How to improve RP in nightclubs

[Lurleen]

I'm starting this thread not to complain about the amount or nightclubs open at the same time but to discuss about how to improve the RP standards there.

 

What shouldn't nightclubs be? A place to listen to some music, making your avatar drop some dancing animations while you chat with OOC friends.

What should nightclubs be? A place for your characters to meet others, to get drunk, to enjoy. We need to have people emoting dancing, specially when you're dancing with others. People flirting with strangers, making out in corners. Drunk people actually acting drunk, saying any silly thing, slurring their words, even throwing up in the bathroom or outside the club. A drunk guy is flirting with your girlfriend? Shove him off, start an argument and a little fight, let bouncers actually do their jobs. Your drunk boyfriend is flirting with other girls? Get mad at him. Drunk guy rudely flirting with your female character? Slap him in front of his friends. 

 

What I'm trying to say is that I think that RP in nightclubs should be more realistic, people need to stay out from their confort zone group of friends and interact with others, make your character act as a drunk person after drinking. I think this kind of roleplay should be more realistic in order to be fun.

[Lurleen]

1 minute ago, EffPee said:

 

Go to a nightclub irl.

Unless you are a minor playing here, I think everyone has irl nightclub experience before covid started. I think that some people don't actually care about roleplaying realistically and just want to listen to some music while socializing with a couple of friends. I just want people to put more effort in their roleplay, to make nightclub RP a better experience.

[EffPee]

27 minutes ago, DKing said:

Nice suggestion, will have to take time to choose between all the ones that are allowed to work at this time of year. Thanks!

Naturally I'm aware that people can't go to nightclubs right at this very moment.

26 minutes ago, Lurleen said:

Unless you are a minor playing here, I think everyone has irl nightclub experience before covid started. I think that some people don't actually care about roleplaying realistically and just want to listen to some music while socializing with a couple of friends. I just want people to put more effort in their roleplay, to make nightclub RP a better experience.

I wasn't being sarcastic or anything, I genuinely think going to a nightclub will teach people how to roleplay in nightclubs. It's really as simple as that. Not everyone has the same experience at a nightclub, I know I go to nightclubs (or did) sometimes to just socialize with friends and enjoy the music. It usually consisted of dancing for 90% of the night, but obviously there's booths and all that jazz for you to actually socialize.

 

Although your suggestions in the main post are difficult.

33 minutes ago, Lurleen said:

What should nightclubs be? A place for your characters to meet others, to get drunk, to enjoy. We need to have people emoting dancing, specially when you're dancing with others. People flirting with strangers, making out in corners. 

Public e-rp, i.e. making out in corners is uncomfortable for a lot of players, although maybe at a club the main playerbase would actually enjoy that.

33 minutes ago, Lurleen said:

Drunk people actually acting drunk, saying any silly thing, slurring their words, even throwing up in the bathroom or outside the club.

People don't want to roleplay drunk because then they can't be the perfect version of themselves. Also, I mean it when I say it that sometimes people actually forget they're roleplaying drunk, so they go back to normal after a few minutes. However, this would be great roleplay to see.

33 minutes ago, Lurleen said:

A drunk guy is flirting with your girlfriend? Shove him off, start an argument and a little fight, let bouncers actually do their jobs. Your drunk boyfriend is flirting with other girls? Get mad at him. Drunk guy rudely flirting with your female character? Slap him in front of his friends. 

Do we really expect club-goers (who are primarily self-insert characters with no flaws) to roleplay losing to a bouncer?

 

I'm not saying you don't have any good intentions here, but I think the only way nightclub roleplay could be improved is if someone/a group of people write up an extensive guide and the club-goers actually go to clubs IRL to experience what it's like.

 

If the issue is that people don't want to roleplay realistically? Then there's no answer, they won't start roleplaying realistically just because people tell them to if they're not even willing to do it for themselves.

Edited May 6, 2021 by EffPee

[Koko]

What a lot of nightclubs are missing right now is a personality, in my humble opinion. Don't get me wrong, those that have Resident DJs manage better because the music is more consistent and you can develop the locations, but even then it's sometimes a struggle. It's hard to solve because the "meta" of Clubs is dependant on a relatively small roster of DJs on the server, and generally unreliable bar staff that is hard to get hold of when you need them. This has sort of led in part to the scene we got now where Clubs are mostly a socializing pen more than a place with events and a vibe of their own.

 

Bar staff that is entertaining, chatty and can provide ambient RP is often tremendously overlooked. Nobody ultimately really cares about your emotes about filling up a glass with gin & tonic, but they'll go for a bartender who's amusing, flirty or entertaining, over someone who can dish out drinks quickly.

 

Same for DJs: I'm not even talking about the Automix vs. Live Mixing debate. This is a videogame and I'm not OOC mad that people Automix, I think it's ultimately a pretty minor issue OOC, even if IC other DJs who do live mix might talk about it negatively. I don't expect people to buy decks and learn a RL skill for the sake of playing a character. But I'm missing more DJs that engage with the crowd, and really interact more closely, rather than doing /anim ravedance44 or whatever and just stand there playing songs. As a DJ character myself I try to add what I can in bringing up the energy in the club through /intercom, and I see that at least in my experience it has a really positive effect.

 

Promote good bartender RP by paying better and more sociable bartenders well, and they'll bring customers. Promote more interactive DJing and pay accordingly. If you're a freelance DJ, you get paid the same 5k an hour for live mixing, interacting with the crowd and putting in the effort as you do by just hitting a playlist and standing there for 2 hours.

 

Entertainment company managers should perhaps look into assigning individual club managers to really focus on each specific club with events, themed-nights, and bringing in that personality and charm.

