Death-Enabled Etiquette & Grading

World of Dragon Ball is a site which has fairly detailed mechanics to handle combat, as well as a thread type (Saga/DE) in which the player gives up some control over their character’s ultimate fate. In these threads, kills, injuries, and absorbs can be performed due to a victory in mechanical combat, and this is part of the risk that comes with these sorts of threads. These risks are a vital part of what makes these threads unique, and what grants them their particular ability to influence the structure and flow of the shared setting in a meaningful way. However, it is important to always remember that this is a role-playing community first: players should always endeavour to show all due respect towards one another and towards the role-play at hand, even if much of what is occurring or will occur comes as a result of largely out-of-character mechanics and systems.

With that in mind, we ask all players (and staff) to keep the following guidelines in mind as they write, particularly when site mechanics are involved.

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Roleplay is not a competition.

This may sound a little silly given the nature of combat on the site. Naturally, when your character is involved in a fight in which the end result may be your character losing their life, you’re going to try to figure out a way for them to come out on top. That’s perfectly fine and normal. However, it is important to keep in mind that at the end of the day, every thread including DE and Saga threads is a form of collaborative storytelling. As much as the characters may be at each-other’s throats, and as much as you may want your character to come out on top, you should always try to remember that the other player is not your opponent on an out-of-character level. Have fun, be respectful, and write your character to the best of your ability. Put on a fight and a thread that will be enjoyable to participate in and enjoyable to read, so that if your character’s story ends up coming to a close there, it’ll be a close you can look back on with some sort of pride.

Consent is important even in a mechanical system.

Players put a lot of work into their characters and playing them on a day to day basis. Part of being respectful towards other players is to acknowledge that they are the ultimate authority over their own character. In a fight to the death, mechanics will ultimately rule over consent: if you take damage, you have to take damage. If you’re killed, you have to be killed. However, no amount of mechanical damage and no power advantage grants a player the right to god-mode over someone else. You still have to offer the other player a chance to react and respond to any action you take against them. In addition, be communicative about things that might offend, particularly when it comes to subject-matter. Even if a player is winning or poised to win a fight, they still need to respect other thread participants (included the loser) and their comfort levels with certain details or actions. 

Please note, however: when you join a death-enabled thread, you are in effect signing off control over your character's fate to the story itself, and to the mechanical outcome of the thread. Fairness and consent does not mean you have a right to prevent other players from killing or injuring your character in a death-enabled thread. The thread title is there for a reason, and you will never be forced to join one of these threads on an out-of-character level.

Know what you’re committing to.

There’s no getting around it: open DE and Saga threads can be a long, arduous process. As the threads where some of the biggest, site-shaking events take place, they can be very packed affairs, and more often than not they’ll be filled with players whose posting habits vary wildly. With that in mind, you should consider the time investment you’re going to putting in before you decide to join. Depending on their location and the set-up involved, these threads can be packed to the brim with characters, and the amount of time that goes past between your posts can feel like a nightmare, especially if large groups of players haven’t left to join splits yet. With that in mind, and in response to the temperature of the community during a couple past events, you should recognize that:

• Your thread may involve players or characters you aren’t invested in. That does not mean they don’t have an equal right to participate in the thread. If you’re confused about their character motivations, be respectful and ask them about it. You might just find that their involvement is a little more compelling than you assumed. Sometimes your first instinct will be right. Sometimes it won't.

• Sometimes, the thread will come to a screeching halt if a couple of players can’t find time to post. If that happens, be prepared to skip over them when your turn comes up. It is not rude to skip a player if their 48 hour turn timer is up. You can ask them if they’re going to post, but keep in mind that once their turn is up, you enter your own 48 hour window. Be courteous to the people in-front of you, but also be courteous to all the people waiting behind you.

• Threads can drag near the end, especially when characters are collectively damaged and low on KP. This is just another side-effect of the system, and it’s often guaranteed to happen. This can be the most frustrating part of a thread, so take a breath, relax, and keep writing towards a satisfying conclusion. In the same vein, don't aim to prolong a thread out of spite: good gamesmanship goes both ways.

• If you've committed to a death-enabled thread, you need to try to post in a timely manner. Sometimes things come up that will prevent your posting, and that's perfectly fine. But if you know you're low on time and won't be able to keep up with the pace of the thread, it might be better to take a rain check... or at least be willing to sacrifice post-length to keep the thread moving when it comes time for you to play your part.

There are no main characters.

This is something that comes up occasionally: no matter how high your character’s power level is, no matter how many items they have, and no matter how popular they are in the wider community, they are not the main character. Players should not feel as if they’re in a competition for relevancy. Nobody, no matter how well-known or well-liked they are, has any special right to guide the site story to their own designs.

Your death-enabled thread may not go the way you envisioned. Your character may meet an end that didn’t line up with your original plans. Stories you wanted to tell may go untold, and relationships you wanted to explore may find an abrupt end. Roll with the punches, because things can an inevitably will go wrong, especially when death is thrown into the mix. It happens to everyone. This is a collaborative exercise and everyone gets a piece of the pie. Sometimes, the piece you get won’t be as big as the one you had hoped, but just try to keep an open mind about things. It usually works out!

Have fun.

As obvious as this seems, this is one of the things that gets lost the fastest in death-enabled threads. When players are stressed about trying to figure out a way for their character of faction to come out on top, nervous over the potential of their character to meet an untimely end, or just frustrated by how many players are involved and how long the posts are taking, the first thing that goes out the window is a sense of enjoyment in the thread at hand. This happens to everyone, but it's important to try to take a breath and really try to have fun with what you're writing. After all, that's kind of the point.

All participants in a DE thread recieve at most 5,000 XP for their participation. Going over your 48 hour timer before you can be skipped in the post order will deduct -1,000 XP from your end rewards each time. In Dragon Ball Challenge DEs, your maximum is only 2,500 due to the frequency of these DEs when compared to others, and each 48 hour timer skip removes -500 from your total.

The Saga Slacker Smackdown (SSS) is issued when a character in an open DE does not significantly contribute to the thread. Characters who are either not participating in the conflict, not contributing to the shared story, or whose involvement detracts or contradicts the wider story may be subject to this penalty at the discretion of grading staff. If the SSS is applied, all of the character's DE gains are negated.

DE Gains are halved for characters in Double Malus, and quartered for those in Triple Malus and beyond. Read more about the SMM here.