here at ~gathens we want to keep the atmosphere fun and creative! we don't plan to disappear anytime soon so we hope that our dedication translates into a long-lasting community. the central focus of the comm will be the undergraduate classes but, we are open to grad students as well as faculty for those that wish to bring in previously developed or more mature characters. ~gathens is played in real time meaning, when you are applying the year you put down for your character is their status for the fall '12 - spring '13 academic year.

the basics.

➲godmodding, metagaming, and powerplay are expressly forbidden. disagreements that need a mediator can be brought to the mod.

➲all major storylines have to be mod-approved. this means pregnancy, major car accidents or injuries, suicide attempts, marriages, and so on. if there's anything you feel might seriously change the course of things, we probably feel the same way. please just give us a heads up before you go through with it.

➲the 5 year rule will be enforced. this means your character's age must be within five years of the pb's age. it doesn't matter how young your pb looks, your character's age has to coincide with the pb's real age.

➲do your research! more specifically, have some sort of idea of what you're getting your character into. for example, there's no way your character can be in multiple clubs and sports while maintaining a straight A grade average as well as a thriving social life. be realistic!

➲have fun! this is just a game, and there's no need to take things too seriously.

applying.

➲journals and aims can be IC or OOC, however; no extra letters, x's, underscores or numbers allowed.

➲aim is required for this particular game.

➲the mods have no plans to incorporate greek life into gameplay officially, though this of course doesn't mean that we're overlooking it completely. at this point in time, if your character is involved in one please be aware that plots and other things regarding greek life will have to be discussed and plotted with other frat and sorority characters.

➲excepting those characters involved in a sorority or fraternity, we are limiting housing to on campus housing only at this time. there are several different options available to suit your character's needs.

➲we require two scenes and two journal examples, as we feel this is the best way to get some insight into your writing. keep in mind that we're not necessarily asking for extremely long, in depth examples, we value quality over quantity. really, we're looking to see that you were consistent throughout the scene (i.e strong starts that taper off into one sentence replies) and that grammar and spelling are up to par. also, if english is not your first language, please be sure you have a decent enough grasp of the language to form proper sentences.

➲we will reject any character we feel hasn't read these rules or whose writing isn't up to par with community standards. for now we will be doing adds twice a week. more than likely it will lower to once a week, depending on the number of applications we receive.

housing.

➲all incoming freshman will be living on campus and can not choose whom their roommates are. those who are not freshman can live off campus and choose their roommate and/or dorm if they are not living off campus.

➲co-educational does not mean mixed rooms. unless living in family or graduate housing, girls and boys will not share rooms. the dorms themselves are co-ed by floors, meaning that two girls or two boys will room together but their neighbors may be of the opposite gender.

➲as stated before, we are limiting off campus housing to those in greek communities (i.e fraternity/sorority houses).

➲after joining, you will not have the opportunity to change roommates in the middle of the year. if applying with a roommate, please make sure you want to stay with that person for at least the first semester. we are a bit more lenient with assigned roommates, however, so if problems arise that just can't be worked out just contact a mod.

➲make sure you study the campus maps! they'll give you a general idea of where dorms are located as well as their distance from main campus buildings. keep in mind, it's not possible to wake up 5-10 minutes before class and get there on time. uga has its own transit system - distance is an issue.

specifics.

there is no character limit, but try not to take on more than you can handle. if you cannot keep up with updates for your characters, you will be asked to drop one or two until you are at a more manageable number. when bringing in a new character, please keep in mind that diversity is key. hiatuses are perfectly fine; leave a comment at the dropbox or make a post to your character's journal if you need one. we'll grant you one that lasts up to three weeks, but for fairness, we can't go longer than three weeks unless there are extenuating circumstances.

in regard to activity checks, activity will be monitored through journal updates. we'll need to see one every three weeks, though posting more frequently is definitely and more encouraged. these updates can be narratives, regular journal entries (at least 50 words), playlists, faux websites, random facts, anything else that can be thought of as substantial. if you are using a filtered thread/scene for your update, please be sure to include the mod journal so that it can be viewed and counted for activity.

adds are done every wednesday and saturday. if you didn't post to ~wuga before acceptance, you are encouraged to do so once you're in the game to make some new connections! please be sure to keep your friends list up to date so that you're able to see all the entries being posted and new members are able to see what you're posting.

communities.

~wuga ooc and storylines
~bulldawg introductions and open threads only. all other threads will be post in your journal.
~lumpkin miscellaneous/cryptic posts
~sugarbowl secrets & gossip