General Morale - An Improvement Thread

[eTaylor]

I think I’m just getting too old for this game and it’s not making me any less toxic about certain aspects. Been going since 2007, and although many people have come and gone a hard sticky core of players have been a consistent presence for the better part of a decade and up. I used to complain how I just keep running into the same people running the same factions over and over again. But then it’s also hypocritical for me because I’ve been doing pretty much the same thing myself. It’s hard to keep things 100% In-Character because this server and the ones that came before it never worked like that in the first place. The whole “who you know matters” has only become more solidified over the years and I’ve both suffered and profited from it. Most of the people I know here have no business still playing this game, myself included, and over the years we’ve changed a lot. But what’s kept us going is probably a mix of nostalgia, boredom and catharsis. Most importantly it’s our roleplay that connects us, whether it improved is something you’d have to decide for yourself. At the end of the day we’re here to have fun, I could do with a little less drama. 

[Koko]

Text RP is a dying medium, and as much as we like to sit here and complain about the state of things, GTAW is honestly probably one of the best options out there.

 

People that have only experienced GTAW don't often realize how inert other text RP worlds are. You can very rarely have an impact on the world or create something tangible, with the exception of sandbox games (where progress often gets completely wiped every few months). In GTAW there's just a stronger sense of continuity, and there's a lot of really good RPers hiding out of the spotlight of the more massified, lighter RP attractions.

[Bartolomeo]

text rp is 100000% not a dying medium. gtaw is the single largest textrp community of all time, and it shows. its successful, and it wont die any time soon. 

 

gtaw is many things, but a quality roleplay server it is not. in a community which occasionally reaches 1000 concurrent payrers you cant expect everyone to be quality, but this server and its leadership has long since reached the point where they've realized quality control is a losing battle. what you see instead are three things:

1. second lifers living out their idealized (usually much more attractive) lives through an avatar, having lots of e sex and driving fast cars
2. children and NEETs enamored with the commodified rapper-criminal lifestyle who either ape shotcaller, blood in blood out, etc or their favorite rapper's biography
3. cop rejects and security guards living out their LARP fantasies in an LEO faction 

 

there are exceptions to these generalizations, but these groups are who the server primarily services because they're the most populous.

 

the possibility that you will be allowed to do anything remotely imaginative or interesting on this server is effectively nill. this wasn't always the case, as back in the day realism took a back seat to narrative and fun (case in point with the fact we had LCN factions in LA), but with the population on the server grown as it has, this shit is now complete paint by numbers 'roleplay'. the only way to make a server like this run remotely well is to force everyone to fit an average. exceptions to the roleplay average, good or bad.

 

this is a doom post, but i think you guys should stop kidding yourselves. this server is many great things, but if you want to play anything that isn't one of those three aforementioned things, ur in for a rude awakening. i also don't think you'll ever see any meaningful change come from these sorts of posts, regardless of what lip service we get in server update posts.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Bartolomeo

[Aqua.]

The thing I love about the server and RP in general is that the opportunities are endless. There's some really in depth characters around, and roleplaying with them is a ton of fun. There's lots of stuff that keep me on the server, I've made some good friends, have a really good time playing on my characters and developing them, the really good features that come out, the community as a whole is friendly and always willing to help people out.

[varthshenon]

I still play here because there's no other established text GTA V RP server XD

 

What makes me want to quit is mainly the more I play here, the more I see most players plays as themselves with additional fictional background story and it usually causes trouble and breaking immersion. I really wish I can go back in time and enjoy my first time playing here again.

[Barbary]

As someone who comes from RP mediums where the population is always far smaller, we're talking one-hundred at peak hours, the sheer size and scope of GTAW still throws me for a loop. It might be trite to some of the older members of the community but the idea that you can come onto the server, run into hundreds of unique players, each of whom might have several different active characters, is a big plus. It keeps the RP variety going and helps to make sure things don't fall into a churning standstill. It's also helped by the fact that GTAV is, frankly, one of the best text-based RP mediums I've ever seen. The sheer range of animations, graphical quality, freedom of movement, customization and general options elevate it far beyond any other peer.

 

...But there's two big problems I feel are what end up causing so much conflict.

Problem One: This is by far the most distrustful community I've ever seen. Everyone, everyone, thinks everyone else is going to shove a knife in their back. The benefit of the doubt doesn't just not exist, it's considered stupid to even assume anyone outside of your circle of trust is trying to do anything short of ruin your RP. And this mentality is especially prevalent on the forums, you'll see plenty of people happily and proudly admit that they're willing to ruin other people's fun if it means elevating their own entertainment. It's not cliques at this point, it's tribalism. Like GTAW is some wide-spanning Empire with each RP group acting as a fiefdom that's jockeying for power with other fiefdoms. Some are bigger than others but the fighting never stops.

