GENERAL RULES [UPDATED: 01/26/23]

USE COMMON SENSE: The members of Platinum Hearts are here to have fun. You are all human beings who have feelings, goals, and ideas of your own. A member of Platinum Hearts is expected to be respectful, welcoming, and kind to all other members. Staff members are expected to be all of that, on top of helpful, professional, and knowledgeable. As staff members are also members who volunteer their time to keep Platinum Hearts going, a certain amount of respect for them is expected. Make sure to reflect that, but also hold us accountable for when we stray.

If problems on site or with another member occur, and the problem cannot be handled privately, you speak to a Moderator first. If the problem is with a staff member, then you speak to an admin. You do not ever contact the Head Admin first, unless the problem is with all other admins. There needs to be an established emphasis on handling the problem privately first; never have your first response be staff if it's within your power to contain and control the situation. Help yourself before you seek help.

Remember the Natural Rule in all you do. Rules apply to on-site interactions and on-Discord interactions. Excessive conflict between members may result in disciplinary action by staff. Realistically, having no conflict is practically impossible, but keep it to a minimum as we vie to keep Platinum Hearts as much of a welcoming and positively influencing community as possible.



There is not a person on this site who is considered "perfect." People mess up and do/say things wrong. "Shitposting" has become ingrained into PH culture, so don't be surprised when you see it, and please don't immediately over-react to it before you understand the sub-culture established here.

Message to Sensitive People: If you're someone who is sensitive about certain subjects, do not expect the world to bend to your sensitivity. Avoid subjects and people who are trigger points; like stated above, help yourself. If unnecessary and rude comments are aimed at you, ask the person to cease their behavior. If not, block them. Find means to take care of yourself, and when harassment evolves beyond that--like getting other members to attack you, or finding means to bypass your privacy or the block on you--then at that point it's beyond targeting, and absolutely contact staff.

Message to Shitposters: There is a fine line between having fun/making jokes and being a bully. Learn the difference; having fun at the expense of another is bullying. Bullying will not be tolerated, ever. No one is an exception to this rule, neither member or staff. Learn to understand the difference and don't go down the path of toxicity, as that is never welcome here.

Message to All: If anything happens in DM or other private messaging, screenshot it or something. Nothing is more incriminating or supporting than tangible proof. That's just a part of helping yourself.

To recap, keep in mind all these points and use this as a reference to act responsibly.

1. The Natural Rule is the most important rule on site.
   
2. If you've been offended by a member or staff, take it up with them privately first.
   
3. The abuse of staff power needs to be reported.
   
4. Any problems to be reported need to go up the chain of command:
   
   
   Moderator > Head Moderator > Admin > Head Admin LAST.
   
   
5. Not Safe For Work: (NSFW) If it can’t be shown at your workplace, it can be considered NSFW. This stuff is not allowed to be posted on site without "Spoilers" or outside of the designated areas on Discord. Use the correct discretion when posting these images, and appropriately notify that there is NSFW content in the spoilers. Common sense please.

1. Unless given special permission, a character must be approved to be role played.
   
2. Platinum Hearts allows the creation of an unlimited number of original characters. However, before posting a new character for grading, the most recently approved character must have ten posts. Solo threads do not count towards this number.
   
3. One person is allowed up to a maximum of 4 canon characters.
   
4. Characters can appear in multiple threads at once. It is your responsibility to keep track of their timeline and continuity.
   
5. PH moves on a month-to-month basis. If it is August in the real world, then it's August on the site (unless a thread was made prior and carried on into the new month).
   
6. Again, no one is perfect, but this includes your characters! There is no god-modding, meta-gaming, or power playing allowed on PH. On PH, each of these are defined as followed:
   
   » God-Modding: Making a character invincible, unable to be hit, or not able to be damaged in their character profile or in-thread. Instances in thread include: always dodging, getting hit but refusing to take damage, or easily over-powering an opponent on equal or close-to-equal standing.
   » Meta-gaming: Using outside or “Out of Character” knowledge in-character.
   » Power Playing: Taking control of an opponent’s actions without allowing for proper response. "Adam leaped into the air and punched Jack in the face, watching him fall flat on his back as he blacked out." Instances of auto-connect are not allowed, unless permission is given by opponent.
   
