Kaizure

Another example of metagaming: https://forum.eclipse-rp.net/forum/30-character-stories/ Take a look at aaaaaaaaaaaaany of the characters listed here. If you met them in-game, would you greet them by name without having met them? Would you make references to their past after you read about them on the forum? Then yeah, that's metagaming. You can read information about a character OOC, but then not use it IC. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having OOC knowledge as long as you can stop yourself from using that knowledge IC. So setting up an encounter at the beach? You can easily give an IC reason for your character to be somewhere without IC saying something like "I'm here because I read on a forum that this was the place to be."

You can discuss planning an encounter without it being metagaming. Let me explain: Suppose I find someone on here who wants to meet Flea. They see what I wrote about the character being a psycho who eats people and they're like "I wanna give my character some trauma." So we decide to set up a scenario where our characters meet. We decide to meet at the beach, but we don't disclose what either person will be doing, what they look like or any of that stuff. We just say 'beach'. So then our characters show up and there are like 10 other people around. We have no idea who the person is, so let the RP commence. Metagaming would be: "Hey, are you Flea the cannibal?" - How in the world would anyone have that knowledge? Nobody would. This would be blatant metagaming because you are using knowledge you gained from the Forum and are using it in your character's interaction. Metagaming would NOT be: Your character approaches someone who is acting strangely, and they stick out in the crowd like a sore thumb. You approach and ask: "Hey, is everything alright?" And in a creepy voice the character replies: "I am well..." - Heyo, you found Flea. But you never mentioned anything about knowing who he is, what his name is or the type of character he is. Metagaming avoided! The closest thing you could say to being metagaming is agreeing to meet in a specified spot... but you can legit come up with ANY realistic reason for your character to be at the beach. Yours is going to get fresh air, mine is going to find someone to snack on, and the pier has plenty of snacks. Boom, in-character reason found and easily justified. It's not like we're agreeing to meet up and perform a robbery, or agreeing to meet up and shoot up a place... we're setting up a situation where two characters can interact, just like how you might set up a time for a character to come to a spot to conduct an IC interview for a job. Again... I've been at this for 15 years. I know the rules and I know what a clear breach is.

I've been role playing for 15 years. I know what meta gaming is. My post is not meta gaming. This post here to see if I can find people who are interested in these two kinds of RP so we can set up an encounter. It's not meta gaming to set up an encounter or plan an RP event.

I'm in the same boat with you. I've been role playing for 15 years, but it's always been text-based. Voice RP is very foreign and it's hard to really act out how my character is feeling. I often switch to text chat because I'm not the best voice actor in the world. My default tone is monotone. I'm not sure how helpful my advice will be to you, but I'll give it a shot. I mostly do fantasy and sci-fi RP, so being modern and 'normal' doesn't come as easily to me as being abnormal. With my main character Drake, I play him as your average joe who wants to make a living, but also wants to help people. I'm able to use my regular voice without worrying too much about accents or modifying my voice at all. But my second character, who I call Flea, is a character who is severely deformed, extremely sick (mentally and physically) and I use a voice that sounds like something you'd hear from an oldies horror movie with mad scientists... or gollum/stitch as so many people call me. He's a horror character designed to scare people and provide RP outside of the norm, but because he's so... out there, it's hard to RP him on the regular. He's kinda situational, like a random NPC event, rather than being someone you'll see roaming around daily. Since Flea isn't a character I play regularly, it gives me a chance to give my voice a break while also keeping him as an interesting character. I love the character, but he's really only someone I use when I think people could use a break from the norm. So there's my two cents, for what it's worth. My voice is terrible for improvising accents, so I don't bother with that stuff... but changing my pitch to sound creepy? Easy as pie. So do what you think you can handle voice-wise, then make a character that suits the voice.

