Rules and Guidelines

1. Seeking exploits or loopholes, or disobeying the intention of the Rules and Guidelines.

1. Any form of discrimination, harassment, or hate speech directed at another because of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, spiritual beliefs, ability, etc.
2. The promotion of neo-nazi ideology, confederate apologia, sexism, racism, etc.

1. Out-of-Character attacking another community member with verbal abuse, making threats, engaging in unwanted conduct or interactions, or inciting other community members to do the same.
2. Making sexual or romantic advances towards another who does not or cannot consent.
3. Using the community solely to seek romantic partnership.

1. Free Spirit is an 18+ community. All persons must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or older to engage with the community on the Discord, Forums, and RedM Server.
2. All Player Characters portrayed on the Forums and RedM Server must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or older. Characters must behave their relative age and cannot be portrayed as unrealistically innocent and naive, or childlike.

1. The use of any third-party program, scripted macros, injected code, overlay, or other physical or digital tool to engage in unfair play or cheating.

1. Erotic Roleplay – performing sexual acts, including the use of scenes and emotes to imply explicit behavior, on the RedM Server, or within the Community.
2. Pregnancy Roleplay – exhibiting aspects of pregnancy, or roleplaying childbirth scenarios on the RedM Server, or within the Community.
3. Child Roleplay – roleplay involving a character (NPC) under the age of 18, including descriptive scenes, but excluding character backstories, and references to characters not in-state.
4. Slavery Roleplay – roleplay involving the exploitation, indentured servitude, or the removal of societal freedom of any character, excluding character backstories.
5. Suicide/Self-Harm Roleplay – the glorification of self harm and suicide in roleplay, especially in regards to emotional distress or mental health. Community Members may Sunset their character, which involves departing from the story and deleting the character on the RedM Server.
6. Excreta Roleplay – roleplay involving urinating, defecating, or vomiting on other characters or character property, or setting descriptive scenes of human waste or filth to make something unsanitary. This excludes references of using the bathroom, or vomiting from intoxication or illness.

1. Do not direct-message Staff or Administration unless given permission. Private messages may be ignored.
2. All communication with Staff and Administration regarding reports, support, etc, with the Free Spirit Community must be done through the appropriate ticket category on the Free Spirit Discord.
3. Do not contact Staff or Administration regarding the status of  applications or active tickets. It is okay to use the @Staff and @Admin functions on the Discord to bring attention to a dormant ticket, within the ticket.
4. A dormant ticket is defined as a ticket or admin mediated group chat within the discord that has not had Staff or Administration interaction for at least one week.
5. Please use the @Staff and @Admin functions to bring attention to potential community rule violations in the Free Spirit Discord chat channels.

1. While Streamers and Content Creators do not receive special treatment from Staff or Administration, Streaming and Recording of the RedM Server is welcome and encouraged.
2. Streamers and Content Creators are expected to adhere to the rules and guidelines more-so than others as they are acting as server representatives.
3. It is requested, but not mandatory, that live streams to twitch.tv, and other similar services include “Free Spirit”, “Free Spirit RP”, or “FSRP” in the title.
4. Do not reference streaming or recording in roleplay. Phrases like “I have twitchy eyes” are not allowed.
5. Do not use streaming or content creation as a means to coerce roleplay into a favorable outcome.
6. Streamers and Content Creators cannot, under any circumstances, record voice or text channels on the Discord and Forums.
7. By playing on the RedM Server, you consent to being recorded.

1. Any Community Member who wishes to organize a Community Event, recurring or one-time, must open a General Support Ticket. 
2. All Community Events have an attendance hard-cap of twenty-eight (28) players.
3. Community Events must be inclusive and operate with a guestlist on a first come, first serve basis. This excludes things like character weddings, funerals, etc.

1. All community members in the Discord must have their Server Display Name in the following format:
   Username | Character Name (e.g.: user01 | Jane Doe)
2. Display Names may not include special characters or emojis, or character nicknames and aliases. Only use the name of one character.
3. All discussions and content must be kept to relevant channels.
4. Do not discuss ongoing roleplay scenarios or meta information in any Discord channel.

