Why is LCN RP so stigmatized?

[DeFuria]

55 minutes ago, Igloo said:

Not all concepts are designed to have dozens upon dozens of members, growth isn't steady, people come and leave, factions don't simply inflate to infinity, but when we're talking about LCN families compared to crews, we're talking about a difference of half of a hundred members within a crime family, to dozens within a crew, it's realistic for factions to strive and strive for a better standing, but not all concepts allow you to have exponential growth. Trying to force a concept into becoming a powerhouse when in reality there are limitations to their power isn't something the community would even allow, from an IC standpoint.

If you took a second to look at the 2 (3, if you count LSCF) CF's that existed, you'll notice that the numbers were much more grounded. I don't know about Conti, but in Martorano at least, there was never more than 5/6 inducted members, even during what's called "The Golden Era". Also, most Crime Families outside the big hotspots of NY and Chicago weren't as big as you make them out to be, with evidence showing that some didn't even have close to thirty inducted members.

 

57 minutes ago, Igloo said:

your power as a faction should come from your connections and dependencies / interactions with other factions, instead of some imposed tag by us

This argument implies that up until now, LCN's power came from their status as Crime Family, while it's the complete opposite. Any LCN that wanted to attain CF status had to forge those connections in-game, we had to put the work in and build towards that "label". Conti had endless connections, be it by selling drugs and guns, be it other schemes and contraptions. Hell, Martorano pulled two factions who did not fall under our umbrella during the Great CK War, and managed to pull a coup on one of the opposing factions, all through IC means. If you had taken a look at both threads you would see this, but it doesn't matter. Overall your comment comes off as dishonest and ignorant, which is fine, it's just more evidence of the utter contempt that the LCN concept has endured in this server.

[Igloo]

43 minutes ago, DeFuria said:

If you took a second to look at the 2 (3, if you count LSCF) CF's that existed, you'll notice that the numbers were much more grounded. I don't know about Conti, but in Martorano at least, there was never more than 5/6 inducted members, even during what's called "The Golden Era". Also, most Crime Families outside the big hotspots of NY and Chicago weren't as big as you make them out to be, with evidence showing that some didn't even have close to thirty inducted members.

 

This argument implies that up until now, LCN's power came from their status as Crime Family, while it's the complete opposite. Any LCN that wanted to attain CF status had to forge those connections in-game, we had to put the work in and build towards that "label". Conti had endless connections, be it by selling drugs and guns, be it other schemes and contraptions. Hell, Martorano pulled two factions who did not fall under our umbrella during the Great CK War, and managed to pull a coup on one of the opposing factions, all through IC means. If you had taken a look at both threads you would see this, but it doesn't matter. Overall your comment comes off as dishonest and ignorant, which is fine, it's just more evidence of the utter contempt that the LCN concept has endured in this server.

 

You're reiterating my point in your first half, it's exactly what I'm stating, the fact that outside of actual hotspots, crime families are simply not large in size.

Your second point is assuming I'm talking about Martorano or another faction you've been apart of, no, I'm not, I'm stating that concepts floating around and being submitted contain members within their ranks that are made, hereby trying to force themselves into a seat of power and their OOC made status whilst having nothing to back it up, it's not an attack on your faction, it applies to all LCNs.

 

[Hypnos]

just give up guys, lcn never coming back 😁

[DeFuria]

1 minute ago, Igloo said:

submitted contain members within their ranks that are made, hereby trying to force themselves into a seat of power and their OOC made status whilst having nothing to back it up

Well, then you have one of two ways to go about it:

1) Are these any of these members made under any of the previous CF's? Because if so, then they have a legitimate claim, and they should be considered. Believe me, the LCN scene has been run dry of experienced people, and if those people claiming membership are actual members inducted in this server, they're better than nothing. If you want a reallistic depiction as you claim, you will talk to these people and hear them out, and at the very least give them a chance to present their ideas. Denying them any fair chance of at least presenting their case would only further drive the LCN community away, and I don't think that's what anybody wants.

2) They're not inducted members, or they're trying to spawn in as made. That is the big no-no, and I would agree with not allowing their concepts through. LCN needs people who know what they're doing INGAME, not just black hand browsers who think they know it all.

 

[Dimes]

I just feel like all the concepts should be allowed as long as people can properly portray their characters. We do allow other weird stuff, like cops purchasing mansions or characters created solely for erp, so why we ban something else for being unrealistic? You can’t create a virtual version of real life, you can’t recreate LA 1:1. So let people enjoy the video game by doing what they want, as long as they don’t break any rules.

 

P.S. If you see Tony Soprano-like character, that tries to act like it’s 90-00s, report him or his faction to IFM. There will always be bad apples, in every type of concept. 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Dreams & Nightmares

[el capo]

1 hour ago, Dreams & Nightmares said:

I just feel like all the concepts should be allowed as long as people can properly portray their characters.

