- Joined
- Nov 30, 2024
- Messages
- 52
- Thread Author
- #1
Topic/subject: General State of RP
Whom it may concern: General Server with some factions such as MOP.
Summary: TLDR: The administration is promoting a negative-feedback loop of gameplay that comes off as self-defeating to the player-base, especially those who have already dedicated time and effort to the server. This has gotten to the point that numerous players have begun asking: "Why bother?" and drawn down on their hours or plan on leaving entirely. "RP it out" and "Claw your way back up" are the half-hearted statements given in reply that seem to suggest a lack of care or a lack of understanding how the player base will handle this OOCly. If I am going to get kicked over and over again to the point I make zero progress at any time, seriously- "Why bother?"
In depth analysis of the issue:
Please note that this complaint will mention or refer to a few people specifically but this is intended to be a general complaint about the state of RP that is being perpetuated by the Admins / Faction Leads. This isn't meant to be a direct criticism against any one person, rather a complaint on the overall direction that things seems to be trending and how it's not healthy for the server.
I'd like to make it very clear that I understand that HL / HL2 is centered in a dark, dystopian alternative reality where an oppressive force has settled on Earth and that it's meant to be bleak and somewhat punishing. I say that because I fully acknowledge what this game is supposed to be and I think that definition is often used as a basis of misunderstanding or an outright excuse for some of what we're seeing.
As of late there is a reoccurring motif that the players "aren't suffering enough" and that we need to be constantly kicked down over and over again so that we have something to "climb back too". The issue is that these kicks are becoming more and more frequent to the point that I, and a number of other players, are starting to ask: "Why should we bother?" Why should I invest hours of my life when the admins can decide at any point that because something happened that my character has no relationship too: I'm getting punished and set back. On the other hand, even if my character does make a minor slip-up, it's treated as a major issue instead to justify further kicking down. Meanwhile, those at the very top who are administrators holding key positions can flagrantly do far, far worse in open public in direct contradiction to the Combine and there's Zero repercussions. Not even Breen could get away with some of the stuff that's being pulled and yet it's the guys in the middle and the bottom that are being kicked.
Established players have earned their seats and have dedicated a lot of time and effort to get where they are but they're the apparent center focus of getting rolled down the hill at current in favor of new players who, with little to no effort, can surpass them with relative ease. Once again, if all my effort can be invalidated so quickly and easily with or without my input, why bother?
While it's important to "rattle the cage" and make sure that players have something to progress toward, the act of constantly punishing and kicking players down does not "make good RP". The act of punishing players for roleplaying (as seen in instances where civil protection are punished for "fraternization" for issuing verbal warnings and corrective actions instead of just beating someone and moving on- because that's great RP) doesn't come across as intend that "oh, you didn't do it by-the-book so we're punishing you for that" it comes across as: "If you're not perfectly in line with our image we're going to catch you and punish you for it." In one of my conversations with a faction lead on this topic I was told: "You need to be sneaky and try to get away with things then and roll with the punches that you're dealt." Why are characters being encouraged to constantly break the "rules" just to even remotely do their jobs little less something that they're not supposed to do? Just because I dislike someone or the decisions they make, apparently my recourse is that I have to get auths to PK them?
Even outside of that specific instance we've seen repeated attacks by the administration on the Ministry of Progress. Despite the discord server that this took place in being an "Official Server" for Willard, not everyone has access to it so I'll refrain from positing direct commentary from it. It's been made clear that the vision for the MOP was that we're supposed to be "Evil Scientists" despite whatever morals our characters are supposed to have despite us also getting a lot of people who ICly and OOCly criticize the MOP for when they were doing edgy / evil things, thus further creating rifts and issues. The issues with the MOP have gotten to the point that it's been made ICly clear that, despite literally getting tasks from the Benefactors themselves, no one gives two shits about what the MOP wants to accomplish both ICly and OOCly. The MOP has been repeatedly told "No" and "Hold on indefinitely" any time we're attempting to do something significant, meanwhile the CMU and CWU can just march right on ahead if they want to do something that has any amount of significance with the server. At the same time, attempting to do some of our "low priority" projects has resulted in a LOT of pushback from Admins, CPs, Workers, etc. These projects, by design, are supposed to promote RP by including other factions so that we're out of the labs and interacting with people. Instead, we're constantly shut down because the MOP has the lowest priority of any ministry to the point that we have to basically beg our minister to intervene on a regular basis to just let us get things done.
At the same time, we're being told that some of our more significant attempts at projects that could generate entire expeditions and are the culmination of a lot of IC and OOC work don't matter. More and more attempts to get the MOP to do something are shut down while it's been made known to me that there was an attempt to put more issues on the faction for apparently no reason other than to have the faction fall apart.
Meanwhile, I don't feel like I need to point out all the issues with what has recently happened with the loyalists but that was another poorly timed kick that's basically trying to push players to generate grievances and be rebels. Why does the administration seem to bent on telling me to "RP" but at the same time continually pushes my character away from the RP I want. At the same time making it seem like they want to force us to be rebels? Where is my player agency? "Go with the flow of the RP or get kicked in the teeth more" is not agency, that's being narratively railroaded.
Suggestion for improvement: These administrative practices need to be identified and modified if not entirely removed. Those who are attempting to push down factions need to give clarity as to their expectations and make them reasonable, not just try to kill off the faction. Please stop trying to paradoxically "Generate RP" and at the same time kill RP at the same time with these "Kick them in the teeth constantly" measures. It makes people not want to play, not "rebel" or "Try again".
