Aldarine

I don't see a lack of vital information anywhere. As I want no part of those scenarios, I do what I can to navigate and end/get away from the situation. I explore all avenues that make sense ICly and all but hightail it out. What is said OOCly means nothing ICly as there is nothing that enforces it. If somebody wants to be an ass and you ask them to chill OOCly, they are under absolutely no bounds required to do so, therefore, there is nothing to file a complaint about. If complaints were made of the forums via reports, it would be so frequent it's absurd and the age old response would be "it's my roleplay."

I absolutely agree and I meant to say it earlier but your suggestion is a really good one. Of course people are always anti more rules until it is something that curbs in their favor. Harassment is targeted towards very specific groups of people for no reason whatsoever. Things in the server are not always peachy keen and it is horrid some of the things that happen and have a negative impact on server perception. If there is a valid RP reason for certain behaviors then so be it, I'm always up for quality RP that makes sense but when it's seeded in the idea of "I can do whatever the hell I want and be as offensive as I want because it's funny" and it starts to infringe on enjoyment of the server, that needs correction.

It's honestly more than an IC issue as it has OOC effects and can even be tied into metagaming if you want to push it that far considering the fact that it happens predominantly to women once they are confirmed via VOIP as a female. This over the top harassing behavior does not happen nearly as often to men who RP as women using VOIP yet they should be treated exactly the same. Harassment also occurs to female who RP as male characters using their voice. Also, not to mention that it's disgusting and degrading behavior and has most of the time little connection to the character's personality as presented thus far, it's just a child being a child because they can. Nothing RPly triggers this behavior and, as stated before, if it was part of an actual scenario or character trait then it is what it is. Putting that aside, going along with what you're saying about IC responses, I, along with many women on this server, respond appropriately, attempt to navigate the situation, and become stern as a result. I do not "need to be more stern than I [you] am used to" because trust me I am. The issue is that the taunting and behaviors don't stop appropriately and also inhibit a female's ability to continue our roleplaying experience and change the outlook on the server as a whole. This is an effect on a portion of the roleplay community here. Also, one thing that a lot of people don't consider if that it is incredibly rare for the harassment to go OOC since nothing at all bars it from being said IC. Why risk the trouble of a report when you can just run up to a girl and say what you want ICly with no repercussions?

It is a very unfortunate circumstance and I despise that it disturbs what can be wonderful experiences in the server. I've sat down and tried to come up with ideas independently as well as alongside other women in the server who have faced the same issues and men who have witnessed it and are bothered by it on their behalf. Sadly the only option we could think of would be to record every single interaction and consistently be on the forums arguing it out which is a waste of so much time when considering how often it happens. I'm unsure if implementing a different way of reporting this, defining it strictly as a server rule, adding overt harassment to the penal code, reporting to PD (although in my opinion these toxic individuals shouldn't even be in the server), etc. would be more beneficial to those that experience harassment which in turn led to this discussion.

To those that don't fully understand the issue, let me give you an example of what happened on one of my last adventures into the city: I wake up from a long night's sleep in my apartment and decide I want to change my outfit. I head on over to the clothing store and begin to pick something new. I'm catcalled 2 times during my walk and then at the clothing store I'm approached by a man who says hello. After responding back via VOIP, I'm surrounded by 3 men, crouching, and walking around me calling me a whore, slut, and a prostitute. I ignore these comments and continue picking out my outfit. After wishing them a good day and walking away, a gun is pointed at me and I'm told to stop moving. They continue to pester me until they had enough and run off. Following this, I go to the parking lot to get my motorcycle. I'm stopped in the middle of walking by somebody who decides to ask me to suck him off. I keep walking and finally get on my bike. I go on over to the bank to get my salary. After exiting the bank and having a nice chat with a few people at the bank, I'm interrupted by somebody who says "let me take you into the alley and show you what a real man is capable of." I'm then followed to my bike and surrounded by a group of guys propositioning me for sex, calling me every single name in the book, and spitting at my feet. I'm finally able to leave to go to work as a medic. My first call of the day is a man injured with a broken leg. I am providing care and talking with my patient when a 4 seater pulls up and catcalls me. They continue to drive back and forth, one even getting out of the car and making crude comments during my medical treatment. After loading my patient into the ambulance and driving off, the same vehicle of men follow me back to Central MD, shouting obscene things through the window. Now, let it be know that all of that occurred in the span of no more than 30 IRL minutes and that is considered calm behavior compared to most. Multiply that by a minimum of 4, as I spend much more than 30 minutes at a time in the server. If that behavior continues almost everywhere I turn, why would I continue roleplaying? Am I supposed to be expected to walk away and ignore a gun to my face, then getting reported? Am I supposed to not go on duty as a medic? Am I supposed to ignore all harassment and get reported for not responding to RP? This has absolutely nothing to do with "learning to deal with it" or "getting out more" especially considering that, as a full time worker and educated adult, I get out and about just fine and can deal with things that you wouldn't be able to imagine. As a person on the server, I would like to enjoy my time just like everybody else without having to tiptoe around rudely misogynistic children or cater my RP to their liking. Now please, refer to the end of the original post where I state: "I would like to have an actual discussion about this topic, not be told anything along the lines of "get off the internet then" as nobody should be told that when voicing concerns." If you are unable to grasp the concerns in this discussion, kindly request clarification and try to somehow put yourself in the shoes of somebody who wants to have fun just like you but is being barred from doing so. Just as civilians and criminals go back and forth on threads about how the server isn't fun for them due to limiting criminal rp, rampant robberies, etc. this is a larger issue based around gender groups in the server.

