPGs almost never mix--unless they result in something so hilarious it is remembered through the ages.
17. If you are paying RL money for gaming materials/bonuses in game you help to keep the game alive. That is not however your ticket to insist on special treatment/access as a "paying customer".
18. If the RPG developer isn't working on developing a RPG regularly, that game is dead.
19. If a RPG isn't being marketed, it's dead or soon will be...note: all players are members of the marketing team. If the game fails, it is partially because you didn't do your job.
20. Learn something about people or about yourself when you play a RPG. You chose to play a RPG not because you have lightning reflexes or because you can memorize some long string of joystick movements. You did it because your brain requires something more stimulating than a graphics card can provide.

Assuming you made it to the bottom of this list, you probably have your own additions to it. Go for it. I look forward to your entries.

Thanks for this!

WOW, this is one of the first topics in which all the rules apply to CN.

Great job Hal.

Heh, nice list. I'm always terrible at making little truisms for lists, but I dunno, I'll see what I can do.

21. Don't cry in front of your laptop over it

*edited for clarity

^partly why I quit the first time.

22. Oblivion gets boring after a week or two

23. Life isn't fair. Neither are RPGs. Get over it.

Yeah very good list, and it's really works to any RPG, I know because I already had played so many of them(Vampire the mask, GURPS, D&D, Ultima Online, Linage 2...).

I can add a good rule I think:

* RPGs doesn't have an end so remember that you play to have fun not to win or lose.

In reviewing these rules - Finster, I don't think it can work out between us.

/me goes to play MarioKart.

24. Ask yourself "What would babyjesus do in my situation?" Then do that action.

25 Realizing that the moment a thread such as this is necessary, we've already crossed a line.

That's pretty good Hal. Nice job. Except I do like my beer.

26. If every rule in this list isn't intuitive, stop playing until they are.

If you have to use Skype to avoid spies logdumping, it's too late.

These rules dont seem to apply to every RPG, but they are good general rules that will apply to most.

Rule 16 fails. Beer always mixes with everything.

Other alcoholic beverages do too.

No, it isn't. At best, it's tolerant of those that would like to RP here.

I'd agree with you, but rule 16 does allow for the exception of beer for the purpose of epicness that is remembered forever.


In otherwords, drunkposting on the CN forums, generally a bad idea. Drunkposting on the CN forums something extraordinarily interesting, good idea.

Same thing applies with tabletop RPGs (which is what these rules seem to be aimed at, not video game RPGs). People getting drunk just to get drunk at the game table can be very annoying, however there are always the drunken acts that you and your friends will talk about for years that make it worth it from time to time.

I guess this is some merit to that... I think back to the amount of beer I injested when I was posting that one .....

every time....

27, don't mention your RPG outside of your RPG community; lest you desire to be ridiculed.

So IRL, your name is 'DragonsPhyre'...that must make for some interesting business cards.

I will grant you that some of you are absolutely horrible improvisational actors, you table talk more than you realize, and that the game lacks traditional GM/DM/computer run non-player characters enemies, but in all other aspects it is a RPG.




EDIT: clarity ftw

Sure. We have 'characters', if you want to call them that, those being the nation rulers. There's a technical divide between IC and OOC that's semi-enforced. And you could argue that there is a meaningful fictional setting all this takes place in, with a RP-based ruleset (of a sort). But the important part is missing. The community isn't that of an RPG, both in the administration of the game and of the general membership. The majority of those playing CN do not separate in-game and out-of-game identities and thus the reasoning for their actions is not that of their characters, but of the players behind them. Alliances such as the OBR are a welcome sight to see, but they're a minority, a rare gem in a field of sand and cacti.

It's not a roleplaying game.

Oops!

@DragonsPhyre - I'm not sure if I agree with you or not. A part of me says that just because most of us don't make a serious alternate persona, that doesn't mean we're not playing a role; I would wager that most of us as people have at least subtle differences with us as players in CN. But then again, another part of me says that's still too wide of a definition for an RPG.

I think we might be in some murky middle ground between an RPG and a community-based war/strategy game.

Very well done Chairman Hal.

@Dragonphyre - just because many players are exceptionally bad and the admin/moderator powers exceptionally tolerant of them, doesnt make this an FPS.

I'd argue that the mods/admin count as the GM/DM, and NPCs are just anyone not in your alliance.

Sure they're not really non-players, but from the average person's perspective anyone that's not directly linked to think is just a strategic asset, something to look at when considering a war.


Of course some actual NPCs in the game would be neat, but our current war system would make them pretty useless/boring, or overly destructive.


....then again if any time someone got too big a team of 3 NPCs came by and pwn$%&@ed them, it would make things interesting. Too bad it would make way too many people quit for admin to use it.

NPC raiders FTW

Great to see you around Atrophis!

