[Discussion] What can improve RP interactions between players and general RP standards?

[Mistery14]

I really want to know what people think about current RP standards and how to improve them.

 

Please, let's not bash players/factions/types of RP. There are bad roleplayers in each of them, and it's only unfair to those who actually put effort into roleplaying correctly to see themselves be put in the same bag as those who have little regard for any of it. It's important to talk about these things, but it's much better if we can do so without perpetuating the cycle of L&A'ing threads. Let's keep it civil for the sake of being able to discuss something.

 

(I'll separate this from my own input for this thread with a separate comment if anyone cares to have a read).

Edited June 29, 2022 by Mistery14

[Mistery14]

Here's what I think about RP standards as of now and how to improve them, in my opinion (not fact!):

 

- RP Standards on the server are a mixed bag. But I absolutely do not think the issue of poor RP standards stems from any faction, or type of RP itself. I think it mainly comes from the absence of a very fundamental rule of thumb for roleplay itself, that is unfortunately being hidden under the "Common Courtesy/Powergaming" rules, when it should have its own rule-set and a dedicated section in the entry questionnaire to the server in my opinion. It might seem a little extreme to think about, but it really isn't.

 

So, what is that "rule of thumb" for RP?

 

- Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like typing out a /me will make you lose time/put you at a disadvantage when interacting with someone?

- Have you ever felt like you barely get the time to /me at all when roleplaying with someone and felt pressured to type short /mes to get your action out there as fast as possible?

- Have you ever been in an argument/altercation IC, only to have the other party /me and immediately start punching you?

- Have you ever seen someone type "/me makes a run for it/walks away", only for them to immediately start running/walking away without letting you a chance to speak let alone /me?

- Have you ever done that yourself in a way or another? Chances are high that yes, because if multiple people are doing it, why should you give them the chance nobody else gives you?

 

If yes, the following rule of thumb for RP is exactly what would make these kinds of scenarios at best, preventable:

 

It's simply allowing OOC time for other players to type out their /mes in response to your own. This should apply to any situation, but is more prominent with combat RP, namely fist-fights. I think the lack of allowance for OOC response time is the culprit for most poor escalation situations in fist fights, as players will resort to escalation to get out of a situation which they didn't have time to prepare for. Fights do not have to be done solely through /mes for it to be considered RP. But they can, and will be more enjoyable, even with script if the initial punch was not only /me'd, but also allowed the other party OOC time for a response before fighting occurs.

 

>OOC and IC reaction time should be regarded as two different things and taken into account.<

 

 Ultimately, this doesn't just apply to fist-fights, allowing other players to react to your RP and /mes in general, should absolutely apply to any scenario where two characters are directly interacting with one another.

Edited June 29, 2022 by Mistery14

[varthshenon]

I registered to GTAW and made my characters to RP. If I don't RP, then everything would be meaningless and I might as well play other game/server. Script fist fight is just OOC skill competition, including shootout. Have you ever seen a player intentionally miss their punch (if it's even possible) or their shoot? I've done that. I did /anim knockout or something when my character still have more than half of HP.

[sCrax]

It's the fact that admins are afraid of punishing people accordingly. If you give a mass DMer 8 warnings before they get an ajail - they'll try their luck and break rules regardless since there are no repercussions for breaking rules. I'm pretty sure most of us will agree that RP standards were much higher 1 - 2 years ago. Why is that? Because if you blatantly broke rules with malicious intent you'd get banned right away. Also, ajails don't solve anything and please stop unbanning people after a week.  

[Nora]

3 hours ago, Mistery14 said:

Fights do not have to be done solely through /mes for it to be considered RP. But they can, and will be more enjoyable, even with script if the initial punch was not only /me'd, but also allowed the other party OOC time for a response before fighting occurs.

 

>OOC and IC reaction time should be regarded as two different things and taken into account.<

 

 Ultimately, this doesn't just apply to fist-fights, allowing other players to react to your RP and /mes in general, should absolutely apply to any scenario where two characters are directly interacting with one another.

 

Yep, I agree. I in fact enjoy RP fights with the use of /roll a lot more enjoyable than the script ones!

 

On the topic of response time, despite the taken measures to help with the problem, I still see it happening quite often. It's just P2W mentality, making it un-fun.

 

 

 

[Coburn]

Stricter enforcement of standards, banning people who break the rules repeatedly who clearly don't give a hoot about RP.

[vbxa]

I think the amount of topics like this one in the past few weeks and months says a lot about how the playerbase is feeling. Concerns about the declining RP quality can be witnessed by everyone.

 

Not talking about literal troll players, but for the most part, it's about the mindset people have. They don't want to lose under any circumstances, ever. And will resort to roleplay that makes sure they win, but leaves a bitter taste for everyone else.

