Excessive Robberies in Blaine County

[Garras Up]

1 minute ago, Wirbelwind said:

The one time I've been held at gunpoint all the way up in Paleto Bay, it was by a faction centered around South LS that was trying to rob people going to gun stores and it was painfully obvious how that's what they were doing. I've since passed it up the proper channels, but to say that they are loners and not endorsed by their faction is just incorrect, as unfortunate as that may be. My experience, at least!

What Taylor's tryna say is that most of the time (atleast 70% of the time, I can guarantee you that) the people doing these things are doing it against their fac leader's wishes, or aren't even actual members of a faction. Which is why Taylor says they're loners, cause most of the time that's what they are.

 

And if there's a faction that actually endorses their members doing these things, not to come off as a dick, but it's a trash faction and nothing more.

[PunishedCosby]

On 12/29/2020 at 4:56 PM, Ted said:

There are not enough LEO's in the issue to stop this. It's gotten excessive, to the point that residents have essentially become a paramilitary group in order to prevent themselves from this widespread, and horrible RP.

Sounds like how a situation like that would be handled realistically. Similar to how some mexican towns try to protect themselves because the corrupt government won't protect them from cartels. Kind of annoying how any situation that could become something interesting gets shot down because people complain out of character and admins just say no one's allowed to do anything about it anymore and the problem disappears. Go form a vigilante group, complain to the state, chase all dirt bikes out of the county. There's plenty of options to take.

[Ted]

18 minutes ago, PunishedCosby said:

Sounds like how a situation like that would be handled realistically. Similar to how some mexican towns try to protect themselves because the corrupt government won't protect them from cartels. Kind of annoying how any situation that could become something interesting gets shot down because people complain out of character and admins just say no one's allowed to do anything about it anymore and the problem disappears. Go form a vigilante group, complain to the state, chase all dirt bikes out of the county. There's plenty of options to take.

Hey Cosby, I don't know if you have noticed, but the Southern San Andreas area (which is supposed to be parallel to Southern California) isn't Mexico. People shouldn't be treating it as if it is, and it's furthermore an issue because the majority of the robbers, to be quite honest, come from Davis. I don't know if you've ever drove before, but it's supposed to be a good distance from Davis to Sandy Shores, and clearly what we're seeing isn't a genuinely well Rp'd phenomenon; rather what we are seeing is a bunch of Play to Win robbers farming for PF guns. What we're seeing, in the words of Keane, is an OOC issue, and to once again use his words, you cannot solve an OOC issue, ICly. When you do, it degrades the quality of roleplay in general, and negatively effects people who are bystanders in the situation. 

 

I want you to put on your thinking cap for a second, and ponder, "When in recent history has a rural town in the Inland Empire of Southern California, had to form a paramilitary organization to chase out Urban Gangbangers who ride dirt bikes, and rob people in the middle of the street?" The answer is that that has never fucking happened, and since this server's RP, ideally, tries to mimic the real world, we could classify doing that, as bad RP. We could also classify the hordes of Davis roleplayers mugging people on the street in Sandy, as bad RP. It's not a situation that could be handled realistically, and you advocating that, only works to compound the issue. 

 

In short, your opinion is bad and you should feel bad. 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Ted

[DasFroggy]

I am struggling to understand this new initiative of handling every new criminal antic purely from an IC angle, even now as it is basically changing the rules for a large portion of the community.

 

According to criminals, the only way for legal roleplayers to solve this, is to become criminals? Why is this suddenly mandatory? Why must my character become Mad Max to enjoy peace in what should be a civilized modern day America?

[Juicebox.]

I agree that the admins need to do better at being able to respond to reports. I know they have lives outside of gta world and they are sparing their free time to the server but you shouldnt be volunteering time thst you dont have. I dont mean this as disrespect towards any administrators but this server most definitely needs to do better with handling reports. And in all timezones theres no reason why a report should take hours to get a single response.

 

This is part of the issue, what shod be a report for unrealistic character portrayal, it becomes something players deal with IC simply because players know at this point reports do not get responded to. I know forum reports still exist but admins NEED to be able to respond ingame too in a timely manner

[cracked]

33 minutes ago, Juicebox. said:

I agree that the admins need to do better at being able to respond to reports. I know they have lives outside of gta world and they are sparing their free time to the server but you shouldnt be volunteering time thst you dont have. I dont mean this as disrespect towards any administrators but this server most definitely needs to do better with handling reports. And in all timezones theres no reason why a report should take hours to get a single response.

 

This is part of the issue, what shod be a report for unrealistic character portrayal, it becomes something players deal with IC simply because players know at this point reports do not get responded to. I know forum reports still exist but admins NEED to be able to respond ingame too in a timely manner

Sure, but they're understaffed. I've seen highpop hours where there's only been 6~ admins online. Imagine 6 admins, handling 500 players.

