I've had something on my mind for a while now and I thought I'd come here to get your point of view. I fell in love with this world about 3 years ago and back then, in the Streets, role-play was MUST! There were strict rules...a friend had a story wacked because she used the word 'jet' instead of 'airplane', an excellent piece of work by the way, and I will never forget it. Initially, it upset me but then understood the rules that were established and I read and re-read my own threads from that day forward.

Now, these times have changed. I go to the streets and I'm disappointed in some (not most) responses. In my personal opinion, role-play is what I find attractive in the streets, both in threads and replies. Staying era oriented motivated me and caused me to pause and think about my reply...but now there is allot of text type and abbreviations, something that was never tolerated before. Am I getting old and not getting with the times?

I would love to know what you all have on your mind about this!

Being really new I wasn't here when it was that strict but I have to say that sounds very appealing. What attracted me to this game was the deep role play factor allowing you to really get into character when you log on. Altough i'm not as active in the streets as most, I would love to see those rules be strictly enforced again.

I do miss the days of carefully in character street speaches and well written stories. but i guess the tiems are a-changin'.

We just need to find the right balance where we are able to motivate people to increase the level and quality of their RP without shying them away from the streets. I have seen both extremes and neither is good.

Hello Hot Lips,

While new to this place, i do understand just what is expected in the streets from what i have read and what those around me say it should be, and i do my very best to keep to that. I am always open to learning of course, so should i ever be off topic or outside the expectations, I would certainly welcome it if i were pulled aside and shown the error of my ways.

I appreciate all of your feedback.

Popcorn, when I was in NY under the rule of ThomasRourke, we even had guidelines on which rank could respond to another rank in street debates. It was very usefull since I was a newcomer and I appreciated it emmmensely. Now that I have experience, maybe I wouldn't but it was great training.

Philli-Stein, there are alot of great speaches and well written stories out there. The only difference, in my opinion only, there is no 'tracking' as there used to be...by that I mean admin. I have nothing against admin, quite on the contrary, but it seems like there used to be a tight reign as far as RP went. That used to impress me and made me work harder.

Abel. I do know what you mean...but how do we do that? I do agree we need to motivate people for one, and not have others have an 'assholish attitude' toward them. Yes...I do read your replies and I must say I agree, sometimes we lose ourselves and forget what it's like. Perhaps this is something our leaders can ponder about? Or maybe new guidelines should be written?

Quasimodo, I have absolutely nothing to say about your RP other than I enjoy your thoughts and questions. You have nothing to worry about.

These are my thoughts and would appreciate others.

Well, imho, what ThomasRourke was doing was one extreme. I mean, while a newcomer like you may appreciate the strict guidelines that leave nothing to chance, you have experienced players that since they didn't achieve the rank on that specific character yet are left without being able to contribute (just exaggerating the concept by picturing if the whole site was following those rules).

I think the way to go is that we should all each do our best and if somebody has a small episode of "OOCitis", well, not be a jerk about it in public. We need to decide, hopefully all together, if we are going to tell him in private so he can improve or we could just ignore it.

The risk I see in doing that, at least in my case is that if I take the trouble and put the effort in writing a nice suggestion to somebody so he stops posting rubbish and then I receive a poor reply, I'm gonna be pissed that I invested that effort in an asshole that doesn't deserve it...

I originally used to play MR back in late '09 and early '10. Things must have lightened up by my time because I don't remember things being that bad. Although, there were guidelines to be followed. The people watching the street posts back then were quite lenient on enforcing them and allowed us amateurs to give it a shot. Of course if you started blabbering on about cell phones and Lamborghinis then you post would get shot down almost instantly.

I loved it back then, RPing seems to be one of my specialties and I put a lot of time and effort into it. However, I began playing again yesterday after a very long period of in-activity to find that the streets are almost without compelling stories and extensive open-RPs. The thing that shocked me most was the amount of inactivity in the business district! Each business seems to get about 3-5 posts on an average day. I miss the old RPing days and I hope it picks up as mush as it used to.

I agree. I like the role play aspect and do my research on guns or cars before I bring them up in my RPs.

On the other hand, I see people mentioning glocks and AKs and all these other bullshit firearms that haven't even been invented yet. I started in january 2011. But in that short time, I see how RPing has gone to shit.

Well, when i first started here, I didn't know the rules about RP in the streets, I had only assumed they were like the community forums, and you had those that were hardcore roleplayers, and those who weren't.  Of course that was my very first impression of it, then I had posted an OOC reply to one of Quasimodo's famous questions (I'd like to see another one soon by the way).  Once I posted, a couple others had also posted, or it was the other way around, I don't remember for sure, but anyway after the replies, the group of us got a good thrashing, not as harsh as I have seen some but good enough to make me realize there were very set rules about it.  I think that role play in the streets is great, but the only hard part I see is using the lingo of the day, and I agree, if someone is using very modern day things, they should definatly look up the info, or if someone would be nice enough to take them aside in a MM and tell them their mistake, politely (but if the person commiting the errors continue on that way, a good thrashing outta do it).  I think that definatly some errors should not be so...overreacted upon I guess?  Especially like for how people talk, like I'm not sure if this counts or not, but a lot of the time I will say man/bro at the end of my sentences, this is how I normally speak in real life and is second nature to me, of course I'm sure that to the time period this is unacceptable, but honestly its not a horrible mistake, and if others were to use different things in their speeches then it shouldn't be a problem.  Might be their character simply talks like that, or they simply forgot in their excitement to share the news.  But if it's a repeated problem, and if it is very deterring from the overall speech and enjoyment for all parties, then it should be addressed.  Publically