While this can be true if you go down this rabbit hole, people should have a right to roleplay Zoes, BDs, GDS the list goes on in LS "as long as people can properly portray their characters" Otherwise you'd just be discriminating against certain concepts.

[Dimes]

Just now, el capo said:

While this can be true if you go down this rabbit hole, people should have a right to roleplay Zoes, BDs, GDS the list goes on in LS "as long as people can properly portray their characters" Otherwise you'd just be discriminating against certain concepts.

Personally, that wouldn’t bother me. But I would understand if it bothered other players.

[Dominic]

On 5/21/2023 at 12:23 PM, dominic5134 said:

The point of LCN roleplay is not to gain as much power as possible. It's a more chilled out alternative, to the more common illegal roleplay, which involves action often. The reason LCN roleplay was so good while it was around, was because it was centered around making money, with action being done very rarely. The main focus is not power, or running around dressed up like Tony Soprano, but thinking of schemes, and developing your character through those schemes. I don't have much experience with other factions, so I cannot make the assumption that LCN roleplay is the only faction that involves chilled out roleplay.

Now, the point of this thread is not arguing that we should be able to have LCN crime families at the snap of a finger, because that's just bad development, but of how restricted LCN roleplay on this server is. If people have the freedom to run around as thirteen year old kids driving around cars, what's wrong with LCN? People's main arguments behind why LCN shouldn't exist on the server are, it's too unrealistic for LA, and these LCN characters are steorotypes. People who run around, pretending they're Tony Soprano are bad at portrayal of an LCN character, and shouldn't be allowed into factions, but that's a faction problem, not a server problem.

While, there shouldn't be ten LCN families/crews running around at the same time, there should be the freedom to have at least one, or two. There were already two prominent LCN families in the server's continuity, you can't make the argument that LCN would be unrealistic, because there already has been LCN, and it's part of the server's history. You've already got the freedom to have fourteen year old kids running around with a gun, fearlessly gunning people down, a civillian who has been an upstanding citizen their entire life calling hits on people, because they flirted with their partner. A new LCN faction to emerge, would not be out of the question either, when it comes to realism. If a crew, in a distant city, comes together, and decides to move their operations to LA, or LS, due to a lack of freedom in their home town. Perhaps there are more business opportunities in LS, such as a movie company, maybe something that caters to the rich. A whole crime family moving though? That's out of the question, and I understand that. Another thing, a group of Italian-Americans in Los Santos coming together, to form a crew. It's not out of the question, as there are Italian-Americans in LA.

When it comes to the portrayal of a proper Italian-American character, I do agree that it is a problem. People focus on portraying an "Italian-American kid" not an American kid. At this point in time, there would be Italian-American culture in the lives of these characters, yes, but the way they dress is steorotypical, but again, that's a faction problem. It's the faction's responsibility to teach their newer members to dress like a normal kid, and not have a twenty year old running around in a bowling shirt and leather jacket.

 

This isn't my burner account but I agree with every single point made here.

[Martyn]

I don't really know why some of these LCN fans are getting so upset, simply change your name and RP a bit of a different accent (any type of accent, Russian, Chechen, anything) and you will be roleplaying the exact same things. It's not like OCG roleplay differs much when it comes to themes. Go through all the faction threads on the forums. OCG roleplay has been in the same ol' loop for years now. The only difference between groups is ethnicity. 

[CowboyYoda22]

Ultimately man,

IFM has come in here and told you guys that it's cool if you guys want to do something, you just have to be realistic about it. It's no different from the Asian factions not being allowed to form into the Yakuza, Triad, or other super family structure. There is a degree of realism that they want and should be respected. If you only want to play this sort of character concept because of the idea of being "made" then you're going about it the wrong way and it's why a lot of people dunk on "OCG" RP to begin with. 

 

There is nothing more nooby than some random joe coming into your neighborhood and acting like they're a big shot because they're a made character in their unofficial faction, trying to hire gang youth to conduct a hit on "first name, stereotypical italian last name". This happens, and it has happened to me when I was rping in South Central. Your power should be gained IC and IC alone. If you put out consistent rp and your faction thread shows something really strong and sharp, IFM will no doubt work with you on how you can expand your concept. Trust me, they're there to help you, not just blindly decline everything. 

Some of the responses here from LCN fans really highlight why people hate the concept to begin with. From the OOC smugness, the belief that they can instantly take over the illegal scene, etc. No one wants to RP with someone who ties everything they do to some sort of OOC ego. We just want to RP and have interesting interactions, not worry about if something happens IC then someone is gonna switch up OOC. 

 

Like I personally don't care if you want to play an LCN character, but you should def. step back and think about how some of the people in the community overreact to stuff. People are just highlighting criticisms of a specific subsection of RP. There are criticisms that can be had with every subsection of illegal RP, that doesn't mean it's an attack on yourself. You should take those criticisms and use them to evaluate and better adjust your concept to continue to create more interesting and better RP for yourself and the server as a whole.