Addressing the Culprit of Social RP: Player Robberies

[Osborn]

 

 

Addressing the Culprit of Social RP: Player Robberies
27th of April, 2020

 

 

Eclipse Roleplay,

We have recently deliberated among the staff team after listening to the concerns of many of our members in the community, and we've decided that it's time to address the culprit that prevents so many roleplay opportunities, player robberies.

We are very saddened by the fact that players are unable to socialize or interact with each others without the fear of another player robbing them. Most of the time, these robberies happen anywhere, and there has been no consideration of high-risk/low-reward as we often see players having their GPS/Radios stolen of them by players with expensive equipment (cars/weapons). We want all players to be able to interact with strangers, go to their homes without having to circle the block to make sure there are no other players around, fill up their car at the gas station properly without forcing themselves to leave as another player arrives.

We don't believe that player robberies should be as common as they currently are, we don't believe that player robberies should be what players consider as the main form of Criminal RP, and at the current state, it's far from the roleplay that we want our players to experience in our community.

Moving forward, we're going to disallow robberies from taking place in areas that would realistically be populated or areas with many player witnesses. Areas that are realistically populated could be highways, clothing stores, gas stations etc etera.  We want players to perform robberies with more in-depth RP, to make it more fun for all parties involved, and not solely focus on quickly getting the loot and then proceeding to the next robbery. This does not include the scripted store robberies. We also want players to have an IC motivation to perform a robbery, because this is a roleplay server meant to replicate a realistic environment where we've all created characters to act in this environment, so being bored Out of Character should not be your motivation to rob other players. 

We understand that this is a change that might take time to adapt to, but we hope to be able to guide players in the right direction and make the general RP environment on Eclipse Roleplay much better than before. Hopefully, this will allow players to interact with one another and stop the limitation of RP opportunities out of the fear of being robbed.

The following is being added to our server rules under  15. Player Theft, Prison Breakout, and Kidnapping and will be treated as Non Roleplay (promotes poor quality roleplay) in instances where staff determines it's necessary.
 

Quote

Robberies are to be conducted in a realistic manner and require the robber to have a reasonable in character motive. High risk, but little reward robberies are deemed unrealistic and should not be performed. Robberies should be performed in secluded areas where there is a low chance to be seen by witnesses.

We hope that moving forward, that players can adapt to this change and to help create a healthier RP environment where opportunities aren't limited.  

- Eclipse Staff.

[Bobo]

Noice

[Salvador Rivera]

Perfecto ! 

[Ultra3D]

Potato

Edited April 27, 2020 by Ultra3D
tuff to speak

[Rafi]

I think many players will approve of this rule. Curious as to how this will work out. Good work!

[dweeceman]

Let me just say something. I'm a newer player returning after some 6 months or so. I brought 5 friends with me. We absolutely love this server, and fun interactions within the community. Its by far the best role play server in our eyes. That being said, after 5000 xp the game takes a considerable nose dive. I mean, i'm talking getting robbed hourly. Who robs a fisherman/farmer in rl? 

Devs, I cant thank you enough. You've addressed the number one concern for me and my friends group and i'm happy to see such an active development group. Thank you for your hard work and well thought decisions. Its appreciated by many!

 

+1

[DeaThAngeL]

Nice!!!

[sophy16]

i'm wondering how this affects house robberies. does this mean i  can enter my home without getting houseraided now, because realistically there would be many people around in a residential area? it'S a good rule but probably needs more clarification

[Qiang]

8 minutes ago, sophy16 said:

i'm wondering how this affects house robberies. does this mean i  can enter my home without getting houseraided now, because realistically there would be many people around in a residential area? it'S a good rule but probably needs more clarification

i think

[PickleBean17]

Well the server is very "Cops and Crims" based. I understand that it is the players' jobs to create new roleplay opportunities (jobs, events etc.), but I think the higher-ups need to step in and actually change some physical features and functions to the game in order to influence people to steer away from cops and crims. By all means, keep the cops and crims but I think eclipse should steer towards a more well-rounded shape when it comes to roleplaying opportunity. Yes, there is more than just cops and crims. But it doesn't stick out like cops and crims does. For example, when I hopefully get to play eclipse again, I am going to try and branch out with some different things. 

If we change the weights on the scale, we can see different results. 

Saitama C. ////// Los Santos Hero Association

previously: Front Yard Balls + Los Santos Customs

 

[Lester Acosta]

Has this already been put in place or will it be for the future?

[Oriox]

5 minutes ago, Lester Acosta said:

Has this already been put in place or will it be for the future?

It's already in check server rules

[Toretto]

Good change

[AamirT]

I think there should be a lot more details about it.

[LeeG]

I returned to the server over the weekend, and the reliance on robbing players really stood out to me. So this is a great amendment to the ruleset. Although, I feel the wording and interpretation of rule could be improved. There's been many times, as still a new player, an experienced player has ran up to me with his gun and then put it away because he saw "new player". That's how I realised how much of a problem this was -- in my first couple days of playing.

