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Why HL2RP is inherently flawed.

NaughtyNicholas

NaughtyNicholas

Radio Bob Approved
Joined
Sep 21, 2020
Messages
167
I'm not one to write long speeches about shit. I'm going to keep this short and sweet depending on how much cocaine enters my system in the next couple of minutes. Half-Life 2: a revolutionary game that created a standard for future games to follow. I doubt the creators, writers, et cetera thought that there would be a whole community regarding roleplaying inside the Half-Life 2 universe when they made the game back in 2004. Back then, I was barely alive but I am going off-topic. When someone plays a video game, they see themselves as the main character as, obviously, the game revolves around them and their actions. It does not show the random Joe or Jane who sits in their apartment for 23 out of the 24 hours a day because it would be BORING. Regarding HL2RP, I think everyone sees themselves as the main character. Even if you deny that you do go out of your way to try to be a leader or some other main character type bullshit, you still somewhere deep inside think of yourself as the main character. Everyone tries to be someone great and powerful. They try to become someone better than themselves in real life because it distracts them from their real-life selves. You ever wonder why, out of the (example) 60 players on a server, only a portion on a server play as someone who is considered less than themselves. Someone who is not looked up to. You ever wonder why villainous characters are mostly hated OOC'ly. "Oh, you bombed a hospital. Fuck you" shut up holy fuck shut the fuck up my ears ow ow. Why do people not play elderly characters? Why do you see descriptions that might look different to the naked eye, but when you further read the description of characters they are mostly the same? Obviously being different just for the sake of being different is fucking retarded and you should stare at the sun for a prolonged period of time. But I see this shit all the time. Someone either creates a HAHA FUNNY FUCK YOU character. Someone makes a textbook copy-paste "femchar meme". Someone creates a rebellious faggot who just is rebellious for some really flat reason. Someone creates a loyalist for some really flat un-interesting reason. I see the same shit and it's fucking boring. How about you make a character who has extremely low intelligence and has three hands you goblin? Tell me I'm wrong in the comments.
 
The wording could've been better but yeah, lmao. Its called the main character syndrome and a lot of people have it. Some have it a lot stronger than others tho, which is rather bad.
 
What you described isn't an HL2RP issue, but an issue over literally every single server roleplay. From chat rooms to DnD to Video Game RP and probably even fucking LARPing. Roleplay is a popular escapist genre because you get to be something you aren't. and what you described isn't really a flaw but more of just a lack of skill. It calls back to the point where new roleplayers usually resort to creating self inserts, or as you said, trying to be the "main guy".

Frankly, it's only fixed with experience.
 
I personally do not get where this 'main character' syndrome gets people. Nothing appealing about being some super special guy.
Look at my character. The Gman has only visited her twice. /S
 
no your absolutely right good sir.

however there is no way for us to change the development of the human consciousness.
in the end people will always feel that the game caters to the best version of themselves,
a hallmark of writing excellence is being able to select flaws in your characters, sometimes ones
that can't be attributed to anything but negative personalities, unlikeable traits are hard to set forth and harder to pull off.

be the change u want to see

faction badge.png
 
everyone should take ron's advice and make old or disadvantaged chars so i can kick fuck out of them
 
Trailing off what I said before, I think there are bigger flaws for HL2RP (especially for City RP) that have already been talked about here before, though I don't think this is specific enough to be one of those flaws.
 
This issue is one I have voiced for years. It's an obvious one. With each character being a player, no one wants to be a side character. The endgame experience is what most players aim to achieve. Players that have been playing for years know the quickest way in and out, because the formula has been the same, and because there isnt much else to offer than the usual achievements.

Copy and pasted experience. Copy and pasted characters. It's the management that needs to change. Not the players.
 
guys I may have done some cocaine when writing this or I may have not that’s for the NYPD gang task force to decide
 
Roleplay becomes a lot more enjoyable when you just act like a normal person. If you actually try it, this helps a lot with Main Character Syndrome. I personally never had it because being a normal ass person throws you into the territory of actually being your own main character and doing what YOU want to do in the confines of IC laws. Character longevity is also a plus because you don't thrust your character into dangerous situations.

