On Civil Protection Leadership & The Ideology of Edgelordism

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

(the song is just a reference. if you know, you know.)​

Something that's been bugging me about this place for a long time, but only came to a head recently. Be warned, I will be crass:

Why is there this pervasive dumbfuck pants-on-head retarded notion that grips every aspect of this hl2rp server's IC bureaucracy that the best way to portray a """dystopia""" is to act like actual 13 year old cartoon villains and abuse their positions to go on personal power trips on their 'subordinates' for no other reason than pulling off stale acts of pointless sadism?

Can you people seriously not do better than this? Is a modicum of nuance to your character motives & behavior too much for you? Are some of you genuinely so delusional that you think anyone in your presence enjoys spending OOC hours being subjected to stuff like

(which ended with him discharging a gun in my character's ear to deafen her because she genuinely couldn't listen to him monologue while he pressured her already fractured arm against the ground, and then later her ribs broken for involuntarily vomiting on an official's suit from all the abuse she'd already taken)

I believe in tastefulness and I believe in player empathy; I believe people who play powerful characters have a huge responsibility to make sure that the players they interact with actually enjoy being imposed on by them to some extent, that the 'way' this power is exercised implies some basic respect for the player on the other end and their time & enjoyment. I have held various very powerful IC positions across my time playing hl2rp in general (CPs, gang leaders, administrators, literally everything tbh) and every single time i've stuck to this simple principle and received nothing but praise from the people that I was otherwise actively fucking over ICly - so I'm not simply talking out of my ass or crying because I got hit with the big authority stick recently. These are my genuine beliefs, and I strongly feel the people with IC power on willard lack these qualities for the most part, and it's an issue that starts with elements of the upper rung of Combine leadership and trickles down to the CPs themselves, which occasionally creates complaints around their behavior, but truth be told, I've come to see them as blameless; their only fault at the end of the day is following examples set to them by their superiors.


This server's been slowly losing the draw and influence it once had as is. Maybe its time to re-evaluate some age old practices and why they don't work; there is a reason hl2rp servers aren't run with the same cartoonish edginess that they used to be in early 2010s. It simply isn't sustainable. Players like to feel oppressed, not actually BE oppressed - the latter isn't fun for anyone except masochists and people with dormant sub fetishes. Know the difference and start toeing that fine line between the two before you keep losing players to your own childish power fantasies. Start writing better villains with more nuanced ways of oppressing the populace while still giving individual characters breathing room to portray their own mannerisms without trying to reduce them to your personal platonic fucktoys.

Fix your shit.

Thank you.


- ARK

 

[Rabid]

I think one of the most frustrating things from an external point of view is that there is/was literally nothing to prompt this beyond someone deciding to go out of their way to big-dick on a subordinate (after logging on to do so) and being offended they clapped back.

I get the idea behind it but how is it fun? You have to know what these people are trying to do; prop up a CityRP that has had major problems as of late. It ends in them being stripped of their title, beaten so bad they get a broken arm and forced to partake in a rigged "trial" of sorts that had some of the most poorly judged antag stuff since the "rigged from the start" fiasco.

I understand wanting to have a dystopia and to remind people nobody is safe. But this isn't how you go about it - this sort of thing puts people off, and that isn't what WN can afford to do right now.

 

[TheGoodHunter]

as an experienced roleplayer who has visited a bunch of rp communities throughout garry's mod, i can say that this is a prevalent issue wherever you go and it's sad to see that it is so common. i've seen good people take over the role of the villain or be the head of a group and be that level 99 mafia boss, and most of the time it was hit or miss. a lot of people abused their power, a lot of people didn't play their characters with power correctly and their character arcs just get ruined in the process if you get what im saying.

i understand the issue regarding people basically abusing their power by accident when they're trying to be that generic evil corporate businessman, especially in HL2RP as it must be as common. im also hoping that they could possibly fix this sooner or later in the future, but for now i guess we just have to deal with the bullshit until they decide enough is enough. im glad that this is being put into the spotlight even when no one else is willing to speak on the matter

 

[Maroon]

LMAO

 

[M3ntal]

There's putting emphasis on a superior position in comparison to another character, and then there's just trying way too hard to not only be intimidating but to play into their currently existing status.
An authority figure would not do this. They know full well what this actually inspires. With the tools people have, this doesn't inspire fear, it only inspires hate. And what does hate give? Motivation. Motivation to do what? Fuck you over in any way they can.
Narcissism and egoism notwithstanding, borderline monologuing to someone you are torturing is fucking obtuse.

