All About Characters

Feature
Feature Characters are the characters that you recognize from various Transformers source material: Rodimus, Galvatron, Jazz, Bumblebee, Scrapper, Wreck-Gar, etc. They fall into four categories based on their importance or rank (see the next section).


 * App-Free Characters - Smaller/unpopular characters that are playable without an application
 * Feature Characters - The average character on the MUSH is a standard FC, no especial time requirements
 * Deluxe Feature Characters - Characters that make the MUSH much easier to run (Gestalt leaders, low-level command characters)
 * Essential Feature Characters - Characters essential to the MUSH. We like to have as many of these filled as possible.
 * Unlisted Feature Characters - Characters that initially aren't on our +charlist, but appear in canon elsewhere and are applied for in a different manner. More info on UFCs!
 * The current administration has taken a more liberal approach to adding new FCs. This is still strictly limited to the US G1 toyline, with a few influences from the comic; No Japanese G1 or Retroactive G1 characters are going to be added to the roster, and comic-only characters besides Impactor are probably unlikely.

Original Feature Characters
There are a small subset of Feature Characters on the MUSH that were made up by the administrators. Most of these are various Sweep henchmen that follow Scourge around (Sunder, Geist, Revenant, etc). It is a safe bet that we will not be making any more of these in the future. For our purposes they are treated as regular Original Characters.

Original
An Original Character (OC) is one that you (the player) made up. Transformers: 2005 MUSH has been running for over a decade, and as a result we have some seriously long-lived OCs that have written themselves into the fabric of our universe quite strongly.

Time Limits
Transformers 2005 MUSH is a popular place, and as such we like to keep Feature Characters available for those players who are active enough to roleplay them. To that effect we have minimum time and activity requirements for all of our FCs.

IC @Time Requirement
We expect players to be actively roleplaying with their FCs a minimum amount of time per week. These are minimum requirements, but if you miss a week here and there, we aren't going to make a big stink. If a player is historically lax in meeting their activity times (you can check using the @time and @time/history commands on the MUSH) they will get a warning and eventually removed from the character at the discretion of Character Staff.

Login Requirement
Similar to above, we like our players to be actively logging in and roleplaying with their FCs! If you fail to log in within the above time frame (1 week for EFC, 2 weeks for FC/AFC, 3 weeks for FC/AFC) your character will be automatically new-passworded and set available. As per above, we are not here to be mean! If it was an honest mistake (e.g. you went on vacation and forgot to do @set me=ON-VACATION) then it is no big deal, simply talk to a Character Staffer. At their discretion, Character Staff may require you to re-apply for the character if a closing date has already been set.

Character Slots
Players on TF2005 MUSH are encouraged to play multiple characters. We track this via a system of Character slots. Each player has five (5) slots, which can be occupied by several characters according to how many slots each character takes up. Italicized text in the chart indicates more info available below.

Aliens and Humanoids
Humans, Alternate-Universe Humans, Nebulans, and similar species with the same (or very similar) size, similar appearance and capabilities, and similar chargen limits are all considered "Humanoids." They do not occupy a character slot. Less human-like aliens, such as Quintessons and Femaxians, are considered Aliens and do occupy a character slot when active.

Multiple Feature Characters
You are more than welcome to have multiple FCs provided they meet the following criteria:
 * 1) All IC time policies will be enforced per character regardless of how many characters you have (e.g. if you have 1 EFC and 1 DFC you will be expected to meet IC times for both of them)
 * 2) You may have only one Combiner "Leader" character per person. So if you play Hot Spot, you can not also play Onslaught, but you can apply for Brawl (see the next point)
 * 3) Under no circumstances should your characters ever directly interact with each other. Indirect interaction should also be avoided whenever possible. Note that direct interaction includes Combiner battles. So if you are online as Hot Spot and you are inside Defensor, you MAY NOT also be online as Brawl inside of Bruticus. Log off one or the other.
 * 4) Along similar lines, a single player cannot have more than one member of the same Special Team at the same time. So if you have Onslaught, you may not also have Vortex.
 * 5) By default, character limits are issued by site. If some situation obliges you to have the same site address as another player (e.g. siblings, roommates, partners), talk to a Character Staffer.
 * 6) Only YOU should play or log in as your characters. Having someone else log in your character can be grounds for ejection from the character.

Can I Get More Points?
Yes, it is possible to have more than 5-points worth of characters. But this is not done lightly. If you are a dedicated & active player Character Staff will consider raising your limit on a case-by-case basis. You can include your justification for this in the application itself.

Shelving an OC
If an OC isn't interesting to you, but you don't want to recycle them in case you decide to return to them later, or if you need one or more slots free to make room for a major FC, you can ask the Character Staff to "shelve" your OC without losing it permanently. An OC which is "on the shelf" will be unavailable to the player and will not count towards the 5-point limit on character slots. If you change your mind and have the slots to spare in the future, you can ask us to un-shelve your OC so that you can resume playing it.

More Than One AFC
Each player may have one AFC, acquired with the short-form AFC app. This first FC does not occupy any character slots. If you would like a second AFC while keeping the one you already have, you will have to submit a full application for them as if they were a regular FC, and they will occupy a slot accordingly. The reason for this is that one of the reasons we have the AFC category is to make it easy for new players to get a quick start, and we wouldn't want them all grabbed up by existing players who would just rather not write an app!

Puppets
A puppet (MUSH object controlled by a player) is not a substitute for an OC Application (type help puppets for more information). If you have a puppet that is a well-defined character it needs to be specifically applied for as a character. If you are in doubt, ask a CharStaffer.