Hey folks, So I'm only just recently deciding to return to Eclipse after being gone for a little over a year. Prior to my departure, I played an EMT named Drake Frost and a less than stable character named Flea Mooncalf. (Before anyone asks: mooncalf is a real word. It means 'grossly deformed and mentally defective person'). I'd be surprised if anyone remembered either of my characters. Drake was married to his job and barely socialized outside of work, and Flea was a cannibal who I only RP'd once or twice to give MD/PD something interesting to do (and/or scare the hell out of them). There have since been a few updates since the last time I played, one notably being the bit about gross RP and requiring consent. My ability to use Flea has been reduced because of this rule, but he's still a lot of fun when I get to use him. I use a specific voice, I have disturbing character features, and all in all he's a scary presence. The issue now is: I can't just drive up to some random person and start role playing anymore because his existence is... well, it's gross. So I need to find folks who would like to RP with him from time to time. I don't do anything TOO wild mind you, because even I have limits... but Flea allows me to do stuff outside the norm and mix things up a little to give people a more unique RP experience. So if folks are interested in meeting him, let me know and I'll practice my voice again. As for Drake... splints. So many splints. But you know, I can look past the splints and the bandages and the ice packs and all of that... the only thing that really bothers me is the whole /do thing. I feel like it's an unnecessary extra layer to RP. When I do something like "/me wraps the bandage around the person's leg in an effort to stop the bleeding," usually what follows is "/do does it stop bleeding?" And the other player answers yes or no... which is boring for the other person. If I'm doing medical RP with someone, I would like for them to be able to RP back. So instead of playing the yes or no game with people, I'd prefer RP to go something like: "/me bandages the wound in an effort to stop the bleeding" and the other person does something like: "/me writhes in pain because the medic forgot to give him any form of pain killers. The patient thrashing about causes the wound to aggravate and the bleeding increases." I mean it is a role play server after all. Don't get me wrong, I understand that everyone's first language isn't English and medical rp isn't everyone's first choice of rp, but it would be nice if I could start to find interested folks who I can rely on for actual RP instead of relying on /do for yes or no RP. The other option is just more interesting, and it makes the RP more fun for the patient. So... yeah. Do either of these things appeal to anyone? I had trouble finding it the last time I played, so I don't see any harm in venturing out and asking in a forum post. You can hit me up in a private message on here, or you can poke me on the Discord. I'm pretty easy to find. - Kaizure

I mean... you could always drive your cruiser into City Hall. Just put on your 'I park where I want' lights. People will understand. Joking aside, I'm all for the coppers getting paid for the hard work they do. +1

+1, but the staff doesn't need to make an official mention that they are doing it. I understand the concern that reports will just become fights, but personally: if I make a report and it turns out I'm the one in the wrong, I want to be called out on it and corrected by the staff. I don't think someone should feel like they need to make a completely new report just to ensure I get told that I was in the wrong.

You might actually see a rise in players if this was implemented, though I imagine most people would want to immediately fly the jet (just like how everyone wants to fly a helicopter, stolen or otherwise). If jets are an option, they should be issued to people who have proven they are responsible pilots over a period of time spent within the faction, If anyone is able to fly them right from the get go, it will cause so much trouble. One of the rules the MD/PD have implemented right now is: in order to join, you need to have at least 4000 experience, which is a couple days worth of time spent on the server and learning how things work. But jets are a huge responsibility because they have access to that machine gun and lock-on rockets. Not only would you need to prove you're a responsible pilot, but I feel like you should also prove you're someone who understands the rules of the server really well and can back it up by the amount of experience you have. Only question is: what would be a fair amount to go by? 25k? 50k? 100k? I'm just concerned that people will jump at the idea of using a jet and it will turn into GTA Online all over again. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of having something like this implemented. One of the big disappointments I had when I joined the server was the lack of options for being a pilot. I was really hoping I could have a job as a commercial airline pilot who would fly people to and from their destinations similar to how the bus system works, but it wasn't an option. I can understand why it's not in place, but I'm sure it would help drive up traffic if there was a system for it. This whole thing just needs to be handled carefully. The original post is well thought out, but a fancy post doesn't hold a candle to the amount of commitment that would be required to maintain a faction like this in the actual server and the amount of work that would need to be done. End of the day, I'll give this a +1 I just hope the jet concern will be handled very, very carefully.

I'm mixed on this. Being an immersive player, I love the idea of being forced to eat or drink something... but at the same time, there are players who might view it as more of an inconvenience than a fun server implementation. Take any survival horror game that forces you to eat and apply it to the server. If it was implemented where you only had to eat once every hour or two hours, I'd be cool with that. Time flies when you're having fun, so eating every hour or two would make it feel more reasonable to me. Also I know this isn't currently in place, but I'm going to insist that it doesn't change if this is implemented: don't make it where food will expire after a certain amount of time. This idea will already have mixed reactions in the grand scheme of things, but I think people will be more receptive to it if their food doesn't expire when they store it somewhere. It would also give food more value in the world I think. If I have a hamburger stolen from me, I don't usually think much of it... but if my character's survival depends on it, then it makes having it a hell of a lot more important. And now I'm thinking about how amusing it would be to see a bunch of gang members get into a gun fight over a couple of burgers. xD Ultimately I would say +1, just to be careful with it.

