Sections in this thread are:
1) The rules in brief.
2) The rules in detail.
3) What could happen to me if I break the RPG rules?
4) Whose job is it to enforce the RPG rules, and what should I do if the rules are broken?



1) The rules in brief:

Do not god-mod (aka. Do not take control of other people' characters without permission).
Do not power-play (making your character all important or all powerful)
Do try to avoid very short posts.
Use good grammar.
Do not ignore other players.
Stick to the storyline of the RPG.
Make sure you know the HE Forum Rules.



2) The rules in detail:

Do not god-mod: god-modding includes controlling the movement, actions or speech of another player's character. This includes killing another person's character without their agreement, changing them in some way without their player’s permission, or controlling the opponent during a fight. For example:
We have two players, A and B, and their characters, Al and Bob.

"A writes:
Al hits Bob and breaks his arm. Bob starts to cry."

Exceptions to this rule would be:
If it is arranged for another character to follow yours somewhere, you could go there and write that the other person's character follows you.
If another player gives you permission to use their character if they are leaving the RPG altogether.
I strongly advise against letting another player use your character if you are leaving for a few days or something. You can't control what they will do and if they do something you don't like there's not much you can do about it.

Do not power-play: For example, a character who can do any challenge, never loses a fight (even when the odds are completely against them), can dodge any attack and land any attack without the opponent ever dodging, or is the most powerful or important character in the game or changes the plot to make themselves the single central character. It is not fun to play with someone who creates a character like that, and tends to make everyone very angry at you.
For example:

Al punches Bob.

Bob dodges and kicks Al, who falls over.

Al grabs his gun and shoots Bob.

Bob dodges and kicks the gun away from Al, then he pulls out a knife and stabs him.

Obviously this is annoying for Player A, because B is refusing to be hit, and is making all of his attacks land on Al without giving him a chance to dodge. You can imagine being in that situation isn't very fun for player A.
Also, remember the RPG has a time line, every action or movement takes time and you can't leave a place and immediately arrive somewhere else.

Try to avoid very short posts: Sometimes it is okay to post just one or two lines of text, and sometimes there's not much alternative. However, if you do it a lot, or make a long line of very short posts, it gets annoying and wastes space in the RPG. People might ignore you if you do this so if you try to interact with them they won't know.

Use good grammar: I cannot stress how appreciated it would be if everyone, but particularly those who don't know English very well, could double-check all their posts to make sure spelling and grammar is to the highest level they can achieve. Using a spell-checker is also good if you're English isn't brilliant. You can be the best RPer in the world but if people can't read your posts there's nothing we can do to help.

Don't ignore other members: If someone tries to interact with you don't ignore them. If you're struggling to understand their post, or you're in the middle of some event and they're causing trouble or if their post breaks some of the rules and you can't/don't want to reply for that reason, don't just ignore them; point it out, explain the situation and try and say what you can do to improve.

Stick to the RPG's storyline: Fairly simple. The point of an RPG is to take part in the story and interact with other players. Obviously there can be several events going on at the same time, but keep all things relevant to the plot. Don't do something completely unrelated and DON'T go off on your own and start long side plots featuring no one but your own characters and a load of NPCs (non-player characters).

Be aware of the relevant HE Forum rules. Eg.
Be polite
Don't spam
Don't double-post; use the edit button because that's what it's there for!
If you need to say something quickly to a single member it is ok to post it in OOC as long as it's relevant to the RPG.


That's about it for now. If anyone has any other ideas post them here and I'll think about adding them. These rules count for RPing, not for making RPGs (which is covered in its own thread).

In addition to this, many RPGs have their own rules on things such as random characters, the number of posts you are allowed to make per day and the number of characters a player is allowed. Before joining an RPG you should always check the first post carefully.



3) What could happen to me if I break the RPG rules?

You won't get an infraction for breaking RPG rules, but you could have your characters removed, or you may even get kicked out of the RPG altogether.



4) Whose Job is it to enforce the rules, and what should I do if rules are broken?

If you create an RPG, it is your job to make sure the rules are enforced in your RPG (and only in your RPG). You can decide how to treat rule breakers. You have the right to kick people out of your RPG if they break the rules, though I recommend you give them at least one warning first.

The only other person who can punish people from breaking the rules in the RPG moderator, who at the present time is me!

If you see someone breaking the rules, you can point it out to them. However, if lots of people gang up on someone every time they make a mistake it can be very discouraging for them. If two people have already pointed out that rules have been broken, then DON'T say anything (unless they continue to break the rules). The only time this rule does not apply is if you are the RPG creator, or you are RPG moderator.