News 5 25 - Consent policy: questions and answers

NEWS article 5-25:

Dateline 6/1/2011: CONSENT POLICY: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What follows is a collection of possible conflict situations and their appropriate answers with regard to consent to attack. With hypothetical situations, understand we cannot ever be all-inclusive. Sometimes, we have to make judgment calls based on specific situations -- and this is a good thing. Blanket policies work well until they result in the spirit of policy being violated in favor of upholding the letter.

Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that consent will always extend to the bonded spouse of a victim. Also, please bear in mind that assisting the victim of a crime is NOT a crime itself, though it usually will grant consent to the perpetrator.

Finally, please keep in mind that most situations involving player or character conflict will involve no GM intervention. Unless policies are being broken or a conflict is becoming disruptive to large numbers of uninvolved people, players engaged in mutual conflict are expected to sort it out themselves.

--- SPELLS (INCLUDING ENCHANTES, ROARS, PREDICTIONS AND "AREA EFFECTS") ---

* You cast a spell on me! Is it consent?

YES -- if it places me in imminent danger -- or COULD HAVE. That doesn't mean I have to die from it, or be injured. If you cast on me out in the badlands, it's consent, even if no critters get to me before I recover or get dragged out.

YES -- if you cast on me in town while an angry mob is chasing me down (even if it's justified), I DO have the right to retaliate (after I recover from the beating the mob gave me).

YES -- if it harms me (or could have) in and of itself. You Ice Patch me? I can clean your clock even if I didn't so much as stub my toe.

* But it wasn't harmful. I'm a Barbarian and I resisted. Is that still consent?

YES -- You intended, therefore, you're mine.

* I'm a Barbarian. I didn't resist, and you killed my Inner Fire and NOW I have magic on me to boot! Is that consent?

YES -- Advice to the caster: RUN FAST.

* But it wasn't harmful ... it was a helpful spell. Is *that* consent?

YES -- Casting on me without my permission or invitation can still be interpreted as a threatening action. If you say "I'm going to cast Ethereal Shield on you" or "Join me for courage" and I don't demur or I join up, then no harm, no foul. But walking up to me and casting on me *is* grounds for retaliation, even if it was just Ethereal Shield. (see PREPPING, GESTURING)

* But all I did was cast Compost cause the room was a mess! Surely that's not consent!

YES -- The items you got rid of weren't yours? You didn't ask first? The owner of said items is peeved now? Prepare for retaliation.

*I blew a trap in front of the bank. Does everyone at the bank really have consent on me?

YES -- The old adage, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime," applies here. If you can't afford the retribution (say, dying 12 times when each of those dozen people you killed or injured attacks you) then you shouldn't have tried the trap right there in front of a dozen people.

* He ran a prediction on me and now my skill is screwed up. Do I have consent?

YES! You have consent, in fact, even if it didn't adversely affect you, provided the prediction was cast without your consent or request.

--- PREPPING, GESTURING ---

* We're arguing or otherwise involved in a negative discourse. Suddenly, you start prepping a spell. Is that consent?

YES -- I may have no idea if you're prepping an offensive spell or not, but at the same time, I should not have to wait for you to actually Ice Patch me before I defend myself. If you're prepping in the midst of a confrontation, I have the right to assume it's with malice intended and take action. If you were actually prepping Ethereal Shield, well, them's the breaks.

--- DRAWING/FACING, ADVANCING ---

* We're arguing or otherwise involved in a negative discourse. Suddenly, you draw a weapon and start advancing on me. Is that consent?

YES -- I may have no idea what you're going to do, but I have to assume that if you're doing it in the middle of a confrontation, you're intending to harm me. Accordingly, I can defend myself.

What about aiming a loaded bow or other projectile weapon? Consent?

YES -- Again, the intent looks to be violent.

* What about simply removing my bow? Is that consent?

NO -- You still need to load *and* aim. Until there's a ready-to-use weapon in your hand, it's not consent. REMOVE BOW isn't the same as DRAW SWORD. AIM is where the hostile intent is revealed with a weapon of this sort.

--- THUGGING -- THIEF AND TRADER ---

* You stole from me and I reported you to Varsyth (or the Trader outpost authorities) and now the thugs got you! Is that consent?

NO -- I merely reported you to the authorities, who forced you to pay for your crimes. You stole, you took a risk of my defending myself and retaliating in any of several ways, and that's the price you pay for your actions.

--- STEALING COINS, THEFT OF ITEMS ---

* I stole (or tried to steal) your coins and gems using STEAL and you caught me! Do you have consent on me?

YES -- If you attempt to steal something from somebody using the STEAL verb, you must face the consequences of your actions. This means that you chose to steal, and must handle the repercussions. If you do the crime, you do the time.

* I stole your coins and you killed me! Now that you've killed me, I have consent, right?

NO -- I stole from you. I therefore gave you consent to retaliate with violence. When you attack me violently, I DO have the right to defend myself. But when you kill me, that's it, it's over.

* I stole your coins and you killed me! Does my bonded spouse have consent against you for that?

NO -- I stole, and I died for it. My spouse does not have the right to clean your clock for killing me over it. This battle was between you and me and since both of us chose to act on our own behalf, we both have to accept the outcome and be done with it.

* Does your bonded spouse still have consent against me?

NO -- Your spouse doesn't get to kill me for something you've already killed me over. As with the foregoing, both of us chose to act on our own behalf, we both have to accept the outcome and be done with it.

* How many times can you kill me over a theft?

Until you (a) get your item(s) back -OR- (b) an amicable and reasonable solution has been reached. Yes, this means I may die more than once because some people won't drop it. If it gets to be ridiculous, then we're possibly entering into harassment, which is another ball o'wax entirely.

