Community Conduct

All standard rules of role-playing, etiquette, and common sense apply. We have a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Otherwise, the moderation team will not mediate in interpersonal disputes and members are responsible for their own self-management. Be respectful and cordial to your fellow players. Any out-of-character drama will not be tolerated in any capacity.

We are a collaborative art and role-play community. Tracing or heavily referencing another member’s work is strictly prohibited; this includes the tracing of photographic resources. Utilizing references from free stock providers to learn anatomy is encouraged, but it is mandatory to cite your sources and follow all rules established by the stock provider. The use of 3D models and texture packs from sources such as those from the CLIP Studio Asset store is acceptable.

You have the right to choose who you role-play with and what happens to your character. Remember, role-play is collaborative story-writing, not a competition. Any plots that may result in death, injury or permanent disfigurement of a character must be approved by the character’s owner. It is the responsibility of the player to communicate with their role-play partner/s. The only exception to this rule includes game mechanics that supersede player choice, e.g., health, and status effects as a result of activity/event participation.

Hvalla is a mature role-play environment. You must be 18 years or older to join. Member-posted content may contain explicit language, adult themes, and graphic violence that may not be suitable for users under the age of 18. Anyone in the community discovered to be underage will be removed from the group.

• Mild sexual innuendo and references are permitted, e.g., adult humor, the mention of brothels.
• Romantic content between appropriately aged characters (crushes, courting, safe-for-work physical displays of affection, etc.) is permitted, but character interactions should not exclusively revolve around, or be established on a foundation of sexual content.
• Graphic content must be clearly labeled as NSFW (Not Safe for Work). We define "graphic content" as realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict that involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, and depictions of severe injury or death. Small amounts of blood do not need to be censored or posted under a spoiler tag. If you are unsure, err on the side of caution.
• All content must adhere to the DeviantArt Terms of Service.

Prohibited Content

• Pedophilia
• Rape/Dubious Consent
• ​Characters with rapist/pedophilia traits
• Submissions depicting explicit sexual content

Discord

01. You must be 18 years or older to join our Discord. Any user discovered to be under the age of 18 will be removed from the server. You do not have to be a player to meet the community and may join as a guest.

02. Be courteous to all members. Our server presence should feel welcoming and approachable. Excessive swearing, disorderly conduct, posting spoilers, or conversations that are otherwise graphic or personal in nature are not allowed. All personal topics — this includes topics about religion or politics — should be relegated to direct messages. As a public server, guests are expected to follow the same community rules as members.

03. Utilize server mute to manage notifications. Our Discord community is home to over 150 members and the development team makes use of server-wide tags often. If you don’t want to receive notifications, you can customize them by right-clicking on the server icon and selecting “Notification Settings.”

04. Our server is manually and autonomously moderated. Chat activity is logged by an automated bot system. Moderators are free to enforce rules as necessary based on log data by utilizing server and bot tools to delete messages, send warnings, apply mutes, or issue bans. Attempts to circumvent an active moderation system may result in the revocation of chat privileges. Auto-moderation may be triggered for any of the following reasons:

• Spamming, i.e., posting in rapid succession
• Mass Mentions
• Sexual Content
• Excessive Text Lines, i.e., hitting enter a dozen times
• Duplicate Messages

05. Be mindful of the text channel you’re using. Topics should be appropriate for the channel you’re currently in. Heavy real-life topics or venting should be posted in the #angry-dome channel.

06. Inappropriate display names will be changed by the moderators without written warning. Display names should not contain swearing, self-deprecating humor, or inappropriate topics. We recommend setting your display name to your DeviantArt username. 

Chat Etiquette

01. Questions
Questions are welcome and encouraged; however, your question or one similar to it may have already been answered. We recommend searching for keywords in any of our dedicated question channels, taking a look through the website, or reviewing the FAQ as your first step. Still can't find what you're looking for? Submit any general questions to #⁠questions.

02. Utilize Pings
For any questions submitted to #questions or #design-questions, ping a @Developer. Pings help us respond to your inquiries quicker by triggering an unread notification in our inbox. If you forget to tag us, don't retroactively edit your post to add the tag, as we won't receive a notification; instead, add a developer tag under your original post.

03. Be patient.
We do our best to respond to all chat inquiries as quickly as possible. If you think your question was overlooked, please wait at least one week before resubmitting and pinging your question again. Most inquiries receive a response from our support team within 48-72 hours. Please allow additional response time for holidays and scheduled team breaks.

04. Refrain from making extraneous comments in question-specific channels.
We're glad you want to take the time to thank us, but please reserve all thank you's for our #viking-rabble channel to avoid unnecessary messages in response-dependent channels.

05. If you ping us, don't delete your message.
You'll make our developers cry as they search for ghost notifications, and by the time you delete your post, there's a good chance a member of the team is already working on a response. Take into consideration that the question you asked, even if you ended up finding the information yourself, may be useful to other members of the community.

P.S. We can see all deleted messages; you can't hide your sins from us.

Mini Modding

Players who mini-mod act as though they have moderation authority and power when they do not. Mini-modding is unhelpful and can otherwise complicate the job of the Moderation Team who have been trained on how best to deal with disruptive behavior. There is, however, a difference between mini-modding and a player who is being helpful, as clarified below.

