Some interesting points being made on this thread and a discussion we should be having as a community but I think it's important to keep this positive and not turn personal.
There have been some great shared experiences that have helped to shed light on some of the ongoing issues on all sides but not a great deal of solutions on how we move forward.
Let's say all police disappeared for a month and the rest of us had free reign over the server. No staff, no NHS nothing... Be honest, what kind of RP would you be creating? How would you use that time? Would you be trying to make fun and interesting scenarios with other players and groups or have a massive shootout in Legion square and try to get a bunch of clips for a YouTube compilation? Perhaps use it as an excuse to grind selling to make as much money as possible without fear of getting arrested and buy every car and strap you ever wanted? What value would it add to your character?
My point being are we all holding each other to a high enough standard of RP? Is your RP based on something that could be fun for all parties? Are you disrupting an ongoing scenario that could have taken lots of planning? Not everyone has to be the main character in every 'scene' you're involved in so what are contributing to it? Are your decisions based around your ego and feelings or how your character would actually react?
I reckon the root of a lot of these frustrations comes down to the amount of time some of us have spent in RPUK building a character with a story, connections, friends and knowledge of the city whilst also having to grind to make money to fund their chosen lifestyles (even more expensive for crims with wars costing individuals millions). Not everyone has the time to spend hours achieving all of these things so to have these plans ruined is incredibly disheartening. If we all started making a very conscious effort to start respecting peoples time and the amount of work we all put into the server that feels like a step in the right direction. I know the point has already been made but the amount of work and effort it takes to be a decent crim (even with access to certain things) is vastly different to being a police officer and also has completely different consequences affecting both time and your characters status within the city. On a personal note, it has been really sad to see some of the larger and more influential characters around the city step away due to some of these frustrations as I believe they added a lot of value to the server.
But we should be regularly asking ourselves what do we want to get from RPUK longterm? Are we jumping onto the server to hang with our friends for a bit and then fly out? (guilty) Are you bored or frustrated with issues ooc and taking it out on individuals in the city? Are we working towards making this a fun and inclusive environment for new and old players or are treating it like you're trying to win a GTA deathmatch / Cops and Robbers sim with a tiny bit of RP thrown in? Community leaders and experienced players, what kind of standards are you setting for your group after all they are a reflection on you. Just because you aren't 'technically' breaking the rules doesn't necessarily mean you are offering good RP and regarding your approach to any given scenario just because you can doesn't always mean you should.
We should be logging off every night smiling after having a great time not frustrated and feeling like you have had your time taken from you but it's not something that will happen by adding a few crim features and taking away head armour. We ALL have to act like a proper community that sets the standard for serious high level RP and maybe start getting more creative with what we currently have rather than a list of things we 'need'.
