PD Realistic Aliasing.

[zophir]

I've seen footage of multiple cop players streaming and they seem to alias every single person they pull over. This is not against the rules, the alias command exists for a reason. But I find it incredibly unrealistic that your average cop could remember every single person they have pulled  over simple because they saw their license. Maybe if it was a particularly big crime, or the individual had a unique look to him it would be reasonable. But remembering every single person you have ever pulled over? Even for a warning? For a 15 second interaction?

Seems unrealistic. And they then get to roam the world. You could interact with them off duty, they have ABSOLUTELY no idea who you are, but already have your full name? Can't lie or deceive them about it, because they have a photographic memory from when they pulled you over for going 5 km/h over the speed limit 3 months ago.

Am I the only one who thinks this seems a bit problematic?

[GodDammitKopi]

+1

 

[alexalex303]

This is a double edged sword. How many videos do you see with cops named cop21 or cop20 and so on.

Would you really remember every single cop if you saw them off-duty in civilian clothes three months later? No.

This isn't a problem with PD, it's with the alias system in genereal.

[DeRose]

7 minutes ago, alexalex303 said:

This isn't a problem with PD, it's with the alias system in general.

+1

[zophir]

I agree it's an issue with the aliasing system, but it seems most exploitable by groups of individuals who are constantly handed player licenses. Perhaps a slight addendum to the non-rp rule section to advise not aliasing players unless you've interacted with them in such a way that you would remember them? 

Unfortunately, I'm not smart enough or experienced enough with the server to provide a solution to the aliasing system, and this rule change would not tackle the crux of it, but it might help alleviate the problem slightly and without specifically targeting PD/SD.

[Victor Einhart]

18 minutes ago, alexalex303 said:

This isn't a problem with PD, it's with the alias system in genereal.

+1. This is why people wear masks 24/7 even when it doesn't make sense to do so: they're playing to the alias mechanic.

[JakeInnit_]

Aliases need a rework, they should expire if you don't come into contact with a player in x many days

[zophir]

Expiration of aliases is interesting and a good middle ground!

+1

[GodDammitKopi]

+1 for the idea of alias resetting after a certain amount of time!

[Cyrus Raven]

+1 Alias system in general could use a revamp.

 

Perhaps make it so that all /alias expire after two weeks. However, if someone wants to alias someone permanently they can do /palias ID FNAME LNAME which would send a request to that person asking if they accept (the use case for this would mainly be for faction members, close friends, etc...)

Also, a significant cosmetic change with surgery system should auto clear alias from everyone.

[Bala]

Speaking as a cop who streams and alias' people in this way when I know their IC name, frankly it adds me in starting roleplay with people. 
The amount you can customise your appearance is good, but is still limited to only so many combinations.

Yes, I've used it to ID people for crimes but I've also used it and said hello to people who I might not have engaged otherwise. 

If we can accept that people come back from the dead with short term memory loss, we can accept knowing someone after finding out their name.

[Donovan]

So Cops remembering names is an issue, but crims have 500 more iq and are able to remember all names? I dont get this discussion 

- edit : Forgot to add, while there is a part that I get with this topic, but at the same time, 99.9% of time, I can guess/know who someone is based on their voice, after Ive heard it long enough, but at the same time, charging people based on their voice is not allowed. So by this logic, wearing a mask would mean immunity to charges, unless arrested?

Edited February 26, 2021 by Donovan

[Paulo]

I do agree with the argument that the alias system does have flaws but I believe it's due to the nature of the game. With it being game, you find that the majority of players chose similar generic features to create their characters. Unless they can diversify character creation enough to the extent that each character has a unique appearance, I can't see a solution to resolve this issue.
As previously mentioned, I typically find this works both ways. I've been in law enforcement for over 2 years and during my time, I've obviously upset a lot of criminals. Having been retired since September, I still find people referring to me as "Cop" or being held up due to my past career. 

[Maccy]

I agree with both the premise of the OP and also what others have said about it going both ways. As alex put it, its an issue with the alias system in general.
As a small experiment I created an IC reason for my crim character to always wear a mask, being part of his religion. I've found that almost everyone I've had any meaningful interaction with remembered me with the mask constantly on, they didn't have to pull my name from an alias and I have not aliased a single person in return and am able to recall meaningful interactions with them too if they made an impression on me. If they didn't make an impression on me I don't remember them which seems entirely realistic to me. The one issue that arises from this is text RPers, its possible to recognize a text RPer in person but over a radio it is practically impossible unless they type as if their character is speaking with a specific accent.
I would love to see a rework to the system but the last point I made is the biggest point of discussion when it comes to it. How do we rework the alias system and ensure text RPers aren't completely left behind.

On a side note, often times LEO characters may alias for the sake of quickening the flow of roleplay when they're searching records in an MDC and such rather than scrolling back through their chatbox for the license name, they don't do it with evil intent.