Four Pillars
Fantasy Live Action Roleplay
Conduct Policy
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Overview
Live roleplaying is a cooperative hobby which means that your enjoyment of our game is dependent on the behaviour of other participants and likewise their enjoyment is impacted by the way you approach and play the game. Because of this unique cooperative aspect of live roleplaying, we require all our participants to meet certain common standards of conduct and behaviour while they are at Four Pillars events or using online spaces devoted to the game.
This code of conduct defines the responsibilities of participants involved with Four Pillars LARP. The aim is to benefit everyone involved by ensuring that you know what behaviour to expect at an event and what behaviour is expected of you. Explicitly defining a social contract that you agree to by choosing to participate allows you to know the standards that you will be held to by others.
All our rules for conduct apply to everyone who attends our events, to all participants regardless of whether they are players or crew. The underlying goal of this code of conduct is about respecting other participants - and taking reasonable measures to produce the best events we can that are as accessible to as many people as possible. We want to produce high quality events that are enjoyed by all participants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or sexuality.
Although we are passionate about these issues - it is outside our scope as an events company to support public discussions about them. These pages lay out the behaviour that is expected from participants in our game to remove assumptions about how things work at our events. We have published the definitive source for what is and is not acceptable at Four Pillars events, so that everyone can understand what rules are used at our events.
Reporting
If you have a concern at a Four Pillars event, please contact a member of the ref team that you feel comfortable talking to, who will help you with your concerns.
In between events, you may contact the Four Pillars facebook group or email, and ask to speak to a specific ref, who will contact you.
We encourage anyone who is experiencing problems with another participant's behaviour to raise the matter with us.
We currently give three formal warnings before banning a member of the system. Depending on the circumstances, we reserve the right to bypass any of these stages, and move straight to a final warning or a ban.
Informal Warning: A verbal warning from a ref.
First Formal Warning: A formal warning. This is a member's first strike.
Second Formal Warning: A formal warning. This is a member's second strike.
Final Formal Warning: A member’s last chance before being banned.. This is a member's final strike.
System Ban: The player is banned from all events until a time specified by the refs. This can be a lifetime ban. This can be a result of three formal strikes, or given immediately for more serious offenses.
Equality and Diversity
Real-world discrimination is as unacceptable at our games as real-world violence
It is not acceptable to insult another participant on the basis of an out-of-character attribute.
Four Pillars is a gender-blind setting.
References to non-consensual sex or sex with minors are not permitted.
The setting does include in-character prejudice and bigotry - it is fine to insult another character on the basis of an in-character attribute, such as ability to use magic or worship of in-game deities. What is not acceptable is any treatment based on out-of-character attributes of gender, social-economic status, relationship status, nationality, national origin or religion. Any behaviour that is based on real world discrimination is prohibited at Four Pillars events, regardless of if it takes place while participants are in-character or out-of-character. Participants are not allowed to discriminate at all on an grounds of race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, gender, or age, or any similar distinction highlighted under the Equality Act of 2010.
Four Pillars includes a number of common attitudes towards matters of age, race, sexuality and gender throughout the setting. These cultural norms are designed to reflect the rules for conduct for the game, except where noted, they are not optional.
In particular, we have deliberately opted to discard real-world history to create a game setting that does not include any form of gender discrimination. Characters in the world of Four Pillars do not make any distinction between genders or assumptions about characters based on their gender. There are no social roles reserved for men - or for women - and the idea of assigning responsibilities based on gender should be seen as ridiculous by any normal character.
There are additional guidelines for the use of language by all participants that are designed to reflect the gender-blind setting and encourage participation by all genders. However everyone should be aware that the Four Pillars setting is written to exclude non-consensual sex or sex with minors. All participants must avoid in-character references to either of these two subjects in play.
We strive avoid topics of slavery within Four Pillars. Whilst there are nations such as Treth which use an indenture system, we ask players to avoid themes of slavery within their narrative.
