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Community Guidelines

Rule Zero - Be nice! Spirit of the Law Versus Letter of the Law: Use common sense and consider the spirit of these rules. What matters is the intent behind them, not the precise wording. Rules exist to guide fair and immersive roleplay, not to be exploited for personal gain. Attempting to manipulate, argue, or “Rules-Lawyer” staff decisions is strongly discouraged. Fallout Great Lakes Administration reserves the right to take action—including warnings, ejections, or bans—against any player whose behavior is consistently harmful to the community or the sim, even if no specific rule has been technically broken. 

Community Conduct Rules

  1. Channel Use – Keep roleplay in RP channels or in-world in the play areas, keep memes, chatter, and off-topic posts in the appropriate OOC spaces.​

  2. Respect Staff Decisions – Staff decisions are final. Warnings may escalate to mutes, kicks, or bans for repeated issues.​

  3. Event Play – Large-scale events may be run by Storytellers. Player-driven stories are encouraged but must remain within lore and fair play guidelines.​

  4. Mature Themes – The Fallout world is violent and gritty, but player comfort comes first. Fade-to-black or OOC consent checks should be used for disturbing content.​

  5. Have Fun & Collaborate – Fallout: Great Lakes thrives on cooperation, creativity, and story-driven roleplay. Everyone is here to enjoy a shared world.

Public Grandstanding will NOT get you your way in any way shape or form. If you are making a scene in any OOC chat room to get attention, validation or form a complaint of the sim, the staff WILL ask you to stop and file a ticket. Failing to do so will result in administrative action! This sim is PRIVATE PROPERTY PUBLIC ACCESS. No one has the right to be there. Only the privilege.

Roleplay-Specific Rules

  1. No Gestures or OOC Interruptive Behavior in IC Areas – This is a roleplay sim, not an SL club. No silly, whacky, or audible gestures interrupting RP. Light OOC among friends is fine, but if any player in the scene asks for it to stop, it must stop. Respect immersion.

  2. Restricted Factions – Players cannot start as Enclave, NCR, Institute, Railroad, Minutemen, or major Brotherhood of Steel groups without admin approval. Ex-members are allowed, but without large resources, manpower, or NPC armies.

  3. Start Small, Build Up – Player factions, businesses, and groups may begin with modest resources/income but must earn power, facilities, and prestige through roleplay.

  4. Technology Limits – Rare equipment (power armor, advanced energy weapons, vertibirds, etc.) cannot be used at the start. Access must be earned through story progression or admin-led events.

  5. Immersion First – Use IC channels for roleplay only. OOC discussion should remain in designated OOC channels.

  6. Death/Permakill Rules – Character death must be agreed upon by players ONLY. No surprise PKs. The bottom line is the victim of the death has final say of said death roleplay. Do your very best to get creative before you attempt to put a bullet in someone’s brain. The Administration reserves the right to waive this rule in extreme circumstances. Meaning if your character tries to set off a dirty bomb in New Chicago … expect a ring-a-ding-ding from an Administrator to explain your character can now be killed by the Brotherhood.

  7. Character Value - Every character has intrinsic worth in roleplay. Players must treat their character’s life as meaningful, avoiding reckless or careless actions that serve only to endanger them for no story-driven reason.This means if someone is threatening your character with a bullet to the brain, you do not get to treat that roleplay like it is meaningless without being willing to accept the reality of that fate. Everyone lives their life with even a modicum of fear of death at the end of the day. 

  8. Proportional Response - Mindless brutality, such as gang violence, rape, or torture over minor IC disagreements, is discouraged but not outright PROHIBITIED. IC actions must have IC consequences, and extreme violence should only occur in story-driven, justified scenarios. If your character dishes out extreme violence, be prepared to receive it in the form of revenge plots, BOS law enforcement intervention or long term IC Consequences.

  9. No Contagious Misbehavior - Observing one group engage in disruptive or abusive behavior does not justify copying it. Players are expected to maintain proper IC conduct, regardless of what others do, to prevent toxic trends from spreading.

  10. Inclusion & Accessibility - Cliques or exclusive groups that deliberately ignore, exclude, or belittle other players are discouraged. All players should feel welcome, heard, and able to participate in roleplay, and faction/group interactions should promote engagement, not isolation.

  11. Adult Activities - Fallout: Great Lakes is an adult-rated roleplaying settlement. Sexual content is permitted, but New Chicago (Not Detroit Ruins, Frozen Rapids and Fort Wayne) maintains strict laws against public nudity and overt sexual behavior in shared areas. All interactions must be consensual OOC—any unwanted advances are considered harassment and will be met with firm administrative action. Characters and players should expect realistic IC consequences for their actions in accordance with settlement law and social norms.

  12. Metaposting - Characters are not mind readers. If you emote only thinking but not speaking, people will wonder if you're okay. Give people something to respond to rather than a wall of text describing minutiae. Thought insults are also considered metaposting and a mixing of IC/OOC, as well as bad form.

Gaming the System

Fallout: Great Lakes is a collaborative roleplay experience, not a numbers game. Any attempts to game the system are strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to:
 

  • Alt Currency Farming – Using alternate accounts, loopholes, or repeated grinding to inflate wealth unfairly.
     

  • NPC Abuse – Exploiting NPC rules to create unrealistic armies, avoid danger, or dominate other players.,
     

  • Consequence Avoidance – Constantly dodging IC consequences (arrests, injuries, losses, or setbacks) to remain “untouchable.”,


Players are expected to embrace risk, consequences, and setbacks as part of the storytelling process. Characters grow through challenge and adversity, and avoiding it undermines the entire community. Violations of this rule will result in administrative review and, if necessary, penalties up to removal from the sim.

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