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23 Apr 2018, 20:17
Hogwarts.io Rating
On Hogwarts.io, we are a community that accepts both young and old. With this, we must put a rating in place in order to keep things appropriate for everyone on the site. Our RPG rating is PG-13, or on the RPG rating scale, 2-1-2. Below, there are more in-depth explanations on our rating and what our rating means for you.

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LANGUAGE
Swearing in any language is allowed on this site with some restrictions. Cuss words can be used in character, but swearing at another player or staff member out of character such as in an out of character comment, in a private message, in an out of character discussion area or discord will never be allowed. It would be considered ''Flaming''.

General swearing in character is allowed::
Reducio
Students are permitted to swear (Shit, ass, damn, fuck, etc.) as a part of their in-character narrative.

Example: "Erin was tired of this shit."

This is written from an in character perspective regarding the environment.


General swearing out of character is not allowed:
Reducio
Swearing is allowed in character but not out of character. You can say "Erin is a fuck-up" in character from your character's perspective if it makes logical sense or even say "Erin you are a fuck-up" but you cannot say out of character from your perspective that same phrase. This is a separation of the in character and out of character we ask you to maintain.


We do not allow racist terms to be used in character or out of character.
Reducio
[Wikipedia Resource of Racist Terms] -- for reference only. We also do not allow slurs regarding sexuality or religion in this community. For example, antisemitism will not be tolerated.

The only hate-speech term that will be allowed in character is "Mudblood" as it was frequently used to define the Muggle-born wizards and witches in an insulting manner.

"Half-breed" is a canon term used as a blood status for characters with at least one non-human parent (part-Giant, part-Veela, part-Goblin and Dhampir).


To clearly reiterate in brief: you are allowed to cuss in character only at other characters or in narration. The cuss words one can use are extensive and can be in any language (would require a translation for a non-English one) but cannot be a racial slur or hate speech with the exception of mud-blood. As an added aside, if you have out-of-character tensions with another user, this is not a tool or a means for you to be able to cuss at or about another user using their character as a proxy. If there is out of character animosity: leave one another alone.

SEX
We have a community of users that vary in age from minor to adults with children old enough to be considered adults. There are content concerns regarding sex. Our scale for sexual content is a 1. This means that when a romantic physical encounter starts to move beyond kissing, the scene becomes a Fades to Black (FTB). Fading to Black is essentially a Sexy discretion shot where it is generally understood what has transpired but for the sake of the audience's sensibilities, the details are not shared.

General sex scenes cannot be explicitly described:
Reducio
A user can vaguely mention that it happens, but nothing that goes beyond making out (passionate kiss, hugs, holding hands) can be described in the roleplay post.


General sex scenes require consent of all parties:
Reducio
Consent of both parties is needed to proceed with a Fade to black. "Surprising" someone with a fade to black scene is not only awkward, inappropriate but it is also godmodding which we do not allow. A good way to prevent an accusation of god-modding it to state in your post someplace such as under a ''reducio'' that they got the consent of their RPG partner before proceeding.)


Characters need to be at least 16 years old to participate in one of these fade to black scenes.
Reducio
Being over 16 out of character does not change this. If we see two 11 year olds going at it, it will be deleted without warning.


Relationships between adult characters and students characters are prohibited:
Reducio
This could be considered child abuse and is simply creepy to consider due to age differences and power dynamics so this is not allowed in this community. As a graduated alumni of Hogwarts choosing after graduation to enter a relationship with an older Professor, that is between your characters as you are of legal age and there is no concerning power dynamics. "Crushes" from students are allowed, but cannot be reciprocated. Please remember that Professors read your posts as well, it can be very uncomfortable for them to read about your crush. All rating rules apply regarding your fantasies (so there will be no imagined FTB scenes) and we ask that you ask for permission from the Professor if you seek to express a crush on them.


