MY THOUGHTS: Should Roleplay Communities Change Direction? How Can We?

here's a good idea lads - why not actually do what you say, and make a server, invite everyone, then bam!! you won't have to type out paragraphs

 

Just to save you time on the quote @Doris was referring to. Adapting the server's structure and purpose to an extent is healthy: just have a direction for the server, a solid staff team with a circle of friends, long/short term goals, and you'll be essentially be set.

 

"Sorry man, I'm busy I can't make it :/"

*Connects to SCG*

 

Shit, I forgot to make friends first.

 

The trope "I'm good at CS:GO which is why I destroy at S2K" is more often than not, in my experience, a ploy used by aimbotters to try and explain their "skill".

On another note, a lot of the servers I've been apart of have been private servers which allow players to do whatever they want. Too bad they usually get swarmed with narcissists and elitists who think the server has to conform to their subjective viewpoint as "good". Drama is a community killer.

On the topic of HL2, I don't think it's "dying" per-say. I just think a lot of older veterans have moved on with their lives, coupled with the fact Gmod is a pretty old game most of the dudes getting into PC gaming nowadays have beefy computers to play the new triple A games.

 

ping is still a thing
something that i have plenty of
that's why i usually leave if there's an s2k engagement about to start. unfortunately, i run a constant ping about 500+

 

Anything below 50 ping is a +15 on automatic reflex rolls.

 

Honestly what's been said here has been said before a million different times just in a different format. The problem isn't people not taking RP seriously or not attempting to immerse themselves. It's people not trying to actively change anything that they don't like without completely destroying everything that's been made already. I've been done with GMOD RP for a while mostly because I can't stand doing the same RP on the same Hl2RP servers over and over. If someone could create a new, fresh kind of RP, and implement it, and run it well, then I'm sure RP in GMOD would boom again.

And then there's the issue of people wanting to feel important. As evidenced by literally anyone who has played GMOD RP for even a few hours. Too many people wanting to feel elite and important to the success of RP creates a lot of tension between playerbase, and the people running everything. Especially when people in the playerbase feel like "Well I could run this better. I would implement this and that and do all sorts of things that would be amazing." When in reality their ideas are mediocre or average at best. Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that RP on GMOD can only get better if people actually work to change it. But knowing how people are, it most likely is gonna stay the same until it dies or someone is literally the second coming of Christ.

 

This is probably one of the best posts I've seen as of yet above the inherent problems of Garry's Mod and the viable solutions or tactics to curb boredom and wasting time.

On topic though: Some people who get themselves in the Garry's Mod community are inherently unable to really understand the dynamics of social interactions and that is just a fact. Not a lot of admins know how to deal with or accommodate those who seem to be on the fence of being 'ok' and 'completely unacceptable.'

By this I'm not talking about rule breaking or baity attitude, I'm talking a general sense of social depravity that makes them very volatile to speak with. Generally speaking there are a shit load of (generally 15~ year old kids) who are so isolated and edgy that them going really anywhere but a Fantasy RP or a Mass Effect server will just annoy the playerbase as they tend to have no social skills and independent thought above getting 'into' their character which turns out to be a lazy archetype.

I only bring this up because I have seen a whole load of people in the Garry's Mod community act within these parameters and it just sort of.. Irks me? I see viable servers and nice server owners unable to tell these people 'no' or simply get rid of them. I'm not saying being an angsty teen is against the rules but at some point the ERP-bait and toxicity really can ruin any good server no matter how nice the other players seem to be.

 

a good point which i've never really thought of before but it really makes sesnse

on the other end of the scale, in the same area, most players are really immature when it comes to having their own way too

 

I wish people would take me seriously when I tell them they're powergaming in real life.

 

Use 5e you dummins.

In all seriousness, my favourite Roleplay was Gunsmoke3, primarily because it had barely any limitations. Want to be a strange alien creature from another planet that you made up yourself? Just run it through staff and if it seems fun, go ahead. Wanna be a robot musician with an existential life problem? Sure!

I think the well of Roleplay ideas is starting to run dry, especially for HL2RP. You've got psychopath CP's and rebels, over-empathic women, and the same repeats of character archetypes. The fun, interesting characters are few and far between from generic person, which is what HL2RP encourages you to be, because being unique has a very large chance of being actually literally illegal.

 

the roleplay community simply needs to be accepting of new writers too, that's a thing
people are easily scared off nowadays
when people look at the gmod community, all they see are scumbags, basically

 

how do you mean? new writers being people giving interesting server ideas? lore opinions? both?

 

both. typically, when something is offered that deviates from the norm and seems slightly "edgy" (the definition of that word is lost) it gets shot down by a four-bore

on the subject of toxicity, though, we'll have new writers that do stick with reg, but aren't as good writers so are usually labelled as 'bad roleplayers'
not once have i ever seen anyone take a new writer under their wing and help them out, but then again i don't have eyes everywhere
i don't see it as a problem you can really fix, though, because a lot of people are actually p shitty within the gmod roleplay community

 

Nah, it's pretty much a universal thing. Noone wants to help the noobies and there's two reasons.

1. Either the new guys don't want to learn
or
2. The veterans are too lazy to teach them.

When I was admin of a certain server, usually we'd teleport new guys to a corner of the map and try talking to them but they'd never listen. My guess is that they got bored. It gets boring trying to teach 12 new guys in a day too, especially if the majority of them are just there to fuck around.

I think the best way to go about it is to give them the server rules and then let them run free and interact with other people. That way they'll learn and it's how I became a better writer.

As for toxicity I agree, roleplayers seem very reactionary about what's new. They focus on the old stuff and then complain about the new, and the word edgy is just used to describe anything that someone doesn't like. Me? I usually think it's just a good idea to let people do whatever they want as long as it doesn't conflict with the base server rules, I believe the servers are there for people to have fun anyways - and not to be stressed out. And let's be honest, base HL2RP gets boring as fuck and the most fun and popular servers are usually ones that take that idea and have their own spin at it. Like that server Corb ran about the PMCs, I don't exactly remember it's name but it was way more fun than the short time it was here than 99% of the servers I've played.

 

I just take edgy as "too angsty to fit within the universe."

 

2017 still roleplaying on gmod

come on now

go outside

 

nothing will change no matter how much we blather on about it like old men talking about the good old times, roleplay communities and the idea of them are dead, unless you're nebulous or SCG or EXGA or Lazarus when it inevitably comes back your community will start off strong and dwindle quickly because nobody is creative enough to do anything new. fuck, closest thing I've seen to a revitalisation of RP is .DUST and i didn't even get the chance to check that out.

it's like the cycle of fire from dark souls. eventually, the age of dark will come, but every now and again someone sacrifices themselves to relight the flame for a little bit before it starts to die out again. that's all it'll ever be with GMod RP.

go play on a WoW RP server or something, probably better optimised anyways

 

i'm pretty sure .DUST hasn't happened yet