OOC - Insilico Players Guide

You’ve come across what is billed as Second Life’s premiere cyberpunk RP sim.  You’ve visited the amazing city and want to jump in the story.  Not so fast, sparky.  There are some things we need to cover before you can get involved in a sim as staggeringly awesome as Insilico.

In light of continuing failures to understand exactly what Insilico is and is not, the following has been prepared in order to better acquaint would be participants  with the culture of the city, so that expectations of such participation can be realistically set.

The first step is to choose a participant class.  Following is a brief description of each.

Players:  Players are much the same as players in other RP sims.  They have the exclusive right to make decisions, cause things, affect outcomes, and interact with other players.  They are the only class in Insilico who may add information or resources to the story.  Players also have the exclusive right to ban other participants from the sim, return objects, etc.  Players are identified by the indicator “(GM)” on their k9 tag.  Player status is conferred by invitation only by the other players.  Don’t bother asking to become a player.  Should you be worthy, we will contact you.

Sycophants: The purpose of sycophants is to legitimize the regime of Players by appearing to be lesser beings who humbly adore the Players at their feet.  They are the primary enforcers of the social order, ensuring that Players need not trouble themselves with the concerns of the lesser.  This generally takes the form of organized recrimination and veiled insults, but can also occur in the form of rulings which have the same weight as rulings by a Player.  While they can hash out details related to the gifting of information and dynamic action taken by players, they cannot bring either into being on their own.  Sycophants are generally, but not always, identified by the k9 tag “Mentor”  Like Players, Sycophants are invitation only.

Victims:  Victims are those who are primarily affected by the decisions of Players.  These include corporate officers and faction members.  A victim is usually assigned a restricted mandate, and may make decisions and affect events only within that mandate.  (e.g. a soldier may shoot things, and a doctor may heal things).  Victims may also be selected for special assignments to more important tasks outside the scope of their daily tedium.  Such invitations come from Players and are usually temporary.  The primary purpose of victims is to be just interesting enough so that it is compelling when you are struck down by the Players.  To become a victim, one must submit oneself for selection by a Player into a faction.  If one passes the selection process, then a probationary period of 2-4 weeks usually follows.  At the end of that time, if you have demonstrated that you give good pain or if your character presentation is such that it appears that he or she can be made miserable, the status of Victim is conferred.  All Victims require corporate sponsorship in order to function in the city.  These corporations must either be existing Player factions, or NPC organizations authorized by the Players on special dispensation.  Victims may be cloned or copied so that they can experience the miracle of permadeath over and over at the hands of the Players.

Extras:  The purpose of extras is to provide backdrop; to make the adventures of the players seem more compelling because of the size of the audience being subjected to them.  Extras may make decisions and impact the lives of other extras, but cannot affect any other element of city life.  They may be victimized by any of the higher participant classes at any time, subject to their purview and mood.  Any visitor can become an extra by wearing the k9 tag and creating a character.  Characters must follow rules set down in the Insilico wiki (they must generally be approved by a Player).  Extras are innocent bystanders drawn into events they can’t hope to ever gain enough IC information to understand, victims of random violence, and/or comic relief.  This role is most closely analogous to what other RP environments mean by “player”, but Insilico is far too cool for any random idiot to walk up, affect the city, interpret the activities of a Player in any way other than that Player intends, etc.  Please expect to be permanently killed soon after establishing yourself in the city.  It amuses the Players.