Student Guide

Membership

To become a student of Columtreal, you must first read and understand the guidelines below, then apply for membership. If your application is approved, you will receive an invite to the Columtreal University Roleplay group with the title of CU Looter. With the group invite, you’ll also receive an IM with instructions to either pay the one-time L$500 donation at the admissions office for an invite to the CU Student Body group, or work through the in-character financial aid process for the invite.

Membership Benefits

Students and Faculty of CU who are approved will enjoy the following:

  • Invitation to the exclusive Columtreal University Roleplay and CD Citizens groups
  • Access to instant-invite using For Hire signs to business groups in Black Bottom and Hathian
  • Personal Character Evolution profile which tracks police, medical, employment, and course transcript records
  • Access to all Alterscape community websites: forums, events, groups, personal Character Evolution dashboard, and member-only information
  • Ability to join and propose student organizations, greek fraternity/sorority, or campus businesses

Character Evolution System

Columtreal University is an ALTERSCAPE community which features the Character Evolution System. It’s a role-play system with features designed for text-based role-play, doesn’t require a HUD to use, and rewards members with exclusive group titles while tracking their role-play history / character development via different groups who submit content like police reports, medical reports, and advising reports. Additionally, the time spent on sim, in different business venues, and participation on forums help you earn new roles quicker. Members can access their history by logging onto this website.

Basically, the more you interact with the police (get cited, arrested, etc.), hospital (get treatment, recover, etc.), work (RP at one of the many official businesses as an employee), spend time on the streets of Hathian or campus, and teach or attend courses, your character will evolve and you will earn special titles indicating your experience and status in the community.

Freshman to Alumni

New students will begin as CU Freshman and will have to spend time on campus, attend events, and classes to accrue the necessary credits, as detailed in the section above, to advance in the following order:

  • Freshman
  • Sophomore
  • Junior
  • Senior
  • Alumni

Every time you meet with faculty for a 1-1 advising session, your earned credits from attending classes and time on campus will be automatically reviewed and rewarded if you meet the next grades’ criteria. Be sure to participate in advising sessions on a regular basis!


Paying Tuition vs. Financial Aid

When a student registration has been accepted, an invite to the Columtreal University Roleplay group with the CU Applicant title is sent. At this point, the student has two paths to obtain the CU Freshman role in the CU Student Body group:

  • Tuition: For an instant invite to the CU Freshman role, visit the Administration building. At the counter, pay the cash register a one-time donation of L$500 for lifetime membership. Proceeds go towards the upkeep of the sim.
  • Financial Aid: Not everyone can afford the fee in Second Life; for this reason, we’ve setup an alternative way to join as a CU Freshman without payment. First, you must be a member of the Columtreal University Roleplay or CD Citizen group by registering online and receiving an invite. Second, you must obtain a job on campus by visiting one of the various businesses with the orange "For Hire" sign; use the sign to select your desired role and you will be instantly employed. Finally, RP and accrue up to 20 hours of time on your employer’s timesheet before returning to the Admissions building and using the orange computer terminal to process your financial aid request and receive an instant invite to the CU Freshman role. We recommend you pursue working on campus when you’re not in class or attending an event; it’s a great way to meet new people and start role-play scenes.

Classroom Features & Systems

Every working class room has an overhead projector (themed with CU colors) in the front. These projectors can be clicked on to interact with the Class Registration System to create and track classes.

Instructors will first need to click on the projector and START a class (note: instructors must appear on the faculty roster in order to have access to start classes). The option will load a short web form to fill in the class title, what major it applies to, and a brief description. Upon submitting, the classroom would now be booked for the next 90 minutes. If another faculty member clicks on the projector, it will inform them that the class is currently booked and how much time left until it becomes available (we have 3 classrooms, so try another!).

The recommended flow for anyone interested in running a class on campus is to use the events calendar on the site to post the date and time of your class/workshop. On the day of the event, when you’re ready to start, just follow the instructions above. Posting on the calendar is not a requirement to start classes; it’s just highly recommended to get the maximum students. The more students attend, the more credit a faculty member will earn towards advancing their rank on staff. We also didn’t make it a requirement in case there are enough students on campus and someone wants to hold an ad hoc workshop/class.

Students at this point can click on the same projector to immediately enroll into the class. If an instructor has not started the class, it will indicate so. At this point, students can just RP in the classroom. Depending on when they enroll and how long they RP in the classroom, they will up to anywhere between 1-3 credits for the class and it will appear on their transcript. If a faculty member wants to attend a class as a student, clicking on the projector will give them an additional option to enroll.

Class/Course Ideas and Best Practices

Read this threadfor ideas on what kind of classes and how to best run them…

Roleplay Guide

For over a decade, Crack Den has been home to characters created by players from around the world. The wild imagination and creativity of the community is what keeps them coming back for more.

Read this guide to role-play (RP) in the Crack Den before selecting a path to register your character at the bottom.

Community Rules

RESPECT OTHERS AND ENJOY YOURSELF!  Crack Den is a private community that provides a safe, private, and creative environment to play in. Players seeking to harass or undermine enjoyment for others can be reported through our abuse portal.

