HL2RP What do you look for in a HL2RP Server?

What do you look for in a Half Life 2 Roleplay server, in terms of gameplay, factions, plugins, maps, etc.?

 

Focus on Citizen Roleplay.

MPF/CP's are a band of thugs that just happen to be in a position of power.

OTA are rarely, if not ever called out.

Administrator is only there to give a speech, nothing more. No power.

 

How do you think you can focus on citizen role play? What things can be used to approach that feel though?

@MaXenzie

 

Constant things to do beyond "Get rations" "PassiveRP"

Work cycles, a focus on needing other citizens in order to trade instead of buying from a vendor, make citizens more than just a starting faction.

Citizens are always going to be the bulk of your server. If they're not, you're doing it wrong. They're the new members, and the old members. You want to make it interesting for them.

 

Host passive events often, and action events sometimes.

treat the citizens with respect, give them things to do.

To many server owners think that their server should revolve around them, don't do that.

Also, have a reasonable rebel rp situation, don't spawn in guns for anyone or restrict people OOCly.

 

Too many servers restrict most of the role-play to whitelists i.e: Metrocop, CWU's, OW's and etc.
Only thing that doesn't restrict on whitelist is Rebellion-sided characters, but let's be honest, not everyone wants to play as a Rebel.
If only there was a server that had all of that, but with a nice player-base... Most servers that are actually good in my books are almost always empty.
It looks like that people want a good server, but can't find one or just like the servers where everything is easy...

 

They like it too easy.

 

What do I look for? Quality. Immersion. Something that keeps me busy.
A common problem for new players (someone who doesn't have any whitelists but the default one) is that they get bored when no events are happening. What I look for if I'm on a server I don't administrate are things that I can put my time towards, or something that involves communicating with other people. Starting off as a citizen can be boring if there's nothing going on. If there's nothing going on, or no one to talk to, it gets bland.

Even going to get rations can be something that can get someone going.

MPF/CCA wise, structure and stability are most important. We all see at least once in our life MPF.C18-HELIX.CMD-APEX.043.HERO.GRID-04.679.
MPF /CCA that are just all over the place and people are basically just circle jerking. Having MPF with straight forward rankings, division, and so on is something that I look for as well.

 

i look for servers where i can get guns and items and then be top dog

 

a small population of 5-10.

 

I look for enjoyment.

 

I don't like servers with large populations, as well. Servers that are big are usually only large cause they tolerate the shit roleplayers or all the weird fetishes and hobbies people have and allow them to put it into their citizen. Not only that but then you end up being irrelevant if you are new since only veterans get attention and privileges while new people are ignored. If I went into a populated server right now, no matter how much effort I put into things or make myself unique and add to people's enjoyment, you'll most likely be ignored.

 

I'd say in between 20 - 30 is the good spot.

That's only if staff are competent and know how to run a server without catering.

 

I remember someone brought up the idea of these admins-in-training that would just manage roleplay, create events and facilitate things like workshifts and economy.

It's a pretty good idea if executed properly, but it can go terribly wrong if you select the wrong people for the job.

/event rebels take over the city xdddddd

 

I personally look for lag-free, bullshit-free gameplay. The thing about Russian servers is that there are actually very very few servers out there and because of that most of them have a minimum playerbase of 20 (there is like literally just one russian CW:hl2rp out there at the time of writing this and it has 50/50 players playing on it constantly). If a server is littered with useless content, a lot of plugins and around a thousand of static props - it's gonna lag. And it's the first thing I see when I join a server. If movement feels like I'm trying to walk on a frozen lake - it's no fun to play at all. And another thing about russian servers is that they're years behind what English community does. They throw together 2-5GB of content just to use one model per 300MB of content, they install literally every plugin they can find because there are almost no decent coders left in Russia who would even be interested in coding for clockwork. So plugins are the only viable option for them to 'customize' their server and make it 'unique'. They also use obsolete and outright stupid Roleplay concepts most of the time. Million of CP ranks? Check. 50% of the entire content pack is focused on CP's? Check. 'Citizen face the wall' reflex by 90% of the CP's? Also check.
Most of the time citizenRP is very undeveloped because of server administration's focus on the police force. There is literally nothing to do in the city (even on that sole Russian server) except for fleeing to closed districts and doing refugee/rebel Roleplay. Thankfully that particular server has got quite a large admin team to assist players wanting to run away to such districts.
And did I mention that most of them run CW <= 0.925 that is an ass and doesn't have proper UTF-8 support? I mean, if you type too much text in Russian the chatbox will derp and the message will disappear. Also characters names in Russian have like 10-16 spaces after them in chatbox and physical descriptions lag if they're written in Russian.
Did I mention all of the Russian letters reverting back to default font?

