EttinCon Code of Conduct

EttinCon is committed to providing a welcoming, safe, inclusive, and enjoyable environment for everyone who attends.This Code of Conduct establishes the standards we expect from everyone so that attendees can play, participate, socialize, and enjoy the convention with confidence and respect.

This Code of Conduct applies to all convention participants, including:

• Attendees and players
• Game Masters and event organizers
• Volunteers
• Exhibitors and vendors
• Staff and contractors
• Guests, creators, and media
• Anyone participating in convention-sponsored activities or online communities

The Code of Conduct applies throughout convention-controlled spaces, at convention-sponsored events and activities, and in official convention online communities.

Participant Expectations

• Treat others with kindness, courtesy, and respect.
• Welcome players of all backgrounds, identities, and experience levels.
• Respect names, pronouns, personal space, boundaries, and stated preferences.
• Respect the right of others to participate or not participate in activities.
• Follow posted event, tournament, venue, and room-specific rules.
• Follow reasonable instructions from convention staff, volunteers, venue personnel, and security.
• Respect convention facilities, gaming materials, merchandise, and other people's property.
• Help maintain a safe, clean, and enjoyable shared environment.
• Address disagreements respectfully and in good faith.
• Follow all applicable laws and venue requirements.

Harassment and Discrimination

We do not tolerate harassment, intimidation, discrimination, or threatening behavior.

Harassment includes behavior that threatens, intimidates, demeans, or creates an unsafe or hostile environment for another person or group. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Offensive or discriminatory verbal comments or imagery
• Unwanted sexual attention or sexual comments
• Unwanted physical contact
• Deliberate intimidation or threats
• Stalking, following, or unwanted persistent contact
• Harassing photography, recording, or livestreaming
• Repeated unwanted interaction after someone has asked you to stop
• Sustained disruption of games, panels, talks, or other events

• Discriminatory conduct or comments related to:

  • Race or ethnicity
  • Nationality
  • Religion or lack of religion
  • Gender, gender identity, or gender expression
  • Sexual orientation
  • Disability
  • Age
  • Physical appearance or body size
  • Other personal or protected characteristics

• Encouraging or advocating harassment, discrimination, or violence against others

• Respectful disagreement, criticism, and good-faith discussion are not, by themselves, harassment.

This list is not exhaustive. Convention staff may address other conduct that violates the purpose or standards of this Code. Consent, Boundaries, and Gaming

Game Content Safety

Roleplaying games can involve fictional violence, horror, romance, mature subjects, and other potentially sensitive themes. Participants should respect the boundaries established for each game and its participants.

• Respect a participant's stated boundaries.

• If someone asks you to stop an interaction, stop.

• Do not pressure someone to participate in an activity they have declined.

• Do not use roleplaying or "it's what my character would do" as an excuse for inappropriate real-world behavior.

• Game Masters may pause, modify, or end an interaction when necessary to maintain a safe and respectful game environment.

• Participants should use any safety tools or content guidelines established for the event.

Convention games should be appropriate for the age rating and content description assigned to the event. Game Masters are responsible for ensuring that their games remain consistent with the content and age range represented in the event listing.

Game Masters must accurately describe significant adult or potentially objectionable themes when submitting an event. Participants should not be surprised by content that could reasonably affect their decision to participate.

The following are not appropriate for convention gaming events:

• Graphic sexual content
• Sexual violence, including depictions of rape
• Extreme cruelty or torture presented in graphic detail
• Content intended primarily to distress participants

Content that might be appropriate in a private game among consenting adults may not be appropriate in a public convention game.

Personal Hygiene and Shared Spaces and Attire

Tabletop gaming involves close interaction and shared equipment. Please help keep gaming spaces comfortable for everyone.

Participants are expected to:

• Maintain reasonable personal hygiene.

• Avoid strong or persistent odors that could interfere with others' ability to participate.