In game, there is no prejudice based on in game species. There may be prejudice based on social class and lineage within social class.
Respect
Romance and love should be roleplayed in ways that respect other players
If your character's actions are experienced as sexism or misogyny then you will be asked to stop.
If you feel able to, then you can ask another player to stop if you are uncomfortable with the roleplaying.
If you do not feel able to or the person persists, then speak to a member of the ref team.
Four Pillars includes themes of romance, love, and consensual sex. No part of the setting should be taken as license to make other players out-of-character uncomfortable. These elements of the setting are based on real world themes and experiences and they require common-sense to deal with without reflecting real-world discrimination. As a general rule if you are engaging with another character in this way then it is best practice to check out-of-character beforehand that they are happy for you to do that - and where appropriate to establish clear boundaries for what you are doing.
If another player is roleplaying with your character in a way that is making you feel uncomfortable then you can ask them to stop if you feel able to. If you do not feel able to, or if the player persists, then please speak to a member of the ref team.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment will not be tolerated by us at our events.
We understand that many people come to Four Pillars to socialize and enjoy themselves - but nobody should have to tolerate harassment from other participants. Our definition of sexual harassment includes any of the following behaviour:
Repeatedly asking a person to socialize when the person has indicated that they are not interested.
Repeatedly standing or sitting too close to or brushing up against a person without their clear consent.
Sexual comments, banter, jokes, or innuendo in company that includes people who are not comfortable with that.
Touching a person in an intimate or sexual way without their clear consent.
In plain English, if you continue to hit on other participants after they have indicated that they are not interested or if you make sexual comments or jokes that make other participants uncomfortable - then we will consider you guilty of sexual harassment and deal with you accordingly.
A victim of sexual harassment can be of any gender. The victim can be of the same gender as the harasser. The harasser can be any participant, a player or a member of crew. All of our rules apply to all participants regardless of gender or status.
Gender Identity
All participants at Four Pillars are entitled to use the toilets that they feel most comfortable using.
Four Pillars supports the right of all participants to identify their gender. All participants must use a person's correct pronoun. We understand that it is easy to make honest mistakes in this regard, but refusing to acknowledge a correction or deliberately misgendering another player is not acceptable at our events.
All bathrooms at Four Pillars are gender neutral. All our participants are entitled to use the facilities that they feel most comfortable using. You must not challenge other participants when using the facilities
Challenging
Please challenge any behaviour that violates these rules at events if you feel safe to
If your behaviour is challenged, you must apologize and back off.
We ask all participants to support our efforts to prevent discrimination or harassment by making clear that that behaviour will not be tolerated. If you see examples of behaviour that is inappropriate because it appears to violate our rules on discrimination or harassment, then we encourage you to challenge the people involved on the spot if you feel confident enough to do so. It is not helpful to get into a direct confrontation with another participant but a simple forceful statement such as "OOC - please stop bothering X" should be sufficient.
If your behaviour is challenged by another participant in this way then you must apologize for any offense caused and back off immediately regardless of any other considerations. If you feel your actions have been misconstrued, then you should state that case to our referee if the matter is reported.
It is also important to appreciate that Four Pillars is a game of political conflict between players. It is absolutely appropriate to challenge players for any behaviour that violates our rules on harassment or discrimination - but it not appropriate to use this mechanism to respond to legitimate in-character conflicts between characters that do not contain any elements of sexual harassment or similar.
IC/OOC Divide
Four Pillars is a game built on struggles between player-characters.
It is never acceptable to direct out-of-character criticism at players for choices they have made in-character.
Four Pillars includes many elements of designed to encourage cooperative roleplaying between player-characters. It is designed to be a game that you can enjoy playing without ever coming into conflict with other characters - if that is your choice. However, the game is fundamentally built around the idea of a political struggle between player-characters for control of the Expeditionary Force. Some of the key sources of drama and conflict in the game are the actions initiated by player-characters.
