South LS roleplay 😠

[Aquila]

hey

 

For background, I used to roleplay with a small group of other characters living near The Tahitian apartments some time ago, maybe around 2018. Had a blast while it lasted, and genuinely enjoyed every roleplay scenario I came across, despite the OOC drama that followed.

 

Initially I started roleplaying on FiveRP with 2-3 others, in the same area. At that time, FiveRP had a lot to offer in South LS while GTA:W offered roleplay everywhere else, so as you can imagine I had to hop between servers to satisfy that itch. One issue popped up on FiveRP and our group split between the two servers — my group of roughly 4 total moved our clique to GTA:W while the rest stayed on FiveRP like the sinking ship that it was.

 

It was hard, because not a lot of people were in the area to roleplay with, except for occasional stragglers you'd see once or twice, and then never again. A group came in replicating Black P Stone Bloods or whatever in The Tahitian, and while I disagreed with their concept, the activity (while it lasted) was enough to motivate me to carry on roleplaying in the area. One of our guys got banned and we lost motivation again.

 

All of the above is somewhat irrelevant. In fact, it's pretty boring; but I wanted to give brief context of my experience of RP in South LS.

 

So my question to the community is this: why is there such a stigma to South LS roleplay? What's turning people away? Is it the poor portrayal of people living in the hood? Is it random DM? Is it OOC racism (don't lie because I know it's there)? I'd like to get back into the RP scene there on a different character, because the one I had has IC moved on from it. The issue I found is that there are way too many 12-16 year olds there that it seems pretty linear and predictable, but I'm curious about other people's thoughts. All I see are vague posts on the forums about how gang RP is dead or generally crap, but I don't see many reasons as to why people feel this way.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Aquila

[Koko]

5 minutes ago, Aquila said:

So my question to the community is this: why is there such a stigma to South LS roleplay? What's turning people away? Is it the poor portrayal of people living in the hood? Is it random DM? Is it OOC racism (don't lie because I know it's there)? I'd like to get back into the RP scene there on a different character, because the one I had has IC moved on from it. The issue I found is that there are way too many 12-16 year olds there that it seems pretty linear and predictable, but I'm curious about other people's thoughts. All I see are vague posts on the forums about how gang RP is dead or generally crap, but I don't see many reasons as to why people feel this way.

 

My experiences with South Central have been generally positive, but it's really hit or miss. Gang portrayal varies widely, from very good experiences that help develop RP, to people that are very entrenched in the basics of gang v. gang RP and don't show much particular interest for developing a character outside of that. Now down to it, essentially South Central generates and leads in a lot of these "illegal vs. legal" debates, and both sides make fair points for what it's worth, and I think the reality lays somewhere in the between of both of those positions.

 

Is South Central dangerous? Well, it's up to you. If you want to RP a Civilian there you simply have to accept that gangs will press you. Minimize your losses, try and make connections with people, and for the most part nobody will go out their way to harm you (other than maybe making an example of you at a given moment). I spend a lot of my free time wandering around South Central on an unarmed civilian character, and have done that before, and in about 9 months of RP there I was beat up once, that's it. Other people seem to be robbed daily, so your mileage may vary.

 

The problem is a self-fulflilling prophecy, really: 99% of characters in South Central are gang affiliated and civilians don't want to break into that area because honestly why would they? So that leaves the gangs to RP with one another and perpetuate the culture of beef and violence with very little to do on the side. What I know is that South Central is very appreciative of Civilian initiatives. My way to winning people over so they wouldn't attack my last character was to run a food truck and look out for the teens there. Eventually the character was a recognizable face that hooked up kids with food and snacks, and had a wholesome air to him. But it can't be ignored that the other side of it exists, with some particular gangs having a low bar of entry which reflects poorly on the entire scene.

 

Ultimately people will see what intentions you bring in RPing there and people who are aware of what you're trying to bring will play along. It's just hard to break the cycle through which gang RP is the only prevalent form there, but people really just have to go ahead and try if they want to see change.

[shaobadman]

Wonder if I'm alone in thinking there needs to be more straightforward out of the loop type of threads like this since I was curious about south LS roleplay myself, but these can be a lottery for "take it far" type comments and I wasn't going to take the dive.

 

Almost all of my input since rejoining has been taxi-oriented and this is no different - from a neutral perspective, I've picked up many fares from south LS, I've dropped fares off there, I've frequently seen dead bodies or police emergencies, or people (mostly teenagers) congregating outside buildings, Grove Street seems to be lively. I've not been robbed or attacked there at all, nor have I seen any active violence, I just seem to catch the aftermath of everything when I have to go there.