Whom it may concern: General Server with some factions such as MOP.
Summary: TLDR: The administration is promoting a negative-feedback loop of gameplay that comes off as self-defeating to the player-base, especially those who have already dedicated time and effort to the server. This has gotten to the point that numerous players have begun asking: "Why bother?" and drawn down on their hours or plan on leaving entirely. "RP it out" and "Claw your way back up" are the half-hearted statements given in reply that seem to suggest a lack of care or a lack of understanding how the player base will handle this OOCly. If I am going to get kicked over and over again to the point I make zero progress at any time, seriously- "Why bother?"
In depth analysis of the issue:
Please note that this complaint will mention or refer to a few people specifically but this is intended to be a general complaint about the state of RP that is being perpetuated by the Admins / Faction Leads. This isn't meant to be a direct criticism against any one person, rather a complaint on the overall direction that things seems to be trending and how it's not healthy for the server.
I'd like to make it very clear that I understand that HL / HL2 is centered in a dark, dystopian alternative reality where an oppressive force has settled on Earth and that it's meant to be bleak and somewhat punishing. I say that because I fully acknowledge what this game is supposed to be and I think that definition is often used as a basis of misunderstanding or an outright excuse for some of what we're seeing.
As of late there is a reoccurring motif that the players "aren't suffering enough" and that we need to be constantly kicked down over and over again so that we have something to "climb back too". The issue is that these kicks are becoming more and more frequent to the point that I, and a number of other players, are starting to ask: "Why should we bother?" Why should I invest hours of my life when the admins can decide at any point that because something happened that my character has no relationship too: I'm getting punished and set back. On the other hand, even if my character does make a minor slip-up, it's treated as a major issue instead to justify further kicking down. Meanwhile, those at the very top who are administrators holding key positions can flagrantly do far, far worse in open public in direct contradiction to the Combine and there's Zero repercussions. Not even Breen could get away with some of the stuff that's being pulled and yet it's the guys in the middle and the bottom that are being kicked.
Established players have earned their seats and have dedicated a lot of time and effort to get where they are but they're the apparent center focus of getting rolled down the hill at current in favor of new players who, with little to no effort, can surpass them with relative ease. Once again, if all my effort can be invalidated so quickly and easily with or without my input, why bother?
While it's important to "rattle the cage" and make sure that players have something to progress toward, the act of constantly punishing and kicking players down does not "make good RP". The act of punishing players for roleplaying (as seen in instances where civil protection are punished for "fraternization" for issuing verbal warnings and corrective actions instead of just beating someone and moving on- because that's great RP) doesn't come across as intend that "oh, you didn't do it by-the-book so we're punishing you for that" it comes across as: "If you're not perfectly in line with our image we're going to catch you and punish you for it." In one of my conversations with a faction lead on this topic I was told: "You need to be sneaky and try to get away with things then and roll with the punches that you're dealt." Why are characters being encouraged to constantly break the "rules" just to even remotely do their jobs little less something that they're not supposed to do? Just because I dislike someone or the decisions they make, apparently my recourse is that I have to get auths to PK them?
Even outside of that specific instance we've seen repeated attacks by the administration on the Ministry of Progress. Despite the discord server that this took place in being an "Official Server" for Willard, not everyone has access to it so I'll refrain from positing direct commentary from it. It's been made clear that the vision for the MOP was that we're supposed to be "Evil Scientists" despite whatever morals our characters are supposed to have despite us also getting a lot of people who ICly and OOCly criticize the MOP for when they were doing edgy / evil things, thus further creating rifts and issues. The issues with the MOP have gotten to the point that it's been made ICly clear that, despite literally getting tasks from the Benefactors themselves, no one gives two shits about what the MOP wants to accomplish both ICly and OOCly. The MOP has been repeatedly told "No" and "Hold on indefinitely" any time we're attempting to do something significant, meanwhile the CMU and CWU can just march right on ahead if they want to do something that has any amount of significance with the server. At the same time, attempting to do some of our "low priority" projects has resulted in a LOT of pushback from Admins, CPs, Workers, etc. These projects, by design, are supposed to promote RP by including other factions so that we're out of the labs and interacting with people. Instead, we're constantly shut down because the MOP has the lowest priority of any ministry to the point that we have to basically beg our minister to intervene on a regular basis to just let us get things done.
At the same time, we're being told that some of our more significant attempts at projects that could generate entire expeditions and are the culmination of a lot of IC and OOC work don't matter. More and more attempts to get the MOP to do something are shut down while it's been made known to me that there was an attempt to put more issues on the faction for apparently no reason other than to have the faction fall apart.
Meanwhile, I don't feel like I need to point out all the issues with what has recently happened with the loyalists but that was another poorly timed kick that's basically trying to push players to generate grievances and be rebels. Why does the administration seem to bent on telling me to "RP" but at the same time continually pushes my character away from the RP I want. At the same time making it seem like they want to force us to be rebels? Where is my player agency? "Go with the flow of the RP or get kicked in the teeth more" is not agency, that's being narratively railroaded.
Suggestion for improvement: These administrative practices need to be identified and modified if not entirely removed. Those who are attempting to push down factions need to give clarity as to their expectations and make them reasonable, not just try to kill off the faction. Please stop trying to paradoxically "Generate RP" and at the same time kill RP at the same time with these "Kick them in the teeth constantly" measures. It makes people not want to play, not "rebel" or "Try again".
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