But if you come onto the forum and ask someone to solve an IC issue OOCly, it becomes metagaming. It would be wildly out of character for Weazel News executives to wake up one morning and just collectively suddenly agree that they need to change their prices and the way they handle things. If you want my two cents, here's some suggestions I would offer: 1) Send the people a private message stating your reasons for why you think the price should be lowered, but inform them in the private message that it is an IC letter. Kind of like how people will send letters to their congressmen when they have an issue they want to be addressed or fixed, you can send mail to Weazel News expressing your annoyance with the current system and what you would like to see changed. The more letters they receive, the more they'll realize people are unhappy with the system and they might start making some changes to it. 2) Create some competition for them. I don't know how people feel about this OOC and if it would even be allowed, so naturally I would make sure to consult staff about this before going ahead with it... but if your character decided to start charging people less than half of what Weazel News was charging to post a bleet for them, then Weazel News would be inclined to either make changes or try to shut you down... which is also a very real chance. You could face IC lawsuits for posting bleets (kind of like trademarking) or whatever. Think of how Epic Games vs. Steam is a thing right now, where Epic Games is offering better prices and so game exclusives are going there instead of on Steam. The same could apply to bleets. Again, #2 is a bit iffy to me because I don't know how folks would feel about allowing that to happen, so I would make sure to ask about it before going ahead with it. Just because something is possible in real life and would make sense... doesn't mean it should be allowed in Eclipse. Ex: just because we have a military in real life doesn't mean we need to have players driving around in tanks on Eclipse. So yeah... ask before doing it.

There's not, but people often fall off their bikes on mountains or do other crazy things that wind up with them lying near dead in a ditch somewhere. Firefighters might fulfill the role of fighting fires, but given we don't have a ton of that, we also use them for search and rescue operations and traffic control. So if we have firefighters on duty and we get a call that there's been a traffic accident, it's not unheard of for a firefighter player to accompany an EMT to a scene to set up road blocks and/or be on standby if they need to use any of their specialty equipment to get the patient out of danger. I've also been involved in a police RP where officers requested a member of the fire department to assist with putting out the flames from a drug lab explosion. It only happened once, but it was still something to give FD members something to do.

It's not a technicality o.o Firefighter exists as a part of EMS.

You're right, my bad. I forgot that in real life, I carry around a keyboard so I can type /mug when I approach someone and then expect them to accept my frisk attempt. I forgot that in real life when I call a medic because someone is dying, I proceed to run in circles and jump on the medic and patient. I forgot that in real life when I get shot, I send texts on my phone and talk like nothing is troubling me. I forgot that in real life when I go to the hospital, I'm dropped off by the ambulance and then magically all of my injuries are healed. Oh, and of course, I forgot that in real life, when I die, I respawn! You can't have seriously believed that was a valid argument to my point. But to answer your question... yes, I use text chat in real life. I own a phone. I stand by my -1. Keep the rain, use text to RP more often.

We already have Firefighters, there's just not a lot of them. Join the LSEMS. You start out as an EMT, but if you stick with it and work hard, you can work your way up to Firefighter.

-1 I love the rain. It's my absolute favorite weather and when it rains in the game, it puts a huge smile on my face. Personally I think VOIP is an annoyance and I wish more people would use text chat. You can be more detailed with text and be more creative with your RP, but with voice it's just so... easy and simplistic, and that irks me when I come to role play. But that's another topic for another day. Point is: rain gives me something to smile about, both because I love the rain and because I see more text RP when it's happening. Please don't remove it.

On one hand I want to say -1 because I'm afraid people could lose an understanding of what is and is not allowed in an NCZ because this exception is made. A lot of people read the rules once and that's it. Nobody likes to read a bunch of text to be allowed to RP on the server; if people liked reading text, there'd be a lot less people who make a fuss about having to type to RP. As it is, we have a lot of people who commit a deathmatch, VDM, etc. because they don't bother to check the rules before committing a crime, so if people are suddenly allowed to commit a KOS on someone even after they fled to an NCZ, people might start thinking it's okay to kill someone for any reason in an NCZ. It's a slippery slope. On the other hand, I want to give it a +1 because I think if it's properly handled, it could become a beneficial change to the NCZ rules. I'm all for seeing new RP opportunities, and less people trying to use game mechanics to shove a person out of an NCZ so they can attack them. For now I think I'm going to settle on a +1. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it doesn't work out, then we can always revert back to the original rules.

Suggestion: Give work vehicles a proximity /low 30 - 60 second despawn notice that will allow the driver to refresh the timer, similar to the AFK warning people get for standing around for too long. Reason: Vehicles don't just disappear in real life, so it's incredibly immersion breaking when work vehicles despawn after such a short time of being out of it. If you're being robbed and your vehicle despawns, you're SOL. Real life doesn't work like that. We all know about the AFK dance we need to do from time to time to beat the timer, and most of us will inform everyone in OOC that we have the AFK timer before moving around to avoid being shot or something in the process. If everyone is informed of a work vehicle about to disappear, my hope is that people will allow the person to get into the vehicle to refresh the timer, then continue on with RP. The only real issue I can see with this is: people who use it as an excuse to say 'I was in a vehicle, so I'm allowed to run away', but I think most people have the sense to not do this. I do NOT think the timer should be removed or extended, otherwise we'd see abandoned work vehicles all over the place. I just think we need to have some kind of notification so players aren't stranded out in the middle of nowhere after a robbery.