 

[Stonetb]

I understand wanting to have a dystopia and to remind people nobody is safe. But this isn't how you go about it - this sort of thing puts people off, and that isn't what WN can afford to do right now.

And it never will. Cope and Seeth

 

[RogueSynapse]

I have no mouth, and I must scream.

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

LMAO

for someone who's otherwise very well behaved on the forums you sure get defensive when your insular crowd of secret bdsm fetishists get questioned eh

 

[RedHotGinger]

Personally?

At a basic level, my problem with evil characters tends to be that players will only be evil when it suits them, but not really understand the general implication that has on the character as a whole. For example, on I17 I saw two CP's begin to torture a guy out in the middle of public space. I don't remember exactly what the process was, but I believe they nearly drowned him in a dirty pool of water thrice. Proceeded to beat the shit out of him, forced him to drink the dirty water, then did something else I can't for the life of me recall. By the time they were done, the left him on the street with a bucket over his head.

Now, is that an issue in of itself? Well, maybe, maybe not. Depends on the person. What objectively is an issue is if those units then proceed to be played as if they do not have a genuine case of psychopathy or some other severely degenerative mental illness. It is simply not normal human behavior to want to personally pull someone else to pieces, especially over nothing. Rebels do it as well. After butchering someone to death brutally without a second thought, they will proceeded to pull all equipment and gear off of them and wear the blood splattered clothes as if nothing was wrong. Even if they belonged to allies a second ago. Lots of people on this server make room for being a terrible, awful person, without realizing that within a real circumstance, most people wouldn't be able to commit to such acts without severe mental fuckery.

CP's technically get a bit of breathing room in this, as the higher the ranks you go, the more festered your mind becomes via MMR's and other Combine infiltration. That being said, it almost would make them less likely to act insane, as they slowly lose all cognition towards their own desires and wishes.

This is a ramble, but in general, I just find the lack of consistency in evil to be the most bothersome part of it. Yes, people have been like that and still are. I still don't think it works well when pretty much every person who acts like a deranged lunatic is a composed gentlemen five seconds later. Just makes it all feel disingenuous.

 

[Kaffee]

lol

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

Personally?

At a basic level, my problem with evil characters tends to be that players will only be evil when it suits them, but not really understand the general implication that has on the character as a whole. For example, on I17 I saw two CP's begin to torture a guy out in the middle of public space. I don't remember exactly what the process was, but I believe they nearly drowned him in a dirty pool of water thrice. Proceeded to beat the shit out of him, forced him to drink the dirty water, then did something else I can't for the life of me recall. By the time they were done, the left him on the street with a bucket over his head.

Now, is that an issue in of itself? Well, maybe, maybe not. Depends on the person. What objectively is an issue is if those units then proceed to be played as if they do not have a genuine case of psychopathy or some other severely degenerative mental illness. It is simply not normal human behavior to want to personally pull someone else to pieces, especially over nothing. Rebels do it as well. After butchering someone to death brutally without a second thought, they will proceeded to pull all equipment and gear off of them and wear the blood splattered clothes as if nothing was wrong. Even if they belonged to allies a second ago. Lots of people on this server make room for being a terrible, awful person, without realizing that within a real circumstance, most people wouldn't be able to commit to such acts without severe mental fuckery.

CP's technically get a bit of breathing room in this, as the higher the ranks you go, the more festered your mind becomes via MMR's and other Combine infiltration. That being said, it almost would make them less likely to act insane, as they slowly lose all cognition towards their own desires and wishes.

This is a ramble, but in general, I just find the lack of consistency in evil to be the most bothersome part of it. Yes, people have been like that and still are. I still don't think it works well when pretty much every person who acts like a deranged lunatic is a composed gentlemen five seconds later. Just makes it all feel disingenuous.

thank you for putting into words an aspect of this i couldnt be bothered to go into myself

that i17 waterboarding incident sounds disgusting indeed

i dont see anything inherently wrong with 'psychopathic' behaviors or a seeming lack of consistency between these 'villains'' actions and mindsets (sometimes that dissonance can be the point of the character itself), all i advocate for is that there is such a thing as good antagonists and bad antagonists and it has everything to do with whether there is a thrill and interest in the action by the person being antagonized

this is your daily reminder that roleplay is an act of collaborative writing

 

[Ruairidh]

Can anyone provide a TL: DR?