* How long does consent "last" anyhow?

We purposely do NOT define this as anything other than "a reasonable time". If you and your perpetrator play all the time, "reasonable" might be a shorter period than if one of you vanishes for a week, runs far away, or neither of you play much at the same time.

* You stole my item. When I dropped it, you grabbed it!

YES -- It's consent. BUT it's also "legal" that you grabbed it, because if I wanted it, I should not have left it laying on the ground. While your taking advantage of the opportunity I presented was fine within policy, you did steal my item, and that does still give me the right to come after you about it.

* It was in my grave (or had been) and you graverobbed me.

YES -- It's consent. As with other forms of theft, it's not a policy violation, but you must expect to face retribution for it. If you log out or otherwise use game mechanics to avoid my wrath, you have NOW violated policy and are subject to GM intervention if requested, as well as warnings and lockouts and such.

* I put it down and was guarding it and you dragged me out of the room to get past the guard.

YES -- It's consent. It's abusing game mechanics to rip someone off and if they want, they can report you to the big bad GMs instead.

* You attacked/killed/cast on me to make me drop it.

YES -- It's consent. You Tingle my Great Aunt Tilly's Broadsword O'Doom outta my hands and I can track you down and kill you. End of story. If you exploit game mechanics in order to escape me, you're subject to the GM intervention/warnings/lockouts mentioned above.

* You came in my room and cleaned up the boxes, gems, and/or coins laying on the ground.

YES -- It's consent. It was on the ground, making it fair game, but you should expect that I'm gonna be miffed and might come after you.

* You scammed me out of 4000 plats!

YES -- It's consent. If you think that you're slick for tricking another player out of some significant coin and/or that special item, please do not be surprised if they decide to take it out of your hide in repayment. Scamming other players out of their coin or items DOES place you under implied consent, do so at your own risk.

* You harmed/killed my fam/companion/horse/goat/Guardian Spirit/POE (Player-Owned Entity)!

YES -- The exception is inadvertent attacks on POEs mistaken for huntable creatures, in which case we hope that a ceasing of attack and apology will suffice and not require intervention. However, if you direct a POE to attack me, you give me consent. Note: Purely unconsented attacks upon POE's are reportable as unconsented PvP and will be evaluated. Also, killing a POE will be regarded as theft. POE Owners: You CANNOT both retaliate in-game *and* report. One or the other.

* You harmed/killed my construct/Risen! Can I report?

Risen are "free game", so you CANNOT report. However, it DOES give consent. Consent is over after one death, regardless of who wins.

--- THUMP ---

* You thumped me! Is that consent?

YES -- Sure, I can attack you. Given that you're big enough to thump me, I'm most likely signing my own death warrant, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

* Is it consent for my spouse?

YES -- My bonded spouse can also retaliate on my behalf. And if my bonded spouse happens to be a big hulking 'Tog with 90 strength and 80 stamina, well, it sucks to be you.

--- WE AGREED ---

* We had a RP scenario going, wherein we all agreed that we wouldn't report. Now Tom over here is mad because he's gotten offed more than the rest of us, so he's yelling for the GMs. Is that permitted?

NO -- This is a NOGM situation. Tom can't suddenly come crying to the GMs about it when he agreed to be a participant.

* Tom tells everyone, "Okay, that's it, I want out!" and they continue to kill him after he's made it clear that he's done.

YES -- He can now report and ask us to intervene on his behalf.

* Tom is out there stirring things up, attacking, stealing, and generally irritating half the game's population. He suddenly decides "Hey, I've had enough!" In that case?

NO -- This is a NOGM situation. You reap what you sow.

--- HARASSMENT ---

* I keep calling you names and saying things about you. You tell me to stop or you're going to report or kill me. I persist. Is this grounds for you to report me?

YES -- Sometimes, it really does come to the point where it's more than irritation, it's harassment. That point will be identified by game staff, and results will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

* If I persist in insulting you, is this consent for you to attack or kill me?

YES -- If I keep tormenting you, you DO have the right to clean my clock or die trying. As with theft retaliation, I do have the right to defend myself, and if I kill you, that's the breaks. Do bear in mind that in most cases, you are allowed to EITHER handle the matter yourself OR put it in the hands of the GMs -- not both.

* Is all of this grounds for me, the harasser, to report when I'm attacked or killed?

NO -- I got what was coming to me. If I didn't want it, I shouldn't have initiated it.

--- THREATS ---

* If you do that again, I'll kill you. Consent?

YES -- If you *repeatedly* tell someone to stop doing something which is impacting you (casting a spell on you, stalking you, stealing from you, etc.) and they persist, this is considered consent for you to retaliate accordingly. If the perpetrator screams foul, GMs will not get involved.

* If you touch my wife again, I'll kill you. Consent?

YES -- Just as above.

If you don't get out of my room, I'll kill you. Consent?

NO -- No one owns a room. If I'm in your private home, or inn room, that's one thing. But if I'm in your favorite hunting room, tough noogies. You can't kill someone for this, even if you DO tell them to go away and they refuse. The exception comes if I'm also stealing your kills or treasure, or if I'm crossing other lines, as by provoking or harassing you.

Please note that mining is analogous to hunting. While no one owns a room, as previously noted, things change when you are actively hunting/mining in the room. If you're hunting/mining in a room and someone comes in and begins poaching your kills/treasure/mining you are within your rights to tell them to take a hike. If they choose not to listen to you, you may feel free to put policy to work for you and exact your revenge in the manner of your choosing.

END NEWS ITEM