Guidelines for parents or carers

File:WinterChild4.jpg

If you are bringing your child to a Profound Decisions event, then you are taking responsibility for their behaviour and their actions. Profound Decisions have some crew who are DBS (previously known as CRB) checked who will operate parts of the game aimed at younger players, but you remain responsible for your child at all times. If we gave Empire a film classification it would be “Parental Supervision Required” - as the parent or carer you are expected to provide that supervision. It is not the responsibility of others players to change their behaviour to take account of your children. Empire allows young roleplayers to attend and participate - it is not a creche or an alternative to baby-sitting. You must not bring children over five who are not interested in roleplaying to the event.

All players are asked not to make IC complaints about children that are dropping out-of-character or crying. You must respect this request by minimizing any disruption caused by your child dropping out-of-character. If your child is upset or crying, then please consider the context - in a public IC area is like being in a cinema; in your own tent is like being in your own house; in someone else’s tent it’s like being in their house. Act accordingly and where appropriate take your child out of the area to comfort them or until they are ready to resume roleplaying.

If you are the parent or carer of a child then you must roleplay a character who is the parent or carer of the child. You should expect other characters to hold your character to be IC responsible for the IC actions of your IC children. For instance your character can be prosecuted by a magistrate if your child is a thief or a mugger.

As a parent, I am fully aware how normal it is to feel protective of your children, but you must not use this as justification to OOC confront another player. If you are unhappy out-of-character with the behaviour of another player (of any age), then the correct response is to bring this to the attention of a member of the PD crew. We will deal with the situation.

You must appreciate that very young children are not old enough to effectively participate in an LRP game. We have chosen not to exclude the under 5s, to allow children to play the game to the best of their individual abilities, rather than using age as a marker to nominate who can or can’t play the game. However there is a very considerable burden on anyone caring for young children and you must expect this to impact on your own ability to enjoy the event.

In addition to these general guidelines, please make sure that you read the age related rules and guidelines that apply to your child. It is your responsibility to ensure that you and your child meet all of these rules. This remains true, even if another adult agrees to look after your child for a period of time during the event.

We will be inflexible and unsympathetic in dealing with any parent that does not follow the rules. We believe that doing so is the best way to protect all children and parents, to ensure that their ability to enjoy the event is not harmed by the actions of individuals. When speaking to LRPers it is clear that the majority are happy to welcome young live-roleplayers to participate at our events, provided that the parents and children are meticulous in meeting clear standards of behaviour. We intend to build on that support by demonstrating that the majority can meet these standards and by refusing further entry to the minority that cannot.

Film: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Image from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers