15.11.1 Discriminatory Language

As this has serious repercussions for your characters, we're going to explain
what this is and means in Achaea.

Achaea is a game on the internet, and the standards for behaviour across the
internet, bolstered by the anonymity of the medium, have afforded a great 
leeway for people to be graceless, and for people to insult one another without
care. Commonly we see it, even in our community, where people sink to being
unkind without care for the fact that we are talking to other people. The lack
of face-to-face interaction allows many Achaeans to feel as if they can say
whatever they wish without consequence. 

The internet has somewhat normalised terrible behaviour towards other people. 
It facilitates division, it encourages kneejerk reactions with minimal
engagement, it enables us to often and easily be our worst selves, and with 
a VPN who even cares about the subsequent ban? It is even easier to roll our
eyes at "woke" or "snowflake" culture (loath as I am to use these terms, we 
hear them used to describe the admin team semi-often), and employ some 
colourful discriminatory language or meme to deride and dismiss those who 
are trying to inject a modicum of humanity back into our social interactions.

Discriminatory language is defined by using aspects of a person that they have
no choice in (I.E gender, race, disability, sexual orientation) to insult,
denigrate, or use as the punchline to a joke. The common themes found in
discriminatory language are often disadvantaged, overlooked, or persecuted
groups - considered to be easy targets.

EXAMPLE: If you recently killed someone and they are crying about it, they 
are not being "a woman". This is discriminatory (misogyny) as you are using
women as the punchline for your quip and implying that women are lesser. 

EXAMPLE: If you are trying to explain something to a newbie and they are not
getting it, they are not being "a retard". Again, this is discriminatory
(ableism).

EXAMPLE: Conversely, calling someone a "piece of shit" or "an idiot" is not
discriminatory, these are simply descriptive of someone's actions and 
behaviours and does not invoke a protected group of people in order to create 
an insult. Just because you do not like something does not automatically make 
it discriminatory content.

We do understand that for many this is going to be a learning process (for us 
as well!) Often we don't even realise the words we use in daily conversation.
With that in mind we approach all accusations with the benefit of the doubt; 
we will warn first before any punishment is doled out.

If you continue to be the lowest common denominator after a warning, then we
will consider your slips wilful and administrative punishment will be levied. 
No one is going to lose access to their character for a simple foot-in-mouth
moment and often an apology will quell any report, but we will inform you 
when you are inappropriate so that you can do better.

With that said, the team is not perfect and we do not monitor everything 
entered into Achaea in a live setting. We do however keep good records and 
we can look back to verify and ascertain context and content when we are 
made aware of problem behaviour. If you believe someone is using 
discriminatory language, or worse, hatespeech, please file an issue.

HELP LANGUAGE RULES is clear, discriminatory language is not welcome in 
Achaea, and those who cannot play Achaea without expressing themselves in 
this way are also not welcome.

We would like to add one caveat: the above is all OOC. In character 
prejudice and discrimination when handled appropriately is acceptable. 
This is easily distinguished and our tolerance for people who cannot 
distinguish between the two situations is extremely low. 

Related Reading: HELP LANGUAGE RULES