 

Right now it all feels a bit superficial because it pays, really, but when you have a club night that people have put passion and work into it really shows, and it's brilliant RP.

[caballero]

As @EffPee has said, just go to a club irl. You'll soon see that IRL clubs are NOTHING like GTAW clubs. IRL it feels so alive, you can meet a person to be your buddy for the night and being the guy you dm the next day "bro do u also have videos of us yesterday? we got drunk as shit lmaoo" just by dropping a single "Hey". Clubs IRL really create a lot of enjoyable memories. I have not met a single person which doesn't like to go out clubbing, even if they don't drink. 

 

On GTAW though? Just a bunch of people sitting down dead serious talking to their friends tryna act "shady" in the club by doing "/me eyes X person, as he looks back at his group." like anyone gives a fuck about them or their faction. Or people who dance aimlessly while watching youtube. 

 

To go to a club, you must be IMMERSED. I know this is hard to achieve since most of that feeling irl comes from being wasted or from not being able to hear shit and going to the bathroom for a pee and realizing that your ears are ringing, or finding vomit on your shoes as a surprise whenever you get home, hell, or even making out with a guy / girl you just met can get you moving. 

 

A lot of this feeling also comes from the build-up, the day before going to the club, you're thinking about the club and how it is gonna go down while you sleep, while you wash your teeth, while you're in class, and while you get ready to hit the club and dming your group of friends "I'm so pumped boys" while they also are. On GTAW though? The "Build-up" is just a group of 4 people riding in a sedan aimlessly and saying "Let's go to the club", and /me nods "Sure." Or individuals with too much script money that go to clubs alone to try and show off how rich they are, or factions that drop by to clubs to attempt to show people how TOUGH they are and to make their nametags visible around. 

 

You go clubbing to enjoy, to get wasted, to meet people. Attempt to focus on that when you get to a club. Hell, even grab a beer oocly, put your headphones on to the volume you most feel comfortable with without making your ears hurt, and just get on with it. Make sure you feel aware of your IC surroundings irl, get into your brain "Okay, there's drunk bitches dancing around me, I cannot hear myself think over this music, someone behind me is offering me a pill, I have to shout in my friend's ear for him to hear me", shit like that.

 

Also, have personality. Don't be a flat character that just dances around and drinks beer. Be "That" guy or girl, be unique among your group of friends, that'll make the experience also more enjoyable. 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Santanaa

[Koko]

1 minute ago, Santanaa said:

To go to a club, you must be IMMERSED. I know this is hard to achieve since most of that feeling irl comes from being wasted or from not being able to hear shit and going to the bathroom for a pee and realizing that your ears are ringing, or finding vomit on your shoes as a surprise whenever you get home, hell, or even making out with a guy / girl you just met can get you moving. 

THIS THIS THIS.

 

Really RP the small, pointless detail. How you're shouting in peoples' ear. Pretend you can't hear half of what they're saying. Get your character drunk. Tired of seeing people slamming down bottles of whiskey and then being coherent. Emote your dancing. If you're drunk, let people know how you're being particularly extra, or just ridiculous. Focus on small fragments that really sell the idea that you're in a loud, crowded environment looking to lose your inhibitions.

[Trupiano]

Bold to assume even a quarter of the people on this server aren't absolute hermits who have never been to a nightclub and no, the dinky little party pub in the village next door isn't a club. 

 

1. A vast majority of nightclubs on this server are outrageously huge and mapped like they belong to a prince in Dubai. I'm not saying these clubs don't exist in the United States or LA but they aren't nearly as common as the server might have you believe. I mean really, three stories with a glass floor and aquarium under the dance floor? Come on.

 

In my experience an overwhelming number of clubs are no more then a medium sized rectangular room with a ton of LED lights and maybe some booths on the sides. Sure they look fancy but when you flip on the lights and remove all the people you quickly realize how small and dinky these places really are.

 

2. The people going to the clubs are doing it all wrong. 50% of the fun of a night out is had before you even get to the club. The pregame is important and yet something you don't see anyone attempting IG. I shouldn't hear people calling their friends saying "Hey you I'm going to X, meet me there". The only people who meet you at the club are people you don't know or had previous obligations and couldn't make a pregame. 

 

3. This gets said a lot but people need to start RPing getting drunk and high at clubs and bars. I'm sorry if you or your friends don't partake IRL but lets be real. Adults do drugs, not every adult but if you think more people are straight edge then not your wrong and I don't care what study you pull up. I'll say it again adults do drugs especially adults who only live to party at night clubs. You may be a hermit who lives on the internet but Adults do drugs. Watching someone RP rolling on molly would probably be annoying as fuck but it would be a million times better then watching someone /anim dance for 45 minutes silently in a club stone cold sober.

[Ketamine Kowboy]

Get drunk, do drugs, take a cab home

[ZaE]

11 hours ago, Santanaa said:

Just a bunch of people sitting down dead serious talking to their friends tryna act "shady" in the club by doing "/me eyes X person, as he looks back at his group." like anyone gives a fuck about them or their faction. Or people who dance aimlessly while watching youtube. 

just don't do this...problem solved 

[scarlyfox]

It could be good if there was a way to increase the timer on being intoxicated and maybe even add something that when you are intoxicated your driving becomes erratic, like you sometimes lose control or sometimes the screen fades out, whatever. This might encourage people to think twice on drink driving. 

It'd give the cops more rp around DUI also and taxi companies more business, even limo companies! 

I have rped DUI, it can have fun yet sad impacts on a character, she had only had a few drinks, some idiot driver made her bump into the back of him and boom she went to jail, lost her CCW, license and car for a while. If more people rpd the consequences of their actions, it'd be much more interesting and people would have even more stories to tell.