If you're someone who is geared towards wanting to RP as a Cop or Rebel, you need to realize that you aren't that important before you even make that character. If you wanna be a Cop or a Rebel, expect that at some point your character is going to die and you aren't the main character in this world. Go and make a new character and start over. You are apart of something a lot bigger than those characters ICly and you aren't there to lead unless you're made to lead OOCly. That is what the gamemasters/staff team are trying to depict and if that's an issue to you then boohoo. That's why most faction leads are apart of the staff team as well, it's to prevent a feeling of high importance. Even when you're an i1 in the MCP you have to understand that.

HL2RP Servers are doing it RIGHT if they have annoying people complaining on the forums about not feeling significant or important on the server. That's the whole point of playing as any character in HL2RP. The system for HL2RP is working if you have people whining on the forums in PK appeals that their character died for a perfectly good reason.

Play as a Civ. It's fun. Ur gonna die as a Rebel or CP on the server. That's why rules are in place for CP deaths and the risks are high for both factions.
 
So a lot of this is mostly subjective and a lot of you find jumping down people's throats fun because of the way their character is. You can shit on them for having complex characters because that's edgy, but when they make simple characters they're idiots because they're not making complex, nuanced characters.

The fact is, none of you have any hold of how people approach their characters. Yes there will be a minority of people who will do this (main character syndrome, etc), but like I said, it's a minority. None of you seem to just accept that people can disassociate from their character's mindset, or any other's.
And just like Equinox said the realisation of not doing that comes from experience and time.

I won't deny that HL2RP can be flawed but if you all focus on the negatives, how will it be in the future when the server actually, y'know, starts? Who's going to be the next one to complain about someone's character acting like a "main character" now or something else that (imagine this) ISN'T in your control. Stop focusing on other people, focus on yaself g. Do your ting.
 
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Just dont be a P
Be hardcore, enable hard pk and allow rdm. Automize /mes and enhance survival mechanics to hard.

If the hl2 enviroment is meant to be difficult ic, make it oocly aswell, dayz puts example how you'll fear for your character due to its hardcore enviroment.

If everyone acts as the main char, make them feel that they are at the bottom where being a superman has no significant improvement.

Hl2rp has treated many roleplayers with these leniencies like candy which is a common bait strategy to keep players hooked to the community by tying a personal relation to their character.

Make them used to dying, they'll get used to love it and that will open the third eye of the great picture of roleplay.

Become an enlighted roleplayer by going hardcore.
 
In my opinion, the idea of "being a main character" isn't the problem. Main characters have qualities. Resourcefulness, cleverness, help and support, and a few other qualities to help them out, like a special skill or tool.

For example, Alyx Vance isn't a "main character" because the story demands it or she's just lucky. Being involved in Black Mesa alone would never be enough to make her so important. What makes her a vital character in all four games she exists in is the fact that she steps up - she offers herself up as a hero, and she has those qualities. She's resourceful, she's clever, she's got Russel, she's got her father, she's got The Alyx.

She's also got a rich backstory, one that isn't rooted in simple, flat ideas - the loss of her mother is only a minor driving force. Her love and reverence for her father are the real driving force.


Now, my point before was that some characters simply aren't content to be background NPCs. Some want to be side characters to a major plot. Some want to be main characters to that plot. To me, players should have that option if they are worthy of it. Can they take their plot seriously? Can their character be nuanced or simple in the right way?

But they don't have that choice. And more importantly, HL2RP servers rarely have a proper, overarching plot. They don't give their players tools - scripts, if you will - to accomplish goals that should be presented. Doors opened on a whim in the Half-Life universe remain shut, remain closed, bolted down by ignorance and close-mindedness.

"Too unrealistic!" cries the spiteful man who turned a human soldier into a Vortigaunt during an alien war in Xen.
"Too risky!" yells the angery man who built his lore timeline on an arbitrary three-year gap between Black Mesa, and the Seven Hour War.
"Too difficult!" shouts the tired man who made an entire schema for this server by himself.

Half-Life as a serious roleplay platform has the potential to be wonderful if executed properly. I'm told TerraNova was one example, and I played on Zinx back before it went south. Indeed, the executions weren't perfect, but if they were, and they could be, with us, HL2RP could be what it always could have been.