• Keep personal belongings reasonably contained and out of shared walkways or gaming areas.

• Keep food and beverages away from game components unless permitted by the venue or event.

• Clean up food, drinks, trash, and other materials after use.

• Leave tables and gaming areas in a clean and usable condition.

• Follow venue requirements regarding cleanliness, food, beverages, and sanitation.

Staff may ask a participant to address a hygiene or cleanliness issue when it is significantly affecting others' ability to participate. Dress and Costumes

Attendees should wear clothing appropriate for a public, family-friendly convention.

Inappropriate attire includes:

• Clothing or visible tattoos containing hateful, discriminatory, or excessively vulgar material.

• Graphic depictions of pornography, nudity, or extreme violence.

• Clothing that exposes intimate areas or does not adequately cover undergarments.

• Clothing or costumes that create a safety hazard.

• Costumes or accessories that obstruct walkways or interfere with other participants' ability to enjoy the convention.

• Bathing suits should be limited to appropriate pool or water areas unless otherwise covered by suitable clothing.

Weapons and Weapon Replicas

Real weapons are prohibited in convention spaces unless specifically authorized under a documented exception for convention security or law enforcement.

This includes firearms carried under a concealed-carry or other legal permit.

Prohibited items may include:

• Firearms
• Knives and other weapons
• Tasers and similar devices
• Pepper spray
• BB, airsoft, or projectile weapons
• Cap guns or realistic firearm replicas
• Martial arts weapons
• Other items that could reasonably be used as weapons

Convention-approved fantasy, science-fiction, or non-projectile costume props may be permitted when they are safe and handled responsibly.

Convention staff or venue security may inspect a costume or prop and may require an item to be removed from the convention.

Any attendee who refuses to comply with the weapons or safety policy may be removed from the convention.

Photography, Recording, and Streaming

Photography and recording should not interfere with convention activities or make participants uncomfortable.

Do not photograph, record, or livestream an identifiable person after they have asked you not to.

Obtain consent before recording an individual in a recognizable way when the recording is focused on that person.

Recording inside a gaming session requires the permission of the Game Master and participants at the table.

Do not obstruct aisles, games, events, or other convention activities while recording.

Do not use recording equipment to harass, intimidate, or follow another participant.

Official convention recordings may take place during designated panels, games, performances, or other announced activities.

Media representatives and other individuals conducting professional or commercial recording may be subject to additional convention requirements.

Safety and Venue Rules

Participants must not engage in behavior that creates an unreasonable risk to themselves or others.

Prohibited conduct includes:

• Threatening or attempting to harm another person.
• Using an object in a threatening or destructive manner.
• Deliberately damaging convention, venue, vendor, or attendee property.
• Theft or attempted theft.
• Unsafe or reckless behavior.
• Violating applicable laws or venue rules.
• Refusing reasonable instructions from convention staff, security, or venue personnel.
• Disrupting convention events or preventing others from participating.
• Sleeping in gaming rooms, hallways, or other event spaces may be prohibited where it interferes with event operations or venue requirements.

Alcohol and Intoxication

Alcohol consumption is subject to venue rules and applicable law.

Participants may not:

Become so intoxicated that their behavior creates a safety or disruption concern.

Engage in threatening, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior while intoxicated.

Bring prohibited food or beverages into restricted convention spaces.

Convention staff and venue personnel may intervene when intoxication creates a safety or conduct concern.

Accessibility and Inclusion

We want people of different backgrounds, identities, abilities, and levels of gaming experience to feel welcome.

Participants should:

• Respect accessibility needs and accommodations.
• Keep accessible routes, entrances, seating, and facilities clear.
• Avoid gatekeeping or deliberately excluding people from gaming communities.
• Support new players and people learning a game.
• Avoid making assumptions about another person's abilities or needs.
• Ask before providing physical assistance to another person.

If you have an accessibility concern, please contact convention staff so we can help identify an appropriate solution.

