The S2K Pandemic; Part 2 | Degrading Roleplay Quality Abroad

[Processed_Grain]

While there is already a thread going on about the fundamental problems regarding S2K-worship on this server, I feel it to be lacking in some places as it purposely avoids some of the more pressing issues regarding player conduct, server culture, and even inequalities regarding how factions operate or fight each other. Issues that -- can only be mended by the system.

Whilst I'll leave most rants and qualms against recent events to the good people of the Willard Networks forums, I will at least briefly mention my side "Point of View".

Across the board, I have time and time again been reminded by both Rebel and Loyalist players by the distinctly terrible, RP-killing, unserious nature of the Liberator Rebel Group, fostered by this very server culture of S2K-worship. I'll skim over it here since I know for a fact someone else will expand upon the finer details, but to surmise:

- The Liberators obviously just did a Mass-RDM attack on a balefully defended Loyalist event. They killed everyone there. Period. This alone should warrant some especially grievous consequences, however I'm told they were given a Warning so, this more applies to their conduct as a group in general.

- The Liberators are full of questionable characters to say the least. As you may know, the member that almost got away with PKing me is a Mortal Kombat villain by the name of Liu Kang just to name one. Some other characters are, frankly, either completely unserious, have no character at all, or are downtrodden 2023-style ethnic stereotype characters (Take 'Bear').

- The Liberators are acredited by both sides of the aisle, both Rebel and Loyalist, for being total roleplay sinkholes. They do not do anything beyond shooting to kill.

I'd like to posit some sensible changes to the current ruleset. Mainly:

- Introduction of Rebel Deployment Limits

- Limits put on certain key faction leads/assistants/members on having characters within the directly opposing faction

- Rewarding Non-S2K venues

- Limits on gear transfers across map changes


(This post has been CO-SIGNED by @Armenian Union and @Omega )

 

[Armenian Union]

​

Armenian's Statement (Wyatt Callaway)

I’ve had a bit to think about how I’ll word this and if I should hold off on some aspects or restrict myself, but I feel the need to speak from a perspective with which I’ve always spoken from, that of passive roleplay. The events in the Presidium Hall highlight where we are right now with Willard Networks. On one side, you have the roleplayers, the people who intend to build stories, expand alliances, passively engage with others, and yes, when it comes to it, and certainly within CCA roleplay, backstab, scheme, and climb your way to the top of the ladder. This is true in every section within the roleplay spheres, whether it's in the rebels, the CCA, the loyalists, the civilians, or the Combine. Every part of these factions has a passive group. On the other end, and this is almost exclusively within the Combine and Rebel factions, there are those who actively disregard roleplay, knowingly or not. They believe that roleplay is an obstacle on Willard Networks that can only be toppled through S2K, and that if we jam enough of it into our roleplay, somehow we can call this "peak roleplay" and be done with the day. I am UTTERLY sick and fucking tired of people telling me that the server makes them do it, no, no, no. You CHOOSE to do this, and most of the time it's in the absence of any passive roleplay within your faction, or your faction lead doesn’t promote any, as he’s also partly to blame for this event as the rebel lead. @Cocohop , who set the bounty for a 2-year-old character on his event character. (Nullwick).



This mass RDM event lays bare the issues with the so-called “roleplay” on Willard Networks right now, if it can even be called that. It’s an amalgamation of people running around with S2Ks and minge yelling “Long live Acerneaux” as they put a bullet into loyalist roleplay and snuff out yet another opportunity for civilian roleplayers to join in on something that might see them rise within the ranks in this server. Instead, in a self-satisfied fit of rage, you RDM’d every single person there.

@Janek Aren’t you the one PKed in that suitcase incident? Here you are asking for balance to be thrown out the window due to your rage.

Coupled with the fact, you (“The Liberators”) went in and RDMed every single person there with poorly written execution /mes (But they were 3 lines bro!!!) -Curbalas as he justifies yet another repression of roleplay on the server with his giant S2K minge rebel faction.


On The Liberators

I’ve been playing Willard since 2023, and I have never seen such a rapid deterioration in roleplay as I have since we moved to Industrial 24. @Curbalas group “The Liberators” is the most anti-roleplay group ever created. They S2K for fun, simply put, their goal is to not promote roleplay but stifle it, snuff it out, and destroy it at every turn. I’ve yet to see a compelling argument from Curbalas about this, and I doubt I ever will without him deflecting about it or outright saying that it is valid, making excuses for the mass RDM of civilians with red armbands.


(Before he says, I cut his message off in bad faith. This cut though is quite a knee slapper, this is his “but”.)

You educated everyone? No rules were broken when a group goes in and quite literally mass RDMs an entire room of people? I’d hate to see what they teach at Curbalas High SchoolTM

Even rebel mainstays who are more RP-focused deride “The Liberators” as an anti-roleplay faction, but are too terrified to actually challenge them as the group is stacked to high heaven with AR2s and weapons that only a slummer could dream of having.


The first step to immediately rectifying the gaping void that is roleplay right now is Curbalas in good faith, as LEADER of this group, telling his people to pause operations and do some fucking passive roleplay for once in a while. This is the same group that caused a JW 3 days in, and now an AJ. It is either that or they get the Partisans treatment and they’re ground down in an endless and bloody S2K wave, which is something I’d obviously not want, but if there’s a continuous refusal to compromise or lower the temperature, then your hand will be forced.

The Death of Roleplay on Willard Networks


The acceptance with which some people have had with this event is outright disgusting, actually ghoulish, when a response to a bunch of passive roleplayers being mass RDMed is “Get good lol”. You forfeit every right after the fact to comment on this issue as you’re troglodyte brain refuses to recognise that this is a roleplay server called “Willard Networks: Serious Half-Life 2 Roleplay” and not “DeepGaming: Semi-Serious Half-Life 2 Roleplay” or “Counter-Strike 2”. By all means, if you want to make it that way, then you’re free to leave serious text-chat roleplay and join one of the many mentioned above, shoot and run away games for the rest of your days. @Knight

The concerning aspect is that this was also signed off by the staff themselves; they looked at the rebel-combine ratio and thought this warrants a breach of the Nexus and a mass RDM event. Perhaps in fairness, they didn’t think the S2K hungry baboons would go and RDM every single member of that hall, but they did. Now we deal with the fallout, which is the death of roleplay on this server. I used to say roleplay would be seconded to S2K, but this is impossible. Roleplay will literally die if S2K is the preferred route for every situation on this server; there is no compromise in which roleplay is even relevant in a situation where S2K is the main narrative choice. It’s the death of roleplay on “Willard Networks: Serious Half-Life 2 Roleplay”.

