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This thread will portray the life and times of Frank R. Buntz, a 52-year old sleazy criminal defense attorney in Los Santos. CHAPTER 1: "That's All?" - START | END CHAPTER 2: "The Devil's Lawyer" - START | END CHAPTER 3: "Hell in a Handbasket!" - START | END CHAPTER 4: "Sinner Street Blues" - START | END CHAPTER 5: "Heart of Darkness" - START | END CHAPTER 6: "Ishmael" - START | END CHAPTER 7: "A Simple Death" - START | END CHAPTER 8: "Natural Mystic" - START | END CHAPTER 9: "Rubicon" - START | END CHAPTER 10: "Venus In Furs" - START

CHAPTER 1: Conceptualizing the Text-Based Roleplay Scene CHAPTER 2: The Backstory CHAPTER 3: The Importance of The Vibe CHAPTER 4: Coming Soon The purpose of this thread will be to share my process for creating character concepts and putting them to practice in the interactive universe of GTA: World, as well as for public consumption through Screenshots and Character Threads. It will also feature commentary on contemporary Out-Of-Character issues in GTA: World, such as the rise of metagaming as it relates to cinematic roleplay; primarily, preventing server decline through embracing good storytelling practices. I'll update this thread periodically with pieces of opinionated texts to hopefully enable other roleplayers to pursue a more cinematic method in their style of roleplay and character development. I believe the amount of good roleplayers and concepts are being overtaken by unoriginal and soulless characters, who's primary motivations revolve around script asset acquisition and erotic/romantic encounters. In other words, I hope that through this thread, the essence of what separates GTA: World (and the text-based roleplay genre) from other competing schemas will be preserved through the application of these tenets which I commit to in my roleplay. Chapter I: Conceptualizing the Text-Based Roleplay Scene As opposed to the idea of text-based roleplay simply as a game or piece of entertainment lacking any creative value, is the notion of text-based roleplay being a scene; it is a tight-knit, enclosed community of creative individuals who's ideas and discussions have the potential for a real-world affect. This conceptualization of text-based roleplay as a scene rather than strictly a "storytelling method" is paramount to understanding what makes us unique from traditional storytelling genres (group writing, filmography, etc.) and as a unique community, bearing styles and methods of storytelling all of our own. Our roots extend, at a minimum, to the early 2000s and the advent of Habbo Roleplay, and the early stages of San Andreas Multiplayer (SAMP). Going farther back, the subcultures that lead to the formation of the overall text-based roleplay genre could include the primitive multi-user domains (MUDs) of the 1990s, as well as collaborative storytelling through bulletin boards as far back as the 1980s. It is the notion of creating, part and parcel, a virtual dimension or societal microcosmic simulation, revolving primarily around each user possessing a character to play certain roles with. AVATAR, a multi-user domain (MUD) created in 1991. While improvised acting and group storytelling has existed for millennia, the fundamental idea of simulating a total social ecosystem is something very new in practice, and only possible on the scale of GTA: World through the advent of the Internet. It is my belief that despite GTA: World intrinsically being a game, there are serious implications revolving around not only how this immersion can influence you as a person, but that text-based roleplay as an outlet for storytelling has real-world merit when stacked up against traditional mediums. Indeed, text-based roleplay is a form of leisure... it can be as mind-numbingly entertaining as playing any video-game, and the true value of your experiences with it are determined wholly on your own willingness to extract them. There is nothing inherently wrong with leisurely play in regards to the original intention behind the creation of the genre. However, as someone who believes in the potential for this storytelling medium to rise beyond the stigma of what society typically casts on online video-game communities, it's disheartening to see such a rise in careless attitude in regards to actual storytelling. There was a time not too long ago when the majority of GTA: World's community were talented roleplayers, with original characters and concepts. It was, in essence, the largest collective of high quality text-based roleplayers across the entirety of the scene, as the spiritual successor to Los Santos Roleplay's legacy of the 2010s. