🧌Trolling
Engaging in behavior intended to provoke, disturb, or antagonize players (not characters) is strictly prohibited. This includes baiting others into OOC arguments, crash-outs, unnecessary ticket creation, or deliberately bothering someone in a way that targets the person behind the character – whether they're a civilian, police, staff member, or anyone else.
What ISN'T Trolling:
Let's be crystal clear: Roleplay you dislike or disagree with is NOT automatically trolling or harassment.
PHRP is a living, breathing world filled with different personalities, perspectives, and play styles. Just like in real life, you won't like everyone you meet, and that's okay. Your character will encounter:
Annoying characters
Aggressive characters
Characters with opposing views
Characters who make poor decisions
Characters whose personality clashes with yours
This is roleplay. This is intended.
You cannot use "troll" or "toxic" as a shield to avoid players whose characters or play style you simply don't enjoy. These terms have become weaponized to push away players people don't like, and that stops here. If someone is roleplaying a criminal, a jerk, or an antagonist – that's not trolling, that's their character.
What IS Trolling & Toxic Behavior:
Now, let's define what actually crosses the line. Trolling and toxic behavior targets the player, not the character. Here are clear examples:
Trolling Includes:
Intentionally ruining others' roleplay with no regard for the story or scene (e.g., randomly VDM'ing into an active RP scenario just to cause chaos)
Playing to get a reaction out of players, not to create meaningful roleplay (e.g., repeatedly doing annoying actions specifically because you know it frustrates someone OOC)
Breaking character to antagonize (e.g., making OOC comments in-game meant to upset someone)
Deliberately misusing game mechanics to harass (e.g., spamming tackle, constant unwarranted 911 calls about someone)
Targeting specific players across multiple characters or scenarios without roleplay justification
"Fail RP" with intent – knowingly breaking immersion or server rules just to annoy others
Toxic Behavior Includes:
OOC harassment in Discord, tickets, or voice chat (insults, personal attacks, belittling)
Bringing real-life issues into roleplay to hurt or upset someone
Doxing, threatening, or sharing personal information about other members
Discrimination or hate speech targeting players based on race, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, etc.
Malicious gossip or drama-stirring – intentionally spreading rumors or starting conflicts between community members
Passive-aggressive behavior designed to make someone uncomfortable (snide comments, exclusion tactics, "vague posting" about people)
Retaliatory behavior – punishing players OOC for IC actions (e.g., reporting someone out of spite, excluding them from groups because their character arrested yours)
Gaslighting or manipulation – making players question their own perception or experience to avoid accountability
Pattern Recognition: One instance might be a misunderstanding. A pattern is trolling. If someone is repeatedly causing issues with multiple people, disrupting scenes, or consistently making others uncomfortable – that's when it becomes a problem.
The Difference:
❌ Trolling/Toxic: "I'm going to keep interrupting this person's RP because I know it annoys them OOC." ✅ Acceptable RP: "My criminal character is going to rob this person because it makes sense for my character's story."
❌ Trolling/Toxic: "I'm going to call you names in Discord because I didn't like what your character did to mine." ✅ Acceptable RP: "My character is going to be upset and confront your character in the city about what happened."
❌ Trolling/Toxic: "I'm going to follow this player around on every character I make because I think it's funny to mess with them." ✅ Acceptable RP: "My character has an ongoing rivalry with their character based on our shared storyline."
When In Doubt:
Ask yourself: "Am I doing this to create interesting roleplay for everyone involved, or am I doing this to bother the person behind the character?"
If the answer is the latter – don't do it.
Still unsure? Open a ticket with staff. We'd rather clarify than deal with drama later. We're building a community where conflict happens in character, not out of it.
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