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- Jul 17, 2023
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- 337
- Thread Author
- #1
This is a poor "parody" of the very popular post made by @Botulism, my words are entirely baseless and only rely on observations made during my brief run on Willard Networks (around 11 months).
Willard Networks was the only time I got into Half Life 2 RP, and it is probably my last commitment to anything on Garry's Mod. Most criticisms raised have remained valid and applicable to the current state of the server, ranging from the grind involved with Rebel RP, the Play to Win mentality, or thousand other problems that I am sure more seasoned players will be able to point out.
The purpose of this post therefore, is not to defend anything, but to suggest that there are just some things you will never be able to fix. Maybe players are able to view things with rose-tinted glasses due to their status inside the "in-group" of Serious RP rather than viewing the situation from the perspective of new players or the realities of operationalization.
1. The rebel grind has shittier alternatives
From social credits, credits, chips, to crafting materials, most things RP are related to the concept of "grinding" towards something. This is particularly the case with scavenging trash bags and chasing precious crafting materials.
I was never really a rebel player because its quite easy to notice how "exclusive" Rebel RP actually is. It is the most gamey, requiring extensive grinding, sometimes S2K skills, and most importantly, OOC connections.
To Willard Networks' credit, I think the current system of looting trash bags and the relatively straightforward and accessible crafting system is one of its biggest strengths. It keeps player retention high while providing tangible goals for aspiring rebels/slummers to play towards. It is an actual gameplay loop that is accessible to everyone (looting, crafting equipment, making chips).
A direct consquence of the insane grind necessary for anything meaningful however, was the heavy Play to Win mentality and "scriptwhoring" that seems to be the norm. Every lethal confrontation becomes an OOC drama, every PK becomes extremely personal, and the quality of characters (with their RP) are worse due to the time investments (with heavy emphasis on scripts but less on RP). This is, of course, a bad thing, as most players have come to agree, but are there even any possible solutions? I don't think so.
Cut down the grind?
Suppose Willard Networks cut down the grind by - increasing loot drops, changing crafting recipes to include or exclude more items, automating the BMDs, a dozen more mechanical tweaks or just making the feature more exclusive like the olde days of Gmod Serious RP.
However, no matter what you do, the RP and the grind will still be absolutely dogshit.
This sort of bullshit have always relied on the blessing of OOC connections more than any concrete gameplay elements. What is the alternative to grinding for junk that can eventually be turned into an AR2, just doing a detailed /me and hitting up a GM for scripts? Befriend someone in the community OOCly to get clued in on one of your rebel characters? What about being invested in a character, does the scripts enhance or cheapen the investment a player has in their characters?
Unrewarding by design
It was also pointed out that, suppose a character successfully managed to become part of the "in-group" of Rebel RP and joins a group, the RP is simply unrewarding since there are nothing meaningful that could be achieved.
Well, this is true, but what the fuck were you expecting exactly? The expectations of what a "rebellion" can achieve and the cold hard reality of balancing non-rebel players' experience.
Is it more scripts that you want? Something so groundbreaking that it would result in a whole arc dedicated to your handiwork? Both of these are extremely volatile for a "healthy server", where things usually happen by design, which is why everything feels unrewarding by design.
And that is pretty much impossible to overcome. Maintaining a narrative and the balancing act of controlling expectations from different factions' perspectives, it will always be unrewarding. So, these feelings are pacified with the occasional expos or some player-driven character drama that happens from time to time, the Yakuza on City 8 map is a prime example of this sort of design.
But to simply rule it all out as terrible garbage is also stupid. There is a sizable chunk of the playerbase that probably doesn't mind or even embraces grinding trash bags for junk (Keim fucking Rider....).
Of course, when a bunch of script-hungry goblins clash with the much more serious RPers, their RP quality will not be great, but it is also the design that made Willard a tad bit more playable than the exclusive stuff of the past. It is this self-filtering that gives different players different "playstyles", making the server accessible to many more players.
MiniConclusion
This problem is impossible to fix without taking a giant risk. Players can probably take greater risk to drive meaningful rewarding RP if they desire, but doing so risks an attached character. But without this attachment fostered by the equipment gained, Rebels would become glorified, arrogant event characters that throws every other factions' wishes just for the thrill of it.