Let worthy, willing characters be given the opportunity to prove themselves. Put pistol mags in trash bins for them as you give them the chance to make change. Let their friends help them on their quests, with the willing earning their names on the record of people who made change, whether in the name of the Combine, in the name of the Rebellion, in the name of the Citizens, or in the name of some other faction that might have a quest.

Always remember the question: "What universe does this roleplay take place in?"
The wrong answer is "Real Life." The correct answer is "Half-Life."

I could go on and on about suggestions to make this RP better - better loot for harder scavenging, more interaction between Combine and citizens, rebel transhumans, let me make a dog-like droid, give more intelligent characters access to things like chemistry... on that note, let people have certain skills such as hacking (maybe allow certain characters to have a multitool or something of that description).

But my point is this - not everyone wants to be a background NPC. Not everyone wants to be a side character. Not everyone wants to be a main character.

But whatever they want, if they put in the effort to obtain their role, and you give them the obstacles on a fair scale, and you have an open mind, and you GM them till the cows come home, you'll create a genuinely wonderful experience, one that truly captures the essence of Half-Life.
 
registry: brush him said:
In my opinion, the idea of "being a main character" isn't the problem. Main characters have qualities. Resourcefulness, cleverness, help and support, and a few other qualities to help them out, like a special skill or tool.

For example, Alyx Vance isn't a "main character" because the story demands it or she's just lucky. Being involved in Black Mesa alone would never be enough to make her so important. What makes her a vital character in all four games she exists in is the fact that she steps up - she offers herself up as a hero, and she has those qualities. She's resourceful, she's clever, she's got Russel, she's got her father, she's got The Alyx.

She's also got a rich backstory, one that isn't rooted in simple, flat ideas - the loss of her mother is only a minor driving force. Her love and reverence for her father are the real driving force.


Now, my point before was that some characters simply aren't content to be background NPCs. Some want to be side characters to a major plot. Some want to be main characters to that plot. To me, players should have that option if they are worthy of it. Can they take their plot seriously? Can their character be nuanced or simple in the right way?

But they don't have that choice. And more importantly, HL2RP servers rarely have a proper, overarching plot. They don't give their players tools - scripts, if you will - to accomplish goals that should be presented. Doors opened on a whim in the Half-Life universe remain shut, remain closed, bolted down by ignorance and close-mindedness.

"Too unrealistic!" cries the spiteful man who turned a human soldier into a Vortigaunt during an alien war in Xen.
"Too risky!" yells the angery man who built his lore timeline on an arbitrary three-year gap between Black Mesa, and the Seven Hour War.
"Too difficult!" shouts the tired man who made an entire schema for this server by himself.

Half-Life as a serious roleplay platform has the potential to be wonderful if executed properly. I'm told TerraNova was one example, and I played on Zinx back before it went south. Indeed, the executions weren't perfect, but if they were, and they could be, with us, HL2RP could be what it always could have been.

Let worthy, willing characters be given the opportunity to prove themselves. Put pistol mags in trash bins for them as you give them the chance to make change. Let their friends help them on their quests, with the willing earning their names on the record of people who made change, whether in the name of the Combine, in the name of the Rebellion, in the name of the Citizens, or in the name of some other faction that might have a quest.

Always remember the question: "What universe does this roleplay take place in?"
The wrong answer is "Real Life." The correct answer is "Half-Life."

I could go on and on about suggestions to make this RP better - better loot for harder scavenging, more interaction between Combine and citizens, rebel transhumans, let me make a dog-like droid, give more intelligent characters access to things like chemistry... on that note, let people have certain skills such as hacking (maybe allow certain characters to have a multitool or something of that description).

But my point is this - not everyone wants to be a background NPC. Not everyone wants to be a side character. Not everyone wants to be a main character.

But whatever they want, if they put in the effort to obtain their role, and you give them the obstacles on a fair scale, and you have an open mind, and you GM them till the cows come home, you'll create a genuinely wonderful experience, one that truly captures the essence of Half-Life.
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You don't build events, story archs, and narratives in roleplay off of having a "main character", you build it off of giving every character their own story. You can't have main characters, because everyone is a main character, which means no one is a main character, as it should be.

