This document was last altered 2025-02-03
“Website” refers to otherworld.fi. “The Service” refers to the game and supporting web pages available at otherworld.fi. “Administrator” or “we” refers to Ilona Ward and may later include other people involved in the game project. “User” refers to people who have access the logged in area of the website. “The Game” refers to the logged in area including the character view, character list, character creation, the hub, and the points store, excluding the settings and bug report pages.
“Characters” are fictional game people that are controlled by Users. Character does not mean the same thing as Player. The Service is provided free of charge. Due to this, Users are considered valued members of the community rather than customers. While we strive to provide the best experience possible, please understand that as a free service, we may not be able to fulfill individual requests or obligations typically associated with a customer-provider relationship. The Service may be terminated at any time, but we aim to inform you ahead of time if this is going to happen. The contents of the Service may be added, altered, or removed at any time without an announcement, but significant changes are generally documented on the Announcements and Features page.
Users must be at minimum, 13 or older, but preferably 18 or older, since the game allows Users to communicate with each other without filters being applied, so you may be subject to mature language. Characters may be subject to physical violence. It is implied that some of the characters are reproducing physically, even though the details are not spelled out.
Playing the game requires an account. The types of account are guest account, unconfirmed email address, and confirmed email address.
Guest accounts are linked to a bogus placeholder email address, that can be changed to a real email address by the User. If the guest user does not provide a real email address and has been inactive for longer than 24 hours, the account is considered abandoned and may be deleted at any time. Guest accounts may only have one character, and the character is deleted automatically if the account is deemed abandoned. Guest users cannot post to chat or attack other characters. Currently, it is possible for a user to set a password even for a guest account and log back in if login is lost, but if the account is deemed abandoned, it may be deleted at any time, even if it has a password. To protect an account from deletion, the User must submit a different email address, because guest status is bound to the wording of a placeholder email.
Unconfirmed accounts are also allowed one character, like guest accounts, but they have full usability of the game, including chat and combat. Unconfirmed characters can be deleted after 1 year of inactivity.
Confirmed accounts are allowed up to 7 characters at the time of writing. This number may be changed without an announcement. Only one account per email address can exist, due to technical reasons. There should be no reason to create more than one account, but having multiple accounts is not penalized at this stage.
If an account has no characters, it may be deleted after 1 year regardless of if the email address was confirmed or not.
Items and resources in the game may be deleted or reduced in amount at any time without announcement, even if they were gathered or crafted through legitimate means. However, this is normally used only if abandoned resources are numerous enough to disturb the balance of the game.
Users should not take advantage of controlling multiple characters, or knowing other users outside the game, to gain an unfair advantage over other users. While you may in an isolated situation cooperate with your own characters or your friends, if it goes so far that it makes the game unenjoyable for other users, then you are asked to stop.
Users should generally refrain from using obscene language, but we are working under the assumption that all Users are adults, so mild swearing is okay.
Users should name and describe their characters in a way that fits the genre of the game, which is historical with some supernatural elements (the wraith, lost souls, teleportation, life after death). It is generally assumed that characters originate from the era spanning 1530 to 1800 AD, but variations may be allowed. However, you should definitely refrain from including modern elements, such as plastic, modern textiles, zippers, sneakers, Velcro, etc. While you won’t be reprimanded for referencing fantasy elements, even if you state that your character is a wizard, it doesn’t grant them any magic powers, and stating that your character is an elf doesn’t give them poison resistance or infravision, so as a result, it’s rather pointless to do so.
If the name or description of a character is referencing modern elements in a way that breaks the immersion, the name or description may be edited by the admin at any time without a warning.
Users should not engage in trolling, griefing, spamming, or flooding. Otherworld is considered a collaborative story, and while it’s generally okay to play a bad guy, if your way of playing a bad guy makes other people want to quit, then you should take it down a notch. “I’m only doing what my character would do in this situation”, is not always the right answer, because you control your character and their behavior.
If you engage in disruptive behavior and do not stop when asked to, your account is subject to removal.
Players should not “godmode”, which means dictating that another player’s character does something that the other player did not emote. If you attack another player’s character through the system and deal damage to them, you are allowed to emote which body part you aimed at, but it’s up to the player of the target to determine if the hit actually landed on the intended area or someplace else. (For example, you might say that you aim to stab someone in the face, but the target might decide that they block with their hand or arm.)
You should not try to hack the game, such as by altering GET/POST data, trying to access other user’s accounts or interrupting redirects, or by any other means not specifically mentioned. If you discover a bug or a vulnerability, you are required to report it with the bug report form (available when logged in). If you are discovered exploiting a bug, your character or account may be deleted, and any resources/items created or multiplied due to the bug can be removed or reduced in amount. If you discover a bug, it’s okay to try to reproduce it once, but if you have successfully figured out how to reproduce it then you should cease from trying to trigger it on purpose until it has been fixed.
The use of auto-clickers or custom edits that modify the appearance or functionality of the website is allowed. However, it’s recommended that instead of modifying the game at your end, suggest improvements to the user interface so that it becomes more convenient to use for all the users, rather than just you, because not everyone knows how to make auto-clickers or custom css.
Currently, the game is in beta. This means that there will be new features, and old features may be altered or removed. While significant changes are announced on the Recent Changes page, the developer is not obligated to announce every change.
While the game is in beta, all users are considered testers. While providing feedback is voluntary, it is strongly recommended and appreciated. Links to polls may be posted on the hub page (which is the page you are redirected to after a successful login). Answering polls is recommended but voluntary. Also, feel free to provide freeform feedback through Discord.
The developer may contact you by email to ask for feedback if you have confirmed your email address.