At the end of the day, its all about OOC connections (with staff or some big-name much rebel player) and how much clout you get in the community.
2. Loyalist RP is fine, its just player commitment that fucks everything up
This is the part of Willard that I am most familiar with. And I can tell you that the problem is not "hurr durr wrong mentality" or whatever, it is people that already have an expectation on what a loyalist is that makes things fucking boring.
And let me tell you, this is also a problem that, no matter how hard people try, will remain a problem forever.
Court intrigue, powerplays, binders, legislation, all fancy items of Serious RP, are all ultimately pointless. No matter how much effort you put into these, they are not MANDATORY BULLSHIT that people must follow, instead, it is entirely up to player initiative to participate in these crap.
And the players, most of the time, probably won't give a shit about whatever you are trying to do unless you already have some clout in the community. Without others' participation, you lose interest, and then you eventually just stop.
This is not a Willard problem, this is a human problem. You can't possibly make impactful decisions that affect other factions/citizens too much, and it is a 50/50 that CPs would even give a shit about your meaningless authorities.
Alternatively, you can hit up a staff to get help in implementing your "cool ideas", but this once again, boils down to the fundamentals of Serious RP - fucking OOC connections.
What is the point of investing all this time and energy into creating RP if other players just won't play ball. It's not like you can force them. Loyalist RP will forever remain a periodical hit that occasionally has its peaks, and then return to a boring status quo.
It is extremely reliant on selected few GOOD PLAYERS, and that is hoping the Staff Team doesn't fuck anything up.
Even if staff doesn't intervene, Loyalist RP will still gradually die out on its own due to good players inevitably losing interest, only witnessing another spike when some other twat has some grand ideas.
Also, just saying, those allegories to Nazi collaborators, while servicable at first glance, neglects the fact that a lot of these bastards, from Quisling to Wang Jingwei, can believe that they are indeed, (the collaborators themselves as) the "good guys" (their own personal reasons or skewered vision of potentially using occuipers for some "nobler" goals, quite common). Please don't go preaching for creativity while arguing for a pre-determined mindset on how loyalists should be played.
3. Not all cops are interesting people, that's just how it is, and guess what...
...There's nothing you can really do about it!
What is there to be done, a nice little reminder on CP apps that encourages people to make "insane-y sadistic characters that identify with entropy zero 2 bad cop"? That aside, this is another issue of how PLAYERS play their characters rather than some grand design flaw.
I do not know what sort of punishment the Civil Protection faction has in place for members that are PK'd, but suppose whatever current system there is right now is replaced or removed, what do you think would happen?
Yes, a large influx of INTERESTING cop characters with WACKY personalities, but I can bet that it would bring in a lot more serious complaints from other players across different factions.
Besides, wouldn't that drastically decrease player-character attachment? The burden of creating interesting Civil Protectors, in my opinion, is 90% on the players themselves. If they chose to play a stupid boring ass vanilla cop, you won't be able to stop them either.
If you want to play something edgy, just go for it, the risk factors should only improve on your roleplay experiences, no?
Higher risk, higher reward.
4. What happens when you self-insert and call someone the n word?
This one is tricky. On one hand, mature topics like bigotry and violence that exists in real life should in theory be reflected in a RP. However, considering the size of Willard, stay the fuck clear away from that minefield.
For one, this "freeze peach" approach to a Gmod server will, I promise you, will boil over into OOC disputes.
Second, there are actual PR issues at stake here. Imagine some players describing Willard as "oh yea that HL2RP where if you make a black character you get called the n-word" or unironically going like "this is a cool rebel group, its called Atomwaffen and its symbol is the swastika with a skull".
Unfortunately, as dark and gritty as HL2 setting is, Willard is not an application-to-join server (the likes of GTA World or RDR2 RP), meaning that the expectations for Willard are aligned with societal norms. On the off chance that there are, guess what, ACTUAL CHILDREN (under 18) playing on the server.
The quickest ticket for unwanted media attention on the server would be hands-off speech moderation in the server, if that does happen (it wont) it will become a hotbed real quick and probably get at least 2 popular videos made on it describing it as a lunatic safespace that only weirdos can enjoy.
The current year is 2024, not 2014, the times have changed and it will not go back again.
5. Creativity is self-made and gatekept by everyone, collectively
Players can be as creative as they want, but it is not only server design that stops "creativity", its other players as well.
