Thoughts on Yakuza roleplay?

[##Breslin##]

9 minutes ago, borhoi said:

To be entirely honest, Breslin, I think the route that Onohara went was one of the main factors that held back the yakuza-focused role we initially intended to create. Not going to hang out in this thread. I think that yakuza role play can be done, and done well. But I was there, and I do not think Ruriko was a character that was played true to the idea we were striving to make real. Respect.

to be entirely honest, we had three people at most at one time with nothing happening, what i wanted to do from the very start was good, then no one did anything, but if people kept to it and didnt give up it can be great

 

[harrison]

Yakuza doesn't really have a west coast presence and I don't think it should really be betrayed on the server if we're attempting to follow some similar continuity to real life 

[Chinatown]

I think people are getting confused between Japanese-American organized crime and Yakuza styled crime. Most people that want to roleplay Japanese automatically want to do Yakuza. There are even Jap-American groups existing to this day in Canada and USA that are more modern with crime, like proxy-bosozoku gangs like in car clubs that you go to in real life. You'll have a group of friends with lowriders, most of them are Hispanic (at least where I am from) and you'll usually have Vietnamese, Japanese and other East Asians with the ricer cars / sportcars etc.

I think IFM needs to recognize that most of these petty friend-groups that do nefarious things can possibly be attached to higher mob figures within their origin or out of it. For example, as being part Chinese in real life, my mother always got her prescription drugs on pick up from her pharmacist who delivers it. The same pharmacist (who is also Chinese from HK) had given her the prescription from the trunk of his car and she seen that he had codeine bottles and other paraphernalia that was obviously meant for the illegal drug market. Does that mean triads exist in America still? No. But it means there are outfits and possible groups who conglomerate together to preform smoother, illegal activity under their umbrella. 

Hell, even at the local sushi place I go to, one of the chefs has his forearm in irezumi. To be fair, that isn't proof that he is related to the Yakuza in any way, but if you live on the West coast of America or Canada (which I doubt any ifm member does) you can go out into public and see this for yourselves that these people exist.

Going to Vietnamese, there isn't much about Vietnamese-American crime jotted anywhere, but in real life you can encounter it a lot more frequently than most other East Asian groups other than Hmong, Cambodian, etc which leaves me to think that even if somebody wanted to roleplay an outfit of a yakuza (not the yakuza itself with traditions like cutting off pinkies, going full blown irezumi etc) would be great to see. American born Japanese people operating their own schemes and ideas. That would be accepted, would it not?

[Smilesville]

Former prospective yakuza boss here, rejected application and all. This is all a year or two old, so bear in mind that we had an entirely different FM team then - but let me lay out the concerns I suspect are very relevant.  

 

My experience with the faction application was hardly encouraging; there's a debilitatingly prohibitive focus on matching crime demographics to California within IFM that sapped my enthusiasm for what we were trying to create. I was told our group could never number more than a small handful of people and our sole focus was to be drug trafficking if we wanted the application to be accepted. 

 

In other words, "the same thing every other gang does, except you're Japanese."

 

There existed no room for organic growth that I could see, and so the organization died out over a month or so - the quality of the roleplay we brought was never at issue, yet the idea was scrapped due to an overly narrow (and, might I say, ill informed) perception of how "realistic" the group would be in modern California.

 

I've resigned to the fact that there are serious differences of opinion between myself and FM (or, this was true last year) on the issue of factions - so I wouldn't be eager to throw my hat into that ring any time soon. 

 

Maybe I'll throw up the application and the subsequent response when I get access to them later - for some educational reference.

 

@borhoi @##Breslin## You were both fantastic and I'm glad it kept going as long as it did, but it was essentially doomed with the application feedback.

Edited December 30, 2020 by Smilesville

[eTaylor]

3 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

Former prospective yakuza boss here, rejected application and all. This is all a year or two old, so bear in mind that we had an entirely different FM team then - but let me lay out the concerns I suspect are very relevant.  

 

My experience with the faction application was hardly encouraging; there's a debilitatingly prohibitive focus on matching crime demographics to California within IFM that sapped my enthusiasm for what we were trying to create. I was told our group could never number more than a small handful of people and our sole focus was to be drug trafficking if we wanted the application to be accepted. 

 

In other words, "the same thing every other gang does, except you're Japanese."

 

There existed no room for organic growth that I could see, and so the organization died out over a month or so - the quality of the roleplay we brought was never at issue, yet the idea was scrapped due to an overly narrow (and, might I say, ill informed) perception of how "realistic" the group would be in modern California.

 

I've resigned to the fact that there are serious differences of opinion between myself and FM (or, this was true last year) on the issue of factions - so I wouldn't be eager to throw my hat into that ring any time soon. 

 

Maybe I'll throw up the application and the subsequent response when I get access to them later - for some educational reference.

 

@borhoi @##Breslin## You were both fantastic and I'm glad it kept going as long as it did, but it was essentially doomed with the application feedback.

Why not come up with something new that would work? I could think of a few ways how Japanese natives or otherwise could exist. Maybe not explicitly with the “YAKUZA” glamor but definitely in comparable fashion.

