Hunger Games Simulation: Beyond the Possibilities (2023)

Thread Rules and Guidelines

In order for this forum game to run as smoothly as possible, all participants are expected to follow the rules and expectations laid out below. These rules are subject to change, so please check them periodically!

1. No reserving a spot for yourself so you can edit your tributes in or nominate them in a new post. Same goes for nominating them, but providing the pictures later. Like posting nominations during an ongoing season, this is also unfair for the other players who haven't nominated yet. When nominating tributes, you must provide pictures of them in your initial post in order to join a season. Anyone caught breaking this rule will be disqualified.
   • However, new accounts who can't post external links are exempted from this rule. If you can't nominate tributes because of this, please let us know, and someone will be happy to provide them for you.
   • Tip: If you can't provide pictures right away, save the image links somewhere safe (such as a notes app or a PM to yourself) before you're ready to post. It's highly recommended to prepare your next set of tributes ahead of time.
2. Do not switch tributes after the running process has begun. If you have changed your mind about what tribute/s you would like to nominate for the season, you may change them as long as the runner hasn’t already begun running the season. If you do change them after the running process has begun, the runner will not change them for you, and the tributes you have initially nominated will be locked in. If the runner(s) is/are struggling to get a good save for an extended period of time, you are allowed to swap out any of your watchlisted tributes with a "safer" one to ease the running process.
3. Refrain from nominating the same tributes more than two seasons in a row (Battle Royales and Death Battles don’t count). Any and all tributes (including character variations) nominated by a troper will have a mandatory four-season cooldown before they can be nominated again by that particular troper, with the Battle Royale and the Death Battle as exceptions, as well as if a tribute is nominated within the cooldown by another player. Anyone caught breaking this new rule will be automatically disqualified. Additionally, a leniency for a tribute in cooldown will be given if they appear in, and only in, massive group tributes (such as cast tributes, the universe, etc). A "duo, trio, quartet, etc." type of tribute will not receive this leniency. Everyone is encouraged to make an effort to nominate a diverse range of tributes, although you can re-nominate tributes you have nominated previously time and time again. However, continuously nominating the exact same tributes several seasons in a row is not allowed, as other players will very quickly become sick of them. Those who break this rule will be automatically disqualified.
4. The interval between seasons must be 24 hours long, at minimum. This is to give everyone a fair chance to nominate their tributes before the next season begins.
5. Along with the 24-hour minimum interval for nominating tributes, there is also a 36-hour maximum interval for looking for a host. If no one volunteers to host the next season by the time the interval expires, then the last host will do so again to keep the thread going. Exceptions can be made if said host is unable to do so due to outside circumstances.
6. Do not nominate your tributes while a season is underway. It is unfair to participants who nominate their tributes after the season has concluded, as it gives those who nominate them during a season a head start in the nomination process. Anyone who violates this rule will be disqualified from the next season.
7. Refrain from nominating controversial figures. This includes high-profile politicians (e.g. Donald Trump) and any Real Life individual who is generally controversial (e.g. Harvey Weinstein). Certain tributes can be allowed back in after the controversies surrounding them have died down (usually several months, depending on how severe they are). However, some would be considered permabanned if they have been confirmed to have done something absolutely unforgivable (e. g. pedophilia).
8. It is the runner’s responsibility to ensure that a high frequency of deaths early on in the season is not present, and that pedophilia or any other extremely Squicky events do not occur. If a save includes an Arena Event or a large quantity of deaths occurring before Day 3, and/or an underage tribute is involved in a sexual event, it should not be used for the season.
9. Everyone is expected to follow the TV Tropes Text Formatting Rules. The two most important ones are outlined below.
10. Please take note that we have an RP thread of this here, where players can roleplay as their tributes based on what happens in seasons. If you are hosting a season and an ASAS RPer doesn't go by your interpretation of events in the RP, it's okay. Accept the fact that they decided to go with their own interpretations of their tributes and events and move on.

