Server Rules

You must be 18 or older to play here.

Nova Sector is a US based Community. We follow US laws.

By playing on Nova Sector, you consent to incidental or passing exposure to Sexual Content.

On Good Faith and Bad Faith

The distinction between "good faith" and "bad faith" behavior revolves around a Player's intent to engage with our Community’s rules and roleplay in a way that is fun and fair for everyone, as opposed to intentionally trying to ruin the experience or Narratives of others (commonly known as Grief/Griefing). Playing in good faith means your actions are driven by a genuine attempt to participate in the Shift’s Story and your Character's role within it, even if those actions cause conflict. In contrast, Bad faith (often synonymous with griefing or ‘shitter’ behavior) covers actions that have no benefit to the perpetrator or victims other than upsetting others, disrupting the Shift or a scene or a Story for poor in-character reasons.

Good faith behavior in gaming involves playing within the spirit of the Rules with the shared goal of an enjoyable experience for everyone, while bad faith behavior is intellectual dishonesty aimed at personal gain, disrupting the server and its environment, or "winning" at the expense of others' enjoyment.

A Security Officer brigging a crew member for a legitimate, properly escalated crime is good faith roleplay, even if it inconveniences the other player. An Officer that fabricates evidence, applies corporate regulations to their maximum allowance, throws the victim in Perma, and then ignores them, is behaving in bad faith. Staff will attempt to investigate the player's motivation to determine whether a rule was broken in good or bad faith.

Core Rules

CR 1 The Social Contract

Conduct yourself with the maturity expected of an 18+ server. Take the environment seriously. Follow Staff instructions and rulings. Seek permission, not forgiveness. Self-report to Staff if you feel you made a mistake. You are responsible for knowing the rules. Ignorance is not an excuse.

• Do not lie, omit context, or misrepresent facts in official channels. Provide all relevant information immediately. Report rule-breaks as they occur. While you may finish an active scene or moment before providing full details, you must not use this delay to escalate or seek retribution. Once a ticket is pending, all conflict with the accused parties must cease immediately. If you disagree with a ruling, remain civil and make a Staff Report ticket on Discord.
• Narrative Blackout: Shifts are loosely canon. You may remember interactions and events, but should you not recall any specific names or faces tied to antagonistic actions or roles. This can only be waived per shift by the accused.
• Keep personal struggles out of roleplay. We recognize that life can be difficult and we genuinely care about our players' wellbeing, but your characters should not be a vehicle for real-life distress. We take this seriously not to punish people who are struggling, but to make sure the game doesn't become a substitute for real support, putting unfair emotional weight on other players. If you're going through something hard, please reach out to a trusted person or support resource.
• If you wish to explore your characters mental health as a subject for roleplay such as through psychology, mental breakdowns, or ongoing story arcs, it must be done with immersion in mind and escalated in a realistic way. Mental health topics should be used to elevate roleplay for all players, not used to excuse characters' bad behavior. Treat your character's mental health journey seriously to the best of your ability.
• Do not refer to real world modern politics, wars, or any political figures in any capacity.

CR 2 The Vibe Check

Carry yourself in good faith. Play and behave altruistically for the benefit of everyone. You don't have to respect the character, but you must respect the writer and the larger game environment.

• The Interlink and Ghost Café are Peace / Safe Zones. Conflict should not be instigated or brought there. It is not a dangerous mechanical testing area. Respect the space.
• Combat must end at the round-end Title Card. The Shuttle is a Safe Zone; Security and Command may use force only to maintain peace, not to instigate. Blowing up the station or Interlink at round-end can result in a permanent ban.
• Characters not reacting to their environment are considered to have Space Sleeping Disorder. Do not touch or interfere with SSD players except to move them from immediate danger. Report SSD Command and Security to Staff, you may move other crew to cryogenics after 30 minutes, by yourself if you wish.
• Unwelcome harassment, targeted rumor-spreading, and fear-mongering is strictly prohibited.
• Avoid "Anti-Roleplay" (ARP) behaviors. Do not cryogenics or disconnect to evade IC consequences. Do not destroy or hide items essential to an ongoing narrative for your own benefit; this includes excessive measures to cover your tracks. Once your antagonist action begins, you may not leave the station Z-level without Staff approval.
• Real-world slurs and hate speech are prohibited. While "In-Universe" derogatory terms (e.g. against specific fictional species) are permitted for flavor, they must never cross into real world bigotry. The person on the receiving end determines if the verbiage is acceptable. If asked to stop, stop.
• Outright telling someone to kill themselves, in any IC or OOC channel, results in an immediate ban. This is the difference between 'walk yourself out an airlock' and 'kill yourself'.

CR 3 Setting Immersion and Safety

Play an immersive adult Original Character with personality and knowledge that respects our Lore, Narrative Setting, and your current Role. Set limitations for what your Character knows and can accomplish. Be prepared to justify your Character’s actions and knowledge. No one is perfect and all knowing, and your Character shouldn't be either.

