INVALID !!!!

"You are defeated", said I.
He looked at me, fury in his eyes.
"No", said he, and stood. "You jumped. INVALID!!!!"
- Pewpewer of Gor, page 59

Now and then…we do have drama…our gor is vastly over- regulated…

Players

weapons need to be tested on 500 gorean sims, to make sure no one cheats, but cheats happen, not only with faster bows, but also with home- made meters…
Whoever can script, scripts. Scripting a home made meter is easier than scripting a bow. Again, that shall not mean that everyone being able to script produces cheats…but in every herd there is a black sheep.

there are run enhancers…
there are people jumping…
there are people using gestures to speeden the efficiency up…
there are people being tp ed in…
and people tp eing out…
there are invalid birds and valid birds..
there are invalid shields and valid shields…
there are phantom settings…
there are people flying…
there are people clicking without rp…be it kills or be it lockpicking doors
there are people shooting through prims by splash effects

then there are limits:

not to be bound by slaves (how is that technically done? hey may I bind you? no sorry, only certain people may do that)
rp bans of people, groups, sims
and a multitude of others

then there are whiners:

they whine about EVERYTHING, as a strategy, like
your binding roleplay was too short, I had lag, was still rezzing, not here yet long enough, you jumped, your whatever is invalid, you used this, you ran too fast, you had helpers, you sent a bird, you used a gesture, you shot through a prim…

and they reset, or tp out
all these whines only mean ONE thing: I should have won, that’s the fixed concept for all of my battles

the role of males whiners:

Whining is often the sad side of a female majority on gor pampering the few men to feel welcome. Men are scarce and missing everywhere. As a result some men strut around with egos bursting sky- high: If such an ego is chipped at by loosing a battle, whining is only the most logical consequence. And these whiners are right: First we seduce them into staying and enjoying and telling them they are superheroes, surrounding them with willing kajirae, enhancing their abilities with meter settings and rules, and then we WIN????

Disappointment is unavoidable.

We are unaware of the male world: While a Taluna disguises and sneaks into a city, aware she will be caught and collared for even a minimal rule infraction, maybe coming back, proud she survived, a male gorean struts in, shouts for someone to cater for his wishes immediately, demands a house and a kajira, demands a position of rank, is offered all of this and takes his time to decide if the house is good enough and if he should not demand a better one.

Admins

and then there are ‘admins’ and ‘mods’:Some of these are impeding roleplay just as much as any roleplayer, sometimes it’s a member of the wider group that is involved that is pushing hard to make his or her own group winning.

I want your lockpicking/ grappling/ swimming/ binding rp, you use a blade but should only use a spear and so on…
all that in the middle of battle, as a means to impede ongoing roleplay for one party.

Cheaters

Players cheat
Limits cheat
Whiners cheat and try to shift results by argueing
Admins cheat by impeding ongoing roleplay single sidedly and by nit-picking about issues that have no impact on the result of the combative roleplay

In this melting pot, proper roleplay is impossible. Whiners do hope it will not be possible. Admins hope to be acknowledged by their own people, Players hope their own cheats won t be noticed.

As the conventional effort to solve these issues, we throw some salt into that melting pot and call it

Rules

In a futile effort to make combative roleplay fair, a multitude of rules is set for every sim, depending on their own experience. As a result of that, first time visitors are frequently overstepping them.

Can one stab with a blade underwater?
Can an arrow fly 250 m?
Can anyone jump down 10 m onto a steep slope from a wall and be up unhurt?
Can hills be climbed?
Can a swimmer shoot an arrow?
Can someone self unbind?
Can a dove be used as a carrier pigeon?
Can 20 panthers attack a single mercenary?

The answer to all these questions is YES

frogmen are trained to stab underwater
arrows fly up to 500 m
skiers jump that much every day, and in a fictious world, Silvester Stallone jumps into a tree from a rock 100 metres high
Free Climbers climb bridges, rocks, towers
Treading water and shooting an arrow is no special skill
Being caught by overwhelming numbers is just life. The cat catches the mouse without asking if it is bigger and has claws.

However, rules frequently disallow these skills. Rules define what players are allowed to do. Rules are made to promote certain behaviour, often to enhance defenses of the sims’ residents.

Problems with rules

Rules that can t be enforced

Some rules, like ‘weaker females’ can be enforced by a sim wide meter server setting, some rules, like individual weapon lists can be observed, some rules, like proper roleplay can be proven by chat logs.

Many rules, like no jumping, shooting distance of arrows or using premade gestures cannot be proven in most cases: Someone jumped? The winner says ‘no’, the loser says ‘yes’, bystanding friends join this or that.
The same applies for ‘no birds’ rules: Did the late arrivals stumble in all innocently or has there been some communication involved? Every admin will usually reply to that accusation by statistics: If more than just a few people arrived, it will have been a bird.
Its generally advisable for sims to not use rules that cannot be proven: These are a safe way into drama.

