Jump to content

Realism vs Fun


Entity

Recommended Posts

Going back to the OP's point about fun and realism, this seems to be about an ingame event for a character  that may radically change the direction one had originally planned for that character.

 

I have lost motivation twice when I perceive the character life change has been highly influenced by another party introducing  real world events to justify their actions.  This happened in both legal and illegal role play. I don't find that fun,but others seem to class it as realistic ( I dont, for me it is ptw as you are introducing  real world events that cannot be counteracted  as a result of any IG action that anyone takes. )

 

So if the events are ingame, have continuity and follow the server rules then I'll accept the  roll of the role-play dice, and that for me is fun.

Edited by Nemon
Corrected spelling mistake
Link to comment
27 minutes ago, Nemon said:

I have lost motivation twice when I perceive the character life change has been highly influenced by another party introducing  real world events to justify their actions.

This. Just that I can asspull some example that's already ridiculous irl doesn't mean it's fun for the party whose ass I kick ingame.

Even if it might be super fun for me at the same time.

 

People need to get off this "realism" train and realize that people receive reality (and virtual reality) differently. What's red for me might be green for you, that is just the way the world (and the e-world just as much) works.

Red will be real for me, green for you.

 

Long story short, if I have to justify my ingame behaviour with "irl tis and tat" this is usually an excuse to increase one's own fun, on others' peoples bills (as these poor sods then have to "realistically" suffer under whatever bs I come up with)-

because as long as I have fun seeing red while you have fun seeing green at the same time, no one's gonna complain.

  • Applaud 1
Link to comment

Making believably real roleplay is enough to cause immersion. Making anything more than that line causes it to become essentially a second job. I can't have my character do bladder and eat everyday three times, that's just time consuming and unnecessary.

 

You could instead use bathrooms occasionally during talks to take some OOC breaks, which actually makes your character feel real. You could have your food on wherever you hang out occasionally but not alone, with friends. The trick is not living it but making your character live.  That's what I find most fun and realistic at the same time.

Link to comment
4 hours ago, IrCam said:

RPing realistically and RPing real life are two totally different things. Not sure what you're trying to achieve here, but for the most you just come off as arrogant and a bit of a snob. 

In the first place GTA W's reality is different to our everyday reality. While they share major similarities they're not the same thing. Economy, time etc etc. 

Ultimately, I'm just trying to get people to leave other people alone and let them RP how they want to unless it's something so egregiously unrealistic. Emoting the ownership of a unicorn, for example. Or emoting that Jeff Bezos calls you to ask for your input on Amazon's latest product.

 

I know what you're trying to say, but getting into "GTAW's Reality" leads to a slippery slope in which server irregularities can be written off as quirks of the system; things like time can be finessed in unfair ways without an objective and official comparison. For example, I think it's absolutely ridiculous that we compress time to the extent that Armed Robbery - a crime that receives 15 year sentences IRL - is compressed to 4 days on the server. The economy is inconsistent as well - you can buy a beer at a club for $20 for a 4:1 comparison to real life, but then you can also buy an apartment for $60,000 which would be far too low a price IRL unless the place was thrice condemned.

 

Dealing with these little idiosyncrasies is just part of the game, I agree with that - but the point at which I become skeptical is when "realism" is used as a cudgel to push a player into a course of action a la the OP's implication.

 

Quote

[...] the discussion shifted towards how people should RP doing drugs just because it's realistic while they didn't necessarily plan on doing so. That's actually something that's very common - roleplaying something that you don't OOCly enjoy in order for your character to e more and more realistic[...]

The impression I'm getting here is that people are being shamed into a particular course of behavior because some folks who want to sell drugs lament how difficult it is. I'm not making a judgment about whether they're justified in that concern, they may very well be - but my point is that shoehorning someone into a form of RP they don't enjoy portraying is not, and never will be, the answer. I don't pretend to know what the answer is, but I know for certain this isn't it.

 

Reading through a lot of this, it seems like we all agree on a great number of things but get tangled in the finer details.