• Keep primarily to English and only in the Latin alphabet. You may use transliterated or loan words from other languages as additive spice and character gimmick. If confronted or misunderstood, clarify yourself ICly. Do not circumvent our rules with this allowance.
• No netspeak (lol, kek, chudling, 67, etc.) in IC speech, though it is permitted by PDA.
  • Bitrunners and TTS Device users are excluded from this, assuming they remain high effort about it. ‘1337sp33k’ is always prohibited.
• Intentional suicide is prohibited. Discussion of suicide or self-harm must be kept strictly to SUBTLER and requires LOOC consent from those involved.
  • Antagonists with the Die a Glorious Death objective are exempt from this

• No "Meme" or "Joke" characters in IC spaces outside of Staff-sanctioned events.
  • You cannot play or recreate a character which resembles real life people, even for fun, except yourself.
• Play the job that you have. We have limited tolerance for characters that departmentally job-hop across shifts. Be prepared to explain to the Crew and Staff why your Chief Engineer understands advanced surgery and organic chemistry enough to be a Chief Medical Officer too.
• Respawning as the same character, as the same job or as an assistant, is permitted if you left the round by cryo and would like to rejoin. Do not rejoin as the same or as a similar or related character if you died.
• You may not copy characters from pre-existing media. Adapted concepts are okay.

CR 4 Impartiality and the Separation of Player and Character

Maintain a strict separation between your character and yourself. Your character is a narrative tool. Do not allow OOC opinions, conflicts, or personal moods to dictate their actions in a way that breaks immersion.

• Information gained outside of IC experience in the current round is Metaknowledge. Using this information for an IC advantage is Metagaming and is strictly prohibited.
• Do not target or treat a player differently IC due to OOC disagreements or events from previous rounds. Keep the slate clean every shift.
• Playing with friends is welcome, but metagaming OOCly or forming harassment groups is forbidden. This is punished with extreme severity if it occurs within Command or Security departments, as it damages the integrity of the game setting.

CR 5 Shift Integrity Pacing and the Ladder of Escalation

Your actions must be proportional to the situation. Escalate with effort. Use words, emotes, and non-lethal conflict before resorting to violence. Murder or grievous harm in direct response to minor insults or petty theft is prohibited.

• Do not skip narrative plot points for immediate satisfaction. Respect the buildup of a scene. If you are not an Antagonist, do not worsen a crisis or steal the spotlight from an ongoing narrative. Allow the intended players and Staff to drive the momentum.
• Red Alert acts as an OOC freeze on new antagonist actions. If you were not the cause of the alert, you must lay low and remain uninvolved in further chaotic escalation. This allows Crew and Staff to manage the current crisis without additional distraction.
• Game in moderation, act with self restraint. Particularly as an Antagonist, your goal is to provide an engaging challenge for the crew, not station-wipe or mass-murder without very clear narrative escalation.

CR 6 Style Points Powergaming and Scene Integrity

Your use of game knowledge, equipment, and departmental access must primarily benefit the story. We provide greater mechanical leeway to players who demonstrate high-effort roleplay (immersive dialogue, custom emotes, and depth). A player with a heavy loadout who contributes to the atmosphere will be judged more favorably than a silent player focused solely on mechanical dominance.

• Do not manipulate the environment to gain a tactical advantage while a non-combat scene is in progress. Moving furniture, welding doors, or positioning yourself "optimally" during roleplay without a Combat Indicator is considered Bad Faith Powergaming.
  • The other party may, at their discretion, consider actions such as these to be starting mechanics. Don't cry if you get shot or stabbed while attempting this.
• If you do not respect the integrity of a scene and its participants, you are acting in bad faith. This applies heavily to Security and Command, as their priority is to facilitate the round's narrative, not to win every encounter through mechanical optimization. Give the Antagonist the opportunity to be entertaining, seriously. A dead rat does not run or squeak.

CR 7: Consent, Agency, & Narrative Sovereignty

Respect the narrative desires and role responsibilities of others. Your presence does not entitle you to involvement in someone else's scene. Allow others the space to perform the roles they signed up for.

• You must acquire clear IC or OOC Consent to intentionally transform, convert, or alter the permanent physical appearance of a Character, or to convert them to Antagonism.
  • Medical and Robotics are exempt from this for the purposes of revivals. Direct them to an SAD or Admin Help if necessary.
• Only Security and Command are authorized to actively hunt antagonists. Non-security players seeking out Station Threats without a defensible, provable IC reason is Validhunting and is prohibited. Red Alert enables Crew Militia, but does not negate the roleplay expectations of those engaging.
• If you intentionally engage or interfere with an antagonist who did not approach you, your Opt-Out status regarding conflict is waived. However, protections against Round Removal still apply unless previously agreed upon.If a conflict results in a death, and the dead are not flagged for Opt Round Removal, their body must remain locatable and recoverable by their group or the crew. Do not "hide" or "space" bodies to prevent them from re-entering the round. If this is not feasible, Admin Help for guidance.
  • This is particularly relevant for PvE styled antagonists, such as Maneaters.
  • Yes you are expected that if you beat someone to death that you will then throw or drag their crumpled body back to the an easily viewable location of their Group.

CR 8: Antagonistic Conduct, Optics, and the Narrative Vacuum

If you are not a designated Antagonist, do not play your character as one. You are a member of the crew, your actions should reflect your role and the station’s laws.

• The story is a collective experience. Criminal acts or antagonism should be narratively founded, properly escalated, and witnessed or discoverable by others. Substantial action taken in total isolation contributes nothing to the shift and is discouraged.
• Exceptional crimes (such as Murder) committed by non-antagonists require an extreme level of narrative justification and prior escalation. The more disruptive the crime, the higher the scrutiny Staff will apply to your roleplay quality and reasoning.
  • If there is no established round specific reason for a crime to occur, it should not happen. "It’s what my character would do" is not a substitute for active, in-shift escalation.
  • CR 9: Station Integrity, Collateral Damage, and Protagonistic Outlooks on Sabotage