It's all about learning to accept losses and taking it as a fun experience in the game. Because that's all it is, a game. It won't have any effect IRL.

 

It's possible to win a lot of situations if you plan them correctly. Forcing your way through by rushing and lowering your RP standards isn't the right way and if you can't stand losing but also don't want to put in the effort to execute your plans seamlessly, well don't get into those situations then. Try something else.

 

Like others have stated in similar threads, we shouldn't be coaching these people like we're doing now. To an extent, coaching is fine and actually needed. But when someone shows total lack of appreciation to our rules, it's a problem and their ability to play on the server has to be restricted. And imo ajails aren't able to achieve this. You've only got to leave your PC running and go to the store to buy some snacks and you're back to playing on the server. There's no punishment.

 

GTAW is a business and I understand that being more lenient on punishments means having more players and in turn getting more income. But is it worth it, if the majority of the player base who still pays attention to their RP quality and who's been loyal towards the server for a long time, suffers from it and also lowers their RP standards with possibly even quitting the server? I don't think so.

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by MarcusD

[Xaleya]

 

 

5 minutes ago, MarcusD said:

I think the amount of topics like this one in the past few weeks and months says a lot about how the playerbase is feeling. Concerns about the declining RP quality can be witnessed by everyone.

 

Not talking about literal troll players, but for the most part, it's about the mindset people have. They don't want to lose under any circumstances, ever. And will resort to roleplay that makes sure they win, but leaves a bitter taste for everyone else.

It's all about learning to accept losses and taking it as a fun experience in the game. Because that's all it is, a game. It won't have any effect IRL.

 

It's possible to win a lot of situations if you plan them correctly. Forcing your way through by rushing and lowering your RP standards isn't the right way and if you can't stand losing but also don't want to put in the effort to execute your plans seamlessly, well don't get into those situations then. Try something else.

 

Like others have stated in similar threads, we shouldn't be coaching these people like we're doing now. To an extent, coaching is fine and actually needed. But when someone shows total lack of appreciation to our rules, it's a problem and their ability to play on the server has to be restricted. And imo ajails aren't able to achieve this. You've only got to leave your PC running and go to the store to buy some snacks and you're back to playing on the server. There's no punishment.

 

GTAW is a business and I understand that being more lenient on punishments means having more players and in turn getting more income. But is it worth it, if the majority of the player base who still pays attention to their RP quality and who's been loyal towards the server for a long time, suffers from it and also lowers their RP standards with possibly even quitting the server? I don't think so.

 

Even as business. We all know how ends being too lenient, loyal players will go away and become some sort of Mc Donalds and then die quickly since the people who really invested into it went away. Losing all the "Loyal customers" who you made, that could happen slowler or faster, but its like a snowball. Or even if some other moderately decent project opens this will die within a snap.

If that happened to AAA developers and Online games. It will happen here twice easily.

Edited June 29, 2022 by Xaleya

[Zoinks]

In my opinion, all of this has snowballed from a quantity over quality attitude. 

More people are joining, even if they're not very good/willing to become good and continue improving, leading to more people breaking the rules and needing admin supervision. Now admins have lost a trust in the playerbase to conduct good RP without their presence, so every unique/out of the box RP scenario is locked behind paperwork and the need for admins. Since you can't RP anything without ooc intervention, players get bored. Players seek fun, even if the RP doesn't add up for it, and become more susceptible to DM and rule breaks. These people either get banned or eventually give up and stop playing. Then a dip in the peak number of players happens, and there's a desire to get it back up, therefore letting in more people despite their quality of RP. Cycle repeats, and we have the server we have today.

Not to mention, a large proportion of the playerbase is involved with illegal RP in some form or another, and the way schemes are conducted if you don't have admin friends in IFM is questionable to say the least. No one wants to put their IRL time into a project that has zero reward. If there were obstacles IC, that's something to RP around, but how do you RP around bad scheme management? All you have to do is look at this thread to see what i'm talking about.
 

There's been a lot of awesome script features added to the server recently but script features don't improve RP. I think there needs to be more of a focus on RP based improvements to the way the server works, otherwise peak players will just keep dropping. 

[bncal]

I invite civilian (those who have never roleplayed illegal) roleplayers to play at least once in illegal factions such gangs, where those so called "(M) characters" are really important to the game. As we speak minor characters are considered bad and harmful from the civilians because most of them know little to nothing about character development or culture of gangs in general. Having experience in both sides will help you understand why THIS THING is happening to your character,  and WHY is needed to happen for the young criminal, it will open a world on why some zones are DANGER for your legal character and so on. If you want the best interaction and experience between illegal and legal,  then legal has to try illegal and see how lame is their behavior when they are """losing""" (you don't, in roleplay) being robbed or whatever is happening bad to them,  or just when they spot a minor character and tneyr heart begins to race. Because some legal's behavior on this server is toxic as fuck.