The substance of said "roleplay" in such a scenario is uncapitalised messages, misspellings of names, poorly constructed descriptions, and sloppily written borderline racist/minge portrayals of non-white characters/ethnic characters or characters named after video games. Is this what Willard Networks is destined to be? From a once thriving roleplay hub in which the roleplay of others is valued and each story is carefully constructed to afford fairness where possible, to a cesspit of S2K hungry Combine VS Rebel with binded S2K messages for whenever there is an OUNCE of roleplay required to kill someone, they slothfully have to ctrl+v into their text box to ensure that another holdout of roleplay is finally eliminated. God forbid it remain the case in which people wish to continue to roleplay on this server when we have people so destined to annihilate in totality.

Unless the Server Council and staff take a long, hard look at what the current state of roleplay is on this server and make some changes, then we’re in for many months more of this.

“This is peak roleplay...no?”


Willard Networks has vastly deviated from the traditional lore of HL2. Rightfully so, it’s bare bones and requires additions. I’m not here to argue about whether or not Willard should pull more toward the more realistic/brutal aspect of Combine rule or the more relaxed version we currently have. I’m here to argue that even in the current setting of Willard Networks, the roleplay standards fall far below what is considered realistic in this tepid version. Excluding outright obvious minges, the playerbase does not acknowledge the current state of humanity. Despite everything, Willard does still stick to the main HL2 lore. The portal storms and the accompanying 7 Hour War ravaged Earth and killed hundreds of millions, if not more. The species is on its deathbed after 21+ years of occupation, and the population of Earth is rapidly decreasing. If I were a simple citizen barely scraping by, and my choice is the so-called “Resistance”, who I hear from other citizens that they massacred a hall of people, I’d be quite literally depressed as to the current state of humanity when the supposed “liberators” (pun intended) are those that care not for trying to convince, leaflet or show the good side of the “Resistance” but kill, maim and murder their own species in the name of the "Resistance." Between the choice of an evil alien empire intent on making humanity extinct and an actual terrorist group, there is no actual viable option for humanity at the moment.

Humanity is on death's door, and some people treat it so lackadaisically. It should be a world of survival and internal struggle with your own soul. Instead, it ends up being some mash-up of some interconnected friend group drama or the pursuit of romantic relationships or outright erotic roleplay in some cases. There is no actual substance in the roleplay, nothing whatsoever that has any actual meaning.

Despite Everything


With all that being said, I believe Willard Networks no longer cares or wants to cater to roleplay but rather sanctions the repression of it. In that sentiment, I intend to leave Willard Networks. Rejoice, non-roleplayers, as you evict yet another person who intended to promote passive roleplay and play an active character who carried the loyalist scene and CCA faction on my back for 5 months.


To those who rejoice over my departure:


Drown in your S2K slop, which you perpetuate.

Drown in your minge characters.

Drown in your empty, soulless roleplay.

Drown in your dead civilian faction.

Drown in your uninspiring, convoluted lore.

Drown in your staff favouritism.

Drown in your eternal arguments and divisions with no solutions.

Drown in your ERP.

And most of all, drown in the so-called “roleplay” that you think you are making on this server. A fictitious thought upon which your minds have deluded themselves into believing.


This is not roleplay.


For those who are actual roleplayers and intend to keep roleplaying on Willard Networks and I wish you the best of luck. Know that what you are doing is right against all the odds, and despite everything you will always be right. Never apologise for trying to drag this server out of the sewers and bring it up to the standards with which any normal roleplayer would hold for “serious” roleplay.

You are right in your cause.

It will always be right.

 

[nora]

the central issue, i think, is that the staff constantly chooses the easy way and decides to have the entire story be built on s2k alone. from OG i24 the narrative has solely been decided by which cs2 junkie is faster than the other, completely ignoring the, you know, serious roleplay part of the server. the fact that this rdmfest wasn't instantly voided should be telling of how much roleplay is valued by staff members, let alone that some even actively participated in this and wrote the worst /mes known to man

i can't even really blame the rebels too much. they've been conditioned into believing that s2k is the only way to go, and it pretty much is, because all other avenues are closed. infiltration is unappealing, any change thru political rp is going to get shot down instantly, the events are worse rebrands of previous ones and are ultimately decided by staff as opposed to the players, etc. each time a rebel got uppity and decided to waste a cca character, they were rewarded for it.

frankly, this situation will only worsen unless the staff get off their ass and start fundamentally changing the framework of the server. this is nigh untenable and for any reasonable server it should be a source of concern that you have rebels going "we don't want to roleplay with loyalists" actually and vice versa.

of course, all that we'll get from staff is a "we'll fix it in v3!" and some cosmetic changes that'll tide you over until the next giant controversy.

 

[NanCi_]

Yall be typing in the complaint thread thinking something will be fixed in the big v3 or v2

 

[melodicwaste]

​

Armenian's Statement (Wyatt Callaway)

I’ve had a bit to think about how I’ll word this and if I should hold off on some aspects or restrict myself, but I feel the need to speak from a perspective with which I’ve always spoken from, that of passive roleplay. The events in the Presidium Hall highlight where we are right now with Willard Networks. On one side, you have the roleplayers, the people who intend to build stories, expand alliances, passively engage with others, and yes, when it comes to it, and certainly within CCA roleplay, backstab, scheme, and climb your way to the top of the ladder. This is true in every section within the roleplay spheres, whether it's in the rebels, the CCA, the loyalists, the civilians, or the Combine. Every part of these factions has a passive group. On the other end, and this is almost exclusively within the Combine and Rebel factions, there are those who actively disregard roleplay, knowingly or not. They believe that roleplay is an obstacle on Willard Networks that can only be toppled through S2K, and that if we jam enough of it into our roleplay, somehow we can call this "peak roleplay" and be done with the day. I am UTTERLY sick and fucking tired of people telling me that the server makes them do it, no, no, no. You CHOOSE to do this, and most of the time it's in the absence of any passive roleplay within your faction, or your faction lead doesn’t promote any, as he’s also partly to blame for this event as the rebel lead. @Cocohop , who set the bounty for a 2-year-old character on his event character. (Nullwick).

