Ducks, NPCs, and you!

[tripled_mods]

We've had a lot of requests for, and some confusion over, the use of non-game characters in game posts over the last few months, so it occurred to us that it's probably time for a reminder about the game's NPC policies!


1. If you're posting a canon update that includes NPCs from your character's canon doing or saying something they did or said in canon, you don't need to ask for mod permission unless you'd also like to have NPC interact with game characters in the comments. Canon content = completely fine.

2. If you want to include an NPC in a post of something that is not explicitly canon, you will need to request permission! This includes a slice-of-life accidental voice post of your character and an NPC which you think would naturally happen and in which the NPC would not be responding to comments, in addition to things like your character's canon roommate finding the community and talking to it for a post. This goes for any NPC, too, not just those you believe would be appable characters. An unappable robot helper requires permission along with your character's boss.

3. Any time an NPC will be interacting with game characters, you will need to request permission first. "Any time" means "any individual instance" - you can't request blanket permission to NPC a character indefinitely, regardless of their relationship to your character. We've had players app semi-sentient sidekicks before for this very reason, in fact.

4. If you'd like to run a plot with your character that would affect other, appable characters in their canon, you will need permission! So if, say, Masamori was going to go evil for a while because of curse another community character put on him and he would end up hurting someone he works with as a result, the other players involved and I would have to request permission first. (And demonstrate that the plot would be handled sensitively.)

5. We have a general standing caveat to NPCing that holds that anyone who apps a character you have NPCed doesn't have to go by anything you did. Since players who app previously played characters can ignore previous iterations, this is really just part of how to make everything easier for new players. We try to remind players of this whenever we approve a request, but since it's part of overall policy it probably belongs on this list as well.


We hope this refresher makes things a bit clearer for everyone! And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Comments

Annoying questions.

[material_guy]

In regards to #3, will permission also be required to write non-existent, non-specific (not just unappable due to too little info but completely undefined beyond the general 'there are people' sense) mob character NPCs? For example, whenever someone comes to Greed's world there are likely to be people around given he lives in a bar with his relatively large, mostly unnamed crew. I've just had all named characters conveniently absent from the immediate scene during anyone's visit unless otherwise requested of the mods. Mob characters are not the same characters as the last time there were mob character interactions, remain unnamed, etc.

If they are allowed generally, what are the ranges allowed without permission for on-screen activity of unidentified mob characters, waiters, tellers, fellow shoppers, other passengers, etc.? Being mentioned as around and about in narrative? Taking simple or ordered action (giving another character the stink eye for atmosphere, bringing a requested item, answer a question about something commonly known by the class the group is made up of, etc.)?

What about off-screen? ("I had them write a generic sentence for you to practice your handwriting analysis on. I've coded them so I can cross check them with your analysis to see if it fits. Here are the sentences." )

What about asking things of those identifiable NPCs off-screen? You mentioned this in 4, but only for player plots, not for all general responses to things like viruses. For example, saying, but not showing, that a canon character reacted to a player character's behavior ("I was gender swapped for this virus and tried to hide it and go to school, given I'm in a series where boys are pretty androgynous anyways; NPC-sempai noticed my voice sounded funny! My life is over!")?

5 would still apply to the specific characters (NPC-sempai isn't required to remember the character's voice ever being funny), but is permission required for off scene directives like this that involve no interaction with anybody else?



I can see why you'd require permissions for some of these as what's "reasonable" for named/faced NPCs or what skills a mob would possess and provide is slippery, but I can also see how it would be a pain to have to ask/approve every potential reaction/interaction characters have (such as having to approve every waiter at every restaurant, or even just those who accidentally spill something to trigger a reaction).

[shadow_spread]

This is really all just designed to minimize impact on canon that could make things hard for potential players down the line, and to make sure that players aren't essentially playing multiple characters with one app. The reason it's "all NPCs" instead of just "appable characters" is that, say, non-appable mascot characters can still be influential in how canon turns out. For example, there are several A.I.s in Otherland which I wouldn't consider appable but which are hugely important in moving along parts of the plot. It's characters with a narrative role that we're looking at, mostly, along with some potentially narrative-shaping actions and interaction with the game. Your random townspeople probably don't have much of a narrative role beyond going "it's a bird! it's a plane! no, it's a magical girl!" Deciding for yourself what the random crowd does isn't going to have enough of a narrative impact there to require permission. And we certainly don't want players to make their homes ghost towns just because the people they would pass on the street are NPCs! Similarly, you're allowed to invent minor NPCs to just show a general part of the world, like the patrons of a bar or random classmates. As long as they don't develop their own narratives that would disrupt the main canon narrative, they're completely fair game.

We also naturally assume that characters are talking frequently to people on their own world, and that's okay. If Masamori wants to mention a report his coworker gave him that reminded him of something on the community, that's assumed to be within the boundaries of daily life and does not involve direct interaction with the community by an NPC, so that's fine. If the coworker is doing a report about the community, or I want to post a video including the coworker, that would require permission. As far as logs go, it's usually find to assume that random members of the group your character is part of are around. It's when you also want to give them speaking roles in the log that you'd need permission, because that's direct interaction with game characters.

Really, we mostly just want players to use common sense and ask themselves "could this effect my characters world/potential canonmates?" If the answer is yes, then you should be asking permission just in case.

[archerartemis]

What about monsters of the week? I figure a canon update where they're fighting a monster of the week falls under #1, but if we're setting up a battle scenario with a random encounter with a monster, should we get permission for it?

For example, let's say I'm playing Kendrix in a RL with someone, and there's a scuffle with a monster not in canon, or just an encounter with mooks. Should I get permission for this?

[shadow_spread]

Inventing a monster of the week sounds fine to me- they're a plausible aspect of the setting and there's no real reason they shouldn't be around. If, for example, someone was playing Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and decided to invent a random vampire for her and another character to slay during an rl, I wouldn't say that would require permission. If they wanted to use an actual canon vampire, or turn some minor human character into a vampire, etc., that would require permission.

[archerartemis]

Great. What about the faceless, nameless footsoldiers? Are they okay too?