1. It is requested that all players maintain good audio quality while on the server. Players should not sound muffled, distorted, or far away. Players should not have static, excessive background noise, popping, or hissing in their transmissions.
2. Community members are encouraged to use audio enhancing software to mitigate poor audio quality. Players struggling with audio quality should open a General Support Ticket.
3. All community members must have Push-To-Talk, or Push-To-Mute enabled on the RedM Server and Discord Voice Channels. Continuous Transmissions, or Hot Mic-ing is not permitted.
4. Voice Changers or Audio Altering Softwares are permitted on the server so long as they do not disrupt audio quality, introduce extreme effects, sound unrealistic, or break immersion.
5. Players using a voice changer must maintain the voice effect they have chosen for their character and cannot change that effect beyond minor adjustments.
6. Soundboards are permitted on the server so long as the sounds used are Staff Approved, do not contain copyrighted sounds or music, or are immersion breaking or poor in quality.
7. Soundboards must be relevant to roleplay and can only be used with Staff or Administrative approval. Players who wish to use a soundboard should open a General Support Ticket.

1. If there are more than thirty-two (32) player entities in an area, including player horses, this can cause an error commonly referred to as bubbling. All players on the server must contribute to mitigating bubbling.
2. Players should dismiss horses and wagons when they are not in use.
3. Players may not attend a server event if the server event is at capacity.
4. Players experiencing symptoms of bubbling, which include ghosting, audio desync, and horse desync, should leave the area and reload their RedM client.

1.  All community members are restricted to having no more than two (2) character slots in use on the RedM server at any time. This is for stability purposes. Community Members may apply for more character slots by opening a General Support Ticket.

1. Roleplay Bleed is defined as the mixing of in-character and out-of-character emotions, actions, or conversations. It is an immensely unhealthy and dangerous behavior which corrupts the roleplay experience for everyone involved.
2. It is the responsibility of every player to separate in-character and out-of-character interactions. As well as remind themselves that they are not their character, nor is any other community member. No exceptions.

1. Perpetuating out-of-character grudges and feuds, or holding longstanding and unwarranted hatred for another Community Member because of past interactions.
2. Fabricating or perpetuating negative out-of-character rumors about another community member.
3. The above does not include In-Character interaction, and only applies within the confines of the Free Spirit Community Discord, and Forums.

1. Acting in such a way that disrupts Community Events on the RedM Server and Forums.
2. Being deliberately disruptive to an ongoing roleplay scenario, or repeatedly targeting the same community member in-character without valid in-character reason.
3. Acting in such a way to prevent others from roleplaying on the RedM Server or Forums.

1. Invalidating the roleplay or story of other player characters because it does not pertain to or revolve around a specific character. Also called “Main Character Syndrome”.
2. Invalidating or disrespecting the roleplay or story of other player characters because the roleplay does not end in a personally desired or favorable outcome.

1. Powergaming is defined as the abuse of game rules and game mechanics in order to gain an unfair advantage over other players. It is also neglecting roleplay standards to gain a favorable outcome in a situation. (See Win Mentality above.)
2. Exploiting bugs or glitches to gain an unfair advantage - such as entering buildings through locked doors that are desynchronized, etc.
3. The flowers in Big Valley are in fact American Lupine, not Lavender.
4. Exceeding the bounds of the map, or accessing areas that were not intended for players to access.
5. Logging off of the RedM Server during an active roleplay situation. Also called “Combat Logging”.
6. Moving items into a property, bank, or horse inventory during a roleplay situation so that they cannot be discovered in personal inventory. Also called “Combat Storing”.
7. Weaponizing the rules and guidelines to gain an advantage in roleplay. Also called “Rule-play Over Roleplay”.
8. Deliberately moving other player characters’ bodies to a place or situation where they cannot be recovered. This is also called “Body Dumping”. Players are under no obligation to move incapacitated players from hidden or hard to navigate places.
   • Amendment for Powergaming - 8, Body Dumping is allowed with player consent. Reference Roleplay - Consent, and the Roleplay Guidelines for details.

1. Metagaming is defined as the utilization or distribution of information that your character would otherwise not know. It is also defined as the use of information gained using out-of-character means, then utilizing the information in-character.
2. Communicating with other players on the RedM Server through Discord, or other methods outside of the game while playing on the RedM Server.
3. Acting on information learned through watching a stream, or media posted on the community Discord and Forums.
4. Playing on the RedM server while watching a live stream that is showing current gameplay of the Free Spirit RedM server.