   
7. Sexual encounters between characters are allowed. Instances rating above Rated R are allowed, but will be posted in [or moved to] the mature board in the "Alternative RP Section." Age 18+ only.
   
8. Always confirm the age of the one you are role playing with if mature role play is intended.
   
9. The official killing of a character can happen if the circumstances are right, permission from the dying character's owner is given, or a death application is filled out and approved.
   
10. Private threads can't occur in high traffic areas where it is dangerous for the character in question. For example: An undocumented Arrancar can't have a private thread in Karakura Central. It's not logical.
    
11. Thread Tags: These are additions to thread titles that show the state of the thread. “Open” means anyone can join. “Private” means you can’t join without permission. They are not required, but are highly recommended since a thread with no tag is considered “Open.”
    
12. Do not use "text talk" or "L337 Speak". Proper English to the best of your ability.
    
13. Please attempt to use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
    
14. Do not post in first person.

» Post Requirements: No less than five sentences in your post. Templates do not count.
» Posting Order: Posting order will be set when everyone participating in the thread has posted and the next round begins. Unless otherwise specified by thread creator, or by a poster asking to be skipped, you follow the posting order through out the entirety of the thread.
» In-Thread Post Reserve: If you desire to post in a certain thread, you can put up a “Reserving This Space for my Post” to show people you’re going to post. This reserve lasts for 72 hours and is then removed and/or invalidated. Do not post after your reserve post. You edit your reserve post to get your content up.
» Leaving Thread: If you are leaving a thread, then you must make a post doing so. Otherwise, it is assumed that your character is a part of that thread until the end.
» No Power-leveling: Power-leveling is the intentional seeking of combat in order to rapidly level your character without plot coherence, or the excessive addition of combat within a character’s history to push your character higher in power and skill, especially if you own the characters that are being added.
» Fighting: Learn when to take a hit. Learn when to accept a miss. God-modding, meta-gaming, and power playing, as said before, are not allowed. It is more interesting for both parties if combat that contains equally skilled characters is being treated as such.
» Respect the Fun: Respect the nature of roleplay and what we're here to do. RP is a hobby and PH is focused on story, combat is just a large element used to write our stories. If what you do only serves to make things uninteractive for your RP partners, even if there's IC sensibility to it, recognise that it may not fare well OOCly. This will especially make people not want to RP with you in the future.



Although PH is about quality, not quantity, we do not accept characters with too little detail. Because of this, each character creation template has a set of minimums that you must follow in order to create your character. For example, a personality will have to be a certain amount of sentences long to gain approval. These rules are final, so make sure to follow them. There are no exceptions.

For characters you're in the process of creating, use the WIP or "Work In Progress" section.

For new members, seriously, we recommend not trying to go for a very powerful character for your first application. There is a lot on PH that can't be understood without experience. Until you have it, more powerful characters are not the best choice to get your application approved. You can follow this guide to grasp a better understanding of what it takes for higher tier characters typically:

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t19357-quality-apps-and-getting-higher-tiers-guide

1) Each race has an information thread. Visit our "Character Creation Center" to find it.
2) Characters do not gain power through the consumption of other characters or creatures.
3) Vasto Lorde based Arrancar: Admin permission needed for creation.
4) Reserving Organization Positions: A position in an Org is reserved for two weeks only. However, faction leaders can increase this to any number they desire, as long as it stays consistent.

Character History: Not everyone gets to train with Yoruichi, Kenpachi, Byakuya, etc. To have someone's character or a canon character in your characters history, you need permission from A) an Admin (for unclaimed canon characters) or B) the characters owner (for canons and original characters).

Character Personality: Character personalities generally need at least 10 sentences.



