Lack of role-play on server

[El_Vlado]

I thought I would voice my concern as this is a burning concern of mine as of late. Be it playing on my LPI character, or on my other characters I have experienced an ever-decreasing amount of role-play on the Discovery Freelancer RP 24/7 server. Yesterday I played for a long time, and through all my interactions with players sadly less than 15% of it was in role-play.

One of the things that had made me join this server is the RP aspect over other servers; not the server population. I really wanted to enjoy a roleplaying environment over PvP combat, because really thats what makes the game interesting. I have played on this server last year and after arriving back I have found that there is less role-play than there was last year. In the past week or so that I have played for example, it has been rare to find role-playing persons; and if there is player to player roleplay it is for one purpose: PvP. There is also a lack of roleplay in the PvP scene, players doing the utmost minimum to enter combat. I'm sure you have all seen the 2-3 liner excuses to engage.

This I have found has deteriorated my enthusiasm to role-play in this server, changing its atmosphere for me (and for many others I have talked to) into more of a PvP server rather than an RP server. I think this is tragic and can be improved if we all want it to improve.

The biggest culprits in the lack of role-play (especially in the field of PvP engagements and player to player interaction) are official factions. Many official factions seem to encourage or ignore bad role-playing practice, as groups of such character's seem to do so when interacting in pre-PvP roleplay or otherwise. I think many official factions can definitely improve their role-playing standards instead of just lurching into PvP by typing 2 lines.

I have lately seen many indies complain to me of this problem as well, finding that the lack of role-play between players is at an all-time low. This issue doesn't stop at the PvP spectrum, it even includes the common non-roleplay names, like for example when someone names their character |V|lYl... How can you RP with that supposed character?

I have heard the argument that the ticket system is there to use, but I would have to spend most of my time filling out complaint forms to sanction the players for not doing their bit or breaching server rules. At the moment I do only if the breach is serious. If it is not a breach (for example the 2-3 liner engagement sequence) then its an issue the community has to deal with and find ways to improve it. If we all do our bit to improve roleplaying I'm sure we can find a solution!!

I have hope that there are alot of ways this can be fixed and would like to hear your views and ideas about it. As I said, I believe a solution is obtainable if the whole community is interested in improving role-playing standards in the game without admin intervention. After all, even with admin intervention it is up to the players to make sure RP improves; rules itself cannot change the culture of the community.

Lastly, I just want to thank the minority of players that do role-play. I wanted to include this so as not to beat the stick on everyone as some indeed keep the RP spirit of this server alive.

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