If someones story just happens to lead to them feeling like the "main character" then cool. If not, that's just how their story went. This is how roleplay works, both preferably and out of necessity. What you can't do is sacrifice narrative and theme to make someone the "main character" just because "Well they act like a hero I guess and they want it so....."
 
Equinox said:
You don't build events, story archs, and narratives in roleplay off of having a "main character", you build it off of giving every character their own story. You can't have main characters, because everyone is a main character, which means no one is a main character, as it should be.

If someones story just happens to lead to them feeling like the "main character" then cool. If not, that's just how their story went. This is how roleplay works, both preferably and out of necessity. What you can't do is sacrifice narrative and theme to make someone the "main character" just because "Well they act like a hero I guess and they want it so....."
Click to expand...
Hmm. Fair enough. Perhaps I didn't get my point across efficiently. Perhaps I said a couple of things I should reconsider.

In Half-Life, impossibilities become possible if you have the right skill, the right ambition, and the right help. Obviously, a former New York crack fiend can't discover the secrets to independent augmentation, not unless he studies, like, five books on future science and is mentored by an actual genius.

But that's the point, there should still be opportunities for achievement in discovery, creation, and war. A well-developed rebel character who liberates a prison worth of fellow rebels, a loyalist character who independently (or dependently, if you're in CRUD) perfects a formula that could save an ailing Administrator, a regular Citizen who discovers an object that could change the political tides in favor of anyone.

A single woman taking on a strider may seem unrealistic, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it's possible in this context, and its occurrence should be determined by the skill, wit, and resourcefulness of the combatants, not arbitrary restrictions like "You need three antimatter cores and give cars worth of parts to make a single RPG".

My point is, if characters seek ambitious goals or to exorcise their own creativity and ingenuity, give people the tools to do so - or allow them the means to obtain those tools without doing "/me searches boxes" under GM supervision until you get those tools.

You know. Use all of the empty storage containers across the map.

I think creativity, open-mindedness are missing from too many HL2RP servers. That, and a sense of recognition for what makes Half-Life wonderful. I truly think we have the power to be some of the first people to execute such new ideas properly.
 
Every deserves the chance to be the main chracter. The issue is that this can't be a proper, GM'd experience like it should be because of the player-count/time length of server.
Shorter server length with pre-set end dates, less people
And no more HL2RP, be original, make your own shit.
 
In Half-Life, impossibilities become possible if you have the right skill, the right ambition, and the right help. Obviously, a former New York crack fiend can't discover the secrets to independent augmentation, not unless he studies, like, five books on future science and is mentored by an actual genius.
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I'm all for individuals having the ability to do something special. Though, special does not equal 'fantastical' and this isn't something that is always well understood. Things like Independent augmentation, would literally change the tone of the entire server, and deviate heavily from the typical Half Life theme. Is this the end of the world? Maybe not. But, it isn't about how you change the server, its about how you change the environment for everyone around you.
Its worth noting, many of the reasons that the experience of HL2RP is subdued and sober, as opposed to the bombastic action and transformative mayhem of the games themselves, is because of time. A Half Life campaign will last about ten hours or so, depending on who you are. A servers lifespan is colossal in comparison. There's something to be said when the remarkable becomes mundane. When the inventive becomes debilitated. Continuous uses of intense or grand concepts will rapidly water them down, transforming events, into simple occurrences. This isn't a counter to being creative, but the fact that less is very often more in the realm of story crating and writing should not be forgotten. There are going to be over 64 players on the server. Not everyone can be 'remarkable' or at least not as you see being remarkable.
Some want to be side characters to a major plot. Some want to be main characters to that plot.
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I think you have a skewed vision of what being a character is. There simply is not main character, not really. Sure, everyone will be their own hero, but that's just puts you back at square one. You don't have to be 'special' to be memorable. Your character is in this world, and if you make a character right, that will be enough all by itself.

We've talked about this before, so I'm not sure how much you have deviated from your initial stance, but I figured it worth putting my own thoughts here.
 
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