1. All players must remain in character at all times while on the server. It is never okay to break character, even in the event of a rule violation.
2. Do not use immersion breaking, or setting inappropriate language. (e.g. “Flex your E muscle”, “I’m thinking of pizza”, or “I’m in my head”.)
3. All players must act realistically, and may not behave unrealistically, or treat the setting as if it were a game in-character. (e.g. Running around crouched and claiming to be a “gremlin”.)
4. Players who need to step away, take a break, or go AFK should excuse themselves from any roleplay situation they may be in, and move their character somewhere out of the way.
5. Players caught AFK must honor roleplay that happens to their character.
6. All players should be prepared for roleplay before getting on the server, and make sure that no outside factors could impede roleplay. This excludes real world emergencies and biological needs, etc.
7. All community members should respect the setting of the community, both on the server and in the forums. All aspects of roleplay should be kept time period, and setting appropriate.
8. Players should act within the limitations of their character at all times. Characters should have reasonable limitations to keep them interesting.
9. Players are not allowed to roleplay having or using supernatural abilities like reading minds, accelerated healing, etc.
10. No player may perpetuate roleplay with a predetermined outcome, or participate in scripting roleplay - out-of-character planning out of exact in-character actions and reactions with player counterparts.
11. All player characters must wear clothing and equipment that is time period and setting appropriate on the RedM Server.
12. No player may abuse the colorways system. Unrealistically flamboyant or garish colors that are used in an immersion breaking way are not permitted. Unrealistic or impossible material types are not permitted.
13. No player may use certain unlocked clothing customization items such as armor, Bone and Halloween masks, helmets, badges, etc., without first receiving permission from Staff and Administration. No exceptions. Please open a General Support Ticket to apply.
14. No player may use certain unlocked horse tack customization options such as Bone and Halloween masks, chest-mounted lanterns, etc., without first receiving permission from Staff and Administration. No exceptions. Please open a General Support Ticket to apply.
15. No player may farm, or use the Planting features in or near towns and cities. This is both for immersion and stability reasons.

1. Initiation is required for any conflict on the RedM server. Initiation is defined as a clearly communicated threat through verbal warning or physical threat such as brandishing (aiming or pointing) a weapon. Intent or purpose must be made clear through words, emotes, status, or action. Players must be given a reasonable time to acknowledge initiation.
2. No player may attack, restrain, or attempt to incapacitate another player in any way without Initiation. This is also called “Random Death Match” or “RDM”.
3. After a conflict or hostile scenario has ended, involved players must remain online for at least thirty (30) minutes.
4. Rule of Five. Any posse, gang, band, or group of players engaging in conflict may not exceed five (5).
5. When traveling in a group larger than five, that group must choose five (5) players who can engage in potential conflict, all others must disperse until the situation is resolved.
6. Castle Doctrine. When conflict is initiated on the territory of a player group, all individuals who are part of that group are allowed to defend the territory. The defending group may only pursue the attacking group, or perpetuate conflict outside of the territory with a group no greater than five (5). Rules of initiation still apply.
7. For any players or groups who wish to engage in long term conflict, or “war”, a General Support Ticket must be opened to discuss the details of that conflict.
8. Shareen is 52 years old.
9. Conflict may not be initiated without good reason, or prior roleplay story build-up. This excludes random acts of crime such as robbery. This is also called “Reaching for Conflict”.
10. No player may shoot, stab, or otherwise deliberately attack an already incapacitated player without first receiving permission from that player through the /ooc function, or private message. This is also called “Double Tapping”.
11. If a player is injured during a confrontation, only that player may choose how they were hurt unless otherwise stated by Staff or Administration. This is also called “Calling Shots”.
12. No player may equip more than one Longarm at any time. A longarm is defined as a full-sized Shotgun, Rifle, or Repeater. No exceptions.
    • Amendment for Conflict - 12, Players may use a Hunting Bow, or Improved Bow in combination with a longarm.
13. Players may equip up to two (2) Handguns. Handguns are defined as Pistols, Revolvers, and the Sawed-Off Shotgun.
14. No player may use the Dual Wielding Mechanic for any reason. Only one Handgun may be used in both hands in combat. No exceptions. (See Powergaming above.)
15. No player is allowed to incapacitate other players who are driving boats. This is for immersion and stability reasons.

