Rules: Law of World

What Is Law of World?

Law of World is my little way of saying, "realistic". Being realistic is key to any roleplay. Even a fantasy site with magic and zombies has to remain "realistic".

Every world has laws. Look at our own world for example. There's the law, of gravity: what goes up, must come down. There's also the law that: what dies stays dead. There's the laws that govern our bodies, making it impossible to, say, digest a metal flag pole. There's laws that govern our abilities making it impossible for humans to flap their arms and fly like birds.

Every world has laws and the roleplay world is NO exception.

Law of World: Preordained Laws

Every site has a theme. The theme might be a vampire roleplay, a warrior cat roleplay, a fantasy roleplay, etc. With every theme comes a preordained set of laws governing that world. Some of the laws are preordained for all sites. Some may differ.

Preordained laws include everything that is already the laws of our world, laws that we don't really think about but are there nonetheless. These laws include my examples above: the law of gravity, law of death, the laws that govern our bodies and abilities, etc. A cat cannot flap its paws and fly. A human cannot pick up a skyscraper. Those are preordained laws.

There are exceptions to the laws that govern our real world when it comes to imaginary roleplays, like vampires, warrior cats, super humans, zombies, etc. However, there are preordained laws that we must be aware of when we are on even those sites.

The laws are very similar to our real world laws. They only shift to allow the zombie/vampire/talking cat into the mix. What do I mean by shift? Well, in order to have zombies, for example, we obviously have to change the law of world to let them even exist. Then there are a set of preordained laws that follow zombies: they are undead, they eat human flesh, they can only be killed a certain way (which is decided by site owner), and so on.

Now I know what you're all thinking. "I already know this stuff. Duh, of course we can't fly. Of course zombies eat brains. This is too basic, I'm leaving."

DON'T LEAVE!

That was merely an introduction to my biggest point. Just hang on for another minute.

Law of World: Do Not Fight It

Do not fight the Law of World.

If the site says vampires turn to dust when exposed to sunlight, then you can bet your grandma's pantyhose that your vampire is going to turn to dust the minute you step out the door on a sunny afternoon.

No, your vampire does not have a "special defect that makes him immune to sunlight". No, your vampire does not wear "special object/lotion/etc" that keeps him from turning to dust. No, your vampire IS NOT AN EXCEPTION TO THE LAW OF WORLD.

There are no exceptions to the law of world. No matter how badly you want there to be.

Law of World: Common Law Breaking

Common Law Breaking. It's sad. It should be a crime. In fact, when people break the law of world on my site, I always say: "Stop! Rewind! We're going back to 'so and so post' and we're doing it all over again!"

When you break the Law of World, all realism in your roleplay flies out the door with almost no hope of normalcy returning. It destroys, it kills, it ruins your roleplay. When one law is broken, all the others quickly follow suit.

Many times I have seen sites spiral out of control when a Law of World is broken.

Why?

Well, let's pick some examples I have seen on multiple roleplay sites and we'll take it from there.

EXAMPLE: Resurrection and Reincarnation

Oh no! Johnny died! Isn't it sad? See my sad face ): .
What to do, what to do... oh I know what to do! He'll kick the Grim Reaper where it counts, steal the Reaper's hourglass, turn back the sands of time, and come back to life!
Yay! Johnny's back! Now let's all...

Wait a minute...

Johnny came back to life? That's not fair! I want my character Sarah to come back to life! Well, actually I don't really like her that much. I know! I'll have her reincarnate into Johnny's daughter!

STOP! STOP! STOP!

Rewind and back it up!

First thing is first: read over what happened again. Maybe you've seen this in RP before. I've seen it dozens of times.

Now think about the Law of World. What does the Law of World say about this?

On every world you go on the Law of World states: what dies stays dead.

Resurrection and Reincarnation are two taboos that are constantly used. Don't use them. It destroys believability in a site. Do people in your hometown come back to life? No? Then why did Johnny come back to life?

If a site CLEARLY AND SPECIFICALLY STATES that you MAY come back to life, then yes, by all means that is alright. But otherwise, remember the Law of World: what is dead stays dead.

And if you wanted to keep them, why did you let them die in the first place?

Helpful Hint: when about to do something, ask yourself: does this happen in real life? If the answer is no, then reconsider doing it, and maybe look up the site rules to see if it is allowed.




What was my point with the example?

When one Law of World is broken, the rest will quickly follow. When Johnny came back to life, Sarah thought it would be fine to reincarnate Sarah. She thought it would be fine to break the Law of World because Johnny got away with it first. Before long, other people will start dying and coming back to life. Powers will develop. People will fight. Eventually, you forget what the site was originally about.

Think about it this way too: if suddenly gravity didn't exist, what other laws of the world might change? Without gravity, things wouldn't go up and down. You can't walk. You can't talk. You can't eat, breathe, or anything. You would die very quickly and your dead body would float around for years.

Intense isn't it? And that's what will happen to your website if you break a law of world even in RP. Your site will die quickly and float around for years in cyberspace.


Remember some of the Laws of World I mentioned, and perhaps think on and record ones that you have discovered.