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

lol

lol

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

Can anyone provide a TLR?

people who are in positions of IC power at willard play bad antagonists for the most part & arent fun to interact with and circlejerk themselves in neat little crowds to shut out & ignore the complaints of the average person who end up interacting with them

ironically being attempted on this very thread

 

[HOKI]

(the song is just a reference. if you know, you know.)​

Something that's been bugging me about this place for a long time, but only came to a head recently. Be warned, I will be crass:

Why is there this pervasive dumbfuck pants-on-head retarded notion that grips every aspect of this hl2rp server's IC bureaucracy that the best way to portray a """dystopia""" is to act like actual 13 year old cartoon villains and abuse their positions to go on personal power trips on their 'subordinates' for no other reason than pulling off stale acts of pointless sadism?

Can you people seriously not do better than this? Is a modicum of nuance to your character motives & behavior too much for you? Are some of you genuinely so delusional that you think anyone in your presence enjoys spending OOC hours being subjected to stuff like

(which ended with him discharging a gun in my character's ear to deafen her because she genuinely couldn't listen to him monologue while he pressured her already fractured arm against the ground, and then later her ribs broken for involuntarily vomiting on an official's suit from all the abuse she'd already taken)

I believe in tastefulness and I believe in player empathy; I believe people who play powerful characters have a huge responsibility to make sure that the players they interact with actually enjoy being imposed on by them to some extent, that the 'way' this power is exercised implies some basic respect for the player on the other end and their time & enjoyment. I have held various very powerful IC positions across my time playing hl2rp in general (CPs, gang leaders, administrators, literally everything tbh) and every single time i've stuck to this simple principle and received nothing but praise from the people that I was otherwise actively fucking over ICly - so I'm not simply talking out of my ass or crying because I got hit with the big authority stick recently. These are my genuine beliefs, and I strongly feel the people with IC power on willard lack these qualities for the most part, and it's an issue that starts with elements of the upper rung of Combine leadership and trickles down to the CPs themselves, which occasionally creates complaints around their behavior, but truth be told, I've come to see them as blameless; their only fault at the end of the day is following examples set to them by their superiors.


This server's been slowly losing the draw and influence it once had as is. Maybe its time to re-evaluate some age old practices and why they don't work; there is a reason hl2rp servers aren't run with the same cartoonish edginess that they used to be in early 2010s. It simply isn't sustainable. Players like to feel oppressed, not actually BE oppressed - the latter isn't fun for anyone except masochists and people with dormant sub fetishes. Know the difference and start toeing that fine line between the two before you keep losing players to your own childish power fantasies. Start writing better villains with more nuanced ways of oppressing the populace while still giving individual characters breathing room to portray their own mannerisms without trying to reduce them to your personal platonic fucktoys.

Fix your shit.

Thank you.


- ARK

Ad hominem, arguments disregarded

 

[Ruairidh]

people who are in positions of IC power at willard play bad antagonists for the most part & arent fun to interact with and circlejerk themselves in neat little crowds to shut out & ignore the complaints of the average person who end up interacting with them

ironically being attempted on this very thread

I cant really side with you on this as I havent met anyone in a position of power yet

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

Ad hominem, arguments disregarded

i literally dont care, you're not the crowd im preaching to so i lose nothing of value

I cant really side with you on this as I havent met anyone in a position of power yet

fair enough brotherman

 

[HOKI]

i literally dont care

You seem to care enough to make a thread composed of mainly insults and grade A coping.

 

[Rabid]

"lmao" and "lol" is pretty much all the serious discussion this topic is going to get from the people who could change this, even though its been raised several times before as a genuine issue to the point several staff members - past and present - have been vocal about it happening.

All of this shit piles up and piles up until it causes lasting problems and ignoring it does nothing.

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

You seem to care enough to make a thread composed of mainly insults and grade A coping.

stay mad?