A Note from the TwitterPonies Moderator

Below is a very lengthy note from the TwitterPonies mod/Celestia.  All that is here is all that he said, the only changes being spelling.


ATTENTION ALL PONIES! Good evening (it's evening here where I am, and it sounds so civilized). If I can have everypony's attention for a few minutes, big changes! For months now, we've had a division between "Players" and "Audience." We tried it because it was becoming impossible to have a coherent storyline, and some folks were taking the RolePlay (RP) in other direction. We were all having a hard time figuring out "what really happened," and there was confusion about "who to follow." So we came up with a system, and about a month ago it became clear that this system was overloaded and having its own problems.

The "Guest Star" system we tried out at first was too unwieldy, creating a "Who are we following this week?" craziness. We suspended it for retooling, but it's been a while now, and folks are wondering "How can I get into being a Player?" So for the last few weeks we've been going back and forth trying to find a fair system that was open to everyone. It's time for a new system, and we've got one! So here we go: The division between Audience and Player is now much, much looser. Everyone--from Players to Audience--are free to follow and respond to whomever they want. The days of a Player not acknowledging your tweet just because you're not a Player are GONE. Yay, celebration!

However, this isn't a free-for-all. There are rules, they're just based on ACTION, not person. If you abide by the GUIDELINE (more about that in a moment), you're welcome to act and interact with anyone you want. If you do things beyond the Guidelines, well, anyone can still follow you, but expect to be ignored. Let's go with examples. Are you a pegasus who's opening a "feather preening service" shop in town? Great! Sounds like fun. It adds to the world. It's within the scope of the show. You'll probably attract a lot of followers. Are you funny? Relaxed? Creative? You'll get even more followers, people will probably respond to your tweets. They don't HAVE TO, but again, they don't have to IGNORE you either. Now--if you suddenly try to go all Sweeny Todd and start trying to eat the pegasi in your store--that's way, way beyond the guidelines. Under this new system, people will be encouraged to ignore what you just said, perhaps even DM you and say, "Dude, too much!" And if you don't rope it in, well, you'll lose followers and people will start ignoring your tweets and eventually stop following you. Again, they don't HAVE to stop following you. But they will.  So given all this, who's a Player? A Player is anyone a huge majority is following, who's remained in the guidelines a while. Someone who contributes, is funny, is show-like. So that's pretty much it--except the big question: WHAT ARE THE GUIDELINES?

As we speak, we're updating the Wiki to list the Guidelines. You don't have to be a Twilight Sparkle-level genius to figure them out: IN GENERAL, the Guidelines are: if it's in the show, it's okay. If it's not, it's PROBABLY not. And, of course, it's still strongly G-rated. So look at the show (which starts Season 2 in 48 hours yay!): Use your judgment. There are married couples in the show (Mr & Ms Cake, Twi's parents, the Oranges, etc.). Folks can be married. But torrid love affairs? Crushed hearts and lust? Nope. There IS magic, sure. But gnarly powerful magic? That's reserved for Alicorns (and there are only two) and the Elements and Discord. If you're not a unicorn, don't do magic. If you're a unicorn, do magic very limited, very light.

There's no death in this world--don't be the son of two murdered ponies, it's not within the Guidelines. Now, there's NOTHING WRONG with all these plots and such, but don't expect most ponies to follow you or acknowledge such posts. Let's face it, if you're a new pony and you go knocking on the Treebrary door and go, "Hi, can I read a book?" Totally okay. You'll be acknolwedged. If after a few minutes you reveal you're actually a double-unicorn from outer space? Spike ain't answering.

All this being said, we DO do a lot of stuff that's kinda outside the Guidelines, because it's hilarious, or adorable. This is a judgment call. Honestly, if someone did BatMare right, I'd follow them. If it was done the way a real pony might, a little tongue-in-cheek, heck, Spike would go, "Who was that masked pony?" After all, the real character of Pinkie Pie does this almost for a living! So these are not hard-and-fast rules. The only thing that's concrete are the G-rating and the general Guidelines. Now, I'm following just about everyone, so let's take some questions. Just say them out loud, I'll hear you! (if I don't respond, someone nudge me, I might not be following everyone, though I try)

Just got a suggestion: Death is okay, in that ponies are mortal and die (except the alicorns, perhaps). So no Death "on camera" is better.

Alberio asks about the limits on the royal guard. They're normal ponies, just civil servants. Want to join the guard? No problem. Just play it normal.

Hunt all the treasure you want--just don't go "discovering" gnarly magic rocks or extra elements of harmony.

The basic rule: if something you're doing GIVES YOU POWER OVER PONIES, avoid it. Be a guard, but not a GENERAL. Have a magic stone, but not one that makes you a wizard.

Question: what about translated Ponies? Spanish, for instance? Go for it! But you won't get any followers or interactors who don't speak it.

For now, a guard is a guard. Celestia or Luna will point to an officer if there needs to be one. Why? Because if you make yourself a ranking guard pony, you're trying to HAVE POWER, and ponies will ignore you.

That's the beauty of this system: If you do cool stuff, people will like you, follow you, tell other ponies, "Hey, follow X, s/he's cool!" and that's how you get in there.

Minty asks if a pony can have ice magic. Is there ice magic in the show? No? Then probably not. But in very minor ways, sure! Think about it: Rarity has "gem magic"--she can find gems. Every unicorn has a cutie-mark-related power. You want yours to be ice? Sure. But that's at most conjuring a snowball or an icicle to lick. NOT THE ICE KING from Adventure Time!