Rape (non-consensual sex scenes) is prohibited:
Reducio
This is an area of debate because there is the implied lack of consent that comes with being under the influence of a love potion, entering a relationship with someone that you believe is someone else due to the use of a polyjuice potion, etc. These are considered to be forms of 'rape' as choice has been withheld from a party of this interaction but that is not the sort of rape we are describing here. In terms of roleplay rating this is more complicated.

1. Violent forcing oneself upon another user to complete or endure a sexual act is well past our site rating.
2. Players will never be in a situation where OC their autonomy to engage in sex will be removed. In short love potions (such as tainting the punch with a love potion) can start and end with strong interest and if they take it further that is their choice. If someone is made to feel that they have to engage in a sexual act OC because the 'situation calls for it' screenshot their demands and contact a staff member immediately.
3. Spells or skills that remove someone's ability to choose to engage in sex will automatically fail. You critically failed even if you have Perfectionist and now they want to beat you bloody (I have pre-rolled this forever).
4. If you and another player choose to engage in a sexual encounter that has questionable themes please reach out to the staff before you enter the thread.
5. Asking players to enter threads for the sake of sex is really weird and inappropriate, we will ask you to leave.


Non-IC Sexual Content
Reducio
In Hogwarts.io, we do not allow sexual content between an out of character adult (18 and above) and an out of character minor (18 and below) to occur as we are considering the international age of consent in this community rather than regional ages of consent which can be much lower in some countries. This includes the Owl system or any other private/instant messaging system in or used within the H.io community. Again, we also do not allow the depiction of underaged (16 and below) characters engaging in sexual activity with anyone.

Why is the age 16 in character and 18 out of character?

The legal age of consent in the UK is 16, however in many countries the age of consent is 18 so out of character you need to make sure that you both are of age.

We will report out of character questionable behavior to the proper authorities.


Pregnancy:
Reducio
It is possible to be IC pregnant and to have a child presuming the act necessary to make a child transpires. We have certain site rating restrictions - no rape, must be 16 or over. We also have certain consent restrictions - deciding for your roleplay partner if this is not you having a child with yourself (NPC) that a pregnancy happened takes away from them their presumptive use of a prophylactic and would be godmodding. Hogwarts does not admit those under the age of 11, so your infant would be staying at home. If getting pregnant (which already takes some effort and some hoops) is only being done to miscarry or abort, there are plenty of other roleplay communities that are fine with this sort of writing but there is a limit to the edge we are willing to handle. Many of our members have suffered from fertility issues and it would be a slap in their face to do this.

The above is not specifically in relation to the mention of planned pregnancy and enjoying the prospects of motherhood. This is more a preemptive statement to explain some of the social intricacies that are involved with roleplaying sensitive subjects.


We do not allow incestual relationships

Reducio
In other words, we will not allow you to date, marry, make-out with or have sex with your sibling (half or full), adopted sibling, step sibling, aunt/uncle (including half, step or adoptive), parent (half, step or adoptive), grandparents (adoptive or step) and first-degree cousins.


NUDITY
This being the depiction of your character or other characters with their clothes off.

Nudity Cannot be Explicitly Described:
Reducio
Explicit descriptions of a character's nudity is not permitted. This being descriptions of specific body parts that should be hidden under a swimsuit. To be very clear this would be the genitalia, and breasts. Describing areas that would not necessarily be covered by a bathing suit (example: washboard abs) is acceptable. So even if the top is gone, there should be no (read zero) mention of what the bra was covering.


Nudity with a nonsexual intention:
Reducio
If the clothes are coming off in a sexual manner, it has already went past the point of where a Fade to Black should be coming up. Nudity should be mentioned implicitly or announced directly (they are naked) without explicit description. Skinny dipping, taking a bath, stealing someone's clothes as a prank, etc. are examples where a player might be unclothed and it is implied. Their anatomy should not be described if it should be under a bathing suit. It should not be sexual.


In short: We allow sexual content to transpire between people who are legally aged out of character (18+) if their player character is of age (16+ per UK law) in the context of a consensual action that is implied using a Fades to Black (FTB) or a Sexy Discretion Shot. Nudity is allowed as long as the parts covered by a bathing suit normally (we will not debate that nudist beaches and topless beaches exist) is not described and the nude scene being played out is non-sexual in nature.

