Better Than Gerwertz

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The rules of playing in BTG

1. Dead Journals: If a journal isn’t updated in 4 weeks, it is dead. Subsequently, the dead character is up for grabs. Believe me, there is always someone waiting for you to die. So be kind to your character and others; don’t play unless you’re going to be active in the game. If for some reason you will not be able to update in the 4 week limit, please let the Admins know via AIM, e-mail, PM, or in BTG OOC. In addition, posting only a one-liner or posting just a survey or quiz will NOT count as an update.

In addition, the BTG Admin Team reserves the right to monitor journals/characters that are what we would consider Death List regulars, and remove them from the game. Several factors besides being on the Death List regularly would be considered, such as commenting in other journals, and interacting on AIM. Obviously players that contacted the BTG Admins with legitimate reasons for not updating their journals would be excluded.

2. Number of Journals: There is a 7 journal limit per player. We believe this is more than enough for one person to handle. DO NOT take on more than one journal unless you are sure you can devote the time and effort needed for each character. Writers with more than 7 journals before July 5, 2004 (those who moved from UJ) will be grandfathered and allowed to keep their journals. But, if any are deleted, you WILL NOT be allowed to pick up new journals unless you go below the 7 journal limit.

3. Disclaimer: A) EVERY participant MUST include a disclaimer in their profile. We will be checking for these very regularly to ensure compliance. Lack of a disclaimer will constitute immediate banning. The GJ required disclaimer is below and MUST be in your profile/user info:

[This journal is part of a non-profit role-playing community and is not intended to be taken literally as the character portrayed. We are in no way associated with the owners of the intellectual property the character belongs to. No copyright infringement is intended, nor do we pretend to own any part of said property, trademarks or characters. This journal may be subject to permanent suspension without notice at the request of the real person, trademark holder, copyright owner or agent thereof.]

B) No links are allowed in your user info. Yes, we know other sources must sometimes be credited, but for the protection of the game, please just say "icons from Joe" or "information from Joe's Wrestling Site" and do not provide a link back. This goes for all types of sites, not just icons or informational, but official wrestler's sites, even wwe.com. We don't want the trouble that could possible come from these things.

4. Disclaimer codes: ALL journals must have the disclaimer code in their journals. The codes and instructions on how to put the codes in your journals can be found here. Journals without the disclaimer will be banned from BTG.

5. Surveys, Quizzes, and Tests: Try to keep these limited in your character journals. They tend to slow down friend pages and annoy others. If you must do them (because some people are addicted), please use a cut tag. Oh, and never post a quiz in the community journal. C’mon, there’s always something to say. Also, please do not flood your fellow players friends' pages with numerous postings of just quizzes and song lyrics. Please edit your original post to add the new quizzes and such

6. IC, OOC, and Anonymity: IC = in character. We try to stay in character. It’s fun to interact as wrestlers, honest. You interact as yourself all day long, why do that while you’re playing here? Aren’t you interested in doing this to escape yourself? OOC = out of character or [discussions held within brackets like so.] Try to keep this limited to necessary questions and the like. If you need to make an OOC Post in journals, please post it in BTG OOC. Anonymity is a good thing here. It’s a lot more fun if we don’t know who’s behind the screen name. If you ever stumble across a faker's real journal or real name, it's nice to keep that info to yourself, a sort of 'we won't tell if you don't' policy.

7. Common Courtesy and Character Usage: If you have a storyline, but you need, say, Eric Bischoff to play it out properly… ask first. Don’t use a character without the owner’s express permission. We spend a great deal of time spinning our little dramas, so please ask before doing something that might snip an important thread. By the way, if you don’t heed this warning… It’s a ban-able offence to put words in a character’s mouth or actions in their…yeah, you get the point.

8. Other Games: There are a series of other wrestling RPG's on Live Journal, GreatestJournal, Blurty, DeadJournal and UJournal. We are aware of them, and we do not interact with them. It is also requested that you keep your Better Than Gerwertz characters only on this RPG. It is also requested that you do not filter info IC or OOC to these other RPG's. That's not nice, and it will get you kicked out of Better Than Gerwertz.

9. Plagiarism: Look, we know that people will have very similar ideas from time to time. However, please don't directly steal from someone. If you do so, and we can prove it, you will be banned from the community.

10. Spoilers: Not all of us live on the East Coast of the United States you know. To keep things somewhat fair, please put all RAW spoilers behind a cut tag with a warning until Wednesdays, and all Smackdown spoilers behind a cut tag with a warning until Saturdays.

11. Wrestlers: The list of taken characters can be found here.

12. BTG related journals: All players must list Better Than Gerwertz as a friend. BTG Five Oh acts as a policing agent for continuity, letting you know if your character is in two places at once, those sorts of things. Please add BTG Five Oh to your friends list as well. In addition, we have BTG Icons to help out the graphics impaired, BTG OOC for all OOC posts, BTG Confessions for your characters to get stuff off their chests and BTG Informer where all the gossip is found.

13. Character Research: Please take the time to research anything you plan to make part of your character and journal entries. We like to keep a certain degree of reality and believability in our little fantasy world.

14. Spelling, Punctuation and Netspeak: Spell check is your friend...use it. Grammar is your friend...please try to use correct grammar and punctuation. We realize there are some characters who's improper use of grammar and punctuation is a part of their character (such as luchadors who have English as a second language, or Raven who states in his user info he's a lousy typist). But for the most part improper use of spelling and grammar, and excessive use of Netspeak makes your journal look like a teenybopper wrote it, not your character.

15. Hiatus: The BTG Admin Team understands we all have real lives outside of gaming, and there may be times a hiatus may be necessary. Acceptable reasons for asking for an hiatus include the following: illness/health reasons (yourself or a family member), work/school obligations, extended vacations, internet/computer issues, moving, etc. "Taking a break" from RP'ing is no longer going to be an acceptable reason for granting hiatus. Even if you're taking a break, you should be able to get an update done once every four weeks.

Hiatus will be granted for one month. If after a month you need more time, please tell the BTG Admin Team, and we will decide on a case by case basis whether or not you'll be granted an extension. Also, we will only grant one hiatus per writer every six months unless there are extenuating circumstances the Admin team considers valid for granting another hiatus before the six month period is up.

16. Joining in the fun: First, check our taken/in-play characters list to see if the person you are interested in is already chosen. If they are... pick someone else, we've also included a wanted list. Lurk for a while and check out what goes on before you join up, that way you will be well informed before you dive in.

You will need to secure a GreatestJournal for your character; complete with a description and photo icon. Please be sure you want to play well with others before you sign-up. Having an AIM screen name is encouraged, but not a necessity as the journals are the lifeblood of the game.

After you do all that, please make your first post then go here and leave the appropriate information via a comment. To prove you really read the rules, please put “Better Than Gerwertz - THe Power Is Back” in the “Have you read the rules?” line when you sign up. One of the Admins will get back to you as soon as possible to let you know whether or not your journal was accepted in the community.

In order to stay in the community, you must update again within one week of your initial introductory post. This is in order to prevent people from "collecting" journals, as we want an active, vital game.

ALL new characters must do an application, even if you are already writing a character in BTG.

These journals are in no way meant to be libellous/slanderous nor intended with malicious intent and are not meant to misinform other fans, roleplayers or general readers. We also believe that this constitutes "fair use" under section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. These journals are nonprofit and not for the use of a public image for any personal gain, nor are they endorsed and/or sponsored by the actual celebrities. Shamelessly pilfered from It's Scripted and rewritten by Better Than Gerwertz for the Better Than Gerwertz RPG on GJ. once again, this is just a game. Don't sue. Created July 21, 2002.