NSFW and Mature ContentHey guys! This is just a quick note that needs to be put out into the ether, but given its importance I'm not going to wait until next Tuesday and make it a Bunny Slipper moment, I'm just gonna post it here as its own thing <3
Firstly, loving how into plots and character interactions people are getting! 'Tis awesome and exactly what peeps are wanting to see. Love an active site, love an active discord chat.
However, the staff team and some of our community have made some observations of the way mature and NSFW content is utilised on the site and on our Discord server. Ergo, this little message to make sure we're all on the same page!
On DiscordMature content and chatter is perfectly allowed on Discord. We all like a bit of the in-your-endo and let's be honest, sexy stuff is just funny.
However, I'd like to request the people bear in mind the power of Captain Planet.
Yes, you read that right, but it was the first metaphor that came to mind.
No-one on the Discord channels has been saying anything that is inappropriate to be discussed there. BUT, all chatter and discussion has a snow ball effect. When one person starts being crude for the sake of the funnies, another then joins in and then another and suddenly it's the natural state of affairs - we're all talking about our characters banging all the time. No single person has actually don't anything wrong, it's just that everyone has jumped on board, we've put our power rings together (Captain Planet has power rings - right?) and it's changed the general tone/state of affairs on the server.
Hilarious as this is, I'd like to remind people that whilst we allow mature content on our site we do not require it and we welcome members who have no interest in smut or mature content. We have a range of members in our community spanning from the late teens to into their sixties and we hit every decade in between (I think). And not everyone likes to log in and repeatedly see sex as the constant topic of conversation, regardless of age or any other identifying factor.
As such, I'd like to make two requests!
ONE If conversation is turning towards something you wouldn't say in front of, say, a 15 year old, please take it to the NSFW channel. Even if it's character and plotting stuff, it needs to be in NSFW rather than the plotting channels. That way people can go look and read it if they want to but also can easily avoid it if they'd prefer.
TWO While I 100% understand why people are doing this (no-one has done anything wrong!), I'm going to ask that people do
not put NSFW warnings on their tags in the #roleplay-tags channel. We have a labelling system on the site so if someone clicks they will be able to immediately see that it's NSFW - it's not like we deal in pictures or auto-play videos. Words are safer and easier to click off of. And I think it will create a better environment in our Discord if things aren't constantly screaming sex at us. If people wanna click they can, but if they don't then they never have to know how many posts in the #roleplay-tags are smut posts and feel awkward about it. Again, I 100% know why people are doing this and I was 100% behind it, until it started to make the #roleplay-tags channel look like nothing but porn (because, let's be honest, smutty threads tend to be fairly rapidfire). So, for now, let's allow people to be blissfully ignorant until they explore for themselves. If this causes an issue and people request the warnings back again I will change this. But I would like to ask people's cooperation to try it out and see if it works any better <3
On the SiteAs well as chatter on the discord server, there has also been a lot of mature content on the site recently. This is absolutely fine and not a problem at all. But I would like to make a few things clear:
ONE Connected to the above tags information, I would like to reiterate: We
permit mature content on this forum. But we do not
require it. What we
do require is reasons for any sex scene played out on the site. We are not a smut board where smut happens for smut's sake. Even if your character is known to be promiscuous or even having sex as their job, there is no need to rp out every sex scene available to you. If you want to do that, go to a private Discord server and crack-write. What we
do encourage is sex scenes (if you want to write them) which hold character
development and/or plot
significance. Is this sex scene significant to the character in some way? Is it going to be the cause of an issue further down the line? Is this developing the relationship between the characters in a way that could not be fully explored with fade-to-black? Please make your mature content choices with care in order to ensure that Aeipathy doesn't and descend into total depravity. I know the Greeks and Egyptians were kinky but we're writers - let's keep it at least semi-classy, yeah?
TWO With regards to mature/sex scenes having plot significant, please also ensure that they have
character validity. If your character is chaste and has been chaste for some time, does it make sense for them to immediately jump into bed with a stranger? If your character is promiscuous, does it make sense that they would be
interested in someone who is chaste? (let's be honest guys, sex is better with someone who knows what they're doing!) - Or, does your character get a kink out of being the one with the knowledge? If so, explore that. If characters are having sex on Aeipathy there should be a reason for it. Was their build up? Did a relationship form? How did the characters get to this stage? If it's just a stranger-hook-up, fine but how does this affect the characters and why are we writing it? Why are these characters happy to engage in anonymous/casual sex? Let's explore that psyche and that development. I think the level of mature content on the site at the moment has gotten some people wondering if people are just throwing characters together to bump uglies because OOC the writers think it would be fun. Fun is great, but please remember that we are all writing a story together, which means the fun also has to make
sense. Else we come acropper later on.
Please note, that while sexual content has been the only element of the NSFW genre that has been brought up as potentially overplayed of late the above rules exist for any other form of NSFW content too: violence etc.
Please Don't Hate MeThat's it. I've said my piece. I don't mean to be a party pooper, and I hope that I'm not
being one because I'd like to think everyone is already tending to the above and ensuring that their mature content is within keeping with our rules etc.
But I wanted to also make it clear to those who feel a bit over-saturated with the sexy that the staff are on this and we are supportive of all forms of rp and all types of roleplayer, whether they do or don't want to partake in the naughty bits.
Thanks for reading, everyone!