View attachment 48032

This mass RDM event lays bare the issues with the so-called “roleplay” on Willard Networks right now, if it can even be called that. It’s an amalgamation of people running around with S2Ks and minge yelling “Long live Acerneaux” as they put a bullet into loyalist roleplay and snuff out yet another opportunity for civilian roleplayers to join in on something that might see them rise within the ranks in this server. Instead, in a self-satisfied fit of rage.

@Janek Aren’t you the one PKed in that suitcase incident? Here you are asking for balance to be thrown out the window due to your rage.
View attachment 48033
Coupled with the fact, you (“The Liberators”) went in and RDMed every single person there with poorly written execution /mes (But they were 3 lines bro!!!) -Curbalas as he justifies yet another repression of roleplay on the server with his giant S2K minge rebel faction.
View attachment 48034

On The Liberators

I’ve been playing Willard since 2023, and I have never seen such a rapid deterioration in roleplay as I have since we moved to Industrial 24. @Curbalas group “The Liberators” is the most anti-roleplay group ever created. They S2K for fun, simply put, their goal is to not promote roleplay but stifle it, snuff it out, and destroy it at every turn. I’ve yet to see a compelling argument from Curbalas about this, and I doubt I ever will without him deflecting about it or outright saying that it is valid, making excuses for the mass RDM of civilians with red armbands.
View attachment 48035
View attachment 48036
(Before he says, I cut his message off in bad faith. This cut though is quite a knee slapper, this is his “but”.)
View attachment 48037
You educated everyone? No rules were broken when a group goes in and quite literally mass RDMs an entire room of people? I’d hate to see what they teach at Curbalas High SchoolTM

Even rebel mainstays who are more RP-focused deride “The Liberators” as an anti-roleplay faction, but are too terrified to actually challenge them as the group is stacked to high heaven with AR2s and weapons that only a slummer could dream of having.
View attachment 48038

The first step to immediately rectifying the gaping void that is roleplay right now is Curbalas in good faith, as LEADER of this group, telling his people to pause operations and do some fucking passive roleplay for once in a while. This is the same group that caused a JW 3 days in, and now an AJ. It is either that or they get the Partisans treatment and they’re ground down in an endless and bloody S2K wave, which is something I’d obviously not want, but if there’s a continuous refusal to compromise or lower the temperature, then your hand will be forced.

The Death of Roleplay on Willard Networks


The acceptance with which some people have had with this event is outright disgusting, actually ghoulish, when a response to a bunch of passive roleplayers being mass RDMed is “Get good lol”. You forfeit every right after the fact to comment on this issue as you’re troglodyte brain refuses to recognise that this is a roleplay server called “Willard Networks: Serious Half-Life 2 Roleplay” and not “DeepGaming: Semi-Serious Half-Life 2 Roleplay” or “Counter-Strike 2”. By all means, if you want to make it that way, then you’re free to leave serious text-chat roleplay and join one of the many mentioned above, shoot and run away games for the rest of your days. @Knight
View attachment 48039
The concerning aspect is that this was also signed off by the staff themselves; they looked at the rebel-combine ratio and thought this warrants a breach of the Nexus and a mass RDM event. Perhaps in fairness, they didn’t think the S2K hungry baboons would go and RDM every single member of that hall, but they did. Now we deal with the fallout, which is the death of roleplay on this server. I used to say roleplay would be seconded to S2K, but this is impossible. Roleplay will literally die if S2K is the preferred route for every situation on this server; there is no compromise in which roleplay is even relevant in a situation where S2K is the main narrative choice. It’s the death of roleplay on “Willard Networks: Serious Half-Life 2 Roleplay”.

The substance of said "roleplay" in such a scenario is uncapitalised messages, misspellings of names, poorly constructed descriptions, and sloppily written borderline racist/minge portrayals of non-white characters/ethnic characters or characters named after video games. Is this what Willard Networks is destined to be? From a once thriving roleplay hub in which the roleplay of others is valued and each story is carefully constructed to afford fairness where possible, to a cesspit of S2K hungry Combine VS Rebel with binded S2K messages for whenever there is an OUNCE of roleplay required to kill someone, they slothfully have to ctrl+v into their text box to ensure that another holdout of roleplay is finally eliminated. God forbid it remain the case in which people wish to continue to roleplay on this server when we have people so destined to annihilate in totality.

Unless the Server Council and staff take a long, hard look at what the current state of roleplay is on this server and make some changes, then we’re in for many months more of this.

“This is peak roleplay...no?”


Willard Networks has vastly deviated from the traditional lore of HL2. Rightfully so, it’s bare bones and requires additions. I’m not here to argue about whether or not Willard should pull more toward the more realistic/brutal aspect of Combine rule or the more relaxed version we currently have. I’m here to argue that even in the current setting of Willard Networks, the roleplay standards fall far below what is considered realistic in this tepid version. Excluding outright obvious minges, the playerbase does not acknowledge the current state of humanity. Despite everything, Willard does still stick to the main HL2 lore. The portal storms and the accompanying 7 Hour War ravaged Earth and killed hundreds of millions, if not more. The species is on its deathbed after 21+ years of occupation, and the population of Earth is rapidly decreasing. If I were a simple citizen barely scraping by, and my choice is the so-called “Resistance”, who I hear from other citizens that they massacred a hall of people, I’d be quite literally depressed as to the current state of humanity when the supposed “liberators” (pun intended) are those that care not for trying to convince, leaflet or show the good side of the “Resistance” but kill, maim and murder their own species in the name of the "Resistance." Between the choice of an evil alien empire intent on making humanity extinct and an actual terrorist group, there is no actual viable option for humanity at the moment.

Humanity is on death's door, and some people treat it so lackadaisically. It should be a world of survival and internal struggle with your own soul. Instead, it ends up being some mash-up of some interconnected friend group drama or the pursuit of romantic relationships or outright erotic roleplay in some cases. There is no actual substance in the roleplay, nothing whatsoever that has any actual meaning.

Despite Everything


With all that being said, I believe Willard Networks no longer cares or wants to cater to roleplay but rather sanctions the repression of it. In that sentiment, I intend to leave Willard Networks. Rejoice, non-roleplayers, as you evict yet another person who intended to promote passive roleplay and play an active character who carried the loyalist scene and CCA faction on my back for 5 months.