Different Rules between Sims

Sometimes even subtleties in the rules can lead to a discussion. Usually the inhabitant of a sim uses exotic rules in the home- sim as a means to invalidate any intruding. Examples are ‘destriptive emote before using a grapple’. A grapple was set up and emoted. Once it is there, climbing a grapple is a visualized process and the general rule of emoting what cannot be seen is contravened.

Using that rule in combination with an admin staying near to a grapple is a safe way to invalidate every raid. Admins are often USED as cheats.

Doors that are pickable but also need to be roleplayed. If a set of 5 doors in a row is built in, a battle can draw out endlessly as the lag does not permit the doorscript to work properly. In some cases it needs at least 50 min to be done…with an admin supervising if the rules are observed. Again, that is a typical admin abuse.

A typical sim using these means is S., where a resident slavegirl as admin tries to impede battle by sueing even mimimal infractions and the battle is prolonged by a neverending set of doors to be lockpicked and emoted under worst lag conditions.

As a general rule, sims using exotic rules or sims having a wide range of rules to slow down attackers should be avoided. It’s a sign that the sims’ inhabitants prefer not to be raided and will in any case doubt the fairness of the outcome should they lose. That also applies for so called attacker- defender ratios, fixed in the rules.

Recommondations

Despite the very best efforts of admins, cheating can t be fully prevented. However, the focus on cheating with weapons is VASTLY exaggerated: The majority of cheats is done independently of any weapon used.

A sim that is open for combative action needs to emphasise those parts of the rules that are out of the conventional set of rules. A general set of rules for Gorean sims would simplify this task: That way gorean sims only need to post rules that are differing from the general gorean sim rules: Perception of the differences by individual roleplayers would be enhanced. Making rules that are long and hiding individual differences is a cheat by the sim management.

Rules that cannot be proven should be left out: Once rule infractions happen, it’s the admins who have to deal with the ghosts.

Admins should strictly decide result oriented: What impact does a rule infraction have on the outcome? Is it a minor issue or a major change of the course of events that is discussed?

Weapons lists are not needed. There is an existing GAW list for all of Gor.

Rules are further confusing in that the general guidelines for proper role behaviour are frequently included. That can be an attachment for new players, the main set of rules should give a condensed version of the difference of rules in THIS sim compared to general gorean rules. Sloppily made rules or rules that have no clear outline of differences are a cheat by the sim management.

What is BEHIND all that cheating and the major discussions and drama on gor?

The main reason are sim rules that demand certain times for roleplay IN a given sim as a result of capture roleplay: Captives are asked to remain in the sim for varying times and varying roleplay conditions.

A roleplayer who is ‘captured’ is usually and by rules of many gorean sims requested to stay. Since that reduces a roleplayers options to enjoy other possibilities of sl or sl Gor many roleplayers fight against that restriction viciously, and Sim Owners shoot back by including bans for several options of leaving a roleplay prematurely in their rules:

Bans do not enhance the value of roleplay! They only cause their own drama in threatening roleplayers into staying for unpleasant experiences: Not a good way to promote a sim, not a good way to promote gor, not a good way to promote sl. Bans are an instrument to exclude harmful acts from a sim, like griefing.

A set of Sim rules that leads to low on drama should therefore:

Be concise. Only rules that are out of the conventional rules on Gor belong there. Weapons that can be used other than those on the approved GAW list can be mentioned. Explanations on expectations about certain roles should be an attachment only.

No rules about behaviour that cannot be proven.

No consequences for premature teleporting out of a roleplay: A dedicated roleplayer will not tp out, a roleplayer who cannot live with these consequences will cause drama until the roleplay is ended. In most cases it will be advisable to end the roleplay before drama even begins. As a positive side effect this rule also avoids the need for personal limits that spam every gorean profile.

A roleplayer who frequently tp s out should however be aware that the partners in roleplay are disappointed and should avoid returning for a proper period. That can be expected and in all fairness: The sheer NUMBER of gorean sims allows for a roleplayer to visit a different sim every day without returning to a sim in less than a year. After tpeing out the roleplayer should be asked to not come back for a certain period.

Chapter one of every set of sim rules should be a short summary of the history and background of the environment for proper roleplay,

Chapter two differing rules for this specific sim,

Chapter three the names of Admins and mods to contact if in doubt.

More is less!

Summary

The reason for drama on a sim are the sim rules.
Good rules are concise, they focus on proper roleplay and on exceptions for a given sim, they are free from rules that can t be properly proven. A short note on differing rules from a gorean standard should be given.

Tpeing out of a given roleplay is allowed for without consequences anytime.

As for players, the reason for drama is missing consensuality: Keep it enjoyable for your partners in roleplay and you ll have FUN!

Larah