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, there has been a substantial in-pouring of players who seem to not hold roleplay in any serious regard. While they may know the basic rules, and while some may even obey them, their increasing presence has drowned out the once-prominent group of talented roleplayers, and has given GTA: World the reputation for housing DMers, ERPers and mallrats. Much like the formative stages of text-based roleplay, the groups of talented storytellers who were once collectivized on GTA: World have been sent into a diaspora. While many remain on GTA: World in friend groups and networks, many others have either moved on to more obscure games such as Project Zomboid, Red Dead Redemption II or private Discord communities, to name a few. I believe this is due in part to GTA: World's decline of publicly displaying talented and serious roleplay at the forefront of their community's message. Contrary to popular belief, however, this doesn't directly guarantee peril for the genre or the server. The foundational grouping of talented roleplayers in GTA: World still exists... and when one moves on to something else, there is typically newer blood to take their place. The problem that faces GTA: World isn't a lack of good roleplayers, but rather an overpopulation of bad roleplayers, which has in part led to an overall decline in seriousness or regard to enforcing the rules of the server. OOC 'friend groups' have emerged due to this lack of seriousness, and a stark rise in metagaming is one of many negative effects from this phenomenon. This new epidemic of metagaming and OOC friend groups is not limited anymore to typical scapegoat factions in Davis; it is instead becoming increasingly prevalent among GTA: World's more prominent factions and members. Much like the eventual decline seen on Los Santos Roleplay, the domino effect of non-serious practices both OOCly and ICly can, will, and is causing division among the playerbase, that only increases with every new scandal and dramatic episode borne in the many Discord servers surrounding this community. I believe, unless remedied now, this phenomenon will eventually lead to the collapse of GTA: World. This will bring about another roleplaying "dark age" until a new server emerges to fill the vacuum; probably during the era of GTA VI, which can be cyclically determined to be around 2026-2030 based on data from LSRP's lifecycle. I believe this "bad ending" for GTA: World can be avoided, only through a collective awakening of the potential for text-based roleplay to render quality pieces of storytelling, and through this awakening, a persecution and expulsion of bad actors within the community that sow the seeds of metagaming, division and drama. By embracing the idea of telling cinematic stories through GTA: World, perhaps we can prevent this server from dying. Make Your Characters Heard! One of the many ways to avoid a decline in server quality is by publicly promoting your characters vigorously, and displaying your roleplay and ideas for others to enjoy OOCly. The primary method for this, and what I will focus on in later posts, is Forum Threads: faction posts, character stories and screenshot galleries. An alternative method of equal worth is simply public discourse. Talks and arguments surrounding GTA: World and the issues within it paves the future. It is a democratic method for this community to examine problems, rationalize them, discuss them, render an opinion and move forward. Too many good and talented people within this community are silent to the overwhelming phenomenon of metagaming and bad roleplay. Many of them extend only enough effort to make a report, which might temporarily fix a single scenario, but doesn't fix or address the overall problem. Many are also too afraid of "causing drama" or being labelled as "cringe", but I believe that unless people speak up against metagaming and bad roleplay, there will be no hope for saving this server. The third, and most important way to combat bad behavior is simply by playing the game, and being an example to newer players. The metagamers will never change their nature. Rather than trying to combat them through pissing contests on Discord, you can influence newer users to become good roleplayers before the shit roleplayers get to them first. The metagamers can only be eliminated by being outnumbered in-game and on the forums. This can only be achieved by actually playing the game and roleplaying to the best of your ability, and growing. It also means taking a chance on educating the newer playerbase, and teaching them how to be good roleplayers. Remember - every good roleplayer started off not knowing what they were doing, until someone took a chance on them. I can name many excellent people in the Martorano Crime Family and the Paisa Alliance who tutored me in how to properly roleplay, at a time when I didn't even know what "/me" was and I didn't end IC dialog in a punctuation. They took a chance on helping me grow, despite all my misunderstandings and pestering, and eventually I became like them. This server was founded by storytellers, and the fate of its quality rests solely in their hands.

This thread follows the life and exploits of Joseph Gazzaro. Sit back and enjoy the show.