Don't need to read this wall of text if it's too annoying for you, I know the feeling.
To me, after being around for about three years now I can make a safe conclusion that the quality of Role-Play is completely dependent on the day.
Really, there is absolutely no area in Sirius which can guarantee you excellent Role-Play, and there is also no area in Sirius which can guarantee you horrible Role-Play either.
Some areas have a higher chance of providing you with a better quality of Role-Play, sure, but there is no perfect place.
Back in the days when the rules were a bit less and the Role-Play was more laid back, some people felt that it was better, for others it was actually rather annoying. Things have changed now in the sense of more rules restricting players but they also ensures that the Role-Play is (most of the time) less silly.
No longer can you get away with Role-Playing a male Golden Chrysanthemum flying a Raven's Talon with Nomad Blasters and Tizonas. Yes, in 4.83 this was possible, speaking from self-experience. (By the way that load-out kicked ass.)
I still believe to this very day that the most essential factor, which has played a major role in disturbing the good things in Discovery have been the amount of people joining in with the community alongside with the average player amount on the server. When I was a new guy, about one or perhaps on a good week, three new people would "join the community" - they could easily be taken care off. usually they ended up joining at least one Faction, and through that Faction they would get proper guidance. How to deal with all the rules and how to generally behave in Discovery. Sure there were bad apples, but no community is perfect.
As time passed Discovery got more popular, and the average player amount went from 80 players to about 160. When three new welcome threads were made per day, the current "veterans" couldn't handle all the newcomers. Some got left outside and eventually they became the very same independents who right now are disliking Factions, since they assumed they were just there to try control them.
We usually fear the unknown and that's basically what happened. When they got neglected because simply too many came in at the same time, they developed a distaste towards the group who they then got "controlled" by. And that generally was because those neglected people usually did lore-breaking stuff, but they weren't really aware of it since they never got proper guidance. Thus, it simply looked like from their perspective that they were being pushed around by some arrogant Faction folks.
Although these people sometimes were in the right, that still doesn't remove the fact that the primary factor for the whole independent vs. official faction dilemma spawned out of not being able to manage all the new people. Introducing them properly to the community.
It might look like I'm strafing away from the topic here, but it's exactly the opposite of what I'm doing. The result of all this you see, is the concept of a "lolwut" player.
The problem I have with your logic is that the people who were overlooked in the growth process at that time have had ample time to clean up thier role play, and yet many haven't. Those are the ones of which I speak. Not the noobs, but the people who have been here several months, even a year or two, and are still lolwuts.
Regardless, this isn't a crying post, and wasn't meant that way. What it was meant to say is that in my travels through the areas of the game, I've seen less of that kind of thing and more people at least making the attempt at role play. Maybe that means some left. Maybe it means some changed. Maybe it just means I have managed to avoid the worst of it all. Maybe it's all those things combined, but regardless, I have experienced better role play opportunities lately than I ever did before.
This was just a post thanking everybody for those opportunities and a recognition of the communities change.
and somewhere, in a dark corner of pennsylvania, two lolancers have heard of the recent upsurge of RP.
-RP gone up?
=Yus!
-no wai!
=wai
-o rly?
=ya rly, this is srs bsns
-ya, we gotta do summat bout it
=yus! go lolwut in NY some moar!
-ya, remembr, its 5mrdai for miners
=kthxbai
Popular areas generally have a lower average since there're plenty of players, new or old alike. If you move out of Liberty, you'll find there're less but more experienced players who produce a high quality of roleplay.
The quality of RP on the server is fine. Some people making money have always F1'd, now they have Hegemons instead of Advanced Trains. Actually, the quality of RP on the server is even better if you don't hold the ridiculous idea that PvP and RP are mutually exclusive.
Anyhow, I think it's time for my motto/maxim/thing that I've started saying.
Seek fun and you shall find it. Seek stuff to Q_Q about and you'll find that too. I choose to have fun.
actually from when i got disillusioned with the server a few years ago the off and on again... relationship with the rp quality I feel that in general the rp content has condensed.
Can't wait for the server to come back. The quaility of RP and general intelligence of players goes up because the effing morons can't find/don't think the server is up.