Now, remember, with no "official" players list, things are going to start out awkwardly. You might get "ignored" for a while--you're not being ignored, but perhaps someone's still trying to decide if you're following the guides. Or if you're cool. Or funny. Or worth putting into their follow list--all of these are now PERSONAL decisions. All that we ask is that you don't support when others do things outside the Guidelines.

A little philosophy here: We're all trying to live by the Pony Way. The division between Player and Audience was...well, not very pony. It wound up being exclusionary and made it seem cliqueish and clubby. NEVER our intent. But now the doors are open--and if people ignore you, it's because (being frank here) you probably aren't very good at it. Is your English horrible? Folks won't pay attention. Who wants to wade through horrible English? If you just can't stop being soap-opera heavy, if you're always crying or being a drama-foal, well, folks will get tired and disregard you. It's a real RP-meritocracy now. So if you're not getting any traction, it's not people being clubby, it's you.

Write me, I'll always advise where I can. Learn--grow. Watch what other ponies do who are kicking butt. :)

So that's the big announcement. Now, I'm getting a lot of questions like this: "Is my X power okay?" and "I want to open a Y shop," and "Can't I be a general in the Guard?" There's no way to say 'yes' or 'no' to these. And even if I did, MY judgment isn't the law. I'm just the Mod. I only reflect policy everyone agrees on and make announcements. I only reflect policy everyone agrees on and make announcements. It's CONSENSUS now. Consensus is the only law, along with the Guidelines. No consensus needed if you play a murderer--everyone is asked to ignore you if you do.

Fasaloft asks if it's okay for a new pony to just appear in PV and be a store owner or something. Good question! It involves one of the Guidelines: CONTINUITY. While it's a bad idea to claim power (by being a mage or general or badass), it's just as bad an idea to break continuity. If a pegasus is flying over Whitetail Wood, don't RP like you're combing their tail in the spa. Pay attention to the RP, and support people. That'll make them like you and acknowledge you and eventually follow you. So use your judgment. Our goal is to build the world. If you want to say you've been Ponyville's PLUMBER for years? Okay. There's room for that, and it's CONSISTENT with the town. Or, you can roleplay a pony coming to town setting up shop for the first time.

It's not the WHAT. It's the HOW you do it. I can advise, but it's the Consensus that will determine if you're doing it right. If you show up in town like the Great and Powerful Trixie...Well, look how the ponies reacted. Some loved her (Snips and Snails), but she was eventually run out of town.

Marbelle asks about alts. Alts are fine! But again, don't hog the feed. Don't have a giant RP between you and your alt. That is a way of seizing power, forcing us to read your stream. Careful! You'll be ignored. UNLESS it's so darn funny/entertaining we just have to watch. See?

Alberio, how does one establish residence in Ponyville? Why, move in! Build a house. Settle down. In rare cases, claim you've been there all along (but be sure it's CONSISTENT with the show (and the guielines, of course)).

Pyro asks, what about OOC comments? Put them in (( )) parenthesis. And keep them to a minimum please.

We're already past the "rules" and into my personal suggestions. Because honestly, if you do things that are whack, you'll be ignored. Just because you've BORED everyone. Or broken reality. Or not been neighborly, by ignoring other people's RP.

We're a community.

All communities ultimately select, naturally, for whatever they want--and what we want is to be ponies and have fun!So be a pony. Have fun. Keep it like the show. Avoid hoarding power. Share. Abide by the Pony Way.

BigSims3030 asks, "How do I start my own MLP RP account?" Simple: create a Twitter account with "MLP_" (case doesn't matter) in front of your name. Then start role playing. EASY!

QUICK NOTE: Many of you "former audience" may be asking themselves, "Uh oh. What the heck do I do now?" Because you realize your origin story is too grimdark. Or you're in a torrid love affair. Well, sadly, you'll have to change, reboot, retcon, say it was all over years ago, something to get you back within the Guidelines.

Lastly, NO HARASSMENT. Seriously. We won't just ignore you, we'll ban you if that happens. If someone doesn't want to play with you, deal with it. Don't go having grudges or vendettas or lusts after other players.

Any questions?

I know this is kind of hard to nail down, but: Don't do anything that will make everyone roll their eyes. Obviously, you can't play Naruto Pony or Luke Skywalker pony, those aren't in the MLP universe, so, the Guidelines forbid it. But do yourself a favor: don't make thinly-disguised versions of those old tropes. Peopole will get bored and ignore you.

Okay! Any questions? I was mostly done anyway. By the way, there is no reset or reboot associated with this. But look closely at your own charactr and what he/she has done, you may very well need to reboot or even restart it!

Another important note: You're going to see some ponies in special situations. The "Mane 6" ponies, Celestia, Luna, a few others. Let's face it, they're the protagonists, they're constrained by the show. They have a hard job. So don't go nuts if you see them skirting some of the guidelines, such as stronger magic, etc. You'll find that once you become a Player (again, an unofficial title showing that most everyone follows you and interacts with you)......you'll have earned so much trust that you can bend the rules a little. Give yourself time to develop that.

Okay, I think we're done! Everypony, go out and play. Or go to your cloud beds, it's late for some of us. PLEASE STAND BY over the next few days as we update the Wiki. This is all volunteer work, so it's not fair to rush people.

Last of all--not everyone was here tonight. If you see a pony confused by these changes, help them out. Eventually we'll have it all on the Wiki, but for now, explain and encourage. Thank you all!