⚠️ Warning
WARNING: You must be 18 or older to play. Users under 18 will be banned immediately.
Hard Light is an english speaking 18+ medium roleplay server.
Implementation and interpretation of the rules is up to the sole discretion of the Admins.
If you have any questions about these rules, please use the Admin help menu by hitting F1 in-game, or clicking the "AHelp" button in the lobby, or alternatively, ask for assistance on the discord.
📝 Note
Hardlit enforcement: Rules marked with 🔷 are enforced at all times. Other rules are only enforced upon receiving a user report.
Each section contains its own list of rules.
Please refer to Roleplay Expectations for the Roleplay Expectations guidelines. The rules below stand on their own and are enforceable as written.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Powergaming | Taking unreasonable steps to eliminate failure states or vulnerabilities, at the cost of believability. |
| Min-maxing | A form of powergaming: combining gear, chemicals, genetics, or constructions to reach an advantage the mechanics were not designed to produce, or taking "best in slot" gear across multiple slots to eliminate risk. |
| Validhunting | Seeking out, chasing, or attacking a threat on the basis of player knowledge that the target is an antagonist, rather than in-character motivation. |
| Metagaming | Acting on information your character does not have. |
| Greentext | Mechanical completion of objectives. Greentext records an outcome and carries no weight in evaluating roleplay. |
| Self-antagging | Engaging in antagonistic actions against other players or the station, usually but not always criminal offenses, while not an antagonist role. Antagonist roles are those such as (but not limited to): Traitor, Xenoborg, Thief. |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Be respectful to others OOC. | 🔷 |
| 1.2 | Don't use hate speech, racism, or bigoted comments. | |
| 1.3 | Don't metagame. | 🔷 |
| 1.4 | Don't spam or advertise. | |
| 1.5 | Do not intentionally take actions that would negatively impact or disrupt others' enjoyment of the game. | 🔷 |
| 1.6 | Avoid controversial topics such as self harm/rape in public. | |
| 1.7 | Don't evade bans. | 🔷 |
| 1.8 | Don't self-antag. | |
| 1.9 | Don't ragequit/disconnect to avoid consequences. | 🔷 |
| 1.10 | Making use of cheats, exploits, or taking actions that may harm the server's integrity or stability is forbidden. | 🔷 |
| 1.11 | Respect others' OOC consent and preferences. | 🔷 |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | If you are banned from a role or department, you may not play that role. This includes seeking or accepting promotions into roles you are banned from or taking Ghost roles which hold the role in question. | 🔷 |
| 2.2 | Do not make yourself a major problem, annoyance, or disruption for the crew while not being an antagonist (i.e. self-antagging). | |
| 2.3 | It is strictly forbidden to livestream rounds to others or share recorded gameplay outside of Hardlight without consent of all parties involved. | 🔷 |
| 2.4 | Ghosting with with the sole intent of spying on others' personal activities is not permitted. | |
| 2.5 | Any vandalism, theft, or major disturbance on ColComm is not permitted. You are also not to trespass within the central CC offices. | 🔷 |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Use the chat channels for their intended purposes. | |
| 3.2 | Characters do not retain any knowledge of what happened while they were dead. | |
| 3.3 | Do not use any information gained by meta-communication. | |
| 3.4 | Discussion about the current round is allowed on the Hardlight Discord server. HOWEVER, acting on information gained through this method is considered metagaming. | 🔷 |
| 3.5 | Do not meta-grudge or meta-friend. (Using in or out-of-character information to give unfair treatment or advantages to others.) | |
| 3.6 | Do NOT antag-roll. (Intentionally ghosting or cryoing to look for antag roles.) | 🔷 |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Players maintain all in-character memory up until going critical provided they do not die. | |
| 4.2 | If a player is brought back to life after death, they cannot recall how they died. This means they will not know their killer, or be able to utilize meta information about their death. | |
| 4.3 | If a player respawns as the same character they cannot remember anything that happened in their previous life, equipment/owned items may be recovered, but otherwise they forget everything. | 🔷 |
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| 5.1 | Don't make meta references. |
Try to be creative by picking a believable and fitting name and/or surname.
