After putting a lot of time and energy into the Player Charter, with some help from others including @Havok40k and @james, there came into contrast a single, very focused point of contention. Should players be allowed to build structures or create ‘content’ that are outside the realm of Boundless’ scope and ‘world’?
Should a player be allowed to build a huge Mario sign?
What about a picture of The Dude from ‘The Big Lebowski’?
What about a building in the shape of the German flag?
What about a tower with a huge Star of David at the top?
What about a big sign next that tower that reads, ‘YOUR TOWER SUCKS’?
What about a house with a huge cross with an anti sign through it?
What about a Satanic temple?
What about a sign that says, ‘I hate you’?
Does Boundless have its own narrative and world and content which players should build upon or be limited? Or is Boundless a player created narrative that is off the rails and out of game content is allowed? If so, what content is and is not allowed?
Look, let’s be honest, the few of us here discussing these issues love this game. If you are reading this you probably love this game. We here are the proverbial 1% that have come here, and been coming here possibly for years, to watch this lovely game unfold. However, when the floodgates open we are going to be vastly outnumbered by a huge group of people who are going to push every boundary available… including ugly things like building huge structures that are insanely offensive and throwing around hate speech. This is the internet… and when people smell a clean area to pitch a tent they show up en masse and make the place their own.
So, I’ve paused Player Charter thread for the moment until we can solidify this single, problematic point. Sadly, we probably can’t do this without Dev input.
Share your voice. Is this an RPG to you? Did you come here expecting a story to explore… and a narrative to follow? Or did you come here hoping to build a huge statue of Mario and Princess on a unicorn that is dropping sprinkled donuts out of its backside?
What is this game to you? What should and should not be allowed? How do we draw that line?
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Just because a game is an RPG doesn’t mean you can’t have other creational elements. I very much consider boundless to be an rpg, actually I view it as an MMORPG because of the fact that we all play in the same universe. And yes I agree that we can fully expect many players to join the game with the sole intent of creating to offend, but by no means can you set rules against building at all. To say somebody can’t build something in a game about building is offensive in itself. I very much believe though that there should be a way of targeting offensive builds to be quickly removed and it’s creator banned. Right now if somebody were to build a giant detailed ■■■■■ do you think the devs would just leave it? Actually let’s ask… hey @james what is the devs plan if one of us builds an obviously offensive structure? With any MMO game there’s more then enough people to help keep the streets clean. If something extremely offensive pops up it would be nice if we could simply vote to have it removed, and If the player erects another offensive structure that’s voted to destruction then maybe it could lead to perma ban. These are just a few ideas. There are many ways to go about this logically and reasonably.
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My understanding was always that Boundless was a player created universe full of player created structures. The trailer never mentioned any kind of RPG element as far as I am aware, and I see no need for a story to follow. I think we should be able to build/do whatever we like, so long as it isn’t offensive.
A cross with an anti-sign I would consider to be hateful and wrong. A satanic temple is a symbol of a legitimate belief some people hold and I think we should respect that. A sign saying I hate you is borderline I think, but its a message I don’t think we should have anywhere in Boundless
Edit: I think @james articulated the multiplayer part of the game well -
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I agree, but gotta say if I were to see a satanic temple I would risk being banned to grief the poop out of it and it’s creator. But only because something like that is extremely to the highest degree offensive to me. I liked the idea of removing religious everything and anything from the game. And if somebody did build something we’d leave it up to the community to decide it’s fate. Thus a voting system.
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I was drawn here by promise of a player-content-only-open-world.
So, I didn’t expect any kind of WoW reality filled with NPCs, ready locations and dungeons, and definitely I didn’t expect any quests waiting for me. (And I wouldn’t want it at all. Some places to explore underground or whatever, as part of exploring available worlds, and some kind of creatures to be met there as well as interesting items to find there - that’s all fine as long as it’s not a quest waiting for everyone and repeatable (so, more like locations to be discovered and exhausted once for whoever comes by first - a motivation to eplore)).
Still, with certain lore and atmosphere this game has, I would still expect that whatever players come to play Boundless would rather build things that are inspired by the lore and spirit of the game. Inspiration from the real world is great if its about architecture and such and rather a base to an idea than a copy of sth real placed in game then.
However, freedom that is such an important part of an open sandbox world means we cannot tell players not to create statues or pictures of Mario, Conan, Pac Man etc., so I accept them and I accept the colorful and sometime chaotically assembled settlements.
I prefer themed cities where players really try to achieve a certain style, where there is no objects copied from the out-of-Boundless world - only general style inspiration. But if I have to chose between world offering ready RPG world with quests and locations, where we are bound to stay within certain limits when creating, and a world that is open like it is now, where players will do whatever they want, I will pick the latter any day.
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I didn’t say it can’t have other creational elements, but should the content created by players have to hold to the content within the game? Having an RPG game with its own story and narrative will be ruined by having players building signs of Mario… so those two things are essentially mutually exclusive, in my opinion.
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Religion is a very difficult topic. On the one hand, people should be able to practice their beliefs and voice their opinions. On the other this can cause offense and spark disputes between people, which obviously isn’t wanted.
Banning religious symbols is one option… However it limits the freedom of the game
As I said, it’s a difficult topic.
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But I don’t think there should be a story or narrative to boundless. It’s a player driven game, we create our own universe in a free, sandbox environment.
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Ok I understand your thought now. That’s a good question. I guess with that mind frame I don’t really view boundless as that kind of rpg. Mostly a sandbox survival game with rpg elements.
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@Cookviper So you want player driven content. In that case I can build a huge Christian church next door to you. This is the problem. You want some portions of player driven content, but not all of it… and your definitions are arbitrary and based on your subjective likes and dislikes.
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I personally would view that as fine. There are already cathedrals on some worlds, and they look awesome
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This is a very sensitive subject because here I am trying to ban offensive content such as satanic temples and religious content all together except my very reason behind my stance is based on my own religious beliefs. 
this is a conundrum. We are in a pickle!!! 
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I agree. But this is the real issue. If players want player driven and created content then they need to think long and hard about what they are wishing for… because it is going to include a lot of stuff they probably don’t like.
The old adage of, ‘Watch what you wish for’ is very applicable here.
We are indeed! Different ideologies would want to ban different things, we either ban all religious symbols or none!
Also we then get to the issue generally that different people are offended by different thing…
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Wow…I am literally at a loss for words… I’m having a hard time thinking a way around this. Ok so sinse it’s a completely open universe with plenty of space I would say build whatever you’d like and if it’s offensive to me I’ll simply relocate to another area. 
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Correct. And this is the problem. You define offensive based on what is offensive to you, and that is absolutely incorrect and totally illogical. The person with the Satanic Temple and their opinion are just as important as your own.
You need to stop thinking about what you want and you need to start thinking about what ‘player driven content’ means… because every player is just as important as you. Even Satanists.
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Again I think this could all be remedied by implementing a player driven voting system.
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If enough players vote off my giant mario then I’ll gladly kneel to their decision and move on.
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Some people may not be so understanding, however, which is where the disputes come in…
I agree, a voting system could work, but who would decide what is bad enough to be voted on? Would there be a vote for what is voted on? Or would people just submit something they were offended by. Would everyone vote or would select people vote?
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