Rule 0 and Rule 1 surrogates

[conrad]

Hey folks quill18 here, I wanted to ask you lovely candidates about how you feel about rule enforcement.

I think it's pretty well understood that every single rule is an extension of rule 1. It's just specificities about varying degrees of one existence as a bellend and how to avoid being one, with rule 0 allowing people to do whatever they want under admin discretion as long as it's funny, interesting or otherwise entertaining.

These qeustions were brought about in my head by three recent admin complaints.

Pardon my yapping, but in particular, this is a three pronged question, with the overral concept being the same: how strictly should the rules be reinforced and referenced to besides just the Big 1™.

Onto question marks:

- Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?

- Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it intead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?

- Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?

EDIT: I editted this thing like 6 times, including this edit. I really oughta proof read things

[TheRex9001]

- Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?
Its a mix, because whilst the letter of the rule is important since it is what everyone can actually follow the spirit of the rule matters too, to me ideally the wording of a rule should reflect it's spirit and approach from the admin team. If you stray too far towards the letter you end up with unenforceable rules in a sandbox game so vast nothing can cover every situation and if you stray too far towards just following the spirit you'll end up with rules that are extremely obtuse for the average player to understand and arguements in bus that go on for a historic amount of time. We need balance. I think enforcement of rules is generally good, we did have a period of maybe being too harsh on sex jokes.

- Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it intead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?
I think we could prune the headmin rulings but those arent super used, I'd prune rule 11 at least to remove everything except "Intentionally seeking to demean others due to their actual or perceived race, sex, gender, disability, orientation or the like is not tolerated."

- Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?
There is a slight one, but nothing too extreme in my opinion, if it turns out that this isn't the case I would have a chat with the admin who I think is not enforcing the rules according to what my term thinks is appropriate.

[kinnebian]

Hey folks quill18 here, I wanted to ask you lovely candidates about how you feel about rule enforcement.

I think it's pretty well understood that every single rule is an extension of rule 1. It's just specificities about varying degrees of one existence as a bellend and how to avoid being one, with rule 0 allowing people to do whatever they want under admin discretion as long as it's funny, interesting or otherwise entertaining.

These qeustions were brought about in my head by three recent admin complaints.

Pardon my yapping, but in particular, this is a three pronged question, with the overral concept being the same: how strictly should the rules be reinforced and referenced to besides just the Big 1™.

Onto question marks:

Hello Conrad! I'm here to answer your questions.

- Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?

Due to the nature of SS13, its impossible to cover every situation with a single ruling. Rules should be enforced to the letter when possible to do so, understandably leaving a lot of wiggle room to take context into account. The state of current enforcement is difficult to comment on- but I think we are in a pretty good spot right now.

- Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it intead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?

Ive said my thoughts about Rule 11 in my candidate thread- but I think the rulebook is a bit overbloated. People barely read it as is- let alone with all the extra text. Im in agreeance with Rex when it comes to headmin rulings needing a trim.

- Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?

SS13 is a sandbox game. No two situations are exactly the same, so its impossible to expect a team of admins with a wide variety of opinions to come to agreeance on every single point or ruling. Naturally, this generates some inconsistency on how the rules are enforced. Luckily for us- we are peer reviewing eachother eternally, and have a robust appeal and complaint system for egregious cases. I feel like most admins are on the same page when it comes to whats important, however.

Thanks for your questions, Conrad!

[xzero314]

"- Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?"

This question has a lot to the answer I think. A common thing when an admin asks for some help with a situation in bus and for other opinions is a question of "is the thing really worth an admin getting involved". Since once an admin dips their toes into a situation you have to pull people out of the round.

The answer to the question though is: Always being flexible is required. Which is what I think is the spirit of rule 0. Sometimes admins can allow things against the rules when the thing had a net positive impact on peoples round and people had fun because of it.
I think the important thing to consider when deciding to rule 0 something or just in how you want to go about enforcing a rule break is: Why is the rule is there in the first place? Was somebodies experience worsened due to this rule being broken? So in the case of a rule break that you hand wave as a nothing burger, that may appear not a big deal at first. If not enforced it may turn into a larger issue of behavior that impacts more rounds. So case by case consideration is required.
My thoughts on enforcement tie in a bit to the second question--->


"- Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it instead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?

Calling back to what I said in that one players club thread. I think Classifying MRP and LRP as More Role Play and Less Role Play is incorrect. The RP barrier between our different servers isn't what separates them. Its the amount of rules.
We have More Rules Play and Less Rules Play. So in turn we have players that prefer More Rules Play and players that prefer Less Rules Play. It might sound like a meaningless distinction but I don't think so.
I think the labels of being "higher roleplay" and "less roleplay" have contributed to the idea of "server tribalism" when the reality is we all love the exact same game we just have players that like having more rules and players that like having less.