VIOLENCE
The website mostly follows the rating from the books and movies which means we are using the RPG scale 2. This means that fights and violence can be described with moderate detail, they can also have some blood but the descriptions cannot be gratuitous. In that sense, it will be possible to see acts of violence that could disturb our younger community.

Mention of death is allowed without going into strong details:
Reducio
Death is something that could occur on our website. However, if it ever happens, the situation should not be explicitly described.

An example: Victor Moore was killed by a shadow that struck him down. The likely grotesque death he endured was not described.


Mention of suicide/self-harming is strictly prohibited:
Reducio
Cutting, self mutilation, hitting yourself, suicide attempts, etc. as this is not an all-inclusive list, is not allowed in this community. There are certain mental health disorders that have components of self-harm (self-starvation in Anorexia Nervosa for instance, suicide attempts in severe depression, self-injurious behaviors in certain anxiety disorders) and due to this fact you would not be able to roleplay out these disorders if self-harm is a necessary part of your accurate portrayal of the disorder.

Edgelords are a common roleplay archetype but must be written to confirm to our site ratings.


Violence concerning other individuals must be consensual:
Reducio
If a student decides that they want to do a RPG thread with other students and use violence against them (most likely a fight between the two) they must get the consent from the individual concerned so that it does not enter the ''bully'' or ''harassment'' category. A player cannot request a moderator to force a user to remain in a thread and then be subjected to you forcing your will upon them. Also remember you can not Godmod or Powerplay the violence you inflict.


Trauma is allowed, but must never lead to the extreme:
Reducio
A character can get to a point where they have some traumas. However, this must never enter the extreme and can not lead to any self-harming or suicidal thoughts. Also be sure that your character's traumas are realistic (for example, you are not a child spy that by the age of 7 had a lengthy list of successful kills that now haunt you at the esteemed age of 11). Writing out traumas for your character to 'endure' is often in bad-taste as there is a lot of trauma that will occur naturally during the course of the story. Please make sure that you are not writing some tragic back story for the sake of it and that if you do that it makes sense for your character.


Parental abuse must never be described and must be mentioned implicitly only:
Reducio
We have members who have been victims and survivors of real abuse. We have younger members in this community that descriptions of abuse can affect them negatively. For this reason we do not allow clear statements of child abuse in our stories or roleplays. We understand that sometimes a family is not perfect and that an abusive parent is necessary to build your character although this should be uncommon, it is our expectation per our site rating that the abuse is not clearly described. (Examples: sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, being withheld from treatment for injuries, being underfed, being confined beyond normal grounding, etc.)

Ways to do this is to vaguely allude to injuries or descriptions of how the events have affected the student. If you state in discord "my student is 65 pounds because my parents only feed them once every 2 days" that is not appropriate. If you state, "my student is short, thin and the clothes hang off them a bit" in their roleplays and you don't say anything out of character, we wont notice and you will be fine. This is the art of reading and writing between the lines. If you cannot do this, then do not write a character with these sorts of facets.

Write with purpose.


Torture must be kept to a minimum and never described:
Reducio
Describing a scene of torture is not strictly prohibited, but must be kept to a minimum and must be extremely non-descriptive. Torture must also be consensual. (both parties implied must give their agreement before writing about this specific subject out of character.) Finally, it needs to make sense. There may be in character consequences for your choices that we will be forced to play out if authorities become involved. The in character staff should be considered competent and if their general indifference or incompetence is a necessary factor for this scenario to work, then consider another scenario because it could lead to character loss.

In regards to the torture or maiming of NPCs including pets, disabled and vulnerable populations (such as an elderly person with dementia), we are not that sort of community. The depiction of torture is an already uncomfortable subject that is compounded by the vulnerability of the subject, do not torture your pets.


In short: we do allow for some violence but it should not be too graphic. We do not allow self-harm or child abuse. Violence between players should be consensual if in a roleplay. In moderated situations such as adventures, the intention is not usually (there are some exceptions) to fight one another but if there is a history of out of character animosity between yourself and another user, we will endeavor to keep you both as apart as reasonable.

