Portraying Disabilities in Roleplay

Something that we wish to stress to our community members is ensuring that any time you choose to portray a character with any form of disability, whether that be neurological, psychological, or physical, it should be done so with knowledge and respect. Similar to portraying a character outside of your ethnicity or culture, proper research needs to be done on the player's part to ensure that their character is portrayed respectfully and with sensitivity to people who are impacted by these conditions in real life.

It is not the responsibility of the staff to do this research for you. If a character of this type is one you wish to portray, you as the player are solely responsible for your level of research to ensure appropriate portrayal. That being said, players must understand that just because you have done research and might consider yourself knowledgeable on the subject, this does NOT make you a voice on behalf of those who deal with these conditions in the real world.

Types of Disabilities

The types of disabilities we have outlined here are not all encompassing to the broad spectrum of conditions that can affect people. However, those listed are ones we are willing to allow our players to explore with their characters so long as the cavate of adequate and appropriate research has been done.

Physical:

Muteness
- Players with IRL muteness will have certain exemptions and additional command resources.
Blindness / Visual Impairment
Mobility Impairment
Loss of limb
Gigantism
Dwarfism
Partial Deafness
- ✘Total Deafness ✘ - Completely Deaf Characters will not be allowed as our server relies heavily on communication, and playing a completely deaf character skirts around this rule. It would be all too easy for a player to commit NVL using the excuse that the character didn't hear the warning, for example.

Neurological:

Tourette's
Autism Spectrums

Psychological

Dissociative Identity Disorder
Schizophrenia

Expectations

As stated in the introduction, players are expected to be well read on the disability they wish to undertake.

For existing characters who have suffered grievous bodily harm and wish to undertake a permanent disability in their roleplay, a ticket must be opened to discuss the nature of disability and ensure the player understands this impact on their character before proceeding.

Characters with psychological and neurological diversities are not exempt from NVL rules.

Realism and immersion matters. While blind characters may have better hearing, a blind character should not be using a gun and using sound to locate their target. Characters with a Loss of Limb should not be participating in Fighting Tournaments.

Players are also expected to take these roles seriously and not make a mockery of their portrayal. Players should refrain from the glorification of real world struggles to bolster their roleplay.

Failure to meet these expectations will result in an admin discussion with the player to either course-correct or the possible removal of said character from server.
If and when a player decides to portray a character of this nature, a support ticket is to be opened and a discussion had before the character is allowed to be created.