Clarification

The following are a few points of clarification which have arisen over the years as people have tried to push the first rule of Dark Risings: You must have RP in order to PK. Unsure what that means? Read on.

Your character must have a PLAUSIBLE, IN-CHARACTER reason to attack other characters. While this is a very simple concept, there are always people who will risk the wrath of the imms to push the limits.

You may be found guilty of roleless pk if you are:

1. Claiming to be a murderer or madman, and attacking anyone you come across.

2. Insulting someone until he insults you back, and then pking him for insulting you.

3. Attacking people who insult or attack you for stealing or trying to steal from them. See help psteal.

4. Declaring you are an (insert class/race here) hater and attacking members of that class/race even though you're perfectly friendly with other members of that class/race. NOTE: Race-based pk IS allowed, IF the roleplay is fully established BEFORE the pk starts. Not sure if you've established yourself as someone who hates those foul kender enough to attack them? Ask an imm. And remember, ANY BR attacks due to race will be dealt with by the immortals.

5. Deciding you are a mercenary who just happens suddenly to have been hired by your ooc friends in the nick of time to jump in on a group pk or get them out of hot water. Come on.

6. Full looting for very mild infractions. The number of items you take from a fallen opponent should match the reason for attacking him. Full loots should have a very good reason behind them, and leaving an opponent with only one item or garbage doesn't qualify as "minimal" looting. Flirting with the edges of this may result in you losing ALL of the equipment you looted, so be sure it's worth it. See help etiquette.

7. PKing from purely out-of-character intentions. If you know deep down that you are PKing someone because, for instance, you want to get back at the player behind that character, or because you want that character's equipment, or because you had a bad day and want to work off some steam, or for any other reason driven by OOC desires, you are player killing with out-of-character malicious intent, and it may therefore be considered roleless.

8. Pking someone belonging to a group because your character had an issue with that group at some point in the distant past. If you had established yourself as anti-Vermillion a year ago, and then went to build schools in Africa for a year, you need to re-establish your RP as a Vermillion-killer when you get back, BEFORE you pk the new Vermillions who have no idea who you are.

These examples are just that. This is not an conclusive list of what constitutes roleless pk: it is just a list of examples for what people in the past have been nailed for.

Roleless pk is a very simple concept: if your character has never had prior in-character interaction with someone, the chance of you having a valid, IC reason to attack them is very slim (with the exception of Inferno members carrying out a contract -- and there, you must have a valid, in-character reason to place a contract).

Here at Dark Risings, we feel that RP and PK together are equally important. While most people are generally better at one or the other, our goal is to see a fusion of both. Roleplay is central to the concept of a mud, and take it from people who know: there is nothing more satisfying than finally nailing that character who really and truly icly deserves it.

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