Find an Available Feature Character
You can get a sorted list of available characters from anywhere on the MUSH by typing +charlist avail. You can also take advantage of the separate +charlist commands by typing +help +charlist.

App-Free Characters

 * 1) Fill out the first section of this Application
 * 2) Send it to [[Image:2k5appsgmail.PNG]] with the subject:  -  -  (e.g. Wheelie - AFC - Autobot)
 * 3) Wait for our response. (AFC apps are easy!)

Everyone Else

 * 1) Fill out this Application
 * 2) Send it to [[Image:2k5appsgmail.PNG]] with the subject:  -  -  (e.g. Scattershot - DFC - Autobot)
 * 3) Wait for our response!

Closing Dates
For particularly popular characters (mostly NFCs and EFCs) Character Staff will set a "closing period" in order to allow other players to submit an application. Typically this will be around 3 days depending on the popularity of the character in question. For a character like Rodimus Prime or Galvatron this period will be closer to 7 days.

Once the closing period is over, Character Staff will judge the competing applications (if any) and notify the winner (yay!) and any runners-up (sorry!).

Re-Applying for a Recent FC
Real Life happens to us all. Situations come up, work or school suddenly consumes more time than before, someone loses their Internet access; the reasons to miss logging in and acquiring an FC timeout are many. We try to be understanding of such events, and so in many cases you can just ask a CharStaffer, and we will see about returning the FC.

While not hard and fast restrictions, these are the things CharStaff consider before returning a previously played FC:


 * Whether or not the player is in good standing (e.g. no warnings, no previous abuse of timeouts/returns, etc.) with staff.
 * How long it has been since the timeout and your request to return the character. 30 days after, though not set in stone, is the limit at which we typically draw the line.
 * Whether or not anyone else has submitted an app for or played the FC in the meantime. We try to accommodate, but if you went on a trip without setting the on-vacation flag, the character timed out, and someone else apped for them before you came back, there isn't much we can do.
 * How important the character is to the operation of the MUSH and on-going events. We will be more critical of whether or not Facheads, EFCs, and some higher-ranking DFCs have been active and generating RP before the timeout incident.
 * How popular the character is. If it is a character that is consistently apped for and played by others, we may not be as willing to simply hand them back. This is often not a reason on its own but will be taken into consideration with previously mentioned reasons. Some characters (such as Jazz or Soundwave) are almost always popular, and we will be less lenient with repeat timeouts.

If it is deemed a player cannot have the character simply returned to them, and they wish to continue playing the character, they must submit a new application and go through the usual closing period if necessary. If they feel it necessary, CharStaff will review both the application from before the infraction and the new re-app before deciding.

Note that this 'right' to re-apply can be denied at CharStaff's discretion if they deem it necessary.

Creating a New OC

 * 1) This is covered in-depth in the 2nd Characters section: CreatingCharacters
 * 2) OCs have an extra section of the Application to fill out -- including the stats/abilities/attacks section
 * 3) Send it to [[Image:2k5appsgmail.PNG]] with the subject:  -  -  (e.g. Lugnut - OC - Decepticon)

Recreating an Original Character
OCs are not @nuked from the grid unless specifically requested by the player. Instead, OCs may be 'shelved' as discussed in Character Slots.
 * If your OC is actually KILLED, either because you requested it or because you did something REALLY stupid and lost consensual death, you may not re-apply for this character. Ever. This includes trying to make the same or almost same character with a different name. If your OC is nuked for some other reason, you may ask permission to re-apply for the OC after two months. All OC re-applications need to be approved by the Character Staff Head.

Re-Applying for an Existing Original Character
Sometimes people want to 'reset' their OCs by nuking them and starting over. This is frowned upon but available under a few conditions:
 * OC has been around for at least four (4) years
 * All criteria specified above are met including the two (2) month @nuke provision
 * All OC re-applications need to be approved by the Character Staff Head

OC Refund Policy

 * Sometimes an OC has run its course and there's no motivation left to play it anymore.  What happens to all the AP that a player has invested into the OC?  Does it just go all to waste?  Not so fast!  Check out the OC Refund Policy!

Login Requirements
Characters that do not log in for a certain period and not @set ON-VACATION are automatically set available.

IC Time Requirements
Character Staff reserves the right to remove anyone from a Feature Character if they are not regularly making IC @time requirements. However, there is plenty of flexibility here, talk to us if you are going through a rough patch.

Misrepresentation / Roleplay
We are not the Roleplay police, but if a character is being portrayed grossly out of character with regards to a) the standard established Transformers canon, or more importantly b) the player's approved Application for a character, Character Staff reserves the right to remove you from said character.

Vacation
If you don't want to lose your character due to having to be unable to connect for a time, then type @set me=on-vacation to set your VACATION flag. The VACATION flag is not a guarantee that you'll never lose your character (character staff reserves the right to open any FC) for application if there is demand), but it is respected whenever possible.

Do not do @set me=on-vacation in your @adisconnect -- this will be viewed as character hogging and is grounds for removal from the character.

Character Squatting
If you know that you're going to have a period of low access, we will also make special arrangements. We don't want anyone failing exams to be online more, but by the same rule, we don't want people making things more difficult for other RPers by keeping a character that they just don't realistically have the time to play.

If your RP is being affected because someone you need or want to RP with isn't online enough, please try to ask them to improve first, then talk to charstaff about it and let them know if you feel charhogging is going on.

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