So yeah... I kinda stopped playing RP because Russian servers are crap and I don't really have any English-speaking friends who -play- hl2rp anymore to try to go for non-Russian servers. Don't get me wrong, playing hl2rp solo sucks. Friends are what makes hl2rp at least bearable for me.

 

You must code for your Russian players and become a savior of your people. Save Russian HL2RP.

 

A bit off topic. I've always wanted to see a whitelisted server following a squad of Metropolice officers that eventually go off on their own story. Something like Bad Company 1/2 where they encounter something that gives them a motive to disband from the Combine, and go about doing their own thing. You could really take it far and do anything you'd want with the story. It'd be something interesting, and flexible.

 

So every HL2RP server ever?

 

a dynamic lore that can change based on the actions of the players

FOR EXAMPLE

let's say that you're in a resistance organization and you somehow manage to get a group of players to the outlands icly. then let's assume that there's some sort of resistance stockpile that these players icly come across. after some time has passed oocly, the resistance in the city can start receiving weapons from this stockpile, making them stronger and allowing them to expand their territory.

now let's say that a snitch amongst the resistance ranks rats them out to the local protection teams. the resistance is taken by surprise and the stockpile in the outlands is found, destroying the supply of equipment to the resistance and decreasing their numbers exponentially.

 

Been a long time since I played HL2 RP regularly, but what disappoints me in the HL2 RP community is how generic and static the experience has become. In many ways I supposed it's been that way for quite a while - to some degree with LemonPunch. However, one thing we tried to do in periods were major pushes that advanced the story/lore and variated the gameplay - different maps that we prepared to offer a more original setting, events that inspired different kinds of interaction, and sub-servers that also empowered players to seek out a variety of exciting experiences.

I would encourage server owners to see if they can scrap the old generic eastern European city-based HL2 RP, and try to create more innovative approaches that challenge the status quo. How about imagining HL2 RP in other cultures than the game explored? How would the HL2 universe be applied to the Middle East, rural US, tropical islands? City 8's take on Tokyo, Japan was to say the least refreshing back when it was first made. Or how about creating an even more unique setting with a custom lore - a huge resistance-lead bunker etc?

Sure, maybe these concepts will totally flop and your server won't go anywhere - but what's to loose for you in trying something different? One reason we couldn't do that in LemonPunch was because we had much to loose - many players, an established experience that was appreciated and working - so our strong incumbency role made us rather risk-averse. As a fresh challenger you don't have to worry about that and should have all motivation to experiment with and innovate new HL2 RP experiences. In fact, it's probably the only rare advantage you'll have over incumbents. On top of that you will also have more fun trying something new and exciting - so when you're on your server with a mere 15 players you'll at least have a good time rather than feel like you're wasting it - which should give you and your staff motivation to continue on rather than giving up.

Two more notes that's a bit off-topic from the rest of my post, but quite essential. Please, please, please - scrap the dull and foolish "/roll combat systems" and "shoot to miss standards" that make a majority of potential players fall asleep. Sure, interactive and skill-based combat may not suit your ideal serious roleplay, but perfection is the enemy of progress, and if you want to gain players you'll have to compromise that ideal to make your experience more exciting and dynamic.

Don't do it alone - it'll go nowhere without a playerbase. If you're going to start a server/community, do so with your friends, their friends, yours and their connections. When I founded LemonPunch, I brought in all my connections and friends, Cryptic brought in all his connections and friends, we brought in players and staff from recently closed communities, and the result was that we got a full server on launch and continually kept growing from there.
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