This thread therefore, is created to compile and put together all of the rules of SL, so that we may put them in a public viewing place, all in one place, for the enrichment of all of the newcomers and veterans alike.
This was my original mission. Making it feel extremely welcoming or heartwarming was not on my mind when I wrote it, that's why it comes off the way it does. Rather than a "welcome to SL" advertisement, it was supposed to tell it like it is to some extent (at least from what I know) when it comes to how things run around here.
There are some groups of people on here who do not get along at all because of differing views on RP, and as such, finding and choosing which one you like is crucial to enjoying the game. Otherwise, yeah, you might as well dodge a bullet and not come here, because that's the way it is around here unless you start your own guild. This all from what I as a player know, and as we all know, online experiences are variable for everyone.
If a "welcome to SL" is what we want, I fear someone else with more experience welcoming new players will have to step in on that one, because I do not want to overly sugarcoat to newcomers about what to expect when they first show up (or veil from old-timers and returning old-timers about how things have been going around here).
... I'd suggest rewording it big time to get rid of the whole 'play ball exactly like this or get out' feel of it.
At it's core, isn't that kind of the point of making this in the first place? As I repeated several times, who you RP with pretty much determines your experience here; I've been around here long enough to know that this is not necessarily false, especially for folks trying to get into hardcore right off the bat. From what I see anyways, you are not going to make it anywhere by doing just your own thing, because even the relatively casual players on here have standards (even if they are far more lax).
I always kind of figured that zone fights were basically OOC in a way because they don't follow along with your character's main storyline (if that's how you want it, that's what I do). My rules are that main RP happens in the villages and you can only have one main thing going on with that, while side RPs could be done in the zones/dwellings and you can do several things at the same time.
Interesting, kind of like having separate smaller events happening at the same time sort of thing?
TL;DR
Come on Shadow, I know you can do it. Remember, the pea train can only go to your tummy if you open your tunny.