 

Problem Two: The server is too segmented. There is little to no overarching theme that can generally unify the player base. Everyone plays in a vacuum, only interacting with other groups out of necessity or diplomacy. Now on one hand, sure, this mirrors real life. You're gonna make friends with people from your job, from your block, or from your community. But not to this extent where people who are outside of the sphere may as well not exist. And when you have such little interest, value or care for what's going on outside of your bubble, it leaves things very empty in the wider world. That's why I feel like this server desperately needs an events team and continuity team. Give people lore. Give people substance. 

 

But I don't think that's gonna happen. A lot of people are fine with the status quo. Or the very least, so few people agree on what to do that the status quo is the only option.

[sixchar]

10 minutes ago, Barbary said:

As someone who comes from RP mediums where the population is always far smaller, we're talking one-hundred at peak hours, the sheer size and scope of GTAW still throws me for a loop. It might be trite to some of the older members of the community but the idea that you can come onto the server, run into hundreds of unique players, each of whom might have several different active characters, is a big plus. It keeps the RP variety going and helps to make sure things don't fall into a churning standstill. It's also helped by the fact that GTAV is, frankly, one of the best text-based RP mediums I've ever seen. The sheer range of animations, graphical quality, freedom of movement, customization and general options elevate it far beyond any other peer.

 

...But there's two big problems I feel are what end up causing so much conflict.

Problem One: This is by far the most distrustful community I've ever seen. Everyone, everyone, thinks everyone else is going to shove a knife in their back. The benefit of the doubt doesn't just not exist, it's considered stupid to even assume anyone outside of your circle of trust is trying to do anything short of ruin your RP. And this mentality is especially prevalent on the forums, you'll see plenty of people happily and proudly admit that they're willing to ruin other people's fun if it means elevating their own entertainment. It's not cliques at this point, it's tribalism. Like GTAW is some wide-spanning Empire with each RP group acting as a fiefdom that's jockeying for power with other fiefdoms. Some are bigger than others but the fighting never stops.

 

Problem Two: The server is too segmented. There is little to no overarching theme that can generally unify the player base. Everyone plays in a vacuum, only interacting with other groups out of necessity or diplomacy. Now on one hand, sure, this mirrors real life. You're gonna make friends with people from your job, from your block, or from your community. But not to this extent where people who are outside of the sphere may as well not exist. And when you have such little interest, value or care for what's going on outside of your bubble, it leaves things very empty in the wider world. That's why I feel like this server desperately needs an events team and continuity team. Give people lore. Give people substance. 

 

But I don't think that's gonna happen. A lot of people are fine with the status quo. Or the very least, so few people agree on what to do that the status quo is the only option.

I appreciate and like that you took the time to type this out, though the truth is with problem one; a lot of people believe they're going to be either backstabbed because it's happened far too many times.... 

People will take a joke as something that isn't a joke, or will turn something you said in confidence out against you... Unfortunately people are really out here looking out for their own interests before that of someone else. Not always the case but it seems to happen quite often. So trusting becomes difficult.... 

 

 

3 hours ago, Shoot2Kill said:

The thing I love about the server and RP in general is that the opportunities are endless. There's some really in depth characters around, and roleplaying with them is a ton of fun. There's lots of stuff that keep me on the server, I've made some good friends, have a really good time playing on my characters and developing them, the really good features that come out, the community as a whole is friendly and always willing to help people out.

There surely are a LOT of opportunities that could be created, just need to have the right mindset to approach them. 

 

 

13 hours ago, eTaylor said:

I think I’m just getting too old for this game and it’s not making me any less toxic about certain aspects. Been going since 2007, and although many people have come and gone a hard sticky core of players have been a consistent presence for the better part of a decade and up. I used to complain how I just keep running into the same people running the same factions over and over again. But then it’s also hypocritical for me because I’ve been doing pretty much the same thing myself. It’s hard to keep things 100% In-Character because this server and the ones that came before it never worked like that in the first place. The whole “who you know matters” has only become more solidified over the years and I’ve both suffered and profited from it. Most of the people I know here have no business still playing this game, myself included, and over the years we’ve changed a lot. But what’s kept us going is probably a mix of nostalgia, boredom and catharsis. Most importantly it’s our roleplay that connects us, whether it improved is something you’d have to decide for yourself. At the end of the day we’re here to have fun, I could do with a little less drama. 

I get where you're coming from 100%, but glad to see that you've stuck around.... I haven't been roleplaying as long myself; but I do agree with you... specially with the "end of the day we’re here to have fun, I could do with a little less drama. "

[Barbary]

6 minutes ago, sixchar said:

I appreciate and like that you took the time to type this out, though the truth is with problem one; a lot of people believe they're going to be either backstabbed because it's happened far too many times.... 

People will take a joke as something that isn't a joke, or will turn something you said in confidence out against you... Unfortunately people are really out here looking out for their own interests before that of someone else. Not always the case but it seems to happen quite often. So trusting becomes difficult.... 

 

I get that. Drama and RP communities go together like PB&J. Beefs happen, because let's be honest, people who join RP communities tend to be... dramatic. I'm not an exception to this either.

