Ryan.

Maybe expanding this type of roleplay to the hospital level is not feasible on this server, but we need to test the waters first. However, I think it is imperative to note that these "medical professionals" do not need to have thousands of minute details about physiology memorized. From my experience on LSRP, we had several basic guides to follow (the EMT-B, made up EMT-I, and EMT-P) that explained paramedic field work (which is basically equivalent to trauma work in a hospital) in addition to an Intern guide that detailed basic surgical procedures and diagnostic methods appropriate for our types of roleplay. The Residency guide detailed how to treat somewhat more advanced conditions, such as burns, and also detailed things like childbirth. In my tenure as Head of Hospital, I oversaw the addition of other guides that were supplementary to one's basic understanding of the body (such as more detail on diagnostic procedures [inc. x-ray, CT, MRI, fMRI, EEG, etc], or a basic medical terminology guide [proximal vs distal; basic functions of organs, etc]). These secondary guides were optional - only for those who were interested in delving deeper with their patients and whatnot. However, just the basic paramedic guides and the Internship/Residency guides provided the necessary knowledge for a whole host of medical problems that one could roleplay. In fact, I have no real life experience in medicine whatsoever, but I was able to RP as a Doctor effectively for a long time. By no means do our doctors require the knowledge of a real life doctor - that would be overkill. The patients themselves are not required to have any knowledge of physiology or anatomy since the doctors themselves guide the patients along and can explain anything to the patients should the question come up. The Doctors can also simplify questions to make sense, such as, "Does the ECG indicate a heart attack?" as opposed to "Does the ECG indicate the ischemia of the heart tissue (which is indicative of a myocardial infarction)?" Of course, this example is wildly exaggerated, but the point is that these RP doctors, with some guides especially (which can be rewritten, reworked, replicated for GTA World's purpose; perhaps, paramedic guides can be retrieved from the LSFD, too; we'll see) have the ability to simplify RP enough for the average roleplayer to understand. Yet, I completely understand your point on complexity vs. dullness, and it is a question that all RP doctors must deal with at some point. I personally feel that the outlines and guides we had on LSRP were a perfect framework for balancing the two opposing sides; it was the perfect balance due to the fact that it was not too advanced or too basic, and it properly engaged the patient by allowing them to decide how they wanted their injuries to be, how successful the surgeon was, or how complex the surgery itself was (and, of course, the doctor can assist the patient in deciding how complex they together should RP - be it RPing a graze wound vs a complex wound that ruptured organs with regard to a gun shot wound). As I outlined above, hopefully we'd be able to replicate such guides for the purposes of GTA World. You also bring up an excellent point that was an issue on LSRP, too: the repetitive work of a hospital. True, most patients received are gun shot wounds - we would work on GSWs ad nauseam. To mitigate this boredom, we had the ability to skip medical procedures - most especially gunshot wounds. The goal, then, is to advertise our roleplay to the wider community. This is the only way to gather more "interesting" or long term patients - of which I had several. There is a, albeit small, community of roleplayers who are interested in going along with things such as pregnancy, cancer, terminal diseases - which provides amazing roleplay opportunities. Advertisements can be placed for either a clinic or a hospital, which offers the ability for checkups or other basic procedures. Perhaps people will be encouraged to RP other conditions, such as the occasional heart attack or stroke. But, at this point, we have to rely on the community to provide RP for us, which is the single greatest downfall of the entire plan. It takes dedication on both sides; whether or not the few of us interested in this have enough dedication for this to last, I don't know. I can only hope we do. I suppose my point is that medical RP, even in a hospital, can work. It's, as you indicate, best to start in a clinic, but you very well could be right in saying that this won't survive on a large scale. If the clinic fails, then no hospital will come; if the clinic wildly succeeds, perhaps we can go ahead with hospital RP. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! PS - forgot to mention; I don't think any in-depth script is truly necessary. People are capable of RPing injuries as they want, free from the script's influence. The only thing that could maybe be scripted is a sort of prescription system, but that can come much later.

Pre-Vatican II - That has got to be some fascinating RP. Do you actually RP the Tridentine Mass? Good luck, looking forward to seeing your work.

It's great to see some people from LSRP's FD here - I was involved in FD leadership and in charge of the Hospital sector for quite a few years and, consequently, have come to enjoy medical RP; I've also just joined GTAW recently. As Radiant said, she and I are looking to start up a medical clinic, but are in the very beginning stages of the process. I agree with you that the LSFD should not be in charge of a hospital sector sort of thing - the system does not even begin to reflect real life. Though, as much as I love RPing in a hospital setting, it'll take time to build up to that; it'd be better to start off, in my opinion, in a smaller office and get a feel for how others feel about hospital RP in general. The hospitals around seem to have quite basic interiors (the morgue by far is the most detailed) but they don't seem to cater to an ability to roleplay in an operating room or anything of the like. I would love to eventually be able to RP in hospitals and with operations, but we need to build up to that. Starting up a Department within the LS Government adds unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, I think at least. We should have autonomy in our medical pursuits because it caters to (I assume) such a small population on the server.