Realism VS Roleplay; what's your preference?

[TinPan]

Just as the title says, really; do you prefer the server focusing on providing more roleplay opportunities or do you prefer the server focusing on increasing the level of realism?

I've noticed that this topic is seemingly somewhat of a taboo to discuss since there are die-hard elitists from both sides of the spectrum, with those wanting unlimited & accessible roleplay opportunities present on one end and others who want to recreate genuine Los Angeles daily life down to the exact detail in all of it's aspects.

I myself personally hold the view of cutting as much red tape as possible to reduce the number of hoops someone has to jump through to roleplay something out of the ordinary (leaning more to roleplay versus realism myself), since as far as I'm concerned, outlandish characters that aren't self-inserts in their 20's who are roleplayed well ultimately help to add a huge amount of personality & soul to a city that would otherwise feel incredibly dull beyond belief without those kind of characters being present to interact with from time to time.

Why it's supposedly regarded as a taboo topic I don't particularly know, but hopefully with a thread like this; there's a potential to see if that statement holds true or not. Not only that, I'm curious to see what the majority of the playerbase themselves believe is more important to focus on when it comes to playing; and if any of the topics relating to the argument between realism versus roleplay can provide any sort of meaningful suggestions for improvements to the server as a whole.

Or it could devolve into Legal vs Illegal RP Thread #275, who knows; I'm just eager to see what people seek the most when it comes to them engaging in RP.

Edited March 22, 2021 by TinPan

[ozymandias]

I like to make my roleplay as realistic as possible without crossing over a very important line: roleplayers should remember what we're here for. We're here to have fun and make interesting stories together. When realism begins to impede on the enjoyment of the roleplayers, it becomes detrimental. 

 

In the context of GTA:W, this means things like suspending disbelief about the seemingly anomalous size of the city (the equivalent of LA but only ~75 square km with maybe ~700 people outside at once), putting up with strange time things (timescale in jail, etc.), and other things in general that come as a result of roleplaying in a modern day real life-esque setting. As another example, my character eats, drinks, and sleeps when it's convenient for fun and story, not multiple times a day like in real life. I also don't particularly enjoy roleplaying monotonous jobs religiously - my character's day job is a taxi driver, but I'll be damned if I come home from work/school to just drive a taxi around all night so that my character can have a realistic source of income.

 

I hope I'm not rambling but this is just what came to mind when I thought of the balance between realism and RP. 

TL;DR: We're all here to have fun and write stories together. Be realistic when you can but not when it impedes on the 2 underlying goals of the players.

[BINGBONGBALONEY]

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy taking Los Santos in as one of the worst places to live in the world - some dystopian nightmare akin to Night City - but obviously that's not "realistic" when Los Santos and the State of San Andreas are replacements of LA and California and are to be treated as such even if RP'ing a normal thinking human like me or you is 100% impossible as we'd all be riddled with PTSD or dead by now if this was IRL.

 

Hot take but I honestly wouldn't mind if staff/management one day said fuck it and accepted Los Santos as the extremely toxic shithole it is. Police casually roaming the streets with their long guns, extremely blatant illegal ads, legal organizations squeezing the lower-class of their possessions through predatory means, health care ruining people's lives, everything you can imagine.

[Garras Up]

Both are key, imo... Instead of just roleplay opportunities, there should be realistic roleplay opportunities... Although, shit should also be fun too. If ur not having fun, why even play?

[Koko]

Like I've said before: GTAW Realism. I play as realistically as I can under the conventions we all generally seem to accept as a community to make GTAW fun, and reacting to what other people do within our setting and how they behave.

[marbella mondays]

47 minutes ago, Garras Up said:

Both are key, imo... Instead of just roleplay opportunities, there should be realistic roleplay opportunities... Although, shit should also be fun too. If ur not having fun, why even play?

 

[DomThomson]

52 minutes ago, Garras Up said:

Both are key, imo... Instead of just roleplay opportunities, there should be realistic roleplay opportunities... Although, shit should also be fun too. If ur not having fun, why even play?

I think this puts what I think into perspective rather well. In terms of what I do specifically, yeah, even if I look at it from the realistic standpoint of RPing a Law Enforcement Officer. If the amount of shooting, officer deaths, and in general situations, almost every LEO would have PTSD, and the State of San Andreas would be in a constant state of emergency with the National Guard patrolling the streets and every officer walking with a long-gun and driving a fully armored vehicle.

 

Some things just can't be done because as said before, they would be boring. Finding a good mix between realistic and fun is the most important thing, and the forefront of that is emotions in my opinion.

[Daylong]

As many have stated, it should be a mix of both. Roleplay and having a good time in creating/participating in it as a whole, but whole realism aspect is in the details. Obviously, this is a game but realism is one of the key points and GTA:W takes realism very seriously. For me personally? I really enjoy realism in details and I find even hyper-realism rather fun when you are developing your character.

[Macarroncito]

Both, the best experience comes from the balance between both. Which is not hard to achieve if it wasn't because of what you said, die-hard elitists from both sides of the spectrum,

[Jennie]

It's a game, at the end of the day you play GTAW to escape from real life, if we look for strict realism we would only have another hell like IRL, I don't feel like paying abusive taxes both in IRL and on GTAW, I play for fun not to have a second job, for example.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Jennie