So what I am getting at with this is I don't see any reason to mess with the Rules in the server preferred by "Less Rules Play" Enjoyers.
Here is how my thoughts on enforcement tie in. I need you to bare with me here.
I think the solution to getting pop back on the US "Less Rules Play" server Sybil is stricter enforcement of the rules on the "More Rules Play" Server. Now this might just sound like I am saying "meh stinky LRP players dont belong on MRP!" but that is not the case.

We have two groups of players. Less Rules enjoyers and More Rules enjoyers. Currently on the US side of things all the MRP and LRP players are conglomerating on Manuel. This isn't by itself a bad thing. The player base all being able to get along on the same server is great. We love to see people with different styles of gameplay playing together and enjoying it.

However there are some concerns among the player-base and the team that the mix of playstyles is making it tough for the More Rules Server to keep its identity. So I think the solution to both this issue of MRP identity AND LRP player count is encouraging folks to play on the server that best accommodates their preferred play style. To create the best experience possible for both play style enjoyers.

"- Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?"

Oh for sure! Different Admins having different opinions on issues is natural and healthy to keeping each other in check. Thankfully the Bus is always open for support pings when an admin is not sure about something.
Often times admins that usually spend their time on LRP will ask for second opinions from admins they know are more staple on MRP if they are judging a case they aren't sure about. The important part is back to what I said about considering why something is a rule. If you are letting something slide you should consider why it was a rule break in the first place.

[RaveRadbury]

• Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?
• Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it intead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?
• Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?

1. The spirit. Forum poster BONERMASTER once had a post about how the rules serve man and not the other way around. I'm p sure he got it from somewhere else but good on him for having it on-hand and throwing it out at the right time. The rules exist to create an enjoyable environment, not to form some sort of pure utopia.
2. Right now my only concern with the rules is getting Rule 11 simplified and grounded in being a public community. I've detailed more in my campaign thread.
3. Yes. It's inevitable. The appeals process is the counterweight to it, which is why having an effective and good-faith appeals process is so important.

[Maxipat]

- Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?

Definitely the spirit. I'm a believer in that the only rule that we really need is rule 1, and all other rules (at least main rules since RPRs have different goal) are just covering edge cases of being a dick. Whether the enforcement is too lax or too strict, i think it falls on which particular admin is handling the case but overall i think we're in pretty good spot, except for rule 11.

- Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it intead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?

I don't think its too long, maybe hide the naming policy behind an expandable tab since it takes like half of the page. Rules should give a general idea of what's disallowed and then we have precedents and headmin rulings to handle edge cases. I would not mind, for example, if there was an issue forming on the server adding precedent for some time specifically adressing it that it's against the rules (so that admins and players have something to point at instead of "vibe") and then removing it from written form when it's no longer an issue. Written text by headmins has huge influence in how much admins feel empowered to handle stuff, so I think it's good to help them in that area.

- Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?

Inconsistency is inevitable, but that's what you get with over 100 people on admin team. The balancing factor is obviously our appeals, i think they work quite neatly in current form, but they should keep headmins oversight even if headmin review is not requested (i myself have read almost all appeals since i was adminned out of boredom during lectures)

[Jackraxxus]

- Should the rules be reinforced more to the letter rather than the spirit? Do you feel that enforcement is either too lax, too strict, or maybe just right?

- Do you feel the rulebook is too extensive and needs pruning? Do you feel it intead may need some extending in parts? Which ones, to prune or to extend?

- Do you feel there's an inconsistency in how admins enforce the ruleset? If so, how would you deal with it as headmin?

1. Personally I favour the spirit of the rules. Though often it's kinda an AND situation where only if the player broke the letter AND the spirit are they punished. Though with the ideal rule, rule 1, the spirit is communicated perfectly through its wording. I think the further u stray from the rules as written the more forgiving you should be - can be hard for ppl to grasp the spirit of the rules just by reading them.

2. I think the headmin rulings could do with some touching up. Making sure it's only relevant rulings. Maybe make the text on "Dont be a dick" bigger than the other rules so ppl know it's the coolest. Make the precedent in rule 3 that says "Species have naming conventions that are part of their in-universe culture. These may be subverted if they have a sufficient amount of in-character reasoning and effort explaining their non-standard name. " bold too.

3. Adminwho slot machine gif I LOVE GAMBLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having an admin meeting will help. But I like that ppl have their own styles and stand out. If some1 stands out too much and it causes a problem ppl can come to the forums. Sort it out case-by-case.