Sadly, this is not as easy of an option as you would imagine. Many times interactions are forced due to being followed/chased/cornered. It's really disgusting and degrading.

What the issue quickly turns into is female players just not wanting to partake in RP. I wish it was that easy to just ignore it but even in examples I've given you're just trapped. It's behavior that should have no place in the server. We need respect amongst one another on even just a miniscule level to allow us to enjoy our time just like everybody else.

As long as the discussion is being expanded on I have no vested interest if criminals or civilians are pointed out and therefore no need to correct. This topic is meant to shine light on toxic behavior exhibited by members of the server towards females. My correction towards you in particular is due to your post not expanding on the topic at hand but more so focusing on the mention of criminals. I kindly ask that you step back and provide feedback and input to the topic of discussion. Thank you very much.

With respect, I ask that you keep the discussion to the topic at hand as opposed to picking out the long battled back and forth criminal this - criminal that. This discussion is not meant to nitpick at whom is doing these acts but moreso to focus on curbing the acts in general. I would very much not like this to get off track.

With all due respect, I think you're fully missing the point of this discussion. There is a blatant stigma against women on the server that makes it hard to have an enjoyable time without having to hide from certain areas. There is targeted harassment to the point of being so unrealistic it's unbelievable and again, disallows proper and fun RP for female players. Going off of what you're saying, I would have to spend 99.9% in my vehicle or home and avoid mostly all interactions. That does nothing to solve the actual issue as again, this behavior occurs everywhere. Also please note that harassment is actually a crime. ICly speaking, this would make it so no harassment can occur in a NCZ, however, with no judicial system in place to define the laws of the land, it is perfectly fine for this to occur.

I would never point a gun at somebody due to catcalling or inappropriate behaviors (this also frequently happens in a NCZ so it's moot anyway). Even with the vast number of low end thugs/gangbangers, does that excuse some of the sickening behaviors? Absolutely not, especially when it has no connection to their IC personality, no grounds for saying it, and is frankly being said for "shits and giggles" and to garner a response from a female player. Something to remember is that even though this is the internet, we are also a part of a community where there should be a level of respect that doesn't include ostracizing players for being a female. We all want to have fun here, not deal with absurd behavior on a daily basis.

While I would say using a gun would be a valid solution, consider factors such as NCZ, large groups of people outnumbering you, employment in a legal faction, he said/she said accounts, being shot at in retaliation, etc. Presently this harassment happens in such a way that your hands are basically tied and acceptance of it is forced which is so sad.

While I completely agree and accept that catcalls, sexism, harassment, and such are realistic as I do experience them in real life, the extent to which it happens and is accepted on the server toes the line of realism. It also raises the question of "is this your character's personality?" which the majority of the time, the answer is absolutely not. I'm absolutely in support of fully embracing your character even with their negative traits but what I have experienced during my time in the server thus far is, with all due respect, childish targeting of female characters to determine if they are truly played by females and then an escalation from there. If it is truly part of their character, why does this treatment not always happen when a male RPs as a female? Also, from everything I have experienced in real life, scenarios such as a group of 10 men crouching around a female, trapping her, and yelling derogatory remarks on a daily basis in high pedestrian areas, following a female's vehicle across the entire city to harass her, sexual propositioning in front of the police station followed by disturbing comments following a denial, etc. beg to raise the question of realism and appropriateness.