It is never acceptable to direct out-of-character criticism at players for the choices they have made in-character. It's not appropriate to criticize people's roleplaying generally - that is almost never constructive.
PvP
Lethal Player Character vs Player Character violence is an option within Four Pillars, however both parties must consent beforehand, with the knowledge of a ref. A ref will act as an intermediary between the two parties initially. Make sure the ref is aware before the PVP takes place.
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For example, Player A wants to kill Player B. Player A goes to a ref and explains their plan. The ref goes to Player B and asks if they are alright with PvP. Player B may say yes or no, without knowing who their attacker will be.
However, Player B may also ask the ref for more details, such as who the person is, to see how comfortable they are with the situation. Lethal PvP will be decided on a case by case basis by a ref. Players A and B may also converse to establish the details of the scene if they wish.
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Players are able to opt out of PvP later on if they change their mind.
If a player does not wish to engage with lethal PvP, other characters may seek to exact justice/their grudges via in game legal channels.
Supporting
Please support any participant who comes to you with an incidence of sexual harassment
Members of our ref team are on site throughout the day and night to deal with any violation of our conduct rules. However we understand that many people who experience harassment find it difficult to approach a stranger to report the experience. They may be intimidated by the prospect of speaking with someone they do not know - or simply be unaware of who they should contact. We appreciate that in many cases, a participant will prefer to speak to a friend, regardless of whether they are a player or crew.
We ask everyone who attends our events to be aware that if another participant approaches you to discuss a case of harassment or assault, they are likely to have identified you as the individual they are most comfortable to approach over this matter. We realize that dealing with these matters is difficult and challenging - but we cannot create an event free from harassment unless participants support that goal. If someone has reached out to you to ask for help, we ask you to do everything that you feel capable of to help them access that help.
There are different levels of support that any participant can provide, depending on what is required and what you feel comfortable doing. As a minimum every participant who attends the event should try to be aware of who to report a case of harassment to. In addition to this, please consider if you are able to provide any of the following additional levels of support:
If a participant does not know how to report an issue to Four Pillars, you can help them to find a member of the ref team who can respond.
If a participant does not wish to speak to Four Pillars you can ask if they are comfortable allowing you to report the incident either in their name or anonymously.
If a participant is able to speak to Four Pillars, then you can offer to accompany and support them if they will find this helpful.
If a participant is reporting to Four Pillars, you can provide moral support during the process and ask what outcomes will take place.
We don't require any participant to do these things - but all of the above can provide invaluable assistance to an individual who has chose to approach you to ask for help. Anything that you can do to help them get a successful outcome to their situation will improve the event for them and by extension for every legitimate participant.
Online
Our code of conduct includes behaviour of all participants in online public forums and spaces devoted to Four Pillars.
We expect all participants to follow these guidelines when posting online in public forums and spaces devoted to Four Pillars. We will not enforce our code of conduct on other social media spaces - but we do expect participants to follow it when exchanging emails or private messages with each other.
Four Pillars provide a set of official Facebook groups and discord server for all participants to discuss the game. These are moderated by our ref team who follow these published moderation guidelines.
Limitations
The goal of our rules is to provide a high degree of personal safety and comfort to everyone who is participating in Four Pillars.. These rules govern all events run by Four Pillars, as well as all the official online forums and Facebook groups that exist to support the game and are moderated by us.
Our conduct rules do not cover any other real world situations. This includes other live roleplaying systems and events and any social or real world situation that are not a logical extension of the Four Pillars environment. However, we do understand that when addressing concerns about individuals, it can be vital to examine the context surrounding the issue, and we appreciate that situations that take place outside of Four Pillars events are significant and can be pivotal to understanding the context of a situation or disagreement with another participant.
If we have just cause to believe that someone could possibly pose a danger to the safety and/or wellbeing of other members of the Four Pillars community, we are within our rights to enact whichever sanctions we see fit, whether that be a warning or a ban.