Nominating Tributes

Each participant may submit 1 tribute, who shall be their main tribute, and they can submit 1 more as a reserve, which will be put in a list, where they will be randomized after the nomination period closes to fill in the remaining spots. We used to allow up to 2 main tributes, with 2 additional reserves, but since the seasons are quickly and consistently being filled up to the maximum number of tributes in this version of the sim (48), we had to halve them starting in Season 185. If you don't specify which of your two tributes is the reserve, we will assume that the second one is, so choose carefully. Also, reserves that do not make it in the season are not counted towards the Tribute Cooldown Rule.We are aware that the updated version of the sim allows up to 200 tributes, but we are still waiting for the Event Import/Export function to be implemented so we can easily transfer our massive backlog of events.

Nominating tributes is simple. Just provide your tributes’ names, as well as an accompanying image, preferably in this format:

[[(Image Link) (Tribute Name)]]

It is recommended that you specify each of your tributes’ gender, especially if there is a chance that the runner may mistake them for a member of the opposite gender, or they are nonbinary/genderqueer. You may also provide a “death picture” of each of your tributes if you wish. The minimum picture size that the simulator allows is 90x90 pixels, so please keep that in mind.

If you change your tributes after posting, you have to make a new post informing about this.

The Watchlist

While we are lenient on what tributes you can nominate (except for controversial figures, as stated in Rule 5), you must state if any of them are underage by stating their age or their estimated age if unknown. Since different countries/states/jurisdictions have different laws on what the age of consent is, we will be going with 18, since the site is based in California. These tributes will be protected and put on the watchlist, and they will be flagged under the following colors:

1. Light Green - tributes who are typically late teens (18-19 years old). They can be shipped with other adults as long as the age difference isn't disturbing.
2. Yellow - tributes who are typically early to mid-teens (13-17 years old). They can be shipped with other yellows and also yellow-greens provided that the age difference isn't disturbing.
3. Orange - tributes who are typically pre-teens (10-12 years old). They can be shipped only with other oranges, but they must not be involved in NSFW events.
4. Red - tributes who are typically young children (<10 years old). They can be shipped only with other reds, but they must not be involved in NSFW events, or if shipped, overtly romantic events (e. g. making out).
5. Black - tributes who are typically babies/toddlers. They are absolutely unshippable and must not be involved in NSFW events.

As a general rule, these tributes are allowed to have Precocious Crushes on the adults as long as the adult(s) doesn't/don't return their feelings. They are also allowed to be shipped only with other tributes within the same flag level. However, some tributes have very unusual cases (e. g. tributes who are Older or Younger Than They Look), so they might be flagged higher or lower on the watchlist. If any of your tributes fall under this, please say so.

The watchlist also applies to group tributes. If there's at least one member of the group who is flagged, then the entire group must be flagged as well. Because the resulting pairings are always disturbing, mixed-age group tributes that contain kids must be black flagged.

This is more of a guideline than a hard rule, but please specify your tribute's gender if it's not immediately obvious what gender they are, particularly with crossdressers and androgynous tributes. Non-binary tributes or those that are genderless or of Ambiguous Gender can be assigned either pronouns due to our sim's limitations (the updated version has them, but we're still waiting for Event Import/Export), but if you headcanon them to be of a specific gender, then please say so in your nomination post.

Tributes must be flagged according to their age at the end of their source material in question, unless you are specifically nominating a younger version of them. If that is the case, please make this clear in your nomination post. However, this rule is exempt for tributes who are better-known as their younger selves, e.g. Homestuck tributes.

Note that flagging rules also applies to things like character figurines, plushies, and similar/other representations of specific characters. Even if they're inanimate objects, they're still representations of the character in question, and will have to be flagged as such.

All players will be required to post flags for a flagged character every time they are nominated, no matter how many times they have been nominated before. This is done to make sure the runner knows that the tributes in question are part of the watchlist, so that there will be no uncomfortable pairings in retrospect.

Special Flags

In addition to the regular flagging system, certain tributes will need or can use additional conditions for who they can and can't be shipped with. Typical examples of these are:

Non-sapient animals: If an animal/non-human(oid) creature tribute is non-sapient (e.g. regular real-life animals), they will have to be flagged for this and can only be shipped with other non-sapient animals.