1. No player may currently roleplay a corrupt character in an official position such as a deputy, magistrate or judge, prosecutor, etc.
2. Corruption is defined as a player abusing the power of their station for personal gain, or unlawful gain for themselves or a group.
3. No crime can be committed thirty (30) minutes prior to a server restart, or up to thirty (30) minutes after a server restart. This excludes ongoing crime roleplay such as kidnapping.
4. Players must remain online and available on the RedM server for at least thirty (30) minutes after committing a crime.
5. If a crime is committed, the criminal character must leave descriptive Scenes with reasonable clues. Reference Scene Etiquette for more details.
6. Criminals may not rob other players of every item in their inventory. This is called “Pocket Wiping”. Take within reason - be fair to fellow community members.
7. Player groups who wish to start a gang must open a General Support Ticket for a Gang Application.
8. All players are welcome to play a criminal character. For detailed rules and guidelines for criminal characters, reference the Outlaw's Guide.
9. No player may steal House Keys from other player characters on the RedM server. This is for stability purposes.
10. If a weapon is not actively equipped by a player, it may not be stolen from the player inventory.

1. Every story has a Beginning, Middle, and End. Know when to jump into action, and when to end a story. Do not rush to major story beats such as conflict, weddings, sunsetting, etc.
2. Practice reasonable and realistic reactions to any given situation.

1. Players are expected to honor the consequences of being injured, and not roleplay as if nothing happened. (e.g. A character recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg should not be running.)
2. Severe injuries in roleplay should take two (2) real life days to heal at minimum.
3. Frequent severe injuries should have a longer recovery time.
4. Injuries that lead to temporary disability such as blindness, muteness, inability to run, etc, are allowed. Permanent disabilities require an application. Reference Disabled Characters for more information.
5. Injuries as a result of game bugs or glitches do not have to be honored if there are no witnesses. If a character is incapacitated by a bug or glitch and was witnessed by other player characters, the severity of the injury may be downplayed.
6. Injuries incurred from accidental falls, animal attacks, and NPC altercations may be downplayed. This excludes Bounty Hunting Missions.
7. Incapacitated players may not abuse the ability to speak while incapacitated.
8. Players must wait no less than ten (10) minutes after using the Call Doctor function for a Doctor to arrive before using the Respawn function.

1. When a player chooses that incapacitation, or roleplay dictates that their character is dead, this is called Permanent Death, or “Perma”. Characters that are dead must be deleted from the server after final affairs are settled, and can not be brought back or retconned into existence.
2. Using the /status, /me, or /ooc functions on the server to state “no pulse”, “dead”, “perma”, or similar things will be considered the permanent death of that character. There are no exceptions - this should be treated as a major decision.
3. Players can only choose when their own character dies, not the characters of other players.
4. Staff and Administration reserve the right to insist community members perma their characters for valid reasons. This will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
5. If a character is killed as a consequence of roleplay such as a state ordered execution, or meaningful build-up of story leading to a situation where survival is not possible, that character death should be honored.
6. When a character’s story has come to an end, especially in regards to mental health or depression as character aspects, suicide and self harm are not allowed. Players may Sunset their characters in these situations.

1. Roleplay involving Torture is allowed so long as all parties involved consent to the scene. Consent can be asked for through Discord Messages, or a mediated General Support Ticket, as well as the /ooc function on the server. Specific boundaries and details should be communicated in Discord.
2. Romance Roleplay is allowed so long as all parties communicate clear consent in-character and out-of-character. Respect the boundaries of other Community Members. Erotic Roleplay is not allowed on the server.
3. Player characters are allowed to know each other from history or previous interaction on other servers, or in other communities, so long as all players involved agree upon the history and standing of the characters.
4. Players must request consent in order to move a incapacitated player's body with the intention to kidnap them or hold them hostage. Law Enforcement characters are exempt from requesting consent.
   • Amendment for Consent - 4, Doctor Characters may not revive players they have incapacitated with intention to circumvent this rule.
5. If a player consents to an actions such as torture, doubletapping, etc, it is implied that whatever is done to their character in that scene may be done in return. Also called “Eye for an Eye”.

1. A lasso, handcuffs, bolas, and other forms of restraint can be used on any character in any event where a player character wishes to restrain another character. Initiation must be clearly communicated.
2. If a player character is hogtied, they may not attempt to break out unless they are left unattended, or are not being actively observed, or use the /me function to clearly communicate an attempt to break loose.
3. Players may not use the ragdoll function to break out of lassos, tackles, chokeholds, or restraints while in an active conflict scenario. If a player grabs another player by mistake, it is okay to use the ragdoll function to remedy the situation.
4. Players who use Handcuffs, Ropecuffs, and Blindfolds on other player characters must remove restraints and blindfolds after roleplay has concluded. This is because of in-game mechanics.