ALL ABILITIES must have one of the following:

» The ability to be dodged.
» The ability to be survived.
» The ability to be blocked.
» The ability to be overcome. [Mainly for Mental/Emotion based powers]

Shikai & Bankai & Other Similar Forms & Powers: There are a few factors that come into app creation to allow the approval of higher character forms. These factors are stated below.

» Trust: This may bother people, but there is a certain amount of trust we place in applications based on the character, the member, RP Skill, any mis-deeds they have done in the past to abuse power and so on. So, with these thoughts in mind, trust IS an official system we use in order to determine whether or not higher power levels are granted. However, don't mistake it for a system that forgives nepotism. It's about trust of a person's ability to RP responsibly, not a system on who we favour. If you see elements of nepotism, hold staff accountable for it and point it out.
» RP Skill: RP and writing skill comes in when referring to more complicated and powerful forms of character ability. Abilities like Shikokai, Segunda Etapa, Resurrección, anti-matter, blood control, and illusions would not be allowed for a member who has proven to be lacking writing skill.
» Circumstance: Other circumstances, like rewards and site needs, might allow someone to be approved with a more powerful character, but this is rare. Site needs means we're lacking characters of a certain race, so allowing more powerful characters on approval may be used as incentive to create them.

Absolutes: Any power that can't be dodged, survived, blocked, or overcome. Not Allowed.
Tachyon Powers: Banned.
Poison Powers: Required extremely detail when using. Strictly graded.
Anti-Matter: Heavily restricted. Strictly graded.
Blood Control: Heavily restricted. Strictly graded.
Emotion Powers: Strictly graded.
Summoning/Familiars/Minions Powers: Strictly graded.
Anything Else: It all depends on the power and how you write it, and some not mentioned here may be treated more cautiously and strictly, but other than that no other abilities are outright banned.

1. Discord Chat is open to all members.
   
2. Anyone can hop in on a conversation, so be respectful.
   
3. Text-tone is not always easily read. Emotes are helpful in portraying tone. Use them.
   
4. When told, reasonably, to stop your current behavior, whether by member or staff, listen.
   
5. Our of character role play should not overwhelm chat. We have designated chats for this.
   
6. In character chat role play can be documented in our "Alternative RP section." Use this to make sure that your in character non-thread activities are counted toward site events.
   
7. Be mature. Whining about not getting what you want, going behind the back of a staff member with the intent to alter results/grading, or begging for special circumstances is not allowed.
   
8. Problems on site or in Discord are first to be dealt with by MODERATORS. If the need is immediate and no moderator is available, then you can contact an admin. DO NOT contact the Head Admin first.

• Talking in the Discords do not count.
  
• Only role play posts count toward a member's activity.
  
• A minimum of three role play posts are required to be considered active.
  
• Without a Leave of Absence (LOA), you have two months before you're considered inactive.
  
• With LOA, you have three months before you're considered inactive.
  
• Inactive members will have their characters archived and their FCs voided and opened up for active members.
  
• Members returning from inactivity can have their characters and FCs unarchived and/or reclaimed; however, if their FCs have been claimed since their inactivity began, they'll need to find another or ask for a share.
  
• New members activity will count on their first unchecked character application only. If they have an approved character, their activity will follow the rest of the rules stated here.

• YouTube Auto-Play is not allowed.
  
• Bumping your thread should not occur more than once every 3-5 days. Do not bump RP threads.
  
• One Upping, often referred to as "dick-waving" is when you're trying to prove yourself or your character better than another person. While impossible to prevent completely, keep it at a minimum.

None of these are set in stone since the intensity of different instances may result in greater or lesser punishment. Staff may also try alternative punishments to enforce rules as well.

1st Offense: Warning
2nd Offense: Kick from Chat OR 5-minute ban.
3rd Offense: 1-Day Ban.
4th Offense: 1-Week Ban.
5th Offense: Permaban.
Disrespecting staff is grounds for a ban.