To those who rejoice over my departure:


Drown in your S2K slop, which you perpetuate.

Drown in your minge characters.

Drown in your empty, soulless roleplay.

Drown in your dead civilian faction.

Drown in your uninspiring, convoluted lore.

Drown in your staff favouritism.

Drown in your eternal arguments and divisions with no solutions.

Drown in your ERP.

And most of all, drown in the so-called “roleplay” that you think you are making on this server. A fictitious thought upon which your minds have deluded themselves into believing.


This is not roleplay.


For those who are actual roleplayers and intend to keep roleplaying on Willard Networks and I wish you the best of luck. Know that what you are doing is right against all the odds, and despite everything you will always be right. Never apologise for trying to drag this server out of the sewers and bring it up to the standards with which any normal roleplayer would hold for “serious” roleplay.

You are right in your cause.

It will always be right.

mass exodus if these people dont step up their game dude

 

[MrTuki]

Gang just wait for V3 the server is literally dying anyways.

 

[Processed_Grain]

Gang just wait for V3 the server is literally dying anyways.

I accept... Nothing.

 

[Inspector Orlok]

 

[Thepillar]

Hi Grain, Union.

I appreciate you taking the time taken to write out concerns regarding the Liberators and the broader issue of “S2K-Worship.”

That said, I find several claims here either overstated, missing context, or outright misrepresentative of how things actually play out in practice.

Allow me to respond point-by-point.

Firstly, as for the "S2K-Worship" being fostered on the server is drivel, frankly. Willard is far removed from the "Serious RP" clockwork days of old. It's even branded as an RPG -- With the S2K system in place for the better, in my opinion.

Nobody wants to sit down and type out 500 turns of /me shoots, and argue about ballistics for several hours.


Secondly, for the "Mass-RDM" Accusation is a complete mischaracterization of what actually happened.

This is either a painful misunderstanding of the finer details or -- Either to push your own narrative or agenda and simply from being bitter (understandibly so) from the situation.

It WAS NOT just some random (hence RDM) attack. In-Character, our group and the wider resistance has been trying to assassinate Callaway for months as the origional target.

Yet if you are going to have annoucements City-Wide that are detailing ongoing loyalist support groups and wider conference, you are going to paint a target on your back, case closed.

Looking at this from a roleplay perspective, you have people literally willing to bend the knee to a quasi-fascist Alien empire -- Deemed as traitors to humanity.

Do you think you are meant to be safe from all sorts of consequences from this? Nonsense.

You put your faith in the Combine, and they failed to protect you.


There HAVE BEEN consequences. Are we going to just avoid talking about the 900+ HP Synths (12 of them, at least that were deployed btw.) As well as the 20+ OTA in waves, and Combine sweeps of the sewers thereafter?

The Combine S2Ker's suck, and lost. That's the outcome.

You don't have to like it, but it's the story that was played out despite the best efforts of staff and the Combine faction doing everything in their power to stamp out the situation.

Third, as for your point of the Liberators being full of "Questionable Characters"...

It's not uncommon that people adopt Larger-Than-Life identities for their characters. Some people play the same character they always have, others are tenured to high-hell and live past experinces that would kill or mentally ruin most.

It is a game, after all.

Equating that with a blanket lack of seriousness is unfair.

Loyalist factions are not free of flamboyant or meme-adjacent characters either, and yet those instances are rarely painted as systemic.

For fucks sake, we literally have a guy named Orwell. Be real.

You may dislike the way people play their characters, but it goes into a complete disrespect when you misunderstand or don't roleplay with them beyond that -- Nor is it descriptive of the wider group.

Myself as "Whiskers" on the Liberator's is a fantastic example of this, being able to both S2K and roleplay.

But even those you listed as a sort of GOTCHA goes to show your blatant misunderstanding of the players and their characters.

Bear has been around for nearly a year now -- And of course playing into the angry-Russian sterotype, but you also don't see the other comedy half his character brings, or the pure intimidation factor he provides -- Not the crucial role he plays in mentoring newer members of the group as seen with Serbian or Fisch as recent examples.

As for "Lui Kang", sure -- it's a Mortal Kombat name, but even a modecum of research can see that it was meant to be a typical East-Asian sounding name -- One that rolls on the fantasynamegeneratrs for Chinese, btw.

Chang, as he is better known as his moniker -- Is also one of our chefs and provides great meals along with Zimo for our faction.

So please, do not speak on the players or their character as if you know them beyond broad strokes.

As for the so-called "Roleplay Sinkhole"? You really don't get it, do you?

Our group is spread out across the United States, Europe, and parts of Asia. Timezones exist, yet we still try to find time to play with eachother.

But chalking this up as "Doing nothing beyond shooting to kill" is again, indicitive of a lack of understanding of people's lives, as well as the systemic problems within the server regarding rebel roleplay.

See: 9/11 attack of Junktown.

Of course most people don't want to log in alone to get targeted by random OTA sweeps, Hunters, or OOC bullshit so they end up PK'd.

It's a simple matter of strength in numbers.

What else are end-game rebels supposed to do with max gear? Sit around in a meta-base with dicks in our hands and wait?

I have been BEGGING the rebel leads and event teams for expos, which has been dry for 4+ months at least.

So while I do agree with some points you bring; allow me to address your changes to the ruleset:

1: No rules were broken in the attack. You signed up to join Alien-N@zi's, you're going to be a target.

2: As for the introduction of rebel deployment limits? How do you even begin policing semi-autonomos characters like that? It's much different from faceless OTA soldiers who can go in and die.

Also, the Combine don't even abide by their own deployment rules. That issue should be addressed first.

3: As for the limits of key-players/leads having characters that are on the contrary side? This would be a good discussion, but as a person who believes in player freedom and agency -- This doesn't sit right with me... and only furthers the polarization on the server further.

4: Rewarding non-s2k venues...! I totally agree. As a leader, many members of my faction would love an outlet to safely roleplay in or simply shoot things without risk of bullshit. Though as mentioned prior, there has been no expos really for 4+ months.

Why be upset at people making their own roleplay and stories?

5: Limit's on gear transfers -- No opinion on this. Would have to be discussed among staff and leads, though it does make sense on paper, in practice if the Combine have and endless well to draw things from -- It's only fair rebels do the same.

How would this also be enforced if we continually do map changes? Seems like a shit-end of the deal for rebel players to gather resources, only to be punished for OOC or arbitrary map switches.