You and I can come up with the most gimmicky, creative characters right now and try to make them into something. And once you overcome the chips, the credits, the grind, the biggest hurdle at the end of the day.
Its clout.
Just because something made is creative it does not mean the RP environment would suddenly become better or be improved. I have tried to be creative in loyalist RP, creating binders and other sort of powerplay shit that was TRYING to be CReATIve.
But guess what, creativity can only get you so far. At the end of the day, any "innovative" creation a player has is only temporary and without a staff member or faction higher-up you can turn to, it will most likely amount to absolutely nothing.
6. All servers stagnate and the lasting ones have cycles, there is no exception
Dissatisfaction is inevitable and players will come and go. For example, I got bored of this shit in general and have basically quitted.
All our enjoyments will not last, and when it is a trivial matter like a Gmod server, leaving (and then maybe crawl back like a lot of people) will probably be the best option.
Much of the criticism towards Willard should be directed to the concept of HL2 Serious RP in general. From the gameplay loop of Rebels vs Combean, the grinds, the monotony of it all. It is a dying genre that will eventually come to an end.
The balancing act between being a mainstream server and a much more short-lived circlejerk prohibits fundamental changes, and I think when the RP becomes *extremely* creative, the playerbase by then would already be in the lower double digits.
7. Rose-tinted glasses
Incremental mechanical changes, the GMs, arcs will prolong the lifespan of this server, but it is impossible to capture the magical moments you lots had in the past. This is magical thinking with rose-tinted glasses.
It's been what, almost a decade? And you are still playing HL2 RP?
In competitive online games, the most vocal bunch are the veteran players and pro players. They often suggest things that makes life harder for newcomers. If we were to judge the state of a Gmod server based on experiences you might have had from a decade ago, chances are, your ideas are disguised elitism.
More interesting Civil Protection, raising the bar of entry to stop newer players from enjoying that faction.
More interesting Rebel RP, a return to exclusive big boys club style of rebel management.
More "lore-fitting" loyalist RP, replacing an "archetype" of loyalists with another, perhaps even more boring "archetype" of characters.
If you are expecting anything substantially better than what Willard has now, I think you are expecting too much. It is pointless to hold this much stock on a Gmod server.
Willard Networks was the only time I got into Half Life 2 RP, and it is probably my last commitment to anything on Garry's Mod. Most criticisms raised have remained valid and applicable to the current state of the server, ranging from the grind involved with Rebel RP, the Play to Win mentality, or thousand other problems that I am sure more seasoned players will be able to point out.
The purpose of this post therefore, is not to defend anything, but to suggest that there are just some things you will never be able to fix. Maybe players are able to view things with rose-tinted glasses due to their status inside the "in-group" of Serious RP rather than viewing the situation from the perspective of new players or the realities of operationalization.
1. The rebel grind has shittier alternatives
From social credits, credits, chips, to crafting materials, most things RP are related to the concept of "grinding" towards something. This is particularly the case with scavenging trash bags and chasing precious crafting materials.
I was never really a rebel player because its quite easy to notice how "exclusive" Rebel RP actually is. It is the most gamey, requiring extensive grinding, sometimes S2K skills, and most importantly, OOC connections.
To Willard Networks' credit, I think the current system of looting trash bags and the relatively straightforward and accessible crafting system is one of its biggest strengths. It keeps player retention high while providing tangible goals for aspiring rebels/slummers to play towards. It is an actual gameplay loop that is accessible to everyone (looting, crafting equipment, making chips).
A direct consquence of the insane grind necessary for anything meaningful however, was the heavy Play to Win mentality and "scriptwhoring" that seems to be the norm. Every lethal confrontation becomes an OOC drama, every PK becomes extremely personal, and the quality of characters (with their RP) are worse due to the time investments (with heavy emphasis on scripts but less on RP). This is, of course, a bad thing, as most players have come to agree, but are there even any possible solutions? I don't think so.
Cut down the grind?
Suppose Willard Networks cut down the grind by - increasing loot drops, changing crafting recipes to include or exclude more items, automating the BMDs, a dozen more mechanical tweaks or just making the feature more exclusive like the olde days of Gmod Serious RP.
However, no matter what you do, the RP and the grind will still be absolutely dogshit.