Leeway is given to theatrical roles such as the clown, boxer, and mime; these roles are allowed stage names with some amount of freedom.
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | Your character is a separate entity from you, the player. Your character's actions, feelings, and knowledge in-game should be based solely on the character's experiences rather than your own as the player. | |
| 6.2 | Do not play excessively hostile or provocative characters. Playing a character accurately should never result in rulebreaks. - Ahelp for any questions relating to this. | |
| 6.3 | If you choose a job on shift, you are required to participate in the round as said job when necessary. | |
| 6.4 | Do not intentionally break roleplay to gain an unfair advantage while someone is typing. | |
| 6.5 | Respect other people's consent, dignity and boundaries. IF SOMEBODY ASKS YOU TO STOP BOTHERING THEM LOOC (local-out-of-character), do so. If this rule is abused, Ahelp right away. | 🔷 |
| 6.6 | Do not dismantle key portions of station infrastructure (IE. escape pods.) | |
| 6.7 | Roleplaying an underage character is strictly forbidden. So is talk of such activities. | 🔷 |
This is a Medium Roleplay server. Your character must be played as a believable person. Play them in a way that generates roleplay opportunities. Please refer to Roleplay Expectations for the guidelines this standard is built on.
Competence, efficiency, planning, and stealth are permitted.
Winning or completing mechanical objectives (greentext) does not justify low-effort, disruptive, or non-roleplay behavior. Antagonist objectives exist to drive stories and do not grant immunity. Players are expected to handle conflict gracefully and do the least harm necessary.
Actions should make sense from the perspective of your character, not simply an optimal strategy for you as a player.
Your character continues to exist after the round's events. Do not resist or evade authorities in a way disproportionate to the offense committed.
Security who witnesses disruptive conduct that begins as in-character actions but leads to evasion beyond reasonable means should seek Colonial Command intervention via fax or ahelp.
Admin guidelines will include steps to take - such as bluespace EMP or other creative measures to bring offenders to justice.
For the first thirty (30) minutes of a shift, undertake preparatory actions only. Purchase equipment, construct, position, gather information, engage in social play.
Prohibited during this window:
This window only exists for round-start antagonists such as thieves, traitors, and nuclear operatives. Its purpose is so that personnel can respond to activity realistically.
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | Do not hide Antag objective items. | |
| 7.2 | Do not make active use of known bugs in the game. | 🔷 |
Game mechanics exist to support roleplay. Do not take unreasonable steps to eliminate every failure and vulnerability at the cost of believability.
Utilize game mechanics as they were intended to be used, in a manner that is believable to their application. Do not combine them in unbelievable ways.
Do not take best-in-slot gear for every available slot.
Keep your loadout proportionate to your role, the current alert level, and the situation currently in progress.
Do not equip or utilize gear, chemicals, implants, or genetic modifications that your character has no logical, in-character reason to possess. Use of equipment must be plausible for your character and job role, regardless of what the game mechanics allow.
Do not treat hypothetical future danger as in-character justification. Equip in response to threats that have occurred or been announced.
Do not seek out, chase, or attack a threat without a valid in-character reason. Attacking an entity solely because you know as a player that it is an antagonist is not acceptable.
Handling station threats is Security's responsibility. Non-security roles should only arm themselves or intervene if the situation reaches them in-character: a direct threat to themselves or their colleagues, an active distress call, a bounty, a Code Black, or an explicit request.