Hope this helps provide more context to the matter.

 

[The Sniper]

This is an issue that plagues both sides sadly... you could say that the loyalists got the treatment that Rebel players has gotten for quite a few years. That does not make it right. I know that Curbalas is an innovative and caring guy, who wants the best for the rebel scene and the whole server alike. Sadly... I believe it is a problem with mentality, staff burn-out and a distancing between the two scenes that has been taking place for like a year or two now.

Truth be told, we're all on the same side here. We should all encourage narrative-focused story-telling for all sides, including the civil population; they are the masses, the proles with the decision to go whatever they want. As it stands at the moment, there really isn't a strong middleground; it is a dualistic scenery split between the Combine Vs Rebel faction, while it should be focused entirely upon telling a story that doesn't leave someone out.

This isn't a fault that lies somewhere specific, except for the playerbase mentality. Break the mentality, foster roleplay and narrative.... hell.... formulate rules that are meant to foster intriguing and intensive narrative over quick-buck shorts that leaves everyone feeling like they've got a hole in their stomach. It is difficult, yes-... and perhaps even radical for some.

And the most important thing is to remember that we are all on the same side... you wouldn't believe the divide if you haven't seen it. Something tells me it is just as important for a rebel player to experience the Combine-side, as it is for a Scrombine-player to experience the Rebel/civ side. In the end, it is up to each and one of us to make a change really and not the staff...


--->

+ Promote narrative over player-vs-player action, whilst still keeping to grassbased player interaction.
+ Lessen the PK policy over narrative.
+ Drive forth a campaign to recruit more ET for event/expos for the whole playerbase to be accommodated.

 

[Armenian Union]

It's even branded as an RPG

Nobody wants to sit down and type out 500 turns of /me shoots,

Very little effort to execute a 2-year character misepelling his name. This is sloppy.

Secondly, for the "Mass-RDM" Accusation is a complete mischaracterization of what actually happened.

People've been banned for it now, so it was RDM.

Either to push your own narrative

Bad faith statement.

wider resistance has been trying to assassinate Callaway for months as the origional target.

You killed a hall of people in addition to me + PKing Consulate-General Cross and Vice-Consulate Erama.

Yet if you are going to have annoucements City-Wide that are detailing ongoing loyalist support groups and wider conference, you are going to paint a target on your back, case closed.

There was mass prep prior to this announcement, don't kid yourself. Multiple crossed wires suggest metagame was afoot.

You put your faith in the Combine, and they failed to protect you.

Failed by playing rebel characters btw.

There HAVE BEEN consequences. Are we going to just avoid talking about the 900+ HP Synths (12 of them, at least that were deployed btw.) As well as the 20+ OTA in waves, and Combine sweeps of the sewers thereafter?

You assassinated three CCA figures. Justified response.

The Combine S2Ker's suck, and lost. That's the outcome.

See Knight's message above. You sound just like him lol.

Larger-Than-Life identities

Borderline minge identities*

Loyalist factions are not free of flamboyant or meme-adjacent characters either, and yet those instances are rarely painted as systemic.

We don't do shotcops and S2K. We're a passive faction. There is no equivocation either. You are 100x worse than any reference a loyalist character has said.

See: 9/11 attack of Junktown.

That complaint thread was dunked on btw. That raid was justified.

I have been BEGGING the rebel leads and event teams for expos, which has been dry for 4+ months at least.

Rebel issue, sort your faction leads out then.

1: No rules were broken in the attack. You signed up to join Alien-N@zi's, you're going to be a target.

Mass RDM'd a hall. People were banned from this incident.

in practice if the Combine have and endless well to draw things from -- It's only fair rebels do the same.

You are the underdogs, you are not the Combine.

 

[Thepillar]

To address you more so, @Armenian Union,

I’ll start by saying this: your frustration are valid in a sense.

We all care about roleplay, and we all want Willard to be a server where characters matter, stories develop, and conflict feels weighty.

Where we differ, however, is in how you characterize recent events and the people involved.

Much of your post takes an emotional snapshot and inflates it into a sweeping condemnation of an entire faction and playstyle, which misses the complexity of what actually happened.

As highlighted above in my previous posting -- Many points are addressed there, but for the sake of consistency:

Calling the Presidium Hall attack “Mass-RDM” is factually wrong.

This was not a random shooting spree disconnected from the narrative -- it was a planned, coordinated Rebel strike against Callaway.

Rebels are terrorists, insurgents, and saboteurs.

A sudden, violent assault is not “RDM” -- it’s consistent with their identity and tactics.

The fact that it disrupted a Loyalist-centered event does not erase the RP logic behind it.

Sometimes roleplay includes loss, disruption, and tragedy -- not just tidy, controlled events that you get to control.

It's about storytelling with a wider group of players.

All actions have consequences for both sides. You signed up to serve an Alien Empire -- You are not exempt from the risks taken with this role.

On your painting The Liberators as the “most anti-roleplay group ever created” ignores that they have consistently engaged in faction diplomacy, built arcs, and played the destruction of Loyalist and Combine structures.

Just because we don’t roleplay in the way you prefer (drawn-out salons of scheming and speechmaking) doesn’t mean they aren’t roleplaying.

Shooting is not the absence of RP -- it is one expression of it, especially in the Half-Life setting defined by insurgency.

While you may not enjoy, or participate in that aspect of the game, there's a reason this is on Gmod with whole crafting and shootings systems involved, and not a fourm/discord roleplay.

To claim that Rebel players are uniquely unserious because someone picked a flashy name or archetype is selective outrage.

Loyalist, CCA, and even Combine sides all have their share of over-the-top characters. Singling out Rebels for it only highlights bias that I have discussed in my other posting to Grain.

You suggest The Liberators should “pause operations” and roleplay passively until further notice.

That is not a solution -- that is neutering one of the few factions keeping conflict alive -- And even in attempts to do so, you are just wishing to punish players for making their own story.

Passive RP and S2K-driven RP are not opposites; they coexist.

Rebels roleplay in the outlands, sewers, safehouses, and meetings to strike.

And they conduct raids.

CCA and Loyalists roleplay in offices, parties, and speeches and they collude with the Combine tolaunch patrols and crackdowns, shelling campaigns, and sweeps.

Pretending only one style is legitimate is dishonest.

