World Anvil Policy for Unofficial Community Projects

World Anvil has one of the most supportive and creative communities on the internet. It’s a place where you can find people who share your passion for worldbuilding, writing, and gaming, and also collaborate on projects, organize group activities, and grow as a worldbuilder. This policy aims to provide a safe framework for unofficial community project organizers, participants, and World Anvil itself.

The Policy for Unofficial Community Projects is considered an extension of the Etiquette Policy specifically tailored for unofficial community project organizers. Please make sure to read the Etiquette Policy as well!

What's an Unofficial Community Project?

For the purposes of this policy, an unofficial community project is…

1. Organized by a World Anvil user, and not officially managed by the World Anvil Team.
2. Hosted on the World Anvil platform or any of our official community spaces (Discord server, subreddit, Facebook group).
3. Involves multiple people and is open for public participation from others (even if there are requirements to join).

For example:

• A D&D game with your friends, or a collaborative writing project with hand-picked participants, would not require adherence to this policy (even if it’s publicly hosted on a World Anvil world).
• Selling a service (for example, a writing academy, or an artist’s portfolio) and using World Anvil to promote it does not require adherence to this policy.
• A D&D game or a writing project open for people to join of their own accord and publicly hosted on a World Anvil community space is considered an unofficial community project and must adhere to this policy.
• Worldbuilding challenges and writing groups open for public participation, and similar activities involving multiple people in some capacity, are also unofficial community projects, as long as they fit the three requirements above.

If you’re running an unofficial community project, you must follow this policy.

The rules

We want you to be as free as possible to create any unofficial community projects you dream up! If you’re organizing a community project, please make sure it follows all of these rules:

1. You may not use the World Anvil logo or wordmark as part of your project’s logo or visual branding.
2. It must be clear that your project isn’t officially endorsed or organized by World Anvil. Usually it’s enough to include “unofficial” in the project’s title or tagline, or "not affiliated with World Anvil" in another prominent area. Being shouted out or shared on official World Anvil channels is not an endorsement, and does not make your project “official”!
3. You may not claim any rights over other people’s work, or ask users to relinquish their authorial rights for your unofficial community project. If your project is about collaborative creation (such as an anthology or collaborative world), the creator of each section must retain their rights as the author of that section, unless explicitly documented as part of the project rules. If any edits are required for the final project (for example, to create a cohesive final piece) this must be stated in advance as part of the project rules. All changes to the final work must be agreed upon by the participants.
4. You may not require people to work for free on your own world or creative endeavour! For example, don't ask people to create content for free which benefits only your project, even as part of a challenge (unless you're creating an anthology or collaborative world as a group; see rule 3 for details).
5. You may establish minimum requirements for participation, but these requirements must never exclude people in a way that is considered discriminatory, as per the Etiquette policy. For example, you can limit entries to an unofficial challenge based on wordcount, but you may not reject entries based on the writer’s account (or real) age.
6. All unofficial community projects should be free to enter. While you may include links to your other personal projects, you may not directly profit or personally benefit from your unofficial community project. You must disclose any paid products you intend to create from your project in advance. In this instance, we recommend a profit share or similar remuneration for participants.
7. Requirements for entry must not be based on any 3rd party platforms or spaces outside of the official community platforms. You may not limit participation to users who sign-up for a third-party service, such as an external Discord server or a newsletter. You may still use third-party services for communication and interaction, but they should not be a requirement.
8. You may offer prizes or rewards to participants or winners; if you do, make sure to actually deliver them. Don’t make false promises! World Anvil is not responsible for undelivered prizes.
9. Don’t spam about your project. You’re allowed to be excited about it (we hope you are!) and talk about it in our community spaces, but excessive posting will be removed in accordance with the Etiquette policy.
10. As an unofficial community project organizer, you’re responsible for enforcing any rules you’ve set up for your project. However, if a participant of your project breaks the World Anvil Etiquette Policy, file a report as soon as possible and don’t engage further with them.
11. Unofficial community project organizers don’t obtain any special benefits or advantages from the World Anvil Team, and won’t be held in any special consideration.
12. If the organizer of an unofficial community project breaks this policy or the Etiquette policy, or if you have concerns about a proposed or ongoing project, please file a report as soon as possible and don’t engage further with them.
13. World Anvil retains the right to intervene with, take down, or block an unofficial community project without prior notice if it’s deemed to be problematic for the community or in violation of this policy. World Anvil is not responsible for the actions of unofficial community project organizers.
14. World Anvil retains the right to modify this policy at any time to improve it and ensure it continues to protect and foster community. Any changes to this policy will be communicated through the usual community channels.

If you have any questions or feedback about this policy, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Recommendations for running Unofficial Community Projectes

These are some recommendations to help your unofficial community project flourish! You don’t have to follow any of these points—they’re just suggestions based on our experience.

• Use a hashtag in the website Community Stream to help users find your post! If enough users use it, it will also show up as trending. If you're running an unofficial challenge, you can also use the generic #UnofficialChallenge hashtag.
• You can share unofficial challenges in our community spaces, such as #challenge-discussion (on our Discord server) or our Facebook group.
• Keep your rules simple so they are clear to understand and encourage participation.
• Our community LOVES badges! Consider offering a digital participation badge Anvilites can display in their articles (by sharing the embed code of a public image).
• Keep people updated about which phase your event is in (for example “accepting entries” or “adjudication phase” for an unofficial challenge).
• Be clear and strict with your dates - don’t show favoritism! When sharing times, be clear which timezone they are in. World Anvil is an international community. :)

Past examples of unofficial community projects

Looking for inspiration for your next unofficial community project? Check out these past events run by Anvilites, which include unofficial challenges, collaborative writing projects, and unofficial “fringe” projects running parallel to official events.

• Unofficial Community challenges, such as Show Your Colors, May-terial, and June-y through time
• Discord community chapters
• Let’s make a story
• Summer Camp and WorldEmber tracking spreadsheets