Our Code of Conduct

Roll Initiative Con is dedicated to a safe, inclusive, welcoming, and harassment-free conference experience for everyone. All attendees, speakers, trainers, sponsors, volunteers, vendors, and event staff at Roll Initiative Con are required to abide by the Roll Initiative Con Code of Conduct at the convention and at social or other events hosted or sponsored by Roll Initiative Con sponsors.

Expected Behaviour

All participants of Roll Initiative Con are expected to behave in accordance with applicable laws, venue regulations, and the Roll Initiative Con Code of Conduct.

We are considerate

Roll Initiative Con aims to welcome everyone with a love for tabletop role-playing games, regardless of their ethnicity, cultural or religious backgrounds, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, disability, neurology, body size, race, or age. We encourage everyone to consider the impact of their words and actions, aiming to be considerate of another person’s lived experience.

We are welcoming

When you are able to, welcome other people, invite them to game with you, to talk to you, and work together to make sure everybody is having a good time. We are all in this together, and making space for somebody who feels isolated can be the difference between them having a great convention and feeling like this hobby is not for them

We are respectful

All participants should strive to treat each other with dignity and respect, regardless of ethnicity, cultural or religious backgrounds, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, disability, neurology, body size, race, or age.

Unacceptable Behaviour

We do not tolerate harassment and keep our convention a harassment-free zone for our attendees. Harassment will not be tolerated in any form, including but not limited to harassment based on ethnicity, cultural or religious backgrounds, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, disability, neurology, body size, race, or age or any other status protected by laws in which the conference or program is being held. Any report of harassment at Roll Initiative Con will be addressed immediately.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

• Verbal comments or imagery that reinforce social structures of domination related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion and any other status protected by laws in which the conference or program is being held.
• Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
• Abusive, offensive, or degrading language or imagery, including intentional misgendering.
• Language or imagery that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence, emotional, or physical harm against an individual or a group of people.
• Intimidation, stalking, or following.
• Harassing photography or recording, including not asking consent before taking a photo. Cosplay is not consent! 
• Sustained disruption of talks or other events.
• Unwelcome sexual attention or advances or physical contact.
• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour.

Consequences of Unacceptable Behaviour

Unacceptable behaviour from any Roll Initiative Con participant will not be tolerated. If a participant engages in unacceptable behaviour, staff and volunteers may take any of the following actions they deem appropriate, up to and including a temporary ban or permanent expulsion from the event without warning and without refund. These actions may include, but are not limited to:

• A formal warning to stop the behaviour
• Cancellation of in-progress or future games or events hosted by or participated in by the offender
• Single- or multiple-day suspensions
• Removal from the convention without refund
• Ban from future conventions
• Revocation of volunteer, host, or other leadership roles in the convention
• Reporting the behaviour to the appropriate authorities

What to do if you are subject or witness to a violation

If you have seen or were subject to behaviour that violates this code of conduct, please first make sure that you and all others are safe. If you feel safe doing so, you may ask the perpetrator to stop the behaviour, however you are under no obligation to do so.

All participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are required to stop immediately, without question, protest, or requests for explanation. “It was just a joke” or similar explanations are both dismissive of real issues and contribute to a hostile environment, and will not be tolerated. The best action in these situations is usually a quick apology and allowing the other party to drive the conversation. We all make mistakes; take this as a learning opportunity and move on.

If you wish to report a violation

1. First, consider bringing a friend or another person who witnessed the incident to act as a second reporter as well as a support.
2. Then, find a Roll Initiative Con volunteer or staff member.
3. The staff member will find a convention organizer for you to make a formal report. The convention organizer will ask you a few brief questions. If you wish, you may request anonymity and your name and identity will not be disclosed to the offender, to con attendees, or to any non-essential convention staff members.
4. The convention organizer will give you a timeline for a response, and will follow up with you to report the final outcome.

Other regulations to follow:

1. Anyone above the age of 12 is welcome to attend the convention. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
2. Prop weapons (for example, but not limited to: swords, daggers, guns) should be foam or plastic and non-functional (this includes Nerf guns). Metal replicas will not be tolerated, and you may be asked to leave the convention.
3. Follow the rules of then venue.

Cosplay specific rules

Weapons Law

If an object can be classified into one of the four categories of the WWM (Weapons and Munitions Act), then we consider it a weapon. Regarding potential overlaps with cosplay, we’ll only delve deeper into Category I & Category IV weapons.

Category I is also known as the category of socially undesirable weapons, and possession of these weapons is even prohibited. This includes real knives used in a cosplay of an Assassin’s Creed character. Additionally, items that closely resemble firearms in shape or size are strictly prohibited (such as Lara Croft’s pistols). Airsoft devices are also not permitted.

In Category IV, only carrying the weapon is prohibited, and possession of it is allowed provided you are 18 years or older. Examples of Category IV weapons include swords, sabers, rapiers, batons, and crossbows (made of metal or another ‘heavy’ material).

Carrying means being in possession of a weapon in a public space or on public roads. The convention floor of RINCON is considered a ‘public space’ under the law. If the weapon is packaged in such a way that it cannot be immediately used, then you are ’transporting’ it.

For example, at booths selling swords, they will be packaged and not prepared for immediate use by the seller. If you take the sword out of the packaging and use it on the convention floor or on public roads, you risk confiscation and a fine.

A baseball bat is not mentioned by name in the law and is, in principle, not a weapon under the law. However, if due to the “Nature” or “Circumstances” under which the object is assumed, it can reasonably be assumed that the object is intended to cause injury to persons or to threaten, then it is nevertheless a Category IV weapon. Adding barbed wire or nails to the baseball bat changes the ‘nature’ of the object. (based on the wapen law & Dutch Comic Con weapon rules)

So allowed:
Lightsaber, Wands, Foam/larp swords, Plastic sword, bow & Arrow as long as arrow doesn’t have a point, laserguns/ scify guns.

NOT ALLOWED:
Real metal/steal swords, replica of ‘normal’ guns, pointed arrows, baseball bat, daggers, real pocket knives.

The Roll Initiative Code of Conduct was adapted in part from the DrupalCon Code of Conduct, and the MañanaCon Code of Conduct, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) and is available for others to use and adapt for their own events.