Edited by Smilesville
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

Honestly you're right. We could sit here all day talking about the slippery slope that is GTAW's reality. Some shit just doesn't make sense and nothing is consistent but we deal with it regardless.

I personally don't agree with the whole drugs thing. That's a personal choice and TBH if you're struggling to sell drugs on the server then you're not doing something right. 

I wanna touch on this comment though.
 

16 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

shoehorning someone into a form of RP they don't enjoy portraying is not, and never will be, the answer. 

 

It really depends. I feel the whole realism vs fun and not having to RP something you don't enjoy is an extremely dangerous mentality and one that just completely avoids IC consequences. 

Robbery for one. No-one likes to be robbed, yet if we went with the only RP stuff that's fun, we could just say "/b I don't enjoy RPing robbery, no thanks." Or something even stupider "I don't give consent for you to rob my character".

Skipping through car accidents is another. Any sort of punishment for crime. There's loads of stuff out there that if someone said "I don't want to RP this" it'd just completely ruin and take away from any sort of IC consequence. 

Link to comment
1 minute ago, IrCam said:

It really depends. I feel the whole realism vs fun and not having to RP something you don't enjoy is an extremely dangerous mentality and one that just completely avoids IC consequences. 

Robbery for one. No-one likes to be robbed, yet if we went with the only RP stuff that's fun, we could just say "/b I don't enjoy RPing robbery, no thanks." Or something even stupider "I don't give consent for you to rob my character".

Skipping through car accidents is another. Any sort of punishment for crime. There's loads of stuff out there that if someone said "I don't want to RP this" it'd just completely ruin and take away from any sort of IC consequence. 

And that's an entirely valid concern that I share as well.

 

I suppose I meant my earlier statement on a macro level, i.e. shifting someone's entire character concept based on a preconceived notion of what is "realistic." I don't think the robbery rate is realistic, but forcing the robber to be a not-robber(?) would be along the same lines as forcing a random civilian to be a drug user. I never want to force someone into a particular course of action, but if we can realign the balance between risk and reward to guide people to make different decisions, that's something I'm generally in favor of.

 

I recognize that could be interpreted as "forcing someone to do something with extra steps." I don't have an answer to that yet, and it's not a bad point. Maybe a more precise explanation is that I'm against forcefully compelling personal choice through threats of OOC reprisal a la server punishments on the basis of "realism?" (Then again - I dislike the Fear RP meta so much because of this; robberies and RP fights are essentially a contest to see who can get who to break a rule first, and that sucks.)

 

It's difficult to articulate for sure.

 

But somewhere in the blurred mess before us is a line everyone can agree on - and I feel like we all have a fairly good idea of where that line is, but nobody can point to the precise coordinates.

Link to comment

A healthy balance is what makes it fun. There will be people who realism = fun, and some people who are diehard fun only.

 

There's no black or white. Nor is the server by any stretch properly "realistic" per say. (Not meant as a dig or insult, it is on the path to such a thing, but not quite there yet.)

 

My take on things, keep your factions RP realistic, and dont ever take things seriously ooc when you're with people. The gov discord is a prime example. The moment we log in, we're serious. We keep it realistic.

The second we log out, we roast the shit out of each other and have a blast on discord. That to me, is what keeps it fun, and keeps the yin and yang in balance. 

Link to comment

One point I'd like to make real quick about the LSPD and LASD that has to do with this topic. Both factions strive to mimic their real life counter parts but completely fail to see that both agencies are created around a particular community. They strive to do nearly the same thing the LAPD/LASD does but fail to understand that the GTA:W Community is nowhere near being the same as Los Angeles which makes it completely useless. The realism in roleplaying a legal faction should NOT be in mimicking LAPD/LASD, but mimicking an accurate portrayal of US Law Enforcement in it's own molded fictional aspect. If we wanted realism, we would need a rapid homeless crisis, all liberal politicians, legal use of marijuana, etc. None of these exist in the server but we are still roleplaying the LAPD and a Police Agency that was molded around this foundation.

 

This is coming from someone who has recently lived in California for 4 years, and was there within the past year.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...