Online
Overview
Empire has a large and active social media presence. Our main Empire LRP Facebook group alone has ~3,000 members. We also have dedicated forums and an Instagram account. Having an enthusiastic and engaged player base is important to us and we love seeing everyone discussing the game and enjoying the world of Empire. We welcome debate and constructive discussion in all these places, but any feedback should always be sent to matt@profounddecisions.co.uk so that the game team can consider it properly.
The Empire LRP facebook group is for general Empire related chat and queries. We also have nation-specific groups where people can discuss national festivals, collective projects, the national briefs, and the best places to source kit. Camp planning is also announced in these groups. Our national groups are a great community both on and off the field and we encourage people to get involved and to go see what’s being discussed. We also have a Player Support Group which might be a good starting point if you are new to Empire or to live roleplaying in general. The Empire LRP forums have separate boards for all these things, and a few additional ones.
Unfortunately, the nature of the internet is that it removes the element of personal interaction and can exacerbate differences of opinion. If we are not careful this turns discussions into hot-tempered arguments in a way that is detrimental to the debate and the community. For this reason we’ve chosen to implement a set of rules for everyone who uses our official groups and have a small team of volunteer moderators who can respond to any breaches that occur that are reported to them using the platform’s inbuilt tools or by emailing mods@profounddecisions.co.uk.
Counting players and crew, Empire has well over two thousand participants at each event, it's not realistic to expect anyone to like every other participant. What we require is that people treat each other with respect regardless of their personal feelings. Our rules are designed to give our team a basis for judging when that is not happening and to take action accordingly. All the applicable rules for conduct at events also apply when making posts on any official Profound Decisions forum or Facebook group. In particular please make sure that you have read and understand the rules for language and equality and diversity.
We ask that the community support our aim to keep the game live and familiarise themselves with the rules governing Downtime#Roleplaying_Between_Events roleplaying between events. Remember, every in-character communication you have between events is one that cannot be had face to face.
| Empire Forums And Facebook |
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| Official Empire Nation Groups |
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| Unofficial Facebook Groups |
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| Please note that these groups are unofficial so they are not moderated by us! |
Posting Rules
- Treat each other with respect and assume best faith
- All posts should clearly relate to Empire
- Put each post in the single most appropriate forum or Facebook group
- Report any breach of the rules to our moderators rather than responding yourself
- Don't start in-character conversations or post anything that is contentious in-character
- IC announcements, sales, adverts and letters are permitted
- Do not post fanfiction
- Do not criticise other participants for their costume, roleplaying, or interpretation of the setting
- Do not discuss moderation decisions
In particular, please note all the applicable rules for conduct also apply when making posts on any official Profound Decisions forum or Facebook group. In particular please make sure that you have read and understand the rules for language and equality and diversity.
Treat each other with respect and assume best faith
We are proud that Empire players come from a diverse range of backgrounds and traditions of LRP. With well over 2000 players and crew, differences of opinions will occur and discussion of these is no bad thing, but needs to be handled carefully. Please respect people’s opinions, treat other participants as adults, and assume good faith. It’s easy to mistake someone’s intent over the internet and you may need to work a little harder to make yourself understood or be more patient when trying to explain something. Avoid making jokes about contentious subjects where the possibility exists to miss the humour and be offended as a result.
Don't harass other users, don't post anything that constitutes a personal attack and avoid forms of speech that could be interpreted as bullying or abusive. Treat people the way you would want to be treated.
All Posts Should Clearly Relate to Empire
Please keep your posts on topic. Our forums and groups are for Empire, so if the discussion strays too far away the subject of Empire we will ask you to take it elsewhere. If the link to Empire is tenuous or would be unclear to a casual reader, our moderators may advise you that this would be more appropriate on your own wall or ask you to elaborate on the original post as to its relevance.
Use the Single Most Appropriate Forum or Group
Please ensure that your posts are in the most appropriate area. For example, if you are looking for a member of a Wintermark group on Facebook then you should post in the Wintermark Facebook group. If you want to put a post offering to sell or swap some kit on the forum then you should use the Trading forum.
Do not duplicate the same or similar posts across multiple different forums or different groups. If your post is a bit more general but one nation may still have a special interest then at most you should post in the main Empire group and the single most relevant nation group. An example of this would be a Dawnish hosted player event, as Dawnish players may be especially interested, but other nations may also wish to attend. If multiple players all post the same or similar posts either in the same group or across multiple groups, the moderation team will remove the duplicate posts.