I don’t doubt your love for the server, but your post frames a single event as proof of systemic collapse and then blames one faction for the so-called “death of roleplay.”

That kind of absolutism doesn’t help.

The Liberators aren’t perfect, but they aren’t some outlandish demonic force sent to dismantle immersion.

We are doing exactly what Rebels are supposed to do: disrupt, challenge, and force others to adapt.

If the only acceptable RP is the kind where Rebels lose politely and Loyalists and Combine get uninterrupted ceremonies, then the story becomes hollow.

Conflict is messy. Sometimes it’s unfair. Sometimes it ruins carefully laid plans. That isn’t the death of RP -- that is RP.

I just hope that you can see it that way.

 

[Fregiscard]

The english folks didn't lied when they said "The true combat is on the forum", holy molly...

 

[Processed_Grain]

Calling the Presidium Hall attack “Mass-RDM” is factually wrong.

The CP lead @bravo has been banned for 30 days for Mass-RDM for his part in this attack. This is false.

 

[Goulashnikov]

I'll start off with what I said in a different thread about how, as someone on the outside-looking in, views what occured the other day:

I was looking forward to seeing how ConGen played out, and it was the reason why I decided to return to Willard so I could watch the binders play politics and see how I could interact as a citizen.

Seeing several staff members being involved in ending the ConGen before it even began is that my expectations for Citizen RP on Willard is that you will die in a staff-sanctioned mass RDM incident and be mocked on the discord for saying you wanted to RP.

I did not lose a character on Saturday, nor was I even in the crowd of tier-1s gunned down. But just seeing the reaction to this event has made me rethink whether returning to Willard is actually worth my time. @Omega spent a week planning this meeting, I assume the planning for ConGen took even longer, and the meeting was poised to create an afternoon of interesting passive citizen roleplay. This was all thrown out the window for a short few minutes of chaotic shooting and borderline mass-RDM. A mass shooting that a handful of staff members either took part in, or came to the very vocal defense of, staff members who should know the mantra of "How does this enhance roleplay?" by now. As I mentioned in the screenshot @Armenian Union posted, how did this event enhance roleplay? An entire player-created, player-led mini-faction that revolved around the most neglected faction on the server (Citizens) put into the dirt before it even began by a faction that, via poor server design, survives, thrives even, without interacting with the other 2/3rds of the server aside from a few shootouts.

As a passive RPer, you will die in a staff-sanctioned mass-RDM event and be mocked for saying you wanted to passive RP.

However, aside from some very obvious bad actors who I'm sure will make themselves known in this thread soon enough, I do not blame the rebel faction for acting this way. The setting of HL2 alone is not conducive to non-combat roleplay. This is made even worse when rebels are not allowed to majorly affect the storyline of the server, the situation in the city, or even properly fund/arm their groups in ways aside from shooting shit.

In V3, this song and dance will repeat unless there are major changes to how players can affect the story, to how rebels can interact with the city, and I'd go as far as to say even the time period the server is set.

Below in the spoiler is something specific about @Cocohop, of which I'm not sure if I have all the facts, so I'll spoiler it.

Spoiler

From my understanding, @Cocohop, used an event character to place a bounty on Callaway, which I presume was to be paid out in chips not earned by Coco's character through roleplay but instead spawned in via admin commands. Please do correct me if I'm wrong Coco. If this is the case, I am of the opinion that it should not have been allowed.

I do not want to disparage Cocohop, as compared to previous Rebel leads, I think he is genuine in his attempts to make the Rebel scene a positive part of Willard(unlike the previous lead in 2024, who used the rebels as his personal attack dogs and encouraged rule-breaking in a vain attempt to get back at the server staff.) and from the little I've seen he seems to be a good guy. But this is not what the rebel lead should be doing with what I've been told is an event character. If a group of rebels wants to assassinate a member of the CCA, have it be for roleplay reasons and not because a member of the staff put a bounty on their head. The Liberators may claim they killed three members of the CCA for "spreading anti-resistance propaganda," but even if that is true, the bounty only spurs this kind of behavior. If this were a bounty placed by a player who had naturally earned the chips to pay it out, then fine, I'm all for player agency. A member of staff placing the bounty on an event character in an attempt to give rebels an artificial goal, however, is poor server craftsmanship. And again, if I am incorrect in my presumptions and Cocohop's character is not an event character, earned the chips he planned to use for the bounty via gameplay, and had an IC reason to place the bounty, then I'll retract the above.

 

[Curbalas]

Across the board, I have time and time again been reminded by both Rebel and Loyalist players by the distinctly terrible, RP-killing, unserious nature of the Liberator Rebel Group, fostered by this very server culture of S2K-worship. I'll skim over it here since I know for a fact someone else will expand upon the finer details, but to surmise:

"Unserious" nature of the Liberators is such a false statement that it only shows distaste against our group without any reasoning other than the fact that we have changed the status quo of the server, which people tend to cause a lot of trouble as the status quo is harmed, shown by many occasions on this server.

- The Liberators obviously just did a Mass-RDM attack on a balefully defended Loyalist event. They killed everyone there. Period. This alone should warrant some especially grievous consequences, however I'm told they were given a Warning so, this more applies to their conduct as a group in general.

The Liberators did not do a Mass-RDM attack on the Loyalist event, the aim was not to kill the random citizens but rather every cop, MCP, or CCA we came across. It was an assasination. Yes, stuff did go other way but the goal was achieved, out of the many rebels that was in there room the goal was a success.

- Some other characters are, frankly, either completely unserious, have no character at all, or are downtrodden 2023-style ethnic stereotype characters (Take 'Bear').

You absolutely have no right on insulting the characters of my group members at any cost, all you have been doing that you have tried to show yourself that you were superior by writing "esoteric, aesthetic, weird" characters which I do not say anything, but that does not give you any kinds of right on what a right character is and what isn't. You have your choice of roleplays, same as others. You cannot insult my Bear because Plumber insulted his character due to not knowing the detailed background of the character which I will not state, due to the fact that it is a knowledge you can learn ICly if people try to roleplay with us instead of hating on us OOCly 24/7.

- The Liberators are acredited by both sides of the aisle, both Rebel and Loyalist, for being total roleplay sinkholes. They do not do anything beyond shooting to kill.