1. All players should value their characters’ life at all times and not put their characters in dangerous situations or perform life threatening acts unnecessarily or without valid roleplay reasons.
2. Engaging in horseplay or roughhousing, running around on rooftops, or acting in a way that could reasonably lead to accidental harm is not permitted. 
3. Weapons are dangerous, player characters should treat them as such. Players should not  shoot at or use weapons, towards, or near their friends “for fun”. Meaningful threats with weapons should be taken seriously.

1. In the event a player is incapacitated as a result of roleplay or conflict, they may not return to the location of their incapacitation, or the roleplay situation, for thirty (30) minutes or until the situation is resolved.
2. If a player uses the Respawn feature after being incapacitated, they may only remember up to five (5) vague details of a situation or person(s) leading up to incapacitation. This excludes specific details like names, house addresses, or exact locations.
3. If a player is revived by a doctor after being incapacitated, they may remember all that happened leading up to incapacitation.
4. Players may not remember anything that happened while incapacitated.

1. Masks are not perfect disguises. Players may identify other characters through a combination of characteristics such as hair, scars, vernacular, voice, everyday attire, etc.
2. Players may not unreasonably or unrealistically change their characters to avoid being identified. Using the Creator Menu or Barber Functions to instantly grow a full beard, change face and body shape, remove or alter scars, etc, is not permitted.

1. Scenes should be used to enhance the roleplay experience. They are used to leave clues, information, or descriptions about roleplay. Scenes should not be too vague, or uninformative. Reference the Scene Ettiquette for details.
2. Scenes should not contain useless information or clutter. If the description doesn’t lead to roleplay, it is not necessary.
3. Scenes that force roleplay onto other players, such as “if you read this, x happens to you”, are not allowed. Also called “Powergaming Scenes” or “Godmodding”.
4. Scenes are not adequate initiation. No player may initiate conflict based on a scene. Initiation must be clearly and actively communicated.
5. When a player commits a crime, they must leave scenes with reasonable clues that could lead back to them. (e.g. “Witness describes the robber as wearing a blue duster coat, riding a buckskin mustang toward Valentine.” This example is considered the bare minimum.)
6. No more than two (2) scenes should be in a room at a time, and these scenes cannot describe the same thing. Scenes must be reasonably spaced apart.
7. It is the responsibility of each player to keep track of their own scenes, and delete unnecessary scenes, or scenes no longer pertinent to roleplay.

1. Community Members must submit a General Support Ticket for a Whitelisted Role Application for the following roles they may wish to play:

• Government (Governor, Majordomo, etc)
• Judicial (Judge, Prosecutor, etc)
• Law Enforcement (Sheriff Department)
• Private Enforcement (Bounty Hunter, Private Security, Private Investigator)
• Journalist
• Doctor
• Medicine Person
• Apothecary
• Weaponsmith
• Wrangler
• Gang Leader

1. Player characters can have a history of being in a particular role, but unless whitelisted, or established otherwise, they are not actively in that role.
2. Impersonating a whitelisted role in-character is allowed.
3. Multi-Murderer (Serial Killer) Characters are not permitted at this time. But may be applied for at a later date.
4. Corrupted Official Characters are not permitted at this time. But may be applied for at a later date.

1. Community Members who wish to play characters with disabilities must open a General Support Ticket for a Disabled Character Application.
2. Players who play Disabled Characters are expected to honor the limitations they have put upon their character.
3. People with disabilities have real life struggles, and there should be no glorification or mocking of those struggles. Approach the role respectfully.

Community Members with Real Life Speech Impairment or Muteness do not need to apply to play mute characters. However, we ask that a support ticket is opened for special accommodations or assistance.

1. Community Members are welcome to roleplay characters in cultures outside of their own real life culture, but must demonstrate a strong understanding of that culture, and not misrepresent or stereotype that culture through roleplay.
2. Community Members who wish to play Native American Characters must adhere to the Indigenous Characters Guidelines.
3. Community Members are welcome to play Romani, Irish Travelers, Saami, and other Traveler cultures, but must adhere to the Traveler Character Guidelines (Guide Pending).