RULES
The golden rule? Keep IC and OOC seperate! In this game, drama is required, but not between the players! If you have a problem with one of the players, contact the mods in this post and we'll try to work something out. Everyone should feel safe here. If there is anything whatsoever that you have questions with, feel free to contact the mods in the aforementioned post, or IM any of the mods that are online [charlesbasstard and goldenarchibald]
In this game, there are a few factors that we'll make use of: the main community, the thread community, your character's own journal, the 'Gossip Girl' community, and AIM messenger.
The main community [xoxomfg]:
- This is the main community for the game, some sort of “home haven”. What would be posted if our characters had LiveJournals? That is exactly what we're doing!
- The characters all have their own journals and communicate through them in the way most people use their personal journals [entries about their day, feelings, memes, whatever you want] but they also use these journals to post in the community with. It's the place anyone can post and read anything, some sort of 'living room' if you will.
- In this community, posts are made from first person perspective: the idea is that your character uses the community in a way that anyone would. Your character can posts anything they want to share with the others, such as an announcement, a question, a link to a funny video... As long as everything is still in character.
- Please be active in the community, there are no limitations as to what you can post or how many times you can post... just have fun! If someone else posts something, reply to them in character. If you feel like your character wouldn't say anything at all, that's fine - the idea is that our characters have a little fun apart from all the seriousness that is the thread community.
The thread community [xoxothread]:
- Use this for threads, that is, the actual roleplaying.
- Always tag the posts in the community accordingly: with your character's full name and the type of post [there will be a list you can choose from]. If you're the author of the post, you will tag 'character's name', if you're someone who participates but didn't make the post, you will tag '*character's name'.
- Don't go anywhere with your threads that Gossip Girl would not. That means: please fade to black, or skip over any sexual interaction. Who knows who could be reading your thread? We don't want any angry parents coming after us.
- Please use this form when starting a thread:
Who:
Where:
When:
Summary:
Rating & Status: G, PG, PG-13...
You can find a copy-and-paste form at the bottom of this page.
Your journal:
- Please make sure that your journal is related to your character, preferrably with their name in it so it is easily recognizable.
- Your character will use the personal journal just like any of us use online journals. You can post first-person entries on whatever your character is experiencing, or anything else you see fit: photos, videos, or voice posts. When doing voice posts, use [voice] to indicate that it's a voicepost [since you obviously can't use a real voicepost].
- Journal posts can be friends only, private, etc. just like any journal on LJ. The only difference is, you will post it public for the community members, and use the following system to indicate what can be read by who:
Posts with no special indication are pulic to anyone, bits marked [private] can only be read by the person who wrote it, [friends only to ... ] works as a friends only filter, [private to ...] is a note to just one person, and [locked from ...] is public to anyone but those mentioned between brackets. Please also use this system when posting anything that isn't a thread, in the community.
- How you use tags in your journals in entirely up to you.
- Please have a first entry already made and put up for your character. This can be anything, from your character's history/ten facts, to a third person scene so that we can see how your character is in action.
- In your profile, please place a disclaimer that mentions that the journal is meant for roleplaying purposes, that it's a game and everything inside is made up.
The 'Gossip Girl' gossips community [xoxogossips]:
- The gossips community works as the "Gossip Girl blog" as used in the series. The posts will be in the form of news, such as "Spotted!", reader's questions [and GG's answers], or general announcements. Sometimes you might find a more in-depth profile of the characters on this blog, as well.
- Anyone can submit news to the Gossip Girl community, given that you use 'her' way of writing, and write a consistent post that actually makes sense. No one-liners, please. Also, if you are going to post something about any character other than your own, please ask for the player's permission. Yes, the rumours on Gossip Girl are sometimes false, but they always have a reason for being started. Don't just post anything - even Gossip Girl looks into her rumours.
- The community is moderated, though don't be shy. After all, anyone can send something to Gossip Girl, but she is the one who ends up posting it - to make sure her posts are actually of some quality. We are using the same system, but we do need gossip to feed upon.
- If you have juicy gossip but aren't sure you can pull off GG's way of writing, you can submit your news [anonymously, if you want!] in this post. Someone else can then take your news and turn it into a proper post.
- Lastly, we'd like everyone who posts to the gossips community to use a special icon. This way, your identity isn't immediately given away, and the posts are easily recognizable on everybody's friendslists. You can find this icon here.
AIM:
- AIM communication is crucial for this game, so we require you to sign on at least twice a week. This way, you and the people you play with, can keep in contact and keep the game going.
- Your AIM screen name should relate to your character and in some way have their name in it.
- AIM will be used for OOC-interaction, so you can discuss a scene with the person you're playing with, or to contact mods. Use brackets for OOC-communication.
- Naturally, you can use AIM the way you think your characters would use it. We've seen Serena use it once - however please keep the chatspeak to a minimum. When you're done with a conversation, please post it to the community, with the according tags.
- You can also use it for general playing. It's up to you if you use first-person or third-person narrative, asteriks, whatever way you'll like to use. However, if you play a scene in AIM, be sure to post it to the community later! Always make sure to fill in the thread form and use tags.
The current limit on characters per player is one. We'd rather have a diverse crowd, since the GG-universe is a small one anyway. We might change this in the future, but for now please stick to one character so you can put your energy into playing this one character right, and participate as much as you can.
We are going by an activity period of four weeks: you have to participate in at least two different interactions [threads, personal journal posts or otherwise] within this period or you will get a warning. [The mods will try to contact you, most likely via IM or private message.] After this warning, there will be a grace period of only one week in which your character has to participate in the game, or they will be considered inactive. If your character is considered inactive, they are open for application again.
If, for some reason, you are unable to meet the requirements, please let the mods know by either IMing the mods or letting us know in the dropbox.
If you know beforehand that you will be inactive for a period of more than four weeks, you can apply for hiatus. Let the mods know through private message: state your reason for hiatus and the approximate length it will last. Characters on hiatus will not have to follow activity requirements, although if you come back during a hiatus, the hiatus will be dropped and your activity will be checked again.
PBs should be realistic, and so you must stick to the face you see on Gossip Girl. That means, Serena will be played by Blake Lively, not Miley Cyrus. For more minor characters, exceptions can be made, especially if it is harder to find icons of the actor/actress.
Deaths, pregnancies, and anything that could be considered "dark" must be approved by a mod. Of course there will be drama in this game, but please do not do anything to another person's character without their consent.
Threading form:
Who:
Where:
When:
Summary:
Rating & Status: G, PG, PG-13...
Copy and paste this for easy use :D
If this seems a little much to stomach, no worries! The mods are always here to help, and it gets real easy once you get the hang of it. But for those of us who need more explanation, there's a more detailed guide to posting available once your application has been accepted :)