A Needed Change to the Hostage Rules

[Raymond_Edwards]

Undoubtedly, when done properly, hostage bank RP is one of, if not the best, interaction between police and criminals. To define how to conduct hostage banks I will cite examples from Los Santos Royals. A prime example of this can be seen in Royals’ two man bank.

Bank Forum Post

This bank heist was highly organized and consisted of a great deal of preparation. Unfortunately, given the current standing of the hostage rules, conducting a highly organized bank like this is extremely difficult. The difficulty is not found in formulating a complex plan, instead, the difficulty is found in acquiring a hostage. Currently, the rules for obtaining a hostage goes as follows: Players are allowed to kidnap or to take other players hostage within the context of reasonable escalation. Your escalation and reason behind the kidnapping should be able to be easily documented and explained if required by server staff. If your intention is to harm another player (e.g. injuring or killing them), then you need to refer to our DM rules. The situation can of course naturally develop into one where the player gets harmed. 

The limiting factor in completing a bank robbery with a hostage is not the criminal’s ability to execute a plan. The limiting factor is obtaining a hostage that follows the guidelines stated in the rules. When considering this in the context of the real world, bank robbers would simply take a hostage randomly as they would hold the same leverage against the police regardless of the relationship (escalation) between the robbers and the hostage. This situation manifests the current issue with the hostage rules: “Players are allowed to kidnap or to take other players hostage within the context of reasonable escalation.” There should be a clear distinction in the rules between taking a hostage for motivations like harming the hostage or attempting to extract information and taking them for completing a hostage bank. Given that hostage banks are top tier RP on the server and enjoyable for everyone involved coupled with the extreme difficulty in obtaining a hostage, the rules for acquiring a hostage for the purpose of a hostage bank should be distinct.

While I think this is a necessary change for healthy RP on the server, some potential problems arise that require consideration. First, to stay consistent with the robbery rules, a hostage should not be taken in highly populated areas such as the pier. Next, in my experience, hostage banks can be a lengthy process lasting well over an hour. Obviously, people will not always have this kind of time to thoroughly complete the scenario. This is why once a person has been taken hostage they should be informed OOC’ly that the situation will be a time commitment and they should give confirmation that they have this time. Given these restraints, I believe the mere fact that “I want to rob a bank” provides proper escalation to take someone hostage with that reason.

I would like to thank everyone that took the time to read this post and if there are any ideas you may have that I did not consider in my post please reply to this thread.

[Aldarine]

Apologies but I completely disagree with this suggestion and I was the person who pushed for relaxed hostage rules by separating it from Deathmatching requirements. Rules that promote random acts against players with no reasonable escalation or fault on the players side should not exist. There should always be an action and reaction and the player should be aware of why they are being taken hostage - not just a simple, oh you’re an easy target let’s go with you. That is in no way a healthy environment to promote. While I do not believe that OP’s intentions are malicious or anything of the sort, you must think about the server and community as a whole and again I do not see any adjustment promoting good roleplay.

[Buggs]

On 2/21/2022 at 11:08 AM, Raymond_Edwards said:

While I think this is a necessary change for healthy RP on the server, some potential problems arise that require consideration. First, to stay consistent with the robbery rules, a hostage should not be taken in highly populated areas such as the pier. Next, in my experience, hostage banks can be a lengthy process lasting well over an hour. Obviously, people will not always have this kind of time to thoroughly complete the scenario. This is why once a person has been taken hostage they should be informed OOC’ly that the situation will be a time commitment and they should give confirmation that they have this time. Given these restraints, I believe the mere fact that “I want to rob a bank” provides proper escalation to take someone hostage with that reason.

I think this could potentially be some very fun RP. I believe that under these circumstances... and being that the hostage cooperates... they shouldn't lose more than a radio and a phone battery at most. This could lead for some interesting civilian RP, as typically civ's get targeted because they are an easy target.

On 2/21/2022 at 1:31 PM, Aldarine said:

Rules that promote random acts against players with no reasonable escalation or fault on the players side should not exist. There should always be an action and reaction and the player should be aware of why they are being taken hostage - not just a simple, oh you’re an easy target let’s go with you.

Simply exchange what he's asking for the current robbery rules on the server. Literally anyone who is an easy target, aka in a secluded place or in the wrong place at the right time, can be targeted. Instead of the standard, hands up, and wait for them to /frisk... one would be able to participate in RP with others that isn't so repetitive.

Civilians, criminals, and LEO's alike would have a new experience (assuming they OOCly agree to it). Just like most things on the server it pends on consent of the opposite party which @SmushyTaco touches on in his response. When they say yes, one agrees to the time and hostage RP that would come along with a normal bank robbery.