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[Illegal Faction Discussion] - Are IFM handing the supplier roles correctly?


Jauss

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**DISCLAIMER** 

**This is NOT a thread to bash on IFM and their handing of the supplier program. But a thread for the illegal factions and the illegal faction community to express their experiences with how they're either being accepted or denied by IFM to run with any of the given supplier roles in order to promote better portrayal and a more immersive roleplay experience, to their concept.**  

 

So. To start of this topic, I'd like to express that the reason for this discussion is because myself and my faction has been trying to get accepted for a supplier role, for well over half a year, closing in on 9 months as far as I understand.

We have been through very dry periods on the gun market, which was putting a big hold on the illegal roleplay scene, at least when it comes to organized crime and I expect non OCG factions would have felt this likewise. And these are just a few of the examples.

 

Now, I'd like to speak for myself on this matter. I am Roleplaying as Matthew Chau. White Paper Fan of the Hóng Shǒu Triad 三合会. That means that I administrate and advise on all business related matters to the faction. Legal as illegal. 

 

In our faction, we have and have had super dedicated members, really doing some thorough research on how to get this stuff, all the way to how do the real Triad handle these deliveries, logistically. As we do organized crime, this is a very and I repeat. VERY big deal to portray a Triad correctly. Being able to control a supply of either guns or drugs. 

 

But yeah. We have pushed to get a supplier role for a very long time. I even think we have had people try all the roles, more or less. Of course not the same people, as we have a bunch of active good roleplayers, who specializes in different areas of expertise. 

 

Now, every single time we see the suppliers open, we prepare the best applications, explaining our plan from start to finish. How do we smuggle. Where does it come from. Who transports it. ALL the things IFM needs to know, in order to make sure that we did our homework. 

 

Yet, every single time, our faction. As an example. (I am sure this happens to many other factions as well). Gets denied. Regardless of paragraphs upon paragraphs of solid research and reasoning behind our application.

 

 

 

Now, here comes the triggy part. Because as we never seem to get our hands on the supplier roles we apply for. Factions containing administrators, seem to be quite lucky, getting what supplier roles they apply for? It's a pattern that I among others have been noticing, along our long journey of trying to obtain a license to improve our OCG RP. 

 

Is this really how it is? Are IFM biased towards their own, allowing them to gain the supplier roles within the staff ranks, over the rest of us? 

 

 

 

 

Now, back when I was in IFM. (That is a few years back indeed. A lot has happened since then.) I was the Head of the Supplier Program. And at this time, we only did drugs and weapon suppliers. We had smaller suppliers and bigger suppliers. But all in all, the same thing, right? I was trying to do my absolut best, to make sure that the people who applied for these roles, all stood a fair chance, as some of these individuals spend hours upon hours. Days upon days, making a very polished application. Doing their research. Looking into all the details. 

 

And yes! Of course some players stood out in a better way than others, to staff. And maybe we had run into some troublemakers before, who many would probably not guess would get accepted, as they caused some problems, maybe involving reports on DM. No fear RP etc. But this shit happens in illegal roleplay. We all know that. People want to be right. But these incidents are the reason we have the report system to begin with.. Anyways... -

So we had to look above all of that. But regardless of these individuals might causing problems or have had a bad run with the report section on forum. They still had a fair chance of getting their supplier. Some of them got em even!

 

Because even tho their history might have been a little against them. They provided quality roleplay for not only their members. But a whole heck of a lot more, who were interested in interacting with them. 

 

I have always tried my best being against biased staff in roleplaying communities, as it can ruin the fun for a big chunk of people. But I must say. This could be a reasoning behind our playercount falling a bit, compared to earlier this year? We are peaking at 6-700 now. We used to be higher? It could be exams. It could be jobs. But we're also in a state of Covid, which should at least bring a high percentage back to their beloved gaming chairs and get on to roleplay. So I personally. Blame the gameplay. And I think this could be one of the leading factors to this problem.

 

Lets say that the supplier roles are not biased and are actually acquired as intended. I still think that because they are very limited to a special few factions, like they are. Maybe people who can't be part of the supplier RP, without being either mobster, biker or gangster, for example. Will leave. - Here I speak from experience to what we have witnessed. Of members leaving our ranks, simply because we only get denied applications and never move forward. Regardless of effort put into them.

