World Weavers differs from other online RPGs in that instead of writing 'Thag shouts at the cave-bear and tries to kill it," writers in World Weavers add to the story by writing 'posts,' or chapters of the story centering around the exploits of the characters.

This page offers some guidelines on how to make sure your posts don't make other people mad, and, in the rare event that you make someone mad (or get angry yourself), how to resolve problems that arise.

Rules and Etiquette
Posting Mechanics
Layout, Style, and Grammar
Dealing With Other Weavers

Rules and Etiquette

Interactive writing is a free-form gaming environment, but there are a few rules and guidelines to gameplay. Take these to heart:

• Never kill, maim, make major life-changes (like having them become parents) in, or create backhistory for other people's characters-- PC and secondary-- without their permission.
• Don't write someone else's character doing, saying or thinking something completely out of character without reason, and permission.
• Don't write other players' characters' thoughts, human-dragon conversations, or private conversations to which your character is not privy unless you know the character well *and* it forwards the storyline. Likewise, do not express other players' characters' opinions unless you KNOW that is that character's opinion.
• DO Respect other people's storylines with their characters. If they write that their character's arm is broken and may never work right again, don't write in your post that it was simply a sprain or a simple fracture. Likewise, do not start a sexual relationship with another player's character without permission. This includes not only long-term relationships, but also one-night stands, mating flights, seductions, and rapes. These are sensitive topics. Treat them with respect.
• DO Be careful of interrupting a 'tag' if the event is a private climactic event between two characters-- interrupting such a tag may show disrespect for other's storylines.
• There are many topics which can make for strong and compelling storylines. Some of these are somewhat adult in nature-- sexual relationships, rape, assault-- or are on sensitive topics-- prejudice, religion, incest, alternate sexualities. Please be aware that there may be writers in your unit who are or have had to deal with these topics and may be disturbed by their inclusion in an escapist past-time. Please also be aware that there may be minors reading your posts. We are not suggesting that these topics never be dealt with, but that they be treated with respect, both for the subject matter and your fellow players. Try to avoid graphic depictions of sex or violence unless it is truly needed for the plot of your post. Some units may have been specifically created or set aside for minors or the admins have stated that graphic posts are not appropriate. Posts to these units should not, under any circumstance, contain graphic materials. If in doubt about your unit's policies or the appropriateness of the post you are writing, check with your admin before posting.
• Legal and policy decisions at the unit that should be made by admin characters (Captain, Warrenlady, Team Leader) should be written by the admin, not anyone else.
• Don't intentionally crosspost someone. If you had a different idea or you think they crossposted something from earlier, work it out in email, not in a post.
• Don't play lone hero. Allow others to get into the action.
• DO Interact with the other PCs. This is interactive fiction, after all. If in your last post your character didn't interact at all with the other PCs, or interacted only briefly, you should probably have him/her interacting with the other PCs in this one -- unless he/she is stranded on a desert island alone or with only NPCs or something. And please remember to interact with *different* PCs.
• If you are going to be gone for a long period of time, warn your fellow players and admin if possible. You should post at least once a month, preferably more often. You may be written out after one month of inactivity. Your unit administrator should warn you first.
• Always wait *at least* a week for others to respond to your post before following up your own post.
• If someone is needing you to post before they can proceed with their storyline, do so as soon as possible. If there is some reason you can't post and there is a thread dangling waiting for you to pick up, write and inform the involved player(s).
• Helpful suggestions and questions are allowed. Insults are not. Highly intellectual insults, such as calling someone anal-retentive or microcephalic or stating their characters are 2-dimensional, etc. are still insults. Take everything with a grain of salt. You can't see facial expressions online, so you can miss those subtle visual cues that tell you someone is joking, saying something tongue-in-cheek or making an innocent remark. Always assume the best.
• What is written always has precedence over something you had planned to write but hadn't written yet. Because of this, it is best not to plan ahead too much, or if you do, not to get upset if those plans get waylaid by someone else's post.
• Sometimes a crosspost occurs or someone's character is badly miswritten and the admin or affected player will ask that people not post to that thread until it can be worked out. Not honouring such requests may exacerbate the problem. Please be patient.

Posting Guidelines

• All posts should be sent to your unit email mailing list and the Usenet newsgroup alt.shared-reality.sf-and-fantasy. If you can't post directly to the newsgroup, ask your unit admin to forward it for you in an NRPG at the bottom of your post. Many people who don't play the game follow these stories on the newsgroup. Always send posts to everyone on the mailing list, even if it has been sent for pre-approval to some people on the list, so that-- 1) the person will know it actually got posted, 2) the person has that post in the right order of posting (some people delete posts for approval after responding to them to avoid confusion), 3) there's a complete mailing list so people don't get confused about who got it, 4) there's a complete mailing list so people replying to the post with comments, without checking the headers, have their replies going to everyone, 5) the admin can check the headers and make sure you've gotten the whole list.
• Be sure to title your posts. Subject headers should begin with the identifier of the unit you are writing for. This is VERY important, since many players are on more than one mailing list. Follow the identifier with the title of your post. Example: [DL-K] A Day for Damnation
• Non-roleplaying emails should have'[Identifer] NRPG' at the front of thetitle. Don't post non-roleplaying posts to the newsgroup . If you are commenting about a post, be sure to remove the newsgroup from the list of recipients.
• If you write a plot involving a character from another play unit, it is best to send it to them as well and include an NRPG at the *top* of thepost explaining why they are receiving this post. The top is much preferable to the bottom or, worst yet, the middle of the post, as some people will not scan a post all the way to the bottom to determine if it applies to them.
• If a plot in one unit involves another unit at great length, it is best to include that other unit in your header (i.e. a Marrid post involving several characters at Telnor should be titled [DL-M/T] not just [DL-M]). If you have the mailing list for the other unit, send it to them. If not, ask the unit administrator to bounce it to the other list.
• Cross-unit posts should *only* include the plot applicable to both units. If there is a great deal going on in your post that doesn't involve the other unit, either cut the post into two posts-- one with the plot for just your unit and one with the plot involving both-- or just send the other unit the applicable sections in a separate post. There is nothing more annoying than reading through a 15k post from another unit to find the 2 paragraphs that apply to your unit.
• Try to identify the timeframe events are happening within your post. This can be done one of two ways:

1. Listing it at the top of the post or section. Example: [Ophelia's office, after breakfast]

2. Including it as part of the story. Example: "After breakfast, he headed to Ophelia's office..."

• Always sign your posts with your character name *and* real name. This is especially important when a unit first starts out so that people can place players with characters more readily. Likewise, character bios should always include the player name so when they get collected into a biofile, they are all readily available.

Layout, Style, and Grammar

• Your line-lengths should be set to 75 characters or so. If you have longer lines, it makes your posts hard to read.
• Use standard ASCII if at all possible. Word-processor code, HTML, control characters and the like can make a post nearly unreadable.
• Use the appropriate punctuation at the ends of sentences. This includes the last sentence in a paragraph, and sentences in quotation marks or <>.
• Always enclose speech and mental speech with quotation marks or other indicators. Most writers in WW use "" for spoken words and <> for mental or other non-verbal communications, including ships' comm systems.
• Each speaker should have his or her own paragraph. This rule applies to mental and comm systems as we as spoken words.

Wrong:

"Thak don't know," he said. "Thak stupid," she agreed.

Right:

"Thak don't know," he said.

"Thak stupid," she agreed.

• Changes in subject, location, or mood should be indicated by a new paragraph.
• Keep a consistent style within the post, by keeping either a blank line between paragraphs, indenting new paragraphs, or both.
• If a quotation is followed by something like "he said," put a comma (,) inside the ending quote mark and a period at the end of the sentence. If the quote is a question or exclamation, use a ? or ! inside the quote instead, and a period at the end. Unless the word following the quote is a proper noun, do not capitalize it.

Wrong:

"Thak don't know" he said.

"Thak don't know." He said.

"Thak look funny" he asked?

"Thak look funny," he asked?

"Thak kill mammoth" he cried!

"Thak kill mammoth," he cried!"

Right:

"Thak don't know," he said.

"Thak look funny?" he asked.

"Thak kill mammoth!" he cried.

• If your "he said" is before the quote, put a comma (,) after the "he said" and your final punctuation mark inside the last quotation mark.

Wrong:

He said "Thak don't know".

Right:

He said, "Thak don't know."

• If writing long stretches of dialogue, please include an occasional referent to designate who is speaking. This makes it less confusing for the reader. The referent can be a "he said," an action (Thak scratched his head. "Thak don't know.") or a person's name. ("Oga, be Thak's woman?")
• Please use third person and the past tense.

Dealing With Other Weavers
by Greg Armstrong

Often you will find that you have a disagreement with another World Weaver about a post. This is natural; and quite probably more common in a group of creative people like the World Weavers than many more "mundane" groups.

One rule to keep in mind: Relax! It is just a game! Yes, your characters and story lines are important to you, but the others' are just as important to them as yours are to you. Before you go shouting "You idiot!" or "You can't do that!" stop and smell the roses. First, try to see the other writer's point of view, and think of ways you can work that other person's writing into your own story line. If that is totally impossible, then it is time to discuss in a civil manner how a compromise can be made. Finally, if things end up where you simply cannot reach a compromise, then perhaps it is time to "agree to disagree." The realms of our imaginations are infinately vast, so it is very easy to avoid one another, thus avoid conflict. If absolutely necessary, one or the other of you may always move a character to another unit so that there is little opportunity for conflict. But unless you find it completely impossible to work with someone, I recommend against this option. Remeber the proverb: "Variety is the spice of life." If we all had the same opinions, it would be a rather dull world.

As was said before, it is just a game. But not "just," really; it is also an exercise in writing. Everyone has a different writing style, and everyone has different things to write about. Some people write posts where everything is joyous and hopeful. Others write of dark doings and unfortunate circumstances. For any gauge you want to set, the Weavers range the full scale in variety. At times, you will find yourself writing on one end of the scale with someone else writing on another. Rather than fight over it, you should learn to use this variance to your advantage, so that the two of you can work together to weave a better story.