 

Like you may have covered already, it's a massive change from 2018 - Rancho used to be the main spot, I recall Grove Street having a phase of middle class Japanese inhabitants which I found a little odd, and everywhere else (Strawberry/Chamberlain) had scattered populations.

 

Same as always, RP there does not seem extremely welcoming and it's definitely more of a "if you know, you know" kind of scene. I can only imagine you'd have to make OOC connections and set up something with numbers if you want to do anything in south LS now. I have an older character that I kept there years ago but now that it's mostly teen-dominant (you'll all remember my recent thread on this), it's mostly a dead end for me.

 

And while I have my gripes about the average age in south LS, and its occasional caricatures (people seem to have a hard time learning about AAVE), I don't buy into the "everyone there is a poor RP gang banger it's full of DM" riff that I've seen brought up.

[Aquila]

19 minutes ago, Koko said:

 

My experiences with South Central have been generally positive, but it's really hit or miss. Gang portrayal varies widely, from very good experiences that help develop RP, to people that are very entrenched in the basics of gang v. gang RP and don't show much particular interest for developing a character outside of that. Now down to it, essentially South Central generates and leads in a lot of these "illegal vs. legal" debates, and both sides make fair points for what it's worth, and I think the reality lays somewhere in the between of both of those positions.

 

Is South Central dangerous? Well, it's up to you. If you want to RP a Civilian there you simply have to accept that gangs will press you. Minimize your losses, try and make connections with people, and for the most part nobody will go out their way to harm you (other than maybe making an example of you at a given moment). I spend a lot of my free time wandering around South Central on an unarmed civilian character, and have done that before, and in about 9 months of RP there I was beat up once, that's it. Other people seem to be robbed daily, so your mileage may vary.

 

The problem is a self-fulflilling prophecy, really: 99% of characters in South Central are gang affiliated and civilians don't want to break into that area because honestly why would they? So that leaves the gangs to RP with one another and perpetuate the culture of beef and violence with very little to do on the side. What I know is that South Central is very appreciative of Civilian initiatives. My way to winning people over so they wouldn't attack my last character was to run a food truck and look out for the teens there. Eventually the character was a recognizable face that hooked up kids with food and snacks, and had a wholesome air to him. But it can't be ignored that the other side of it exists, with some particular gangs having a low bar of entry which reflects poorly on the entire scene.

 

Ultimately people will see what intentions you bring in RPing there and people who are aware of what you're trying to bring will play along. It's just hard to break the cycle through which gang RP is the only prevalent form there, but people really just have to go ahead and try if they want to see change.

 

My south LS character (during 2018) was a spoilt rich kid from a mixed background (let's say North African), and although they weren't directly involved in gang culture, they lived in an apartment block heavily influenced by it. I don't really see this kind of RP there which is a shame. I've also only been shot once there on that character, and robbed once too, although the latter was backed up by some reasoning (albeit it was weak). The point I'm making is that it isn't as dangerous as people would make it out to be, at the time anyway. When I came back to the server, I revisited Chamberlain Hills, Strawberry, and Rancho, and haven't been met by aggression.

 

What bothers me is that civilian RP isn't thriving in south LS, and I feel that's due to OOC assumptions. Like someone said in another thread, gangs need civilians for crime to actually work (I'll try and find it again if I stumble across it). There could be poor civilians with a backstory that they were dealt bad cards in life or something.

 

I was actually thinking about creating a character that'd take the form of an elderly Black lady who simply lives there, but I'm debating on it because it's already a struggle roleplaying a middle-aged Black man in the area. I'm hoping that maybe this thread could shed some light on the question of South LS, and maybe influence others to create a character and experience it.

 

3 minutes ago, shaobadman said:

Wonder if I'm alone in thinking there needs to be more straightforward out of the loop type of threads like this since I was curious about south LS roleplay myself, but these can be a lottery for "take it far" type comments and I wasn't going to take the dive.

 

Almost all of my input since rejoining has been taxi-oriented and this is no different - from a neutral perspective, I've picked up many fares from south LS, I've dropped fares off there, I've frequently seen dead bodies or police emergencies, or people (mostly teenagers) congregating outside buildings, Grove Street seems to be lively. I've not been robbed or attacked there at all, nor have I seen any active violence, I just seem to catch the aftermath of everything when I have to go there.

 

Like you may have covered already, it's a massive change from 2018 - Rancho used to be the main spot, I recall Grove Street having a phase of middle class Japanese inhabitants which I found a little odd, and everywhere else (Strawberry/Chamberlain) had scattered populations.