This sort of bullshit have always relied on the blessing of OOC connections more than any concrete gameplay elements. What is the alternative to grinding for junk that can eventually be turned into an AR2, just doing a detailed /me and hitting up a GM for scripts? Befriend someone in the community OOCly to get clued in on one of your rebel characters? What about being invested in a character, does the scripts enhance or cheapen the investment a player has in their characters?
Unrewarding by design
It was also pointed out that, suppose a character successfully managed to become part of the "in-group" of Rebel RP and joins a group, the RP is simply unrewarding since there are nothing meaningful that could be achieved.
Well, this is true, but what the fuck were you expecting exactly? The expectations of what a "rebellion" can achieve and the cold hard reality of balancing non-rebel players' experience.
Is it more scripts that you want? Something so groundbreaking that it would result in a whole arc dedicated to your handiwork? Both of these are extremely volatile for a "healthy server", where things usually happen by design, which is why everything feels unrewarding by design.
And that is pretty much impossible to overcome. Maintaining a narrative and the balancing act of controlling expectations from different factions' perspectives, it will always be unrewarding. So, these feelings are pacified with the occasional expos or some player-driven character drama that happens from time to time, the Yakuza on City 8 map is a prime example of this sort of design.
But to simply rule it all out as terrible garbage is also stupid. There is a sizable chunk of the playerbase that probably doesn't mind or even embraces grinding trash bags for junk (Keim fucking Rider....).
Of course, when a bunch of script-hungry goblins clash with the much more serious RPers, their RP quality will not be great, but it is also the design that made Willard a tad bit more playable than the exclusive stuff of the past. It is this self-filtering that gives different players different "playstyles", making the server accessible to many more players.
MiniConclusion
This problem is impossible to fix without taking a giant risk. Players can probably take greater risk to drive meaningful rewarding RP if they desire, but doing so risks an attached character. But without this attachment fostered by the equipment gained, Rebels would become glorified, arrogant event characters that throws every other factions' wishes just for the thrill of it.
At the end of the day, its all about OOC connections (with staff or some big-name much rebel player) and how much clout you get in the community.
2. Loyalist RP is fine, its just player commitment that fucks everything up
This is the part of Willard that I am most familiar with. And I can tell you that the problem is not "hurr durr wrong mentality" or whatever, it is people that already have an expectation on what a loyalist is that makes things fucking boring.
And let me tell you, this is also a problem that, no matter how hard people try, will remain a problem forever.
Court intrigue, powerplays, binders, legislation, all fancy items of Serious RP, are all ultimately pointless. No matter how much effort you put into these, they are not MANDATORY BULLSHIT that people must follow, instead, it is entirely up to player initiative to participate in these crap.
And the players, most of the time, probably won't give a shit about whatever you are trying to do unless you already have some clout in the community. Without others' participation, you lose interest, and then you eventually just stop.
This is not a Willard problem, this is a human problem. You can't possibly make impactful decisions that affect other factions/citizens too much, and it is a 50/50 that CPs would even give a shit about your meaningless authorities.
Alternatively, you can hit up a staff to get help in implementing your "cool ideas", but this once again, boils down to the fundamentals of Serious RP - fucking OOC connections.
What is the point of investing all this time and energy into creating RP if other players just won't play ball. It's not like you can force them. Loyalist RP will forever remain a periodical hit that occasionally has its peaks, and then return to a boring status quo.
It is extremely reliant on selected few GOOD PLAYERS, and that is hoping the Staff Team doesn't fuck anything up.
Even if staff doesn't intervene, Loyalist RP will still gradually die out on its own due to good players inevitably losing interest, only witnessing another spike when some other twat has some grand ideas.
Also, just saying, those allegories to Nazi collaborators, while servicable at first glance, neglects the fact that a lot of these bastards, from Quisling to Wang Jingwei, can believe that they are indeed, (the collaborators themselves as) the "good guys" (their own personal reasons or skewered vision of potentially using occuipers for some "nobler" goals, quite common). Please don't go preaching for creativity while arguing for a pre-determined mindset on how loyalists should be played.
3. Not all cops are interesting people, that's just how it is, and guess what...
...There's nothing you can really do about it!