I just think people would benefit from taking a step back and breathing a bit.

[CowboyYoda22]

Reasons I really enjoy GTA World:
*Responsive Admin Team / Constant Update and Support from the Technical teams.
    -People that have never played on different text mediums for RP might not realize just how much of a lack of support there is for other games and private servers.  You're often on your own, not here.
*Anyone can become anything.
     -On other servers I've played on both in different games and web servers, you're often told you can become the leader, but it's often the case where the owner of the server is using the setting as a way to justify themselves being the main character. Everyone knows their character, they know that they're always going to win, and there's no point of even trying to oppose them. GTAW is the opposite and I could hardly ever tell you what admin plays which character. 
*A community feeling
    -GTAW unlike so many games feels like it has some sort of shared narrative. There are hiccups, but the world feels like a pretty believable game space compared to so many others, which is why I enjoy it. 
*Solo Player Support
  -GTAW goes out of their way to make sure you don't need to be in a faction to have access to items and perks. You can own a business without a faction, you can get supplier roles if you justify it. While it's not always the easiest, there is more support for that style of play compared to other games. For example in most MMO RP scenes you're going to find nearly 0 rp if you try to play alone. 

Things I dislike:
*People who try to reference the "glory days" and constantly talk down about the state of rp. 
  -Often groups of players will act like their day where they were the most active were the best days of RP and nothing else can compare to it. New people don't know what they're doing, and the RP standards were far better back in the day. There is often a small group of players who feel like they're entitled to be the morale police of all types of RP and try to justify that things used to always be better when they were around. This can be very tiring to deal with OOC, but I mainly just ignore them. 
*The systems contribute to a general feeling of FOMO for a large amount of players.
  -There's always new events going on, openings and the nature of sandbox RP tends to mean that anything can happen. GTAW like many sandbox RP games can create a real feeling of FOMO where players feel like they need to be obligate to sign in and be around. This is something that I see newer players tending to fall into, and it's something that I try to encourage people to not to do. Play when you want to, don't make this your "job" or your "life". 
*Pushback against creativity
 -There is sometimes too much reliance on scripts and assets as a sign of good RP.  I've seen good concepts that don't really focus on making assets that tend to get shunned or rejected by people on an OOC level. There is often too much focus in OOC circles on trying to prove oneself to people by getting the most money, making the most arrests, scoring the biggest deal -- this causes a lot of OOC toxicity. A majority of communities tend to have no script support outside of the GTA Ecosystem, and people often just RP for the sake of RPing. Sometimes it feels like people only RP for the sake of assets and assets alone. Which leads to the same cycle of illegal and legal activities being pursued over and over. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by CowboyYoda22

[sixchar]

2 hours ago, Defiant said:

About your point where players reference the "glory days", this time existed, and it was about a decade ago. Anyone who was around on LSRP from 2012-2015 knows that the standards were high and people roleplayed. There were always bad apples, but when the server had 600/600 players and you had to wait 10-15 minutes to join, it really was a good time. That's what a "community" felt like, the streets were full of life and most corners in South Central had players. You saw people walking, talking, driving regular ass cars, and at the same time there were multiple factions for anyone who was interested to join, whether that'd be LCN factions, gangs, OCGs, LEO factions ( you can say whatever you want about Michael Houston, but after he left, it really was the end of an era in LSPD ).

Like someone said above, on GTAW you'll either find the cop rejects, the NEETs or the second lifers, even the gang rpers have left.

Gangs? You barely see them anymore. The Mafia who is supposed to be an integral part of GTA in general? It has been deemed "unrealistic", yet people fail to realize that LCN factions typically have very high standards, and they're involved both in legal and illegal RP. Point out another concept that is as involved in illegal RP as legal, there isn't. And no, stereotypical Eastern European caricatures don't count.

The streets are not full of life, you barely see anyone. Everyone roleplays inside interiors, and people, don't give me the "robbers are everywhere boo-hoo!" excuse. Why weren't people complaining about being robbed all the time on LSRP in 2014? 

GTAW is successful financially, and the numbers prove it, but it's not a server that encourages roleplay, it wants people who donate, who are obedient civilians and those who don't step out of line or dare portray something unique. It's not GTA if it doesn't have gangs, the mafia, the elite, the corpos, the lowlifes,  all fighting for a piece of a very large pie. 

Anyway, as someone who has been a member of several roleplay communities for at least a decade, if not longer - GTAW is stale, tasteless, bland, clinical. It can work if you roleplay a civilian and don't step out of line, but otherwise? No, if you're coming from LSRP, especially if you were an old player there - you probably won't find what you're looking for here, LSRP was gritty and not sterilized and you didn't depend on the administration for half of your activities like you are here. Everything is kept behind an application, and the admins are always right there on your doorstep if you roleplay something illegal, no matter what, ready to criticize you or admonish you, often for things that aren't even listed in the rules. 

 

Personally, I didn't quite realize this is what it really was.... This is what it really is... Coming from that point to this. It suddenly clicked.