Fully wrong. We are not roleplay sinkholes nor we do shooting to kill only, the people who claim that are the same people who disliked this group since its formation OOCly, and they are the loud minority that keeps claiming we do not roleplay and we are only S2K-hungry players. That is completely false and fully slander. Some of our members are not the prime pinnacle of roleplay, but that doesn't mean they don't. They just roleplay different and sometimes worse than most, which absolutely does not give ANYONE the right to slander my players.

- Introduction of Rebel Deployment Limits

The rebels are encouraged to do guerilla warfare, in a world where Rebel Deployment Limits were needed, it would be a world where 2 shotcops happened in a day, which would be total war, the rebels do not do any attacks without ensuring the safety of their own, which is gained with numbers.

- Limits put on certain key faction leads/assistants/members on having characters within the directly opposing faction

We are limiting players' from doing the type of roleplay they want now. Really bad take and not thoughtful at all, you are basically offering to force people to play one side and that faction only because they have been good at managing that faction and helping the server's health by doing so. Why punish them for that?

- Rewarding Non-S2K venues

I agree. They suck right now.

- Limits on gear transfers across map changes

Limit the deployments done by the "opposing faction" as you stated, then it would be sensible. The constat shadow sweeps done by CPs and OTA would be killing the rebel faction, you would want that probably.

there are those who actively disregard roleplay, knowingly or not. They believe that roleplay is an obstacle on Willard Networks that can only be toppled through S2K, and that if we jam enough of it into our roleplay, somehow we can call this "peak roleplay" and be done with the day.

There are no one who disregard roleplay, but the ones who do different kinds of roleplay. In a room with high value targets and constant shooting would result in an S2K due to the rules of the server and the nature of the scene.

I am UTTERLY sick and fucking tired of people telling me that the server makes them do it, no, no, no. You CHOOSE to do this, and most of the time it's in the absence of any passive roleplay within your faction,

The server is designed like this, we do passive roleplay within the Resistance and we have to conduct armed operations that includes gunning down important targets (CPs, HVTs, OTA, Synthetics) to improve the standing of the Resistance on the "would Rebels win or Combine" scale. You are oblivious to the fact that all these are rewarded according to the rules and we have done nothing but progress our attempts on LIBERATING, yes it did kill some people. But this server has PKs, I personally lost three or four characters of my own which I loved dearly. I accepted it.

or your faction lead doesn’t promote any, as he’s also partly to blame for this event as the rebel lead. @@Cocohop , who set the bounty for a 2-year-old character on his event character.

You absolutely have no right to insult Cocohop at all, you are no different than him as you kept harming the slummers by implementing anti-Resistance legislations and anti-Slum legislations, and you cannot tell me "it was forced to us!!" same thing happened to you with the MCP, but you went so far with them and even tried couping them. You simply accepted this change because you wanted it. You have shown clear distaste against rebel players in the past as seen by your messages in the underground server and the SecCon server. You have an OOC anti-rebel bias which you take it IC.



This really shows a lot from a someone who was "leading the CCA and Citizens to Peak" while insulting anyone who disagreed with you and insulting anyone whose actions affected you negatively ICly. You do all these OOCly and take them ICly, which is quite saddening to see from someone who is the "most elite superior roleplayer" ever.​

minge yelling “Long live Acerneaux”

You absolutely do not know the lore and the ideas of the Resistance group and I will not bother explaining you this. That was not minge yelling but the part of our roleplay as the Liberators. If you want an explanation find a Liberator ICly and ask them about Arceneaux, and spell his name right. That is the same "mistake" you stated we do for your name. And you can check our base in no clip for the posters for him.

they put a bullet into loyalist roleplay and snuff out yet another opportunity for civilian roleplayers to join in on something that might see them rise within the ranks in this server. Instead, in a self-satisfied fit of rage.

I would like to give an honest example for this situation. This has happened yes, and there is no reversing it anymore. But was this any different than any witness sterilizations that Combine does after rebels do something to the city? Wouldn't you claim that to be anti-RP. And yes, I claim both of those situations to be the same case since they both end with NLR with full refund, so no one's character development would be affected by the shootings if they died, whether witness sterilization or "this".

Coupled with the fact, you (“The Liberators”) went in and RDMed every single person there with poorly written execution /mes (But they were 3 lines bro!!!) -Curbalas as he justifies yet another repression of roleplay on the server with his giant S2K minge rebel faction.

The poorly written execution lines are found poorly by the ones who has never experienced S2K and the stress of taking too much time, I would like to state an example on what happens if too much time is taken as stated in the screenshot:

The Front was wiped because they were writing a /me for too long instead of hastily, their entire group was wiped and they were forced to start from zero because of this. And our /me's were not low-quality nor against the rules of the PK policy, as they were ALL WRITTEN on the spot with no "binds" as you falsely state with no evidence to back, they were enough and usable for executions during S2K.

I’ve been playing Willard since 2023, and I have never seen such a rapid deterioration in roleplay as I have since we moved to Industrial 24. @@Curbalas group “The Liberators” is the most anti-roleplay group ever created. They S2K for fun, simply put, their goal is to not promote roleplay but stifle it, snuff it out, and destroy it at every turn. I’ve yet to see a compelling argument from Curbalas about this, and I doubt I ever will without him deflecting about it or outright saying that it is valid, making excuses for the mass RDM of civilians with red armbands.

Our goal is to enjoy the server while promoting roleplay, and if S2K is a way of promoting roleplay we will be doing so. As you stated, this will change the opinions of some citizens in-regards to the Resistance. Use that ICly, we did what we did, and we wish to feel the consequences.

No roleplay was stiffled, but modified to a different path that they have to take now due to the deaths, we are not "anti-roleplay" because we changed the path of your roleplay, that is how roleplay works. Not everything goes according to plan, does it now?

You educated everyone? No rules were broken when a group goes in and quite literally mass RDMs an entire room of people? I’d hate to see what they teach at Curbalas High SchoolTM

The plan happened normally, some members went out of their way from the plan but IC was IC. We will feel the consequences of such actions afterwards. I would like to also claim that witness sterilizations are Mass RDM since they also get NLR full refund after being killed. The people in that room were in support of the very same CCA who Liberators were trying to assasinate.


False, as I stated above. Falsee slaaandeeer.

Even rebel mainstays who are more RP-focused deride “The Liberators” as an anti-roleplay faction, but are too terrified to actually challenge them as the group is stacked to high heaven with AR2s and weapons that only a slummer could dream of having.