What is there to be done, a nice little reminder on CP apps that encourages people to make "insane-y sadistic characters that identify with entropy zero 2 bad cop"? That aside, this is another issue of how PLAYERS play their characters rather than some grand design flaw.
I do not know what sort of punishment the Civil Protection faction has in place for members that are PK'd, but suppose whatever current system there is right now is replaced or removed, what do you think would happen?
Yes, a large influx of INTERESTING cop characters with WACKY personalities, but I can bet that it would bring in a lot more serious complaints from other players across different factions.
Besides, wouldn't that drastically decrease player-character attachment? The burden of creating interesting Civil Protectors, in my opinion, is 90% on the players themselves. If they chose to play a stupid boring ass vanilla cop, you won't be able to stop them either.
If you want to play something edgy, just go for it, the risk factors should only improve on your roleplay experiences, no?
Higher risk, higher reward.
4. What happens when you self-insert and call someone the n word?
This one is tricky. On one hand, mature topics like bigotry and violence that exists in real life should in theory be reflected in a RP. However, considering the size of Willard, stay the fuck clear away from that minefield.
For one, this "freeze peach" approach to a Gmod server will, I promise you, will boil over into OOC disputes.
Second, there are actual PR issues at stake here. Imagine some players describing Willard as "oh yea that HL2RP where if you make a black character you get called the n-word" or unironically going like "this is a cool rebel group, its called Atomwaffen and its symbol is the swastika with a skull".
Unfortunately, as dark and gritty as HL2 setting is, Willard is not an application-to-join server (the likes of GTA World or RDR2 RP), meaning that the expectations for Willard are aligned with societal norms. On the off chance that there are, guess what, ACTUAL CHILDREN (under 18) playing on the server.
The quickest ticket for unwanted media attention on the server would be hands-off speech moderation in the server, if that does happen (it wont) it will become a hotbed real quick and probably get at least 2 popular videos made on it describing it as a lunatic safespace that only weirdos can enjoy.
The current year is 2024, not 2014, the times have changed and it will not go back again.
5. Creativity is self-made and gatekept by everyone, collectively
Players can be as creative as they want, but it is not only server design that stops "creativity", its other players as well.
You and I can come up with the most gimmicky, creative characters right now and try to make them into something. And once you overcome the chips, the credits, the grind, the biggest hurdle at the end of the day.
Its clout.
Just because something made is creative it does not mean the RP environment would suddenly become better or be improved. I have tried to be creative in loyalist RP, creating binders and other sort of powerplay shit that was TRYING to be CReATIve.
But guess what, creativity can only get you so far. At the end of the day, any "innovative" creation a player has is only temporary and without a staff member or faction higher-up you can turn to, it will most likely amount to absolutely nothing.
6. All servers stagnate and the lasting ones have cycles, there is no exception
Dissatisfaction is inevitable and players will come and go. For example, I got bored of this shit in general and have basically quitted.
All our enjoyments will not last, and when it is a trivial matter like a Gmod server, leaving (and then maybe crawl back like a lot of people) will probably be the best option.
Much of the criticism towards Willard should be directed to the concept of HL2 Serious RP in general. From the gameplay loop of Rebels vs Combean, the grinds, the monotony of it all. It is a dying genre that will eventually come to an end.
The balancing act between being a mainstream server and a much more short-lived circlejerk prohibits fundamental changes, and I think when the RP becomes *extremely* creative, the playerbase by then would already be in the lower double digits.
7. Rose-tinted glasses
Incremental mechanical changes, the GMs, arcs will prolong the lifespan of this server, but it is impossible to capture the magical moments you lots had in the past. This is magical thinking with rose-tinted glasses.
It's been what, almost a decade? And you are still playing HL2 RP?
In competitive online games, the most vocal bunch are the veteran players and pro players. They often suggest things that makes life harder for newcomers. If we were to judge the state of a Gmod server based on experiences you might have had from a decade ago, chances are, your ideas are disguised elitism.
More interesting Civil Protection, raising the bar of entry to stop newer players from enjoying that faction.
More interesting Rebel RP, a return to exclusive big boys club style of rebel management.
More "lore-fitting" loyalist RP, replacing an "archetype" of loyalists with another, perhaps even more boring "archetype" of characters.
If you are expecting anything substantially better than what Willard has now, I think you are expecting too much. It is pointless to hold this much stock on a Gmod server.
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