That's why they recommend you to finish the roleplay realistically, and THEN report it on the forums.

[Late]

Dealing with it ICly is pulling your gun out everytime someone you don't know walks into the depot or stops next to you. It's not a great solution and can easily lead to an unnecessary escalation. Every time someone approaches me I assume they're about to rob me.

[cracked]

Just now, Late said:

Dealing with it ICly is pulling your gun out everytime someone you don't know walks into the depot or stops next to you. It's not a great solution and can easily lead to an unnecessary escalation. Every time someone approaches me I assume they're about to rob me.

But would your character assume that? Is your character paranoid?

[Late]

1 minute ago, cracked said:

But would your character assume that? Is your character paranoid?

After being robbed so often yes, that's the whole point I am making.

[Gall]

On 12/30/2020 at 8:43 AM, JackieH said:

As someone whose RP takes place in Blaine 95% of the time, this sure is an issue and comes in waves. Robberies sky rocket, then die down. Then they get out of hand again, and slowly die down again. However, it doesn't make it less of an issue.

As it's been said in the thread already, this has been taken and addressed IC, making people organize IC as well. Constant flow of information, reporting suspicious activities happening, keeping and eye on unknown vehicles/people. All of it happened because of this, which in a way it's cool and creates some RP, but on the other hand it became such a hassle that nightlife around Sandy in particular almost died, with people even refusing to drive around just to not become a target.

It doesn't make sense to me for someone to come up JUST to get a quick lick and then go back into the city with whatever they got from it, when they can get the same outcome or even a better one a few blocks away from their main area of roleplay. Considering how most of Blaine characters I know are, even if they robbed them they wouldn't get that much.

If I'm not wrong, I think SD even went ahead and created the CPU or Crime Prevention Unit just to address this issue and try to mitigate it; However, as most of us, people can't be IG 24/7, so sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, hence why characters are taking the matter into their own hands, which causes what was mentioned before: Character being pushed and forced into militancy. As it has been mentioned, I've even witnessed and taken part myself in pulling up to someone sketchy with two trucks full of people and "pressing" them JUST to see who they were and what intentions they have; which usually ends up with locals either grouping up to be safe, or someone "running" said people out of Blaine (or Sandy, in particular).

Most times is not even your or your character's lack of awareness. I've been robbed before, next to two businesses while close to midnight. Can't say it was enjoyable, but I went with it. However I've seen and heard about attempts during both day time and night time, in front of businesses that realistically would either have cameras or people in and around, next to people's places, next to roads, etc. This made characters to always be in touch about anything that looks remotely sketchy. Sometimes I've even witnesses trucks packed up with people roaming around or pulling up to a friend's or neighbor's place or location JUST to make sure they were alright.

Sometimes, even trying to have some passive RP to relax or just develop your character or meet people gets disturbed because you get a call/text about someone being robbed/about to be robbed and in need of help, which causes a chain of calls and text to bring people along just to help; Or texts about "I've seen X going around trying car doors and houses, keep an eye out". Those are more common than they should be.

The fact that is happening IC and being addressed IC, doesn't make it less of an issue. Most times it's an asset-chase, or feels like it, and thus Blaine, given the lower playerbase + lower LEOs presence becomes the perfect playground for this type of things to happen.


 

I read through this thread and stumbled upon this one reply to the thread, which seems to be a key argument throughout the topic.

 

I do agree it's ridiculous for people to cruise all the way out of town hoping to catch a lick, especially gangbangers. It's a very poor and distasteful attempt and is just overall a bad experience for everybody. Gangbangers should remain within their territory and rob people within their zone.

 

But to say that it's OK for people to start scouting an entire town in a full vehicle, armed up, and pressing anyone that's not recognized is absurd.  Whether someone's character starts developing certain traits and militant behaviors due to traumatic events or not, I don't buy the excuse. Fact is, people patrol the town with weapons in tow because they're bored and have nothing better to do at the time, trying to excuse their behavior with "events that gradually embedded traits into them." Pressing bystanders in the town with a group of people because you don't recognize them isn't any better than robbing people in the county as a Davis gangbanger. It's done out of sheer boredom and makes them feel cool and superior mobbing down to strangers, G-checking them for stopping by in the town. 

 

1 hour ago, DasFroggy said:

I am struggling to understand this new initiative of handling every new criminal antic purely from an IC angle, even now as it is basically changing the rules for a large portion of the community.

 

According to criminals, the only way for legal roleplayers to solve this, is to become criminals? Why is this suddenly mandatory? Why must my character become Mad Max to enjoy peace in what should be a civilized modern day America?

This is a great point that I completely agree with.

 

If people are going to complain about unrealistic behavior, then don't mirror and condone it. That's my two cents.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Gall
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