Code of Conduct

Events run by Poltergeist LARP e.V. represent and enforce a certain set of rules in order to ensure the safety of everyone involved. We ask you to read it carefully before participating. Please bear in mind that if you're looking for holes in these rules, you're probably already breaking them. ;)

 

As organisers, we retain the right to refuse service to anyone without the necessity to give a reason. We are a non-profit team that are doing this on our own time - and as such, we will refuse participation if we deem it necessary for the safety of our participants and the event. Our refusal, in such a case, will be communicated before any payment or payment will be returned.

 

We retain the right to send out a list of all planned participants via email to each participant displaying everyone's full name. This is to ensure player safety.

 

We retain the right to remove participants from our event at any time without a refund of their ticket should the respective participant do any of the following:

• Compromise the emotional or physical safety of other participants at the event, themselves or the location of the event.

• Act against our Code of Conduct or the policies of the event in question.

• Refuse to follow crew instructions.

• Break local law.

 

By signing up to our event, all participants agree that their picture may be taken by the event's photographers. These pictures may be used by the photographers, Poltergeist LARP e.V. and the event organisers, both privately and for marketing purposes. Poltergeist LARP e.V. retains the right to grant permission to use pictures to third parties.

 

At our events, we do not tolerate any form of discrimination, may it be due to sexuality, appearance, heritage, gender, ability or anything the like. We take a firm stand against related behaviour. Any reports in that direction will be taken seriously and followed up on. We actively work towards an inclusive environment that encourages minority-driven content and participation.

 

We enforce a strict policy of enthusiastic consent, especially but not only for physically intimate interactions. When interacting with the people around you, we ask that you make sure they actively want to be involved in whatever you're doing, rather than trying to persuade them into joining. A no will always be a no and never a maybe. Respect people's boundaries and preferences and do not question them.

 

Speaking of boundaries, we like to stress that not only other's boundaries are to be heard and respected - but also your own. Make sure you are comfortable with what is happening and take responsibility for making that happen. Know yourself enough and be critical with your limits to know whether this event or a particular scene is for you or not. It is always ok to draw a line and leave and we ask that you do so if necessary.

 

Everyone involved in our event is a human being with limits, feelings and needs. This includes organisers and crew as well as participants - we like everyone to bear in mind that organising and running an event is a project that requires a lot of labour and personal involvement and even we might at times hit our limits with that. We ask you to respect it when we communicate that and treat us with the same care that you would treat another participant with.

 

At our event, you will meet people of different cultures, experiences and brainwirings - this might lead to conflicts or misunderstandings. Please remember that as a rule, the others are not ill-meaning. We like our participants to always assume the best reasoning behind someone's actions they could possibly imagine. Communicate openly, rather than assuming the worst and backtalking. Be kind and generous with each other and find someone to mediate if necessary.

 

Alcohol and the legal consumption of weed will be allowed at our event outside of playing times. It is explicitly not allowed during the game or workshops as we expect our participants to play sober to ensure play safety. At times where alcohol is allowed, we will retain the right to remove participants from the common areas if they are too drunk to be safe to be around. They'll be confined to their room or a safe space until they are sober. We will also impose an alcohol ban on them for the rest of the event. Drink responsibly and stop before you lose control. 

 

Lastly, at events run by Poltergeist LARP e.V., we do not tolerate the use of generative AI for purposes such as generating images, videos, audio material or texts. We can’t always with 100% certainty enforce this for our participants but expect them to respect this choice and remove their content when asked to under the suspicion of the content being AI generated.

We very explicitly prohibit feeding our written content into an LLM (Large Language Model) and ask that you do not use generated material at our events, e.g. in the form of posters, songs or stories told. Please contact us if you are relying on e.g. translation tools so we can give you suggestions that are not LLM-based.