Why would they challenge us? But ask us to help them in situations that require armed support, and we can do the same for mechanical and technological operations. You were actively trying to instigate Brennen to turn against us OOCly for the past two days. I know exactly what you are trying to do OOC-wise, and it is absolutely not wise.

his is the same group that caused a JW 3 days in,

The JW shouldn't even been called for a couple of cop deaths in the City. You would know better that the past precedences of JWs and AJWs were extremely enforced in 2023-2024, it all changed after the lack of regulation done on those. That JW shouldn't have happened at all at the first place. You cannot use that excuse for this reasoning.

and now an AJ.

A few loyalists were shot, some CCA that are not even the City Administrator. Do you know what happened after the City 17 City Administrator were shot in Industrial 24? Not an AJW, that man had more importance than a Chairman. Do you know what happened when City 13 City Administrator was shot in City 24? A JW for a few minutes, that was it. AJW was unwarranted as both were killed IN THE CITY which is the excuse used for the AJW, they were also in the City when they were assasinated.

It is either that or they get the Partisans treatment and they’re ground down in an endless and bloody S2K wave, which is something I’d obviously not want,

It is exactly what you would want. You want every Liberator character to be PK'd because of your OOC opinions. Which is saddening for someone in your position.

The substance of said "roleplay" in such a scenario is uncapitalised messages, misspellings of names, poorly constructed descriptions, and sloppily written borderline racist/minge portrayals of non-white characters/ethnic characters or characters named after video games.

You have personally misspelled "Arceneaux" in your thread, which just shows you as a hypocrite, no offense. The /me's written during-after S2K situations are filled with adrenaline and they have to be written fast and with haste to avoid being shot during the S2K while writing a /me, you guys kept giving example of a member typing "Calloway" instead of Callaway and it is nothing major.

to a cesspit of S2K hungry Combine VS Rebel with binded S2K messages for whenever there is an OUNCE of roleplay required to kill someone, they slothfully have to ctrl+v into their text box to ensure that another holdout of roleplay is finally eliminated. God forbid it remain the case in which people wish to continue to roleplay on this server when we have people so destined to annihilate in totality.

No one used any binds, nor S2K messages are needed to initiate S2K as the gameplay mechanics does it automatically for you, this has been the case for over a year now. No one did a CTRL+V into their text box as shown in this clip where Elsida himself wrote the /me without using any binds. Confirming that series of slander you have been stating without evidence to back it, other than your "own feelings" on how rebels used binds.

https://medal.tv/games/garrys-mod/clips/lc2xoLUPjK4ZyxM7S?invite=cr-MSxrTHksMTM2NzIwNzIw&v=102

If I were a simple citizen barely scraping by, and my choice is the so-called “Resistance”, who I hear from other citizens that they massacred a hall of people, I’d be quite literally depressed as to the current state of humanity when the supposed “liberators” (pun intended)

Maybe, maybe not. You cannot decide what characters will decide at all, as you are not the "ruler" of roleplay on this server, every player has the rights on deciding their roleplay, considering the ones who were shot by "not innocent" people, considering they were in the SecCon meeting, a regular citizen who is not a collaborator could see that the rebels are dealing with people who are collaborating with the Combine who is causing extinction on the humanity.

“Resistance” but kill, maim and murder their own species in the name of the "Resistance." Between the choice of an evil alien empire intent on making humanity extinct and an actual terrorist group, there is no actual viable option for humanity at the moment.

Yes there is. And that is roleplay that players have to choose, conflict brings more roleplay even if you don't like that truth. You cannot decide what people can do with their own roleplay, you are not superior than others or us.

Humanity is on death's door,

Exactly why it makes citizens, rebels, loyalists radical.

I intend to leave Willard Networks.

If that is what you wish, sure. But I will never accept insults and disrespect from a player who got PK'd and been going around spreading misinformation trying to change the opinions of players, consider the fact that you have absolutely no rights to insult anyone because you are a loyalist player. That doesn't make you a superior roleplayer, you are just elitist.

Here are the screenshots of your insults that you have been throwing around for no reason against me, my group, my group's roleplay and my roleplay without giving any effort to interact with us ICly on any other character.

​

Doesn't know what happens behind the safe streets of the City.





All of these screenshots came from you, and it shows clear OOC distaste and OOC hatred that was there for many weeks prior, considering your insults in the administration chats when I was faction manager, I was supposed to defuse the situation instead of calling you out but I do not have the responsibility for that anymore.

Maybe it is time you slow down with the egoistical "oh i can roleplay others cant" behavior and think this through.

 

[Armenian Union]

entire faction

No, Much of this is toward "The Liberators". I even include a part that says that passive rebels are being fucked over by this group.

Calling the Presidium Hall attack “Mass-RDM” is factually wrong.

against Callaway.

See the picture above.

It's about storytelling with a wider group of players.

Putting people in a bleedout for your S2K rage fest against me is not for a wider group of people.

Rebels are terrorists, insurgents, and saboteurs.

To the detriment of your cause, but by all means keep doing that.

faction diplomacy, built arcs, and played the destruction of Loyalist and Combine structures.

Curious where this faction diplomacy is after you burned bridges with all the other rebel groups for your reckless actions.

Shooting is not the absence of RP -- it is one expression of it

Rebel players

Stop saying I'm painting all of them like this. LIBERATORS

The Liberators should “pause operations” and roleplay passively until further notice.

After the JW and AJ you caused? Absoloutely, otherwise you'll be ground into dust.

players for making their own story.

Making it by S2K is not a story.

Most of this is a rehash of your first message.

 

[melodicwaste]

Nobody wants to sit down and type out 500 turns of /me shoots, and argue about ballistics for several hours.

I sure hope I dont have a long rp at the long rp factory

 

[Curbalas]

I sure hope I dont have a long rp at the long rp factory

I sure hope I have time waiting for 3 hours long S2RP

 

[osmangazi]

Just leaving a note, Elias Siemens was PKd by a rebel at the time, without any roleplay or anything, just walked up to him and shot,and that was just the end, he accepted his characters end as is, high profile characters like that has a risk every time they are flagged on, you are PK by default, we all know this. The liberators as a group have a structure, a foundation, and a goal, a coordinated attack on the SeCon meeting to eliminate high prio targets is nowhere near anti roleplay as my former example, personally I am excited to see how the events unfolding will turn out to be like.