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| 8.1 | End-of-round-griefing (EORG) is not allowed under any circumstance. This includes but is not limited to: fighting, explosives, chemicals, destruction of property, or any other disruptive behavior. End-of-round-griefing is defined as any time after it has been chosen for the evac shuttle not to be recalled. |
| 8.2 | Arrivals, as well as the Evac shuttle (and evac hallway), are considered Safezones in which this rule takes effect. |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 9.1 | ERP does not take priority over your job. If you are requested or needed, you must respond or return to your duties ASAP. | |
| 9.2 | DO NOT use ERP as bait for kill objectives, unless done with OOC consent of all parties involved. After the ERP is complete, a grace period of 5 minutes is in effect, during which you are still NOT allowed to kill the target. | |
| 9.3 | Don't kinkshame. | |
| 9.4 | You MUST use the (-) subtle command for any and all erotic roleplay material. | |
| 9.5 | Do not spam or pollute radio channels (including the telepath channel) with NSFW topics. Mind you, this does NOT mean that you are not allowed to speak or discuss such. There should not be a cringy spamfest of: shitposting, hornyposting, or depression posting. | |
| 9.6 | Do not engage in, nor discuss, 'extreme' sexual fetishes in public. Public includes: any radio channel (including the telepath channel), out loud speech or overt actions in actual public physical locations, or doing so on camera. | |
| 9.7 | Engaging in ERP with a non-sentient creature is prohibited. The creature must be player-controlled; consent in OOC, and pass the Harkness test in-character. | 🔷 |
| 9.8 | When roleplaying another person's character, OOC consent from the original (the owner of said character) is required before you engage in ERP. | 🔷 |
| 9.9 | Be very mindful of in-character and out-of-character consent. If your (out-of-character) OOC consent is not respected, immediately Ahelp or open a ticket. | 🔷 |
| 9.10 | Extreme acts like snuff, abuse, noncon, and other extreme kinks are only allowed if all parties consented OOC, Ahelp if you need clarification (Keep it private). |
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| 10.1 | Security and Command roles are expected to know and perform their jobs to the best of their ability. You will be held to a higher standard in these roles. |
| 10.2 | Both Security and Command are required to Know Space Law, Standard Operating Procedures, Alert Procedure, and Company Policy. |
| 10.3 | Don't abuse your position of power. |
| 10.4 | You are expected to roleplay with others. This includes antagonists. |
| 10.5 | If you're in Command, inform your department and Command before cryoing or disconnecting. |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | Antagonists are held to a higher standard, similar to Command. | |
| 11.2 | Antagonists are expected to roleplay with others. This includes Security and Command. | |
| 11.3 | The damage that an antagonist is allowed to cause must be proportional to their objectives. | |
| 11.4 | Ghost roles have their own independent rules that must be followed. | |
| 11.5 | Any antagonistic activity must cease on ColComm. | 🔷 |
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| 12.1 | Lethal force against players should be a last resort. |
| 12.2 | Don't disproportionately escalate in response to others' actions. |
| 12.3 | Don't ignore critical or dead players unless related to an objective. |
| 12.4 | Don't intentionally round remove other players unless related to an objective. |
| Rule | Description | Hardlit |
|---|---|---|
| 13.1 | Ships are to be no larger than 80x50 tiles. | |
| 13.2 | Do not abuse the ship save mechanic to avoid in-character consequences. | |
| 13.3 | Do not exploit the stash to duplicate items. This especially goes for contraband. | 🔷 |
| 13.4 | Do not use inventories to circumvent stash restrictions. | 🔷 |
| 13.5 | Ship saving backups are only to be used in the event of ship destruction or loss due to a server crash or other unforeseen issue. Loading backups otherwise is only to be done with admin permission. | |
| 13.6 | Do not under any circumstances modify a ship save file without admin permission (like with the engine update). | 🔷 |
| 13.7 | Do not go afk for extended periods on your ship (like logging off to sleep). The ship saving is provided to allow people to save progress without the need to do this. UNATTENDED SHIPS WILL BE REMOVED. | 🔷 |
| 13.8 | DO NOT ADD MORE THAN ONE BLUESPACE STASH PER SHIP. | 🔷 |