Powerplaying Guide

[BEAR.]

Powerplaying

With an influx of users powerplaying recently, this was created to try to help users understand what powerplaying is, and how to avoid being contacted by staff about it.

When reading this, please do so carefully. If you have any further questions regarding powerplaying you are always welcome to reach out to an active staff member.

What is it?

For the purpose of Warrior Cats Online, we define powerplaying as so:

The act of explicitly landing blows on another character without receiving prior permission from the other character's roleplayer. In other forms, it can appear as controlling someone else's character, unapproved powers, or having your character gain knowledge without it being roleplayed out.

Fighting: Powerplay Style

Thistlestep launched himself at Gullstrike, slamming into his side to knock him over and pin him. With Gullstrike secured beneath him, Thistlestep began to slash his claws down his underbelly, watching the other tom squirm in pain.

Notice how Gullstrike's roleplayer had no opportunity to dodge in this post, was struck several times, and near the end Gullstrike's reaction to being injured was determined by Thistlestep's roleplayer?

That is powerplaying.

When you roleplay fighting, you should aim all your blows, pins, slashes, swipes-- everything, unless you discussed it with your roleplay partner beforehand. You should also never roleplay another character-- they do not belong to you, and you do not have the right to determine their reaction to what your character is attempting or has done.

In the event your partner is fine with you landing blows without aiming, all you have to do is have an OOC note in your posts stating you've been given approval to land your blows. In private threads, you can do something like this and have it apply to the posts following the note.

In public threads, you do not need to do repeated notes unless your posts are scattered and separated. Then, it should be done to ensure passerbys are able to easily recognize the roleplayers involved are fine with the powerplaying.

Fighting Properly
It's pretty easy!

Let's take a look at an example:

Thistlestep launched himself at Gullstrike, aiming to knock him over. If he succeeded, he planned on pinning the other tom down.

This gives the other roleplayer a chance to react. They could have their cat dodge, they could have him get struck but not fall over, they could have him get knocked over but weasel out of being pinned, or they could roll with what Thistlestep's roleplayer is trying to do and have him get both knocked over and pinned.

It leaves fights more open ended without giving your partner unwanted injuries.

NOTE: In this example, Thistlestep attempted multiple moves. It is preferred to keep it to one to keep things simple as your move may not succeed.

Other Forms of Powerplay

There's a few other forms of powerplaying we look for on Warrior Cats Online. While they were mentioned briefly above, let's look at some of the common instances we've seen recently.

• Unapproved powers. Powers must be purchased through the Kitty Koins Bank and be approved by a staff member. Spirits communicating to cats outside of dreams and appearing in the living world without staff permission are all forms of an unapproved power.
  
  
• Unrealistic knowledge. Knowledge is limited to what YOU have roleplayed on the forums for all ranks. The only exception to this rule is for cats who are made to be warriors: their knowledge of fighting and hunting can start off as average and increase overtime through experience.
  
  For example, if your cat has never interacted with a medicine cat before, they should not know herbs outside the very basics: cobwebs and sticks. To become more advanced in herbal knowledge, they should look into spending more time with the medicine cat to pick up herb usage. They should not start off with any extended knowledge-- it must be roleplayed to avoid powerplaying.
  
  
• Being overpowered. An apprentice should not be able to fight off several fully trained warriors or apprentices at the end of their training. In addition, cats should not be able to kill larger predators (foxes, other canines, badgers, etc.) by themselves. This requires, depending on animal size, at least one other cat.
  
  
• Ignoring injuries. Cats with severe injuries cannot be roleplayed as if they healed quickly. They should have lasting injuries for minimally two weeks if they receive medical treatment.