I submit that rule 16 rings true, though it should be left broader at alcohol.
TWiP is your Schattenmann. This is your Schattenmann on brandy:


Session Start: Wed Feb 13 01:36:53 2008
Session Ident: DarkMistress
[01:36] <Schloss> you've ogtta be kidding me
[01:36] <DarkMistress> please hang on, I may not be at my computer
[01:37] <DarkMistress> hello
[01:37] <DarkMistress> nope
[01:37] <DarkMistress> we're honoring our treaty
[01:37] <Schloss> heard a line like that at Nuremburg
[01:39] <DarkMistress> nice. this is a game. remember that.
[01:39] <DarkMistress> now, you're blocked. goodbye.
Session Close: Wed Feb 13 01:39:21 2008

February 13th 2007? http://cybernations.wikia.com/wiki/GPA_war

Spent the next couple days disbanding an alliance over that one.

Unless you actually are ruling a nation/empire/alliance/bloc/democracy/dictatorship/other misc. thing that would go here, this is a role playing game. Your role playing as a nation leader.



I remember that. Good times.... Good times...


EDIT: Saw a post above mine that needed to be included.

i broke the rulee...
damn beers :smug:

Not saying it's a FPS. It's just not a RPG.


It's really not as simple as whether or not you're technically doing things as a nation ruler. It's the intent and reasoning behind what you do. While I'll grant you that CN does require specific lines of reasoning that could be considered IC for a few actions, I maintain that the majority of the community here do not roleplay in any meaningful form. You might argue technicalities all you want, but CyberNations is no more a RPG than playing Supreme Commander is.

The last point rings very true. If there's people complaining that there's no one playing CN, we aren't telling enough people to play it.

Why did my left eye twitch when i got to number 10?

I have to disagree with you. The exact definition of Role Playing Game is




http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Role+Playing+Game

Now, while someone said the moderators and admins are the game masters, I only partially agree with that. Admin is the game master. He designed the game in the same way that a game master designs, let's say a game of D&D (Just an example). The adventure of Cybernations are all the politics, wars, scandals, diplomacy, internal affairs, tech dealing, and everything else that we do every day as rulers on Planet Bob. Our characters are those rulers. Unless your name actually is DragonsPhyre, your currently roleplaying as DragonsPhyre every time you enter alliance politics. Sure, there are some outside references, like forums and IRC, however most of your typical table top RPG games also have outside references of sorts like that. Sure, people don't always do that great of a job actually typing in character, as if they are an actual ruler, that doesn't mean they aren't actually in character.

26) Don't focus so hard on winning that you forget to have fun. Winning is nice, but the fun is in the process.

27) Don't ridicule new players for not knowing what they are doing, give them a chance to learn and help them out when you can. You were once new and ignorant about the game yourself.

28) Defeating your enemies is one thing. Continually attacking them after they are defeated so they can't effectively play and end up quitting is another.

Awesome list, Hal. I don't have anything to add, except:



*Plugs fingers in ears* Nah Nah Nah Nah Can't Hear you Can't hear you Nah nah nah nah

#29: Make sure to have lots of potions before fighting the final boss.
#30: Be careful on the last level, it might not actually be the last level. (If you know what I mean. )

Should we be worried about #18?

#31: Don't come in guns blazing. It won't get you very far.

Beer and gaming is awesome, and well I've broken a few of the other rules too. But most of them I agree with.

I wholly agree with these rules.
Particularly rule #1 if it is not fun any more then take a break or quit.

#45: Break the rules, get the money, dolla dolla bill y'all.

There was a series of updates in June and July. We are due for some additional updates before the holidays I would expect (based on absolutely no inside information but hopefully Admin can take a hint... *COUGH*).

7. go play MarioKart.

Solid advice right there.

Hey, that's really great advice; summarizes it perfectly I believe.

I've never participated in an RPG before until Bob.

Also..

# something-or-other, don't be afraid to take risks or to act differently.. variety is the spice of life and the same is true about an RPG.

I do all my cybernationsing with beer nowadays.

Feels good man.

The game was most fun when I used to be drunk or something half of the time, so if one can control oneself while under influence, I would agree that the rule regarding alcohol consumption is obsolete and should be disregarded by all.

Where else is it better to learn from drunken behavioral mistakes than in an RPG? No real damage done, while being a rectum type of person (or simply of subnormal intelligence) in real life can distrupt reproductional chances or even worse, damage or destroy friendships.

If you can't risk drunken mistakes in an RPG in order to increase your under-influence-self-control, you are not employing the full benefits of playing the game. Of course, it is not required or even expected for anyone to play a game to it's full potential. I have all the respect for players who take the game kind of seriously and play 'to win' in order to maximize their fun and the recreational value of playing, but disregarding these kind of learning opportunities I would regard as counter-productive.

A typical rule #5 remark.