County roleplay & county community

[Power]

For me I enjoy the county. I have a character I use to be in a off-road club and go out to the county to off-road all the time and occasional have get togethers. What mostly keeps me out of the county is the gatekeeping. There are players that aren't receptive to you roleplaying out there unless you are fully committed to doing ALL your roleplay there which I thought was ridiculous like if you have a job in the city you can't roleplay in the county as if the idea of commuting is absurd. And I see this issue too with some of the more "hood" parts of the city like Davis. The idea if you aren't roleplaying a gangster you shouldn't be roleplaying or owning property in Davis. Me personally I'd love to live in the county do most of my roleplay their but commute to my city job from a property out there but with all the gatekeeping its just discouraging I don't want to get accused of an unrealistic portrayal even though I'd push back against that accusation so I avoid it outright. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Power

[Fancy Toothpaste]

I've been roleplaying in the county for over two years on my main character. I remember when there was only ever a handful of residents hanging around. Back then there weren't many businesses open so you had to create your own fun somehow; trying to figure out any way to pass the time. I was lucky because I joined county RP with a group of roleplayers, but for others, it was more difficult.

Back then you could buy trailers straight from the server itself for around 45k. It wasn't difficult to break into the County-RP scene in itself: There were plenty of properties to buy and with so few people, most everyone was happy just for the opportunity to roleplay with you. Unfortunately, only two of the characters I knew from that time are still around. Everyone else has moved.

Since then, the county's gone through several cycles of life and death. It seems every six or so months there's a new push to bring the county back to life, but it eventually dies back down. What I can say with assurance is that county roleplay is much harder to engage with for new players than it ever was before. Property is almost impossible to attain nowadays. To make matters worse, integrating into a long-standing and insulated community of roleplayers means treading over eggshells until you finally clique into a group who are willing to roleplay with you.

People all have different notions of what a county's character should be. Many people don't have a frame of reference to understand the types of characters you'd really see in Sandy, Grapeseed, or Paleto bay. I admit it's pretty odd that there's a bunch of cow-pokes from Texas or rednecks from Alabama and Mississippi walking around what should be California, but in all honestly, having someone to roleplay with is better than having no one at all. 

As a community, we county roleplayers should seek to offer guidance to players who have just arrived onto the scene, not shun them for looking or acting differently. That's just  If you're just getting started in county roleplay, be prepared for a slow-paced environment full of passive roleplay. If that sounds like you're speed then I hope you stick around for the long haul. County roleplay is a marathon, not a sprint. You probably won't be able to buy a proper place to live in the first few weeks or even the first few months. Some characters just won't be interested in interacting with you out of principle. It'll get easier as you stick with it, trust me. Best of luck.

[PeopleKind]

7 hours ago, Junx said:

Paleto community is toxic, they run a "community discord" but they ban any1 who isnt in their friend circle. This is well known and leaves people sour about the area.

 

I've seen good things around Sandy and Grapeseed though.

 

as someone thats in the paleto community & the discord & is most definitely NOT in their friend circle, I can say that what you said there is false, theyre some of the nicest people Ive seen

Edited April 5, 2022 by PeopleKind

[Cocaine Capital]

6 hours ago, Junx said:

Paleto community is toxic, they run a "community discord" but they ban any1 who isnt in their friend circle. This is well known and leaves people sour about the area.

 

I've seen good things around Sandy and Grapeseed though.

 

The only times we've banned people from the discord is for being racist OOC or spreading hate comments. 

[Stanty]

Spent the last 7 months or more developing a character in the county. It is a lot different than I first imagined, in a good way.

 

Definitely recommend making a county character if you never had one. But try to base it somewhere in Harmony, Sandy Shores, Grapeseed or Gordo.

 

Paleto is also great but at times can be very disappointing. Unless you wish to join Park Rangers, then Paleto could be a way to go.

[DaDewd]

5 hours ago, DLimit said:

I can always bring it back, J.S.

Tongva? Well let's do it! 

[socrates]

6 hours ago, Fancy Toothpaste said:

I've been roleplaying in the county for over two years on my main character. I remember when there was only ever a handful of residents hanging around. Back then there weren't many businesses open so you had to create your own fun somehow; trying to figure out any way to pass the time. I was lucky because I joined county RP with a group of roleplayers, but for others, it was more difficult.

Back then you could buy trailers straight from the server itself for around 45k. It wasn't difficult to break into the County-RP scene in itself: There were plenty of properties to buy and with so few people, most everyone was happy just for the opportunity to roleplay with you. Unfortunately, only two of the characters I knew from that time are still around. Everyone else has moved.

Since then, the county's gone through several cycles of life and death. It seems every six or so months there's a new push to bring the county back to life, but it eventually dies back down. What I can say with assurance is that county roleplay is much harder to engage with for new players than it ever was before. Property is almost impossible to attain nowadays. To make matters worse, integrating into a long-standing and insulated community of roleplayers means treading over eggshells until you finally clique into a group who are willing to roleplay with you.

