At StartPlaying, we expect GMs and players to behave respectfully and care for others. This list of behaviors is not exhaustive but is meant to serve as a starting point for mindful and intentional interaction.
Breaking these tenets may result in a mark on your StartPlaying profile or being banned from the site.
Required Behaviors
Taking responsibility for yourself and your well-being by providing and properly using safety tools in games.
Speaking only for yourself and your experiences.
Treating all users with compassion and respect, regardless of their experience or identity.
Taking accountability for yourself and your actions after you have done something that caused harm or discomfort to another user (player or GM).
Advocating if someone at the table has done or said something harmful and contacting the Support Goblins if necessary.
If you have been hurt or made uncomfortable by another user, take time to care for yourself and think about the issue at hand before responding; use the reporting features rather than escalate the conflict.
Respect other participants and use the pronouns they ask you to use when referring to them. We understand that it is easy to make honest mistakes in this regard, but refusing to acknowledge a correction or deliberately misgendering another player is not acceptable.
Unacceptable Behaviors
Ignoring, arguing against, or deliberately refusing to respect the boundaries set by other members or the safety tools in play.
Deliberate use or promotion of hate speech, death threats, slurs, deadnaming, misgendering, or otherwise disrespectful language (This includes cursing and generally being rude).
Harassment, Assault, or Abuse of other users, either on or off the website. Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, or any other protected characteristic. It also includes the displaying or sharing of sexual images without consent, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of the game, inappropriate physical or social media contact, and unwelcome attention of any nature.
Criticism or disparagement of players because of a lack of experience or low level of understanding of the game.
Speaking over GMs or other players, dismissing their contributions to the game without consideration.
Introduction or continuation of problematic material in a game, including, but not limited to, any item in the Content Warning section, without the express and ongoing consent of everyone at the table. Game themes will not include non-consensual sex or any sexual acts with minors.
Including problematic material in a game without expressly condemning it as wrong or purposefully leaving out content warnings.
Using alternate payment methods to pay for games or collect payment from players. This includes using StartPlaying to solicit players for a game and then moving off the platform for the paid game or running a table with players who have not signed up through StartPlaying.
Solicitation of explicit sexual content.
No call/no show on a session. Deleting a session/campaign/one-shot without notification to the players. You are running a business and need to maintain communication with your players as such. Please be respectful of everyone's time.
Misleading, lying to, or blocking anyone at StartPlaying who is investigating a report or negative GM review or otherwise.
StartPlaying has a three-strikes policy that applies to all users. You will know you have a strike on your profile if one of the Support Goblins tells you a mark has been put on your profile. StartPlaying will never add a mark to your profile without notifying you and your marks are only visible to StartPlaying employees. Some behaviors are unacceptable and cause an immediate ban from the community and site. It is up to the discretion of the Head of Customer if a user is to be immediately banned.
This Code of Conduct is to be used and followed in all StartPlaying spaces, including the StartPlaying Website, StartPlaying Discord, and GM discords used for communications with players or the facilitation of a StartPlaying game and any time you are representing StartPlaying (for example, when advertising games on social media). Getting 3 marks on your profile or breaking any of these tenets is cause for being permanently banned from the site.
If someone engages in unacceptable behavior, you can report their actions to the Safety Team. Once you report a case, you will be contacted by the Safety Team within 72 hours. If you cannot send all the details in an email, please email to request a meeting instead.