Exhibitors and Vendors

Participants interacting with exhibitors and vendors should:

• Treat merchandise, displays, and equipment with care.
• Follow booth-specific instructions.
• Respect queues and purchasing procedures.
• Ask permission before handling items when appropriate.
• Ask permission before taking focused photographs of displays or products.
• Keep aisles and booth entrances clear.
• Follow venue rules regarding food, beverages, weapons, and prohibited items.

Exhibitors and vendors are additionally responsible for complying with applicable laws, venue requirements, and convention-specific exhibitor policies.

Game Master Standards

Anyone running or organizing a convention event has additional responsibilities. Game Masters must:

• Follow all convention and venue policies.
• Provide a safe, respectful, and enjoyable experience for participants.
• Follow reasonable directions from convention staff.
• Ensure that their event matches its submitted description, age rating, location, and scheduled time.
• Accurately disclose significant mature or sensitive content.
• Arrive prepared and on time.
• Contact convention staff promptly if an event cannot be run as scheduled.
• Contact staff rather than moving an assigned game to another location without authorization.
• Address disruptive behavior by contacting convention staff rather than escalating the situation themselves.
• Leave gaming spaces clean and ready for the next event.
• Take reasonable care of equipment and materials brought to the event.

Running an event does not make a Game Master or organizer an employee or contractor of the convention. Unauthorized events or activities may be stopped or relocated at the discretion of convention management.

Volunteers

Volunteers represent the convention while performing their assigned duties. Volunteers must:

• Maintain a current convention badge and any required volunteer identification.
• Follow all convention policies and staff instructions.
• Treat attendees, staff, exhibitors, and other volunteers respectfully.
• Provide assistance in a courteous and professional manner.
• Avoid discriminatory, harassing, or threatening conduct.
• Request assistance with heavy, hazardous, or physically demanding tasks rather than risking injury or property damage.

When not actively volunteering, individuals should remove volunteer identification if they do not wish to be approached in their volunteer capacity.

Disagreements and Conflict

Not every disagreement constitutes harassment or a Code of Conduct violation.

Participants are encouraged to:

• Remain calm.
• Give others reasonable personal space.
• Avoid escalating an argument.
• Disengage when a conversation is no longer productive.
• Seek assistance from convention staff when necessary.

The convention generally will not arbitrate ordinary interpersonal disagreements or disputes that do not involve a safety or Code of Conduct concern.

If you feel unsafe, you do not need to confront the other person or attempt to resolve the situation yourself.

Reporting a Concern

If you experience or witness behavior that violates this Code, please report it to convention staff. Convention staff can assist with contacting venue security, medical services, or law enforcement and, when appropriate, help participants reach a safer location.

You may:

• Speak with any convention staff member.
• Contact the convention's designated conduct or help desk.
• Contact venue security when appropriate.
• Contact law enforcement or emergency services if immediate assistance is required.

You do not need to confront the person involved before making a report.

Enforcement and Sanctions

The convention may take immediate action when necessary to protect participants or maintain a safe environment.

The severity of the response may depend on the nature of the conduct, its impact, whether the behavior continued after being asked to stop, and other relevant circumstances.

Participants asked to stop behavior that violates this Code are expected to comply immediately.

Depending on the circumstances, violations may result in:

• A verbal or written warning.
• Removal from a particular event or activity.
• Restrictions on interaction with another participant.
• Removal from convention spaces.
• Revocation of a convention badge or credentials.
• Cancellation of convention privileges or event responsibilities.
• Ejection from the convention without refund.
• Temporary suspension from future events.
• Permanent exclusion from future convention events or online communities.

Our Shared Responsibility

A successful convention depends on everyone contributing to a respectful community.

Be kind. Respect boundaries. Take care of shared spaces. Give people room to participate in their own way. Speak up when something is wrong, and seek help when you need it.

Thank you for helping make the convention a welcoming place for everyone.