Related tributes: If two tributes have a family relationship, whether biological or adopted - say, you nominate a pair of siblings - you can add a note to not have them shipped with each other. This also applies for if one person nominates one character and another nominates the other. Note that for siblings, cousins, ect. this is optional, but parent/child tributes will always need to be special case flagged for this.

Elderly tributes: Old tributes (typically tributes 65 years or older) should also get a special case flag, letting the runner know to be careful about who to potentially ship them with.

If your tribute doesn't fall under these three cases but still needs to be flagged this way, don't hesitate to ask the mods on how to flag them properly.

Additionally, please note that the image you use for your tribute will represent the incarnation of said tribute, including their age (specifically, how old they are by the end of their source material). For example, if you are nominating Naruto, and his image shows him as his Shippuden self, he must be flagged as yellow because his Shippuden self is a teen.

As stated in Rule 6, it's the runner's responsibility to make sure that none of these tributes get into any disturbing pairings such as pedophilia or extremely Squicky pairings in general. If you're not sure about a pairing during running, don't be afraid to ask.

While you are allowed to swap out any of your watchlisted tributes if running becomes too difficult, please be mindful if there are other watchlisted tributes already nominated. If you feel that your tributes would burden the runner further, consider swapping them out with "safer" ones.

Suggesting Events

During the intervals between seasons, players can suggest new events to be inputted in the save we use for all seasons. However, players must be very mindful about what events they suggest. Before suggesting an event, consider the following:

• Is this event already included?
• Is it too similar to another event already included? (Do a quick ctrl-F in the event list if you’re unsure.)
• Does it make sense?
• If it’s a fatal event, is it made clear that the tribute dies in this event, and is it clear who killed them?
• If it references a specific work, will non-fans of said work still be able to understand the event?

When suggesting events to be inputted in the thread, other players are likely to notify you if the event fails to meet any of these criteria; nonetheless, you should double-check and make sure that the event you’re suggesting is good to go. If it needs to be worded a certain way, re-word it.

Additionally, when suggesting events, always make sure you surround them with [=this markup=]; otherwise, terms such as “(Player1)” and “(him/her3)” will show up incorrectly, which can create problems in the way events are coded and create more work for the runner.

You must also follow these guidelines:

1. No events with slurs in it. While swear words are allowed, slurs are offensive and they violate the site rules.
2. No gender-specific events. Since the sim randomizes the tributes involved, events that specify or imply their gender can easily make Unfortunate Implications if the wrong tribute is chosen (e. g. a cis or trans male tribute declaring that he "ain't no man" and killing another).
3. If the event is questionable (i. e. overtly romantic or suggestive), please blacklist it for the Clean Save. This will be used in case of a big watchlist to ease running. This also includes unrequited/one-sided love events, starting in Season 184 because even these events have proven to slow down running using the Clean Save due to inappropriate crushes.
4. No events that are blatant Take Thats against specific people, works, or companies. These can become potentially offensive in the long run and cause Flame Wars.
5. If the event has two or more tributes dying, be mindful of who dies first. The sim kills off tributes from left to right, regardless of what the event says, i. e. in an event where P1 kills P2 before being killed themselves, P1 will end up dying first because of the sim. Events like these could easily mess up the placements and kill counts. However, multideath events where the death order isn't specified (which implies that the victims died within milliseconds of each other, or more or less at the same time) are allowed.
6. To prevent too many events being suggested for each season, making them all take a long time to add and potentially causing delays, each player can suggest up to 15 events per season. If more than this are suggested, the remaining events after the first 15 will not be added. Arena events will each count as one event under this. You are allowed to exceed the limit by 1-5 events, but any more than that will require the excess events to be reserved for the next.

Themed Seasons

In the HGS, we often organize “themed seasons”, where everyone is encouraged to nominate tributes according to a specific theme. Although every participant is encouraged to do so, if you are having difficulties with coming up with tributes suiting the theme, or you simply don’t want to nominate tributes corresponding to the theme, you are allowed to nominate regular tributes instead. Ideas for possible future themed seasons can be suggested in the thread or, more ideally, on the official Discord server on the appropriate channel.