 

It does feel like some of the IFM administrators, are hard passing on certain factions getting their supplier roles, due to clashes in the past. And if this is the case, we really need to do something about it. Because it's strangulating factions, determined to proove themselves and show the rest of the server, how this is done, corrently.

 

 

Be respectful. Be kind. I want to read everybody's opinions on this subject. And for the love of god. Don't start acting up. 

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I’d like to think that IFM people are allowed to use their own judgement, and don’t just judge applications on the merits of the application alone. Sure, that might feed into the whole friends-know-friends scenario but you’ll never be able to push that out of the way our communities are built. It’s a totally acceptable risk imo, you can report administrators who cross the line so it’s not like it’s unchecked either. The system is absolutely not perfect but no system can be. If an administrator is deliberately using his or her privileges against you, you have avenues to help you. 

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They are biased towards their own.

It's always been that way on every single RP server.

 

There's a big deal here about making sure admins can't be questioned.

Threads get locked (as I predict this one will be), there's a noted lack of transparency, and criticism while not de jure banned gets de facto swept under the rug.

 

Heathen was proof that admins can be corrupt. He helped his own faction by abusing his power and shielding his own. Corrupt admins have been removed before.

 

To say that corruption is non-existent right now would be probably false. It just likely hasn't been discovered.

I remember an admin in LSRP once mentioned something about how FM investigations can be purposely overcomplicated as to be rendered null.

 

A lot of admins know each other and there's been career admins through multiple RP servers.

 

The mafia's led by a manager while the Korean-Armenian hybrid and the Russians are led by IFM admins - arguably the three most persistent and powerful factions, and they know the power they hold in this small, virtual world. People rarely go against them due to the fact they're seen as "admin factions".

 

A lot of gun deals go down OOCly too, as we saw with the Black Car and their ironic rivals Rancho 13.

 

The consolidation of power is not totally IC as much as people would like to believe. It's a sad state of affairs.

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22 minutes ago, eTaylor said:

Sorry. If you don’t go against a certain faction just because there may be admins on board then you shouldn’t have a faction to begin with. 

 

Don't tell that to me, tell that to people with factions!

The trend I've seen that people would rather support/be supported by admin-ran factions than go against them is one emblematic of the idea that there exists bias within these factions.

 

In the case of Varrio Rancho 13 under the leadership of Heathen, this assumption was proven to be true and people who went against them often lost in more ways than one.

 

Edited by Sniper
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20 minutes ago, eTaylor said:

Sorry. If you don’t go against a certain faction just because there may be admins on board then you shouldn’t have a faction to begin with. 

Going against administrators has proved to be uneffective as a whole. If I were to list all of the situations where I suffered at the hand of those in power - whether I was right or not - Jauss' thread would be overshadowed.

 

It's unfortunately a fact that the term 'serve yourself and yours first' is a harsh reality, not just in a game but in life. Trusting someone to be 100% unbiased is impossible, hence why I've personally written threads and even went as far to reach out to people regarding not trusting staff to moderate things that aren't theirs.

So, if you're asking if staff can display bias? Yes, they can and will. Can you blame them? No, not really. But you can blame the fact that even after getting what they want, they still don't display access to others.

 

Back in 2018 when I joined GTA:W, I managed to enter an illegal faction a few days into my character - which was fun. Later on, I found myself tired and mentally worn out because the boss was an administrator and the higher ups were his friends. He held OOC and IC control of weapon, drug and moneyflow - be it income or outcome. And had clubs and bars and companies afloat, because he could. And that was back when moderation was far less and player peaks were 60-70, not 600-700.

I'm sorry to Jauss and whoever else has to undergo these things - but it's not avoidable.

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To return to the topic at hand, I believe weapon specialists should have more oomph, perhaps by giving them the myriad weapon attachments that are not circulating at all on the server like compensators, scopes, grips, drum mags, rifle extended mags and suppressors and I believe melee supplier is less of a role and more of a cosmic joke.

 

I don't know what the solution would be for melee supplier but I sure as hell know for a fact I don't buy my 9 Irons from Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.

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