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Why do people identify civilians as "rats" immediately?


Sasquatch98

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2 hours ago, mj2002 said:

Perhaps instead, there should be more guides on how you should roleplay those sorts of characters.

I pointed out, just how exaggerated a character concept can be. These archetypes are a fine example of a character without depth. It is but a template slapped over a blank character mixed with sort of leveling up roleplay. "Why that girl rides a black Bati like Celty Sturluson?"

Bet if there actually were helmets with cat ears, they would even use those as well. 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Engelbert said:

I pointed out, just how exaggerated a character concept can be. These archetypes are a fine example of a character without depth. It is but a template slapped over a blank character mixed with sort of leveling up roleplay. "Why that girl rides a black Bati like Celty Sturluson?"

Bet if there actually were helmets with cat ears, they would even use those as well. 

 

 

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On 3/19/2021 at 11:27 AM, Sasquatch98 said:

I was just browsing through some videos and threads and after seeing a few comments, the question arose in my mind. The phenomenon can be observed on several servers; that if you are not a member of a legal or illegal faction then you are almost certainly not able to play your role and you are should not play on a roleplay server. Of course, this is generally voiced by illegal factions.

For example why does being a civilian living a decent life active on facebrowser and works as a journalist
, being a student at ULSA who goes to parties labelled as "cringe" or "rat"? Whether or not they want to play on the server as an officer or banger is not necessary that they all about money, can't properly play their role etc.
Personally, I’ve played in various cartels, mobs, street gangs and I’ve always thought that civilians are an essential part of a good roleplay server. If they and the factions that employes independent civilians did not exist, we would essentially have a gang war server tho. If a new player really behaves like a rat you can certainly push him / her into the right direction instead of discouraging him. 

 

If you mean "rat" as in snitch, that is quite easy to explain: civilians have far more moral barriers that prevents them from committing crimes in comparison to criminals and therefore are more likely to flip rather than doing their time.

 

From what I can gather, based on some of the comments, "rat" is a label term which applies to civilians who do not engage in illegal activities. Although we're playing a game which mostly consists of committing crimes and all sorts of illegal endeavors, the genre we're playing in is all about portraying the american society as a whole. As such, civilians are an absolutely necessary feature which serves to the purpose of establishing a living and functioning world that aims to mirror the american society. It is unethical and immoral to marginalize the civilian playerbase, as they play an important role in portraying a fundamental sector of the american population, which adds on to the complexity of our characters and the in-game society as a result. 

 

The civilian playerbase should be treated the same as the others. I notice some players are completely willing to belittle them for their mistakes, and that's not the way to fix things, especially not in a game. It is a clear lack of maturity. By doing so, you're not helping; you're ostracizing them and making things stay the same, if not worst. We should have the will and patience to teach them and make sure we establish a safe and fun environment for them to learn.

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I understand why people make fun of civilian roleplayers (I think it's fairly obvious for most people) but I do think people should let up on the hostility, as a lot of the discourse goes beyond purely making a little joke. There's an "illegal/legal" divide here that goes beyond merely people having different interests and is instead rather hostile and unpleasant, on both sides.

 

Personally, and this is as someone who came from LS-RP, I've always just been happy that there's actually a civilian population here - let alone one that's quite healthy like we currently have. Walking around LS-RP was basically just "EY WHERE U FROM CUH/(RUS) DA VITALY, HERE IS THE [RUSSIAN] BABLO/HO MADDONE JACKIE, HOW'S YA RASH EHEHEHEHEH". I found the diversity here pleasantly refreshing, even if there are major issues among the civilian population. However illegal roleplayers should remember that our own area of roleplay also has its own major problems and not cast stones.

 

That being said, I'm all for constructive discussion about any and all problems that this server might have. Issues within every area of roleplay should be identified, scrutinised and remedied through healthy conversation. I'm really targeting people who write off, make fun of and ruin the day of the "other" side of roleplay with no positive outcome in mind.

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Those who utter these derogatory terms can't see beyond their own bubble. Without civilians, the distinction between legal & illegal becomes so strong and simplified we might as well rename to CrazyNervous Cops and Robbers. The complex community we have are thanks to everyone doing their own thing and it's the civilians in my opinion that are the most diverse. Illegal and legal RP are somewhat bound to their structures so to speak, exit that box and you become a civillian. 

 

If anyone is cringe, it's those who tell others are cringe. If anyone is a rat, it's those who call civilians rats and can't comprehend something bigger than themselves.

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6 hours ago, Arnzeal said:

Those who utter these derogatory terms can't see beyond their own bubble. Without civilians, the distinction between legal & illegal becomes so strong and simplified we might as well rename to CrazyNervous Cops and Robbers. The complex community we have are thanks to everyone doing their own thing and it's the civilians in my opinion that are the most diverse. Illegal and legal RP are somewhat bound to their structures so to speak, exit that box and you become a civillian. 

 

If anyone is cringe, it's those who tell others are cringe. If anyone is a rat, it's those who call civilians rats and can't comprehend something bigger than themselves.

I don't think the term is applied to just "civilians". It's often used towards civilians that have a poor portrayal of their character, which can also apply to the illegal community.

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1 hour ago, DLimit said:

I don't think the term is applied to just "civilians". It's often used towards civilians that have a poor portrayal of their character, which can also apply to the illegal community.

It's a term with a bad case of semantic overload.

 

"Rats" can be individuals who inform law enforcement about illegal activity. It's also used to deride a subset of players who engage in activity that, for lack of a better descriptor, erodes the RP atmosphere.

 

These two are conflated and eventually become "if they're not an illegal RPer, they are terrible, and their opinions about anything are invalid."

 

Is it any wonder there's a huge legal vs illegal schism?

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23 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

It's a term with a bad case of semantic overload.

 

"Rats" can be individuals who inform law enforcement about illegal activity. It's also used to deride a subset of players who engage in activity that, for lack of a better descriptor, erodes the RP atmosphere.

 

These two are conflated and eventually become "if they're not an illegal RPer, they are terrible, and their opinions about anything are invalid."

 

Is it any wonder there's a huge legal vs illegal schism?

The term "Mallrat" is usually applied to those that have poor character portrayal, simply as that. It doesn't apply to a civilian that notifies the police of a crime.

In fact, a civilian that desires to take matters in their own hand when their character would less than likely be a vigilante, simply with a P2W mentality, is more of a mall-rat than the civilian that decides to call the police for protection.

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