 

Same as always, RP there does not seem extremely welcoming and it's definitely more of a "if you know, you know" kind of scene. I can only imagine you'd have to make OOC connections and set up something with numbers if you want to do anything in south LS now. I have an older character that I kept there years ago but now that it's mostly teen-dominant (you'll all remember my recent thread on this), it's mostly a dead end for me.

 

And while I have my gripes about the average age in south LS, and its occasional caricatures (people seem to have a hard time learning about AAVE), I don't buy into the "everyone there is a poor RP gang banger it's full of DM" riff that I've seen brought up.

 

It does seem much like a "if you know, you know" situation. I found it hard initially to get involved in groups there, purely because it seems that cliques are already established.

When I roleplayed in Chamberlain Hills, my character (not a gang member) was fairly welcoming to passers-by, which obviously led to some life-threatening drama along the way. I've noticed that groups are more likely to be organically created in other parts of the map than in South LS, where groups are likely formed OOC first.

 

The caricatures bother me for sure, but I'm not sure if much could be done about that sadly. I've also noticed a strange trend where people in the area have personal mods, but I digress.

[Aquila]

So I've had a few recent experiences with South LS groups, and I can't say it's been good. My characters haven't been shot or met with any type of aggression, but they have been met with poor English, terrible portrayal , and disgusting stereotypes that could only be depicted by people who have no idea how Black Americans, of any socio-economic background, are.

 

One thing I've noticed, based on complaints and personal experiences in the area, is that people just go for easy Blood and Crip gangs instead of creating something original like people did on this server and FiveRP years back. A lot of people seem to justify trigger-happy behaviour by saying "we're a Blood/Crip gang so it makes sense for us to behave this way". Why? Using real-life influences here doesn't make much sense considering the environment is completely different to that of the real world.

 

I want South LS roleplay to thrive, but the depiction I've seen is only encouraging OOC racist memes across other factions/gangs/individual groups. People look down on South LS characters OOC and I can't say I blame them. There isn't much originality happening, and it's pretty boring to see gangs created because someone read a Wikipedia article or watched an old hood film once or twice in their life. Not only that, South LS doesn't have to be just gangs, I don't see any normal residents living there? When I had a group in Davis/Chamberlain Hills/Strawberry, we had a lot of civilians living in the area, and they fit the background of the area too.

[DasFroggy]

Ive actually been trying to move in there to roleplay more, but the place is a black hole when it comes to properties. 

 

As such, my characters really can't have much of an excuse to be there. If anyone's willing to change that, I'd be willing to center a lot of my roleplay in that area.

[AVAR]

Well as @DasFroggy said housing there, is a problem. 
 

Then there is a problem with civilian rp, I mean what can they do? The Civilian rp that exist at the moment are people who are either in a leo faction when onduty or gov or medical.. a few dealership guys and some scripted jobs rpers.. and what they do mostly? Drive around in expensive cars and wait for clubs to open.( Yes Karen before  you feel triggered and gotta Tell me your char is different I talk about the majority of civilian rpers)

 

so all good or … not but what should civilian rpers do in „the hood“?

 
there aint alot of good options, rp a homeless dude ( I think its awesome but these chars dont Last long enough, from what i have seen in my 10years of rp) 

Roleplay a old ex gangmember? - seen it and it feels odd cause the Gang he might be from does not exist in the history of the current Gang in that area.

 

roleplay a civilian that works normally? But where do they work? (Seen a barbershop in little seoul, something like that would be awesome)

 

i dont know.. People sadly got a play to win mindset nobody wants to get beat up by a gang or getting robbed so what they do rp a civilian somewhere else in the more richer neighbourhoods  

[Kari]

Tbh, poor portrayl seems to be the largest issue. Most of the /good/ davis RPers I've met have been super good, but, they're simply outweighed by the undesirable ones. 

[ZaE]

43 minutes ago, Aquila said:

There isn't much originality happening

...

 

give sum ideas....

[DasFroggy]

7 minutes ago, AVAR said:

roleplay a civilian that works normally? But where do they work? (Seen a barbershop in little seoul, something like that would be awesome)

 

The idea of having a not-very-good (public defender) lawyer living in south LS sounds like it has a lot of potential, assuming she can actually get a home there. The last attempt ended poorly however when the second landlord in a row demanded "a special favor" to rent there.

 

As for my other, not entirely legal character? If nobody minds, I'd be down for working the barber shop. Some help may be needed if it requires being recognized as an actual business OOC.