 

The intent is good, however the wording leaves too much room for interpretation. There should be outlined places where exactly robberies cannot happen. Just saying "populated areas" does not suffice, as everyone's definition of this will be different due to there being no NPC's around to differentiate from areas that would usually be populated.

 

Furthermore, there should be a limit on how many times a day you're able to rob other players. As regarded in the post, some players use player robberies as their main source of criminal activity - this should not be a thing. Maybe adding a limit or 3-5 player robberies a day, on top of this current rule adjustment, will help tip the scales away from the constant amount of robberies that happen on the server. 

 

I will say, however, the server has a lot of potential. The script is really good, and I'm having a lot of fun playing with friends, and other players on the server. If we can iron out a few of the rules, and the "cops and robbers" feel to the server. You could have yourselves an RP server that pioneers the way forward for roleplay on GTA V.

Edited April 27, 2020 by LeeG

[Morrison]

oh finally. 

[Adaliah]

Much needed. Thank you for addressing this, I think this will make the server more enjoyable for everyone. A great start at least...

Like @LeeG stated, there are definitely some things that need to be ironed out and clarified. 

[Aldari]

The rule is vague by design, to avoid ruleplay.

We don't want to outline exact places people can rob others or create borders and by virtue 'robbery zones'. The purpose of the rule is to make robberies more engaging and more realistic and like all rules precedents will arise and staff will have discussions on what is acceptable and what is not.

Creating examples or creating specific locations in which robbery can occur will result in ruleplay, where people just drive around a certain area or wait for somebody to cross an imaginary border and then instantly pounce on them. Peoples mentality to a robbery should be "Do my actions seem realistic? Does the location make sense? Would someone really get robbed here? Am I getting something I actually need or am I just robbing them for whatever loot they might have?". We don't want peoples mentalities to be "That person crossed the border, so I can just rob them now", people should be focused on their characters and their character motivations, not rulebook definitions. 

We also want peoples mentalities to robbery RP to be "I'm going to give this player a memorable experience" and we want robbery victims to leave thinking "that was fun". We don't want people to have the mentality of "quickly rob this person, so we can get to the next" and we don't want victims to think "oh, this again. Hurry up so I can go do something more fun". Robbery RP should take time, it shouldn't be some routine thing you're doing very often and players should leave the RP feeling like they just did something fun, not feeling like it was a speed bump on their way to better RP opportunities. 

[LeeG]

I appreciate your response and also understand your decision to not outline areas where you can and cannot rob. Time is the main factor here, this rule is a good start. Let's see how this affects the general attitude around robbing over the next few weeks, month, and further action can be taken going forward.

9 minutes ago, Aldari_Tagril said:

We also want peoples mentalities to robbery RP to be "I'm going to give this player a memorable experience" and we want robbery victims to leave thinking "that was fun". We don't want people to have the mentality of "quickly rob this person, so we can get to the next" and we don't want victims to think "oh, this again. Hurry up so I can go do something more fun". Robbery RP should take time, it shouldn't be some routine thing you're doing very often and players should leave the RP feeling like they just did something fun, not feeling like it was a speed bump on their way to better RP opportunities. 

Again, I completely see your vision, but there's also a need to be realistic about the players on a roleplay server. I've been in and around SAMP roleplay servers since 2012. 95% of the time, the motivation around player robberies is a quick buck, rather than "let me make this memorable for the other player".

As aforementioned, let's see how this rule plays out and I'm sure you'll have good feedback from players/admins on how to proceed with the player theft rules.

 

[Stimo]

I don't play here anymore but this change has been introduced far too late, however, better late than never. As others have said, this server was and is a cops v crims server and I can't help but feel that Eclipse will be forever known as this due to this late arrival. I hope the future of this server does have a positive change though.

[Flucifial]

Bout time this is addressed, big thank you!!

[clickclack]

Damn I've been waiting for a very longlongdongbong time for this.

[Deepam]

3 minutes ago, LeeG said:

I appreciate your response and also understand your decision to not outline areas where you can and cannot rob. Time is the main factor here, this rule is a good start. Let's see how this affects the general attitude around robbing over the next few weeks, month, and further action can be taken going forward.

Again, I completely see your vision, but there's also a need to be realistic about the players on a roleplay server. I've been in and around SAMP roleplay servers since 2012. 95% of the time, the motivation around player robberies is a quick buck, rather than "let me make this memorable for the other player".

As aforementioned, let's see how this rule plays out and I'm sure you'll have good feedback from players/admins on how to proceed with the player theft rules.

 

Fear-RP amplifies this, if you're in a clothing store selecting clothing and you get pulled up on. It's not interactive at all for the player getting robbed, and in return people robbing need to fear the fact that they are doing so in a public clothing store, etc. It's gotten to the point where people were getting robbed in the parking lot taking out their cars when they login. SAMP servers never had the initial concept of FearRP so it would always result in someone dying but the idea of being able to defend yourself was still there.  

This should provide a good solution, and add an extra layer of thought process for players before robbing. 

[ArlyJames]

This change very well might bring me back to the server. 

[Tomvd682]

Finally