I certainly don't want this to become that. While it sounds helpful to have a staff team dedicated to teaching people, I like the idea of every-day players hosting the class, not so much admins. I mean it couldn't hurt to have admins present to confirm what is and is not a rule violation, to clarify things and to revive people when need be, but I really want this idea to be directed more towards players helping players. I'm not personally interested in an admin position myself, I'm just someone who's been RPing for a long time and wants to help the players improve so we can all have a better experience.

For a while, I contemplated the idea of making videos to show examples of how to RP a situation properly, and how to avoid rule breaking... and while short videos can certainly be made to give people an idea, the trouble with videos is: firstly not everyone will watch them, and second they won't cover every scenario someone can come up with. Something that was done in previous communities I've been a part of is: they would host OOC RP classes so people can watch and/or engage in an RP example to get a better idea on how to RP a specific situation properly. Mind you it was never done in a GTA 5 server, so I don't know how people would feel about an idea like this, but generally it seems like a well received idea with the other communities I've been in because it helps people understand what is and is not okay, as well as stopping problems before they start. I know the policy is that when we're on the server, we're to be considered IC everywhere we go... but perhaps for a few hours every weekend, we could designate a specific spot as an OOC zone for the sake of having an OOC RP class to discuss / practice different topics? I don't know if Fort Zancudo serves any criminal purposes, so my thought is: this area would be perfect for said OOC sessions because the hangars can be used as 'classrooms', and the wide open runway areas can be used for simulated chase scenes and such to help ease people into the idea. Only trouble I can imagine is: we'd probably need an admin on-site in case someone got downed during VDM examples or some such. I don't want admins to feel like they are being forced to sit through classes they don't feel like doing, so naturally this will all fall to how the admins feel about this idea and if they feel it's worth investing time into.

Just going to post my two cents on this suggestion. 1. This one is going to receive a -1 from me, and here's why: unfortunately there are only a few people who would actually role play trying to get the PD to release their friends and/or try to make more/better RP when coming onto a scene. I know you think it will lead to good if people are allowed to shoot cops / free their friends in an NCZ, but it's unfortunately just wishful thinking. The unfortunate reality is: just because you would do it doesn't mean anyone else will. I really understand the desire to see more RP opportunities, or the hope that changing something will help to better RP overall, but sometimes in order to make a change for the better, you need to start with the people and not the mechanics. Best advice I can offer is: work with your friends to see if you can get them to RP in a way that supports what you have suggested - a way that makes for a better RP experience for everyone in every situation. Stand as the example for others to follow. Then after enough RP has been done over the course of a few weeks, consider asking for changes again if you feel your efforts aren't having the desired effect. 2. This one I will +1, and also support the idea of having an 'evidence locker' so people can retrieve their items after the RP is done (with the exception of guns). I don't think there's a valid reason to take food or drink from people, so I don't think that should be allowed. You could argue that food would spoil by the time people got out of prison, and while I agree that from a real life perspective it would, there's stuff that happens on the server that doesn't make sense in real life either... such as getting shot and eating a hamburger to heal yourself. Bullet wounds don't work that way. So yeah, people should get their legal items back after they've served their time.

Also a valid reason. I've met people who get motion sickness from being inside of vehicles when playing games with me, so I have to modify the way I play the game when they're in my vehicle with me. Being forced into first person would cause similar issues. Noooot that I drive like a lunatic, but others might.

This. Additionally, I think it would make animations a bit more inconvenient. You need to angle yourself properly against surfaces in order to make leaning, laying on the ground, etc. look proper, so if we were in first person all the time, it would make it harder to achieve the right look... and I'm someone who likes to make sure I look right when I'm on a scene... not clipping into walls or something. You might say "That's a pretty minor point", but I'll remind you that most RPers on the server are light RPers and they'll comment on what they see in the game, not act on it IC. So if I'm leaning against mid air, they'll call me on it. People already call me out for doing CPR on a patient's crotch when IC that's not what I'd be doing to treat a bullet wound, so what would hold them back from breaking my immersion and commenting that I'm laying inside of a building? As a side note, I also like being able to see my own character because of the customization. What's the point of making my character look pretty when I can't see how pretty they are? Also I imagine it'd make it harder to buy clothing / get haircuts because you wouldn't be able to leave first person anymore. I imagine that could be fixed with a script, but why add more work for the developers?

I do too. Heck, I do this in real life because people are insane in real life too. But it's not always a guarantee. I'll look left, then I'll look right... and while I'm looking right, someone will appear from my left and fly into me as I go through the intersection.

Being someone who actually RP's driving the speed limit and stopping at stop lights, it gets super annoying how often I get rammed into from the side / behind because everyone else is blasting through the city at 200+. +200