The MLE is easily the most regulated aspect of the Adult Sphere for a few reasons They have the legal right to arrest anyone they choose. They have the legal right to use Unforgiveables. They are also scrupulously chosen, the best in their field, and in general responsible people. This series of files is intended to help you play a difficult position in a fun and successful manner.

The MLE has a distinct culture, and characters who have trouble integrating into it find their career suffers. They may be passed up for missions that would advance their career. They may be ridiculed or ignored. Or they may just get themselves into hot water.

This makes it crucial that you learn as much about the department as you can before you jump in. You could do this in a few ways: Try making a temporary, throwaway trainee. Tell the staff that you want to play just to get to know the organization and then get out there and play. You could also intern as a student - students are rarely placed in dangerous situations, but they have plenty of room to mess up and try again because they're kids. Another option is "sandbox" RP with people in the department. Ask them to come play with your character concept and give you some tips. The players are not cliquish, but the characters are tightly knit due to the fact that they need to be able to rely on each other. As such, a character who regularly does stupid things or cannot be trusted will not go far with his peers.

It's also not a bad idea to seek out MLE logs to read or ask to watch MLE related scenes to give you an idea of how the characters act, react, and interact in various situations and challenges that they encounter.

If you do get into trouble, it’s not always the end of your career. Your commanding officers are often very vocal, In-character, on what they think your character’s problems are and how to fix it. Where one runs into trouble is when one begins arguing OOCly that the player on the other end of the character has your character all wrong. My character perceives your character how she perceives you, and if my character is your boss and perceives your character as a whiner, then just like in the real world, your character's boss thinks she’s a whiner, whether that’s fair or not. OOC whining is a huge career killer in the MLE. Rather than arguing OOCly that the players of your superior officers are misinterpreting your character, have a rational conversation about it and work out a plan to make it better. Your character can shape up or ship out.

If you do something that endangers the life of other members of the corps, if you do something that might make you look like a traitor, if you encounter something that should be reported and fail to @mail your superior officer, tag them for RP, or place it in MLE reports, chances are it is going to come bite you in the behind later. If you endanger civilians with impulsive action you’re probably going to get chewed out for it. If you fail to call back up and hand an opportunity to do so, you’re going to get chewed out for it. If you trample a crime scene, commit a crime yourself, ignore the stated and posted MLE regulations you’re going to have problems. If you abuse your power or act in an unstable and erratic fashion, someone’s going to say something. If you anger the movers and shakers, you’re going to have trouble - the MLE is not immune to office politics. We don’t expect players to be an expert in police procedure. We do expect players to use their brains.

If you are in a scene and are not sure of the action you’re about to take ask someone. Even the Commanding and Executive Officers often pause and ask one another: "Sanity check. If I do this do you think I’d be endangering my career? If I take this action would it be considered foolish?" Don’t be afraid to stop a small scene to check perceptions or ask for a rewrite if you, in your 3 a.m. tiredness, have had your character do something brain dead. Almost all of the successful members have done it at least once.

And if for plot purposes you want your character to do something that might give them problems (disobeying orders, concealing facts that should be revealed, etc.) it helps if the plot is approved and if you’ve already worked out and discussed ICC or how to reasonably avoid bad ICC before you start. OOC communication is very, very key in this area of the game.

One big career killer is refusal to get set up on mle_reports, the LJ community that we use as a constant tool and resource. You should set up your profile so that comments may be added on your career. Activity is often measured on whether you’ve filed any reports or commented on anyone else’s reports. The reports tell you who a plot coordinator is to contact in order to get involved with any case. The person who filed the case is most often the lead investigator on said case so it also gives you a PC to contact regarding involvement in that case. While its good to show up for the big announced plot scenes in your Auror capacity, and while its good to respond via mirror call, it is equally good for us to be able to track and interact with you on this OOC tool. Unless you are unable to access LJ for some reason, there is no conceivable reason why you cannot get set up on MLE reports.

If this seems like too much work, remember the MLE isn’t for everyone. There is plenty of RP for every class of adult character. Don’t feel that an Auror is your only ticket to exciting adult world RP. It is a very specific RP experience with a lot of IC and OOC responsibility attached to it, and some people just don't want the hassle, bother, and worry.