An example of being helpful:
Player A cannot find the FAQ. Player B provides them with the link.

An example of mini-modding:
Player A is being rude in chat. Player B tells them they are breaking the conduct rules, and the situation escalates.

If you are not in a staff position, you should never engage with members who may be breaking the rules. Any infractions should be reported directly to the Moderation Team through official support methods. This includes opening a ticket within the server or pinging a @Moderator in the event of an urgent issue. Not all “mini-modding” should be viewed as negative. Always consider a member’s actions and the context of the conversation carefully.

Ticket System

We have a dedicated ticket system for private inquiries. Our support system is available to everyone and can be utilized to ask questions or express concerns to our dedicated support team. All queries submitted via the support system are logged for record keeping.

How to Use:

• Visit our #support channel.
• React to the support ticket message to create a ticket. A new channel will be created automatically.
• Leave your message and a member of the support team will get back to you.

Warnings & Bans

Hvalla operates on a three-strike system. Harassment of any kind is neither accepted nor tolerated.

The moderation team is happy to work with our player base to resolve issues, but will not mediate in interpersonal disputes. Any member who exhibits a history of inciting conflict will be subject to membership termination. Moderators reserve the right to disregard the warning system and proceed with an immediate ban in cases where a player has displayed no regard for the community and its established rules. 

01. First Offense — Warning

• First offense warnings remain in place for a maximum of three months.
• Strikes are reviewed every three months.

02. Second Offense — Warning and Privilege Revocation

• Warning issued.
• Privileges are revoked based on the offense.
• Players may be muted on Discord for up to 72 hours if the offenses occurred within the server.
• Players may have their ability to participate in-game restricted or banned for a period of time subject to the nature of the offense.

03. Third Offense — Permanent Ban

• Membership terminated.
• The opportunity to appeal the ban at a later date may be allowed on a case-by-case basis.

Warnable and bannable offenses include, but are not limited to:

• Art theft and literary plagiarism.
• Impersonation of any member of the development team.
• Distribution of unreleased content.
• Disrespect, harassment, or discrimination of any member.
• Distribution of real-life personal information about other players or developers, e.g., doxing.
• Repeated inability or refusal to follow community guidelines and established rules.

How do I appeal a ban?

At this time there is no way to appeal a third strike permanent ban. The decision to issue such a ban is final.

Artwork and Collaboration

Hvalla is an ARPG (Art Role-Playing Game), which has a heavy emphasis on visual works of art. Your character's application artwork must be original artwork made by you, and only you. This is mandatory. You may request assistance from another player in the form of redlines or helpful critiques, but they cannot complete your character application for you, nor can you use a base or other pre-made template.

We strongly encourage collaboration between players and love to see artwork that is a culmination of skill. The artists who actively contribute by lining, coloring, shading, sketching, or filling in background details are eligible to receive XP credit for collaborations. Characters who are uninvolved in the scene or who are included with no additional contribution from their player do not receive XP.

Plot Approval

Like any game in the RPG genre, we have worked hard to develop an in-depth world with a multitude of stories to be explored. Quests may take you to far-off places and into the very depths of the world, but our overarching player-driven story is the heartbeat of Hvalla. Players are encouraged to communicate and collaborate with our Design Department to tell their stories. By joining Hvalla, you do so with the understanding that your characters will naturally be influenced by events occurring around them. We welcome your story ideas that have the potential to shake up the world, and suggest you be open to the idea that it may not play out exactly how you envision. The actions of other players will also have an impact and create a living, breathing tapestry of changing scenarios, and this collaborative storytelling is what we strive for. Plots and their approval requirements are categorized as follows:

Character Plots

Character plots involve a small number of players and are unlikely to have large-scale, world-altering effects. Character plots will never require approval from the Design Team. What you do with your character is your choice – we feel that the fewer hoops a player must jump through to tell their stories, the better.

Regional Plots

Regional plots involve many players in a specific area and are guaranteed to have lasting ramifications within that region. Regional plots are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Players developing or proposing regional plots are expected to collaborate with the official Design Team.

World Plots

World plots involve every player in Hvalla and are guaranteed to have large-scale, world-altering effects. World plot suggestions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and are typically developed by the official Design Team. If approved, players interested in developing world plots are expected to collaborate with the official Design Team to ensure consistency within the current timeline, as well as the theme of Hvalla.

Beta Activity Waivers

October 1st, 2022: Activity checks will recommence as will waiver requests.

Activity waivers are available upon request. Our team is flexible, and we do take into account that sometimes things come up offline that may limit your online activity. The sooner you let us know you need a waiver, the easier it will be for us to accommodate you. We would, however, like to make some clarifications as there have been a few non-emergency last minute requests.

1. Submission waivers must be requested by no later than the 15th of every month. The only exception to this would be unforeseen emergencies, i.e. a natural disaster, family death, a medical emergency, etc.
2. Back-to-back monthly waivers will be denied, with the exception of emergency requests.
3. You are not required to provide any personal details when requesting a waiver.
4. You may request a maximum of 4 waivers a year.

How to Request an Activity Waiver

• Open a #beta-support ticket on Discord.
• Our team will review your request and inform you of their decision. Requests are approved or denied on a case-by-case basis.