People all have different notions of what a county's character should be. Many people don't have a frame of reference to understand the types of characters you'd really see in Sandy, Grapeseed, or Paleto bay. I admit it's pretty odd that there's a bunch of cow-pokes from Texas or rednecks from Alabama and Mississippi walking around what should be California, but in all honestly, having someone to roleplay with is better than having no one at all. 

As a community, we county roleplayers should seek to offer guidance to players who have just arrived onto the scene, not shun them for looking or acting differently. That's just  If you're just getting started in county roleplay, be prepared for a slow-paced environment full of passive roleplay. If that sounds like you're speed then I hope you stick around for the long haul. County roleplay is a marathon, not a sprint. You probably won't be able to buy a proper place to live in the first few weeks or even the first few months. Some characters just won't be interested in interacting with you out of principle. It'll get easier as you stick with it, trust me. Best of luck.

I've faced some difficulties back on SAMP, with Carson, where the city was so much smaller compared to these cities. I believe that a more 'warm' face of the county will attract outsiders, at least that's how we did it - small local events, no publicity, just people passing by and meeting us from time to time, eventually deciding to be part of the community.  We used to have BBQs every Sunday, it became a tradition at some point, and people would come to taste some of those juicy ribs. 

 

Speaking about housing and the unavailability of that, I was one of the very, very few, that owned something back on SAMP. Everything was owned by people who weren't active, so we had to improvise to keep people together. 

 

The county is known to have its cycles, but if there's a bunch of people constantly developing the community, that shouldn't be a problem - if a couple of players stick with that place and continue even when others avoid the place - but this is possible only by a community group, not a faction. A faction is limited to their activity and ethnicity, in some cases, so it's very hard for others to join if they are not in that limit range a faction can apply to its members. A community would basically guide the newbies, help them out with even that problem about everyone roleplaying being from Texas, but as long as people stuck with that place for longer than a couple of weeks - that's the problem. People barely stuck when it comes to this, I've had a very hard time finding the right 5-10 people that would stick with me back on SA:MP, even when we barely had any activity(not to mention zero 24/7, or bars, so there wasn't much to do without those open).

[PrinceCane]

Few months back I tried doing county roleplay and at most cases they were barely anyone around to even roleplayed with so I gathered some people and thought why not open up a Sandy Shores community discord(A thread was made but it was L&A'd due to inactivity) just so we could have a bit more roleplay going around and supporting Sandy businesses/events.

 

At first I was given a welcome hands while on the other hand was dealt given complaints by some individuals within a faction and friend circles about a 'divide' in county rp when in reality I only made it just so people can roleplay their characters out from different form of life plus I was pretty tired of city roleplay during that time.

 

For example we once formed an RV community for people that don't even have property in Sandy Shores, there was a cookout event that was hosted by the Grapeseed community which was pretty nice, there were few different different characters that were just individuals with flaws (I had a character that lived in an RV with both a drug/nicotine addiction with a juggalo friend that tried converting him.)

 

Even if I currently don't play that character anymore I keep the discord around just so people can communicate with one another with plans, events, ect to help rp in the County.

There was a situation when Paleto Bay's community kicked/banned majority of Sandy Shore community members for no given reason but it is what it is.

[Zoinks]

I roleplayed in the county as part of the grapeseed community for the past 6 or so months until having to go LOA. During its peak it was some of the most enjoyable roleplay ive experienced on the server and I love how the environment encourages a different style of RP compared to the city. 
 

But for me personally I think the countys main issue is that a lot of people view Sandy shores/grapeseed through the story mode's version of it which is of course full of rednecks and hostile people since Rockstar loves their satire. However people taking influence from this and making their characters hostile/unwelcoming to anyone not in their faction or clique (e.g not wanting to RP illegal) is what pushes a lot of people away. Not only that but, like previously mentioned by Goblin, the vast majority of businesses there are just bar number 12 or maybe a pawnshop or diner if you're lucky. Theres the wonderama arcade in grapeseed but thats all i've seen that isnt a bar. So the lack of business variety gets boring very quick and people leave the county RP once the environment gets stale. 
 

TLDR; to keep a community thriving in the county there needs to be less hostility and more business variety to keep people excited about the area. LS county shouldn't be reduced to cowboy hats and /me takes a sip of his beer. 

[socrates]

First of all, thank you everyone dedicating their time to explain what's wrong with the county community, I can see that there are a few of ideas that are common with most of y'all. I'd love to start a community in the county, to have a fresh start, including both illegal and legal roleplay, to create this lovely small town experience for everyone coming to the county side. I'm mostly referring to Sandy Shores, that's where I like it more, compared to Paleto. 

 

Speaking about businesses, what it's open in the Sandy Shores area, it's our duty to expand that. If we want to create a community, first we have to gather a couple who are dedicated to this, then we can move forward to create businesses that will increase the economy - small factories, maybe, some jobs that are not exclusively about bars and 24/7s.