GUNS ARE RESTRICTED to players who have earned the Armed privilege. Eligibility can be tracked through your Crack Den Story HUD.

CHARACTERS REPRESENTING YOUTH must apply through the Seaside Youth Center and are strictly prohibited from sex scenes and the adult zone in Hathian.

NON-HUMAN AVATARS ARE RESTRICTED to domestic animals like cats, dogs, and birds. Furries are considered “humans-in-a-costume” and are welcome to explore as visitors.

VEHICLES USAGE REQUIRES a paid permit and is subject to limited availability. Please check in world for more information.

CD GROUPS AND ROLE TITLE ARE EXCLUSIVE to approved groups that have been proposed, peer reviewed, and approved by community leaders.

In-character (IC) vs. Out-of-Character (OOC)

The difference between the character versus the player is important to understand:

In-character (IC) refers to the state and perception of the characters in the story. Basically, it’s what the fictional character, not the actual player, would see, hear, think, and feel.

Out-of-character (OOC) refers to the real life perception of the player. If you need to break character momentarily to explain a detail or simply say “brb”, you should wrap double brackets around the text.

((sorry, need a quick bathroom break!))

^ No need to emote when double parenthesis-wrapping OOC chat.

Powergaming

If a player’s primary goal is to win, they are likely a “powergamer” and wouldn’t last long in the Crack Den.

The term “powergaming” refers to an unfair advantage a player creates for their character. In combat scenes, it is commonly seen as a character who is able to frequently dodge attacks, perform ninja-like moves and combo hits in a single post, has unreasonable strength, or attempts to dictate the resulting injury for their opponent.

/me immediately dodges the sheriff’s baton. He then picks up a rock, and throws it at the officer’s head, knocking him out cold.

^ Not only does the player decide to dodge the hit, but they also dictate the result of the attack on the sherrif.

/me tumbles backwards, reeling from intense pain, as the baton cracks over their shoulder. “Augghh,” he yells and crashes to the ground. Without thinking, he then grabs the closest rock he can find, aims it at the sheriff, and let’s it fly with all their might.

^ The player takes the hit in good spirit and only makes an attempt to hit his opponent. Attacks  should always be written as an attempt to give your opponent a chance to post their reaction.

Metagaming

The term “metagaming” refers to players using knowledge of a story or environment, gained outside of role-play, to their character’s advantage. It is a form of powergaming and is not allowed.

A common example of this is when a player has their character greet another character simply by reading their avatar name. That is a basic form of metagaming because from the character’s point of view, they’re strangers to one another and never learned of the other character’s name through role-play before.

Players should exercise caution when learning details of a story and make sure their character’s action is only based on role-play that actually occurred.

Consent & Limits

For scenes that impose long-term consequences, please consult with the player first. If you’re not comfortable with a scene, you must inform the other player immediately and work something out (ie. fade-to-black or escape plan).

Limits should never provide an unfair advantage. For example, if a character is in a situation with a gun to their head, the victim must yield reasonably instead of relying on a “no death” limit to force their opponent into a no-win situation.

Take Turns & Emote (/me)

Players in the Crack Den must always emote and take turns writing posts. A post always starts with the /me command and usually includes up to several sentences that describe a character’s physical and verbal actions combined.

Scenes are efficient and fair when the following posting rules are observed:

Rule #1 – Follow a single post format

/me picks up a tire rod from the ground.
/me then aims it at the police officer and throws it at him.
/me yells, “Take that!”

^ Posting multiple times in a row creates confusion.

/me picks up a tire rod that was laying on the ground. He then turns to face the police officer, aims, and hurls it in his direction. “Take that!” he yells.

^ Consolidating your thoughts into a single post is the way to go.

Rule #2 – Always write from the third person point of view (ie. he, she, they, etc.)

/me looks at you and licks my lips. I then say, “I’ve had my eye on you…”

^ Writing in first person just reads too personal, and often seen as creepy…

/me looks at the woman and licks his lips. He then says, “I’ve had my eye on you…”

^ Writing in third person point of view reads as if the character is speaking and not the player.

Rule #3 – Post and then wait your turn.

To start a new scene or join in an existing one, move your avatar into position and observe for a few minutes. When writing an entrance into the scene, be sure to address the characters you want to interact with.

Rule #4 – Don’t be shy!

When all else fails, our members are expected to be friendly, welcome feedback, and answer questions about the scenes they’re in. Don’t hesitate to ask for help or jump into a scene.

Register Your Character

Where will your character’s journey begin? Depending on the kind of scenes you enjoy playing and character age, we have a few starting paths for you to consider:

Citizen Everyone starts here… trying to make ends meet by any means necessary. Just depends on how far you’d be willing to go.
Register Citizen
Campus Alcohol, drugs, parties, scandals, and the secrets … it’s just part of campus life in the Deep South.
Register Campus
Youth Growing up on the streets ain’t easy. Pick your friends wisely … is blood really thicker than water?
Register Youth

Upcoming Events / Classes

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Interested in Teaching?

Any adult citizen is welcome to teach a workshop or seminar on campus! Earn extra street cred by becoming an instructor on campus and teaching a single or short series of classes on a subject of your interest and choosing!