Duplicating a post on Facebook and the Forum is permitted as many participants may only use one of these platforms.
If you are a trader at our events then you may put a post into a single official group of your choice before each event to advertise your services or products. If you are not a trader at our events then you may post once advertisement a year provided that the products or services offered are relevant to Empire players.
Report any Breach of the Rules to our Moderators
Each board has a couple of volunteer moderators and admins and we have a centralised place to discuss and document moderation decisions. Due to the high level of activity in our our official groups it is impossible for us to follow each and every interaction. Therefore, if you see someone infringing the posting rules, please help us by reporting this comment or post promptly rather than responding yourself. A moderator or admin will then respond as quickly as they’re able to.
Please don't call out other participants for posts that you think breech our guidelines, report it, and let the moderators handle it. On Facebook select "report to admin" by clicking in the top right hand corner of a post. On the forum click "...(show more)" then the flag icon on any post.
Don't Post IC Conversations or Contentious Statements
By using Empire social media, you are agreeing to support us in keeping the game live and in the field as much as possible. This means not starting in-character conversations as well as avoiding discussions of important in-character issues. It is usually fine to post comments about events that have happened, provided that the posts are not contentious or likely to cause people to want to respond as their character. If you post something in-character that could be perceived as contentious on our official forums or groups, we’ll ask you to remove or edit this.
Empire is a game for people to say and do contentious things as their character - but we want those actions and the reactions to them to happen in the field when people are roleplaying.
IC Announcements and Adverts are Permitted
We believe that in-character announcements, such as those advertising a national event or offering an in-character service add more to the game for our players than they detract from it. It is fine to post an advert for a service offered by your character or group or for a meeting that you are arranging or similar, provided that you avoid posting anything that is contentious and only post it in the single most appropriate group.
There are several guidelines that we ask participant to follow where possible when posting an advert of this kind:
- State your Price - Haggling or negotiation over prices must best left to the field
- Use the Hub - There’s a message board in The Hub which citizens can use - if you post online, please endeavour to also advertise in-character
- Do not add additional comments - Do not say “You see this poster across the Empire". If you do this, you’re starting to narrate the reality of the world which is not permitted.
- Provide a plain text version - Beautiful posters and images are wonderful, but endeavour to provide a copy of the text alongside your image.
You must follow the normal posting rules - don’t say anything in-character that would be contentious and put each post in the single most appropriate forum or Facebook group only. Do not spam it across multiple groups.
In-character letters should be sent privately - but you can use our social media to request contact details for people. For example, if you wish to speak to all arbiters of Urizen, then it is acceptable to ask the arbiters to contact you with an appropriate contact method but not to post up the letter itself into the group/forum.
Do Not Post Fanfiction
We understand that lots of people love to read and write fanfic - and the Empire community is no exception. However there is a small risk that players may confuse fanfic with canonical updates to the campaign if the fiction is posted on one of the main Empire facebook groups. For this reason there is a specific Facebook group called Empire LRP: Fiction Sharing which was explicitly intended as a place for Empire players to share stories they have created. All fanfic stories should be posted here, not in one of the main facebook groups.
Do Not Criticise Other Participants
The Empire national briefs are designed to allow for a wide range of creative freedom whilst still maintaining that all-important, clearly identifiable, national identity. When offering support to other players in your nation please be aware that that are other interpretations of the brief which are different to your own but are still valid. Avoid telling other players that they are getting the brief wrong - and avoid presenting yourself as an authority on how the brief should be interpreted.
It is fine to identify parts of the brief that are relevant and encourage people to embrace them. What is not permitted is for players to tell other players what is and is not acceptable in-character. If you have any concerns about the way a player is interpreting the brief then you should report the matter to Profound Decisions who can issue a definitive ruling on the matter.
Likewise, our code of conduct asks all Empire participants to avoid criticizing other player's kit. You should assume that the player in question has followed our guidelines and made the best effort they can. Criticism of other players’ costume will be deleted.
Crowd-sourcing answers about rules often ends up with a variety of responses and opinions on how the rules should be applied in that particular situation. The only definitive and official answers will come by emailing [rules@profounddecisions.co.uk rules@profounddecisions.co.uk].