I have been on the server for a bit of time and I truly do enjoy my time IC. I've had lots of great moments but sadly there is a negative side that tends to outweigh everything positive - the blatant toxic sexism. Being a female on the server and RPing a female character is one of the most frustrating and toxic things ever. When not using VOIP, the comments are somewhat hit or miss (some are respectful, others try to bait VOIP, and then some are downright absurd) but the moment my microphone goes on, the harassment begins. The consistent name calling, targeting, and cornering is absolutely ridiculous and most of the time crosses a line into being uncomfortable. Being forced into the same RP scenarios of a group of men circling you and calling you every single name in the book over and over again or followed for miles on end just to be sexually harassed is ridiculous and disgusting. This is an issue that has come up time and time again. Am I aware that the vast majority of the server is male? Absolutely. Does that pardon disgusting behavior, make it alright to practically force female characters into using text chat to hide their voice, and ostracize a targeted group of players? Absolutely not. Is it alright for this consistent behavior that has no connection to an IC backstory/personality traits to be brushed aside? I do not think so. It has come from multiple people across multiple discussions that they have hesitations about even inviting females to join the server due to this behavior. There are presently females in the server that are decreasing their RP time as well due to this. It is an absolute shame that this is becoming a truth and is just accepted. Yes, this is the internet. Yes, there are trolls. Yes, you do need somewhat of a tough layer of skin when committing yourself to this. When it gets to the point of impacting your RP time and enjoyment is when it becomes a bigger issue. Personally, I have been forced into an RP scenario for over an hour consisting of nothing but sexist aggression with absolutely no way out - trust me I tried - that completely ruined what I hoped to be a fun RP day. Again, this is not a one time thing, it happens over and over. So now, I ask, how can we, as a community, make this better? How can we all have fun, embrace our characters and their traits, and at the same time decrease this very Non-RP (in my eyes) behavior? Thank you for taking the time to read and chime in on the discussion. All I ask is that you refrain from making derogatory, offensive, and disrespectful comments in this discussion. I would like to have an actual discussion about this topic, not be told anything along the lines of "get off the internet then" as nobody should be told that when voicing concerns. Let's stay respectful and kind please.

+1

-1 As stated by Marca, this is an IC thing and the work should be done ICly to get to the status of an official player faction. Official factions should only be given from the start to necessary groups (ie: Police, EMS, etc) and everything else is earned after proof of extensive and continued RP. If you want more street races, come together ICly to try to make it work. There are many ways to do this, you just have to talk to the right people and go about it the right way.

+1 to making the pickaxe as a tool you can equip - I think this is a great idea -1 to auto filling with drops. I think this would be incredibly difficult to implement as you can have situations where multiple crates/bags are around each other. It's also a bit lazy in my opinion. I think a lot of this comes down to inventory management. It's a user sided difficulty that we just have to overcome and it's part of the learning process. Also please consider that if there is automation to loading/unloading, how would items get higher levels of importance (ie: having a crate filled with different items and not having enough space in the truck). How would this timer, which would need to be significant in length, make players any less vulnerable? If anything, it would make them more vulnerable as well as have increased potential for ending the timer early and having no items transferred over.

+1 Good suggestion Vuki!

+1 I fully support this as it is what a CK truly is. Careful consideration should be taken on the player end when they decide to CK and this would really push for that.

The biggest issue is that by your own omission, you wanted to make $2,000 "quick" and it didn't turn out to be that way. You went in with a certain mindset and it didn't pan out that way, instead it took longer. Is balancing a bit of an issue? Yes absolutely it is in all areas of the server, however, as alexalex states above, its user end controlled.

-1 to the faction idea. First, there are many other faction suggestions that would increase RP drastically for the server. Second, trucking is a way for people, especially new players, to make some money. By turning trucking into a faction, that would limit new players and we want to provide more good experiences for them, not less. I will +1 balancing the order payouts as I believe all payouts should be fair given the work being done yet not overly inflated.

-1 I'm really not seeing where this is so unrealistic. Trucking and delivering orders takes time with high cargo loads, it's not a wham, bam, super fast money maker. All jobs have their ups and downs in regards to how much can be made by the hour.

The title pretty much says it all. Employees of EMS have a parking lot to park at when they are on duty. Per the rules, hospitals and the blocks around them are No Crime Zones. Even with that in mind, people continuously go into the parking lot and steal vehicles. After working their shifts, the medics are now the ones who suffer. The easiest solution to this is to place a gate at the Central MD parking lot so that staff are able to park their vehicles and not worry about people who have no respect for the server rules. Blatant rule breaking should not be left alone and something should be put into place to deter this. This is something that has been asked for multiple times and I hope it comes to pass, especially now that even DCC has a gate. Thank you for taking the time to look at this suggestion. I hope all reading can understand and support this!

People can change their name however they would like, I just don't believe it should wipe their entire criminal record and allow them to now hold a firearm license, get a job with md/pd/doc, while still maintaining all of their criminal contacts.

+1 There would need to be a minimum as well as stated by other members but aside from that, absolute amazing suggestion!