[Smilesville]

2 minutes ago, eTaylor said:

Why not come up with something new that would work? I could think of a few ways how Japanese natives or otherwise could exist. Maybe not explicitly with the “YAKUZA” glamor but definitely in comparable fashion.

The problems came in with quasi-legal affiliates - essentially the gripe with them was that a yakuza affiliate wouldn't have the reach we already did. Part of the reason I chose a yakuza is because of the (comparative) aversion to killing and other behaviors from illegal orgs I find distasteful and in poor sportsmanship. The ethical code was very much a great OOC choice to foster a better style of play not centered around robbery, extortion, or drugs. 

 

The changes FM hinged our acceptance on altered that style choice to the point it wasn't discernably different from any other faction - and at that point, why bother? 

[eTaylor]

8 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

The problems came in with quasi-legal affiliates - essentially the gripe with them was that a yakuza affiliate wouldn't have the reach we already did. Part of the reason I chose a yakuza is because of the (comparative) aversion to killing and other behaviors from illegal orgs I find distasteful and in poor sportsmanship. The ethical code was very much a great OOC choice to foster a better style of play not centered around robbery, extortion, or drugs. 

 

The changes FM hinged our acceptance on altered that style choice to the point it wasn't discernably different from any other faction - and at that point, why bother? 

Wasn’t it just because it had the word Yakuza in it?

[Smilesville]

3 hours ago, eTaylor said:

Wasn’t it just because it had the word Yakuza in it?

That's where the expectations stemmed from - yes. At the point we'd brought our faction page to FM, we had built several businesses and brands to the degree that switching concepts on a dime wasn't feasible. This was a time in which such a thing was expected before you even put in an application for a thread, mind.

 

There's also really no other RL illegal organization with an ethical code comparable to the yakuza that I've found, barring going as far and ridiculous as founding a cult unique to Los Santos - something else I've tried but was told outright that "cults won't be considered."

 

That limits our options to next to nothing.

 

Without some historical basis to place such restrictions on ourselves as "don't rob people at gunpoint, don't deal with drug trafficking, etc" the faction ends up becoming just another flavor of the other illegal orgs out and about - and yet, I would not have tried to forge a new faction if what I'd wanted to be a part of actually existed in the first place.

 

Again, though, all of this comes from my experiences about a year and a half ago. My understanding is that the entirety of the FM team has been replaced since - maybe circumstances have changed and FM allows factions a bit more freedom than we've had previously. However, I'm not one to bank on that hope, and my RL circumstances have changed to prohibit me enough time to operate a faction without employing some ungodly levels of delegation.

Edited December 30, 2020 by Smilesville

[Garras Up]

So what differs the Yakuza from other criminal groups and makes them so desirable to rp? Genuine question, cause i dont know.

[Kenshi]

 

8 hours ago, Garras Up said:

So what differs the Yakuza from other criminal groups and makes them so desirable to rp? Genuine question, cause i dont know.

My only time I ever roleplayed illegally was with the yakuza, and if you ask me, it's because it's rather niche.

Majority of people are drawn to surreno/norteno/black/DTM esque factions.

And a small group of people prefer more organized, behind the curtains type factions, I've seen some grade A roleplay on prior communities portraying mafia's, be it Italian, Irish, you name it. But Yakuza's were always awe inspiring if they pulled it off well. Ruthless when required, but always methodical, controlled, planned. Had strict conduct regulations. The really great ones imparted you with wisdom on an OOC level aswell, honor-bound codes of conduct, ethics. 

You just don't get that with your regular run-of-the-mill streetgangs and sets them apart even among organized crime itself. And that's what made it fun. 

My personal experience was I was legit taken in when I was a noob roleplayer and happen to have a japanese heritage. Someone saw something in my character, and showed the ropes. Never identifying himself for who he truly was. Asked me if I wanted to come by the restaurant that was one of their fronts. Agreed, got shown the ropes, invited to work at the restaurant, gradually worked up (groomed) and when time was right, they'd let you in piecemeal wise on what was actually going on, closely watching you to see if it "clicked" . And when that happend, the fun began. Learned to have a dual persona, learned it all. And I had such. A. Blast. But that level of commitment, roleplay and dedication is something you just don't see alot of these days. 

 

Majority of the attempts I've seen ultimately end up looking more like triad-esque factions.

Very few ever nailed it spot on. But if they do. It's by far the most enjoyable experience I've had.

 

Sadly the place where that happend is no longer around these days, but it was known for having a very well fleshed out underworld in LS, everyone had their turf, and at regular intervals, certain businesses that made a lot of profit would become "vulnerable" to take overs. Every major branch of organized crime had a faction, had a turf, and did their own thing. You had the yakuza's, the Italians, the Irish, all the way down to the less-organized groups. And whenever they weren't competing with eachother, they all stuck to themselves and focused on Rping with eachother. And occasionally, ally with one another. And as a first RP experience that will always stick with me, cause it taught me just how much fun illegal RP can be if you find a group that resonates with you, has solid dependable leadership, a strong cadré of seasoned lieutenants who know what they're doing. 

But like I said, it requires all of those elements to blend in perfect harmony, and you rarely if at all see a well made yakuza faction. Cause everyone that is even remotely interested in it (Like me) knows that the pressure to pull it off, is immense.

Edited December 30, 2020 by Kenshi Haroku