Do Not Discuss Moderation Decisions
It is not constructive to discuss individual moderators or moderator decisions in public. We do however welcome discussion and debate of our posting rules and moderation policy provided the discussion remains civil, hypothetical and does not include references to individual examples. To discuss individual moderation decisions, please contact the Head of Moderation at mods@profounddecisions.co.uk; if not resolved to your satisfaction after this point, please contact [mailto: matt@profounddecisions.co.uk matt@profounddecisions.co.uk].
Hot Topics
The areas below are topics that almost invariably degenerate into arguments, or are simply not appropriate or acceptable topics of discussion for our forums or Facebook groups. Some of these issues are controversial and tend to produce a lot of acrimony when discussed online giving the false impression that these issues dominate our events. Some of these issues are simply not appropriate or acceptable and will be deleted by our moderators as soon as they become aware of them.
Our moderators will closely monitor these "hot topics" and may preemptively delete any posts that they feel is highly likely to lead to an adversarial discussion of the issues.
Politics, Religion, and Language
Politics and religion are incredibly important subjects and the crew and players of Empire cover a lot of different religions and a wide spectrum of political opinions. However, our online community exists so that participants can discuss the imaginary politics of the world of Empire and not real world politics.
Discussions about inappropriate language, such as the use of gendered words, is a subject that we’ve learned from prior incidents rapidly degenerates into acrimony. We will allow positive discussion of ways that participants can embrace the gender-blind Empire setting and implement that in their roleplaying - but will delete anything that is negative, a personal attack or is based on criticism of other people's roleplaying or experiences.
In using our social media, participants are also bound by any applicable conduct rules, including those around gendered language. If you are concerned by a poster’s use of inappropriate language, then please bring it to the attention of a moderator and they will contact the other participant and remind them of our rules relating to this.
In-character Debates
Empire is not a system which employs "FOIP" - a requirement that you can only find things out in play at events. It is fine to ask simple in-character questions, things you think your character should know or any questions about the system. If the information you have asked for is not controversial in-character then other participants are free to give you the answer to your question or to encourage you to find their character at an event and seek out the information in-character.
However we strongly discourage online discussion of important or controversial issues. These issues form part of the plot of our event and we ask everyone to respect that.
There are specific rules for roleplaying between events. Anything that breaches these rules - any post that contains trade negotiations, religious debates, military planning, magical discourse, or political discussions and appointments will be removed.
Criticism of other LRP Systems
Live roleplaying is an amazing community, that is at its best when participants share original ideas and best practices between different systems. So it's fine to make a post calling out a positive example of something other games do well - or do better than Empire does - that gives us a basis for discussing ways to make Empire a better game. But please bear in mind when posting, that Empire is such a large system that we will have participants who love the game you are referencing as well as participants who tried it and did not enjoy it.
What is not permitted is anything that is critical of other LRP systems. We are not in a position to improve other people's games - so we are not interested in hosting any discussion that is critical of other LRP systems. Most LRP systems have their own forums or Facebook groups for their players to post comments about their games - posts that are about other games should be posted on their Facebook page, not on our forum/groups.
Our Facebook groups and our forums are the right place to criticize Empire or Profound Decisions and it is fine to do so. However bear in mind that all LRP games are produced by the combined efforts of a team of volunteers who are passionately invested in the game they create. The most effective criticism is an analysis that presents a fresh perspective or insight into some aspect of the game - rather than simply a passionate declamation of how much you personally don't like a particular element of the rules, setting, or plot. There is also guidance on the wiki about providing feedback. Criticism directed at named individuals will be treated as a personal attack and moderated accordingly and our rules requiring civility towards our volunteers apply on our forums and Facebook groups as well as at events.
Many people who play Empire enjoy the game - and that often engenders a desire to protect the game from criticism. We believe a good LRP stands on its merits, and benefits from analysis, critique, and discussion. We ask all participants to be mindful of the fact that just because you have not experienced a problem does not mean the problem does not exist. Our moderators will remove posts if they judge that their only contribution is to suppress criticism or silence debate about Empire.
Personal Attacks
We will not tolerate any post that our moderators feel constitutes a personal attack on another live roleplayer - regardless of whether or not they use our official online forums/groups or are a regular attendee at our events. Avoid posting while angry; if you are disagreeing with participant then ensure that you remain polite and avoid ad hominem responses.
If you feel anything posted on our official forums or Facebook groups violates our rule prohibiting personal attacks then please report it to our moderators, do not respond in kind.
Don't Do Stupid Shit
Don't post anything that's illegal, racist, sexist, homophobic, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise objectionable. This includes links to such material as well.