DRUGS
On Hogwarts.io, drugs should not be a part of your roleplays. However, there is an exception for potion addiction and general medication use (such as needing to take insulin for your diabetes, not morphine for your chronic back pain because we healed that) could be mentioned and described as medication use and potion use, potion dependence and even enjoying or deriving benefits from potions were a part of the books and movies.

General use of drugs is prohibited:
Reducio
Mention and general use of illegal or controversial drugs (cocaine, LSD, marijuana) are prohibited on our website as their depiction could be influential to our younger members and may offend their parents.

Cigarettes are not considered to be a drug but would be confiscated if discovered and it is likely it would be discovered rather quickly (you smell more than you think you do) so you might be spending time in detention in character. You would also need to consider where you are getting these cigarettes from. If you roleplay as a chain-smoker, that would imply that the Prefects and staff are rather incompetent than you would be asked to edit this facet of your character.

Alcohol is something that children have access to a bit younger in Hogwarts (due to butterbeer) but being drunk off butterbeer would be like trying to get drunk on quarter-strength light beer. It is not likely to happen. Roleplaying as a drunk is very different from enjoying a cold butter-beer with friends. Much like smoking you need to consider where your character is getting the alcohol (you would need to own the inventory item also to be drinking it), explain where or how you have hidden it and consider the frequency that you are drinking. Again, the staff is in character relatively competent so if you claim that you drink 2 liters of fire whisky a day, that would presume severe incompetence on the staff's part so you may be asked to modify.


Mention of drugs (medication, potion) effects can be mentioned:
Reducio
The use of potions (and potential dependence) will most likely occur on the website. In that case, mentioning the use is permitted as much as generic medications (like insulin that you need to live, not a morphine addiction) are permitted as well.


Potion dependence can be mentioned:
Reducio
Potion dependence is permitted and can be mentioned for characters that strictly depend on it. For example, a werewolf is dependent on the Wolfbane Potion. In that sense, it is possible that students/professors can mention it in their RPG posts.

Addiction: is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, such as the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences.

Drugs, such as cocaine, opiates, heroin, etc. that are illegal for recreational use in most countries (so this does include marijuana) are against the site rating to depict. Potion addiction, unlike drug addiction does not go against the site rating, however there are several important points that need to be made regarding the use (or misuse) of potions.

Selling potions for their intended misuse would go against the in character setting rules. If caught it is very likely that the seller would be punished harshly and repeated incidents would likely result in expulsion.

Misusing potions purposefully will likely result in detention. However misuse is a vague term that also involves using potions in unintended ways such as playing pranks or consuming them to feed an addictive habit that may result in dependence. It is possible that the staff might find detention to be "not enough" to deal with this medical and psychological condition, you might also end up temporarily (not permanently) expelled if the situation is extreme enough.

Drug dependence: is a chronic, progressive disease characterized by significant impairment that is directly associated with persistent and excessive use of a psychoactive substance. Impairment may involve physiological, psychological, or social dysfunction.

There are certain terms that do remain outside of the site rating. Referring to oneself as a "drug dealer" if they are supplying an underclassman potions would be an example. If we see someone bragging about how they are a drug dealer, we will be asking for post edits but if it persists they will quickly lose their privileges to be a part of this community.

There is a difference between head canon and what is done. While we have a potion system that does allow potion use outside of moderated situations to be theoretically unlimited uses, the roleplay needs to make sense. So if you are claiming to frequently use a potion inappropriately in narration, it needs to be reflected in actual threads consistently. By stating something solely in narration, it prohibits other users and staff from interfacing with the scenario, intervening and yes, punishing or stopping someone. It would suggest without any power by the users to say or do otherwise that they are wholly incompetent and that you are 'so much more clever' solely on the virtue that they have no means to intercede.
Last edited by Solomon Lear on 31 Jan 2022, 17:33, edited 1 time in total.

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