My thoughts on the current state of roleplay

Messages
234
Reaction score
915
Points
495
Roleplaying has considerably dropped in both quality and quantity for the past few years I've played on the server, this is arguably one of the most concerning factors when considering the potential and current growth of the server. It's difficult to argue the exact reasoning for this decline, however, in my opinion, this has mainly stemmed from the change in the mentality of the community towards engaging in this type of activity properly. It's very important to remember what roleplay is, and that it is very different for everyone, whether this is running a restaurant, creating an independent garage, or growing drugs in a crack den.

People's style of roleplay is and should always be completely up to them, and in my opinion, shouldn't be forced onto others unless the situation calls for the cooperation of two players or more making an effort. A perfect example would be the use of interrogation rooms in the case of an arrest, to help both sides (the arresting officer who may not have enough evidence to put a criminal inside, and the criminal who may be able to come up with a smart enough alibi to be released), it's opportunities like this that create great roleplay moments one because it's fair and two because it's memorable.

Having been an avid roleplay styled player since 2017 I've come across many creative ideas having interacted mainly with those who choose to take a more passive stand when playing on the server, and it's come to my attention that a lot of great and memorable experiences are completely missed due to peoples disinterest in participating with these ideas that people put hours of effort into, and that can be discouraging, sometimes to the point where newer players with great potential will leave after a short amount of playing due to noticing that it's very hard to draw the attention of others.

Setting criminal and casino roleplay aside, in my opinion not many other ideas are created with the intention for the player to be rewarded financially, take my computer shop for example (if you've been playing in the last two weeks you may have noticed it), the shop was purely built for the interaction between myself and other players, yes I'm selling you an imaginary computer which really works as a car security system within the game but with a little imagination and social skills, you may see that the sole purpose of opening a place like that is to get people to enjoy some new and creative.

The community meeting yesterday helped better my understanding of the current thoughts that different people have on where we stand as a roleplay server. And as prompted by the administration team during the meeting, it's a very difficult problem to solutionize because it's nigh-impossible to force good roleplay as it's a very subjective topic. Instead of looking upon staff to force roleplay, I believe it's the community mentality on roleplay that needs adjusting, try engaging more, and see what happens. You might even end up enjoying it.

TL;DR (don't worry mate, I've got you covered)
- Good roleplay has decreased drastically
- Everyone is entitled to conduct the roleplay style of their choosing (police, criminal, casino, crackhead, etc.)
- Roleplay should never be forced upon other players in my opinion
- Most roleplay (apart from criminal or casino) is done for social interactions over financial gain
- Back to the 'roleplay should never be forced' point, this makes it very difficult for staff to sway the server into roleplay
- Instead of relying upon staff to change the community, the community needs to adjust their interest to roleplay, to begin with.
 
Quite right. I fully agree with you and hope that things will improve. But I've been openly saying such things for a long time... Nearly half a decade now, come to think of it. And I am yet to see that one step that's taken towards the server becoming an actual Roleplay environment again. I don't mean to sound pessimistic and I truly do hope that things will improve. I'm trying to promote a change towards that first step myself, but I suppose it is yet to come.
 
We just need fresh things to roleplay and do, many people have suggested weekly roleplay events and it's not hard to do
 
That is a temporary upgrade, not a solution. Definitely not a permanent one at that. Roleplay events can be fun, however, they're more camouflage to hide the fact that natural serious roleplay is nearly non-existent in the majority of the currently active player base.
 
Back
Top