Community Guidelines

The following is a set of guidelines for interpersonal conduct in the BlogNomic community. It covers conduct on all BlogNomic spaces, including the blog, the wiki, and the slack or discord, as well as interactions between members of the community off-site. It is, at this stage, non-binding and has no enforcement mechanism; it is, however, expected that all players of the game be aware of the contents of this document and voluntarily abide by it wherever possible.

Statement of Purpose

Simply stated, players should always treat each other with courtesy and respect. Civility is a basic requirement, even in heated debates. Differences of opinion are inevitable and faceless words on a screen communicate nuance poorly. Players are expected to maintain an assumption of good faith and to step away from the game when that assumption cannot be maintained.

BlogNomic is specifically a social game that occasionally involves deceit. It is important to separate the player from the play. Individual opinions on what constitutes the parameters for acceptable underhandedness will vary by player and time, but it is important to remember that critiques on the basis of game culture should be aimed at plays, not players.

BlogNomic is a game, and its purpose is to provide an enjoyable, calm and stimulating environment for everyone. Antisocial conduct should not be accepted in this community. BlogNomic is not an appropriate venue for intolerance of another person's gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion, and we do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

Guidelines for play

The following advice governs specific behaviours that may arise during play.

As with the rest of this document, this section is advisory, and its individual stipulations may be flouted if necessary to, say, enact a really clever play. However, it is expected that this kind of flouting is advised and rare, and that players mostly commit to upholding the advice below as a matter of the game's culture. When a player finds that the game is compelling them to broach these guidelines, they should raise the issue with other players and either seek to change the rules to make them more manageable or step back from the game until it changes.

• The rhythm of a dynasty of BlogNomic should not be less than 24 hours - which is to say, the ruleset should usually not require players to check the game more than once a day. The game may run quicker than that at times (for example, during busy stages of a dynasty proposals may get resolved in 12 hours) but the maintenance of a high pace for a sustained period of time should be avoided. Occasional time-based plays may be fun but consistently sacrificing other parts of your life (like sleep) to marginally increase your chances of victory is discouraged.
• The responsibility for the health of BlogNomic as a game rests with the community. It is never an individual's responsibility, even the Emperor's, to fix the game or the ruleset. Some dynasties fail, and sometimes the game is quiet; this does not call for extraordinary action from any individual.
• Players should be careful to be respectful of other players' plays and approaches to the game. The proposals of other players represent their labour, given to the game for free, and may represent their idea for the dynasty or may advance their agenda; there will often be reasons to object to some of these but it is important that objections focus on the merits of the play, rather than its reflection upon the player. Other players should not presume to instruct them on major elements of their proposal, or on the game as a whole, without their advice being solicited. This extends to respecting the input of an Emperor, which can carry a higher burden of accuracy and which may be complicated or invisible.
• The BlogNomic community is largely competitive, and while personal definitions of success in the game vary it is often the case that a high premium is placed on winning. This is not enforced, however - those players who simply wish to have fun or participate in co-creation are welcome and should not have their approaches or contributions dismissed.

Above all, it's important to operate on the assumption of good faith. Most, if not all, players will be carrying out actions that they think are validly part of the game and its culture, or will be testing the boundaries of the game or its culture constructively. Feelings will occasionally be hurt and exchanges will occasionally be heated but players are encouraged not to allow negative feelings towards one another spill outside of the inciting incident. Players who regularly find themselves embroiled in conflict may wish to review their communication style, but each individual has a responsibility to consider their own actions and responses objectively and ensure that they are living up to their own ideals for respectful conduct.

Guidelines for communication

BlogNomic broadly adopts Wikipedia's guidelines on incivility and encourages players to review them regularly.

BlogNomic also adopts Wikipedia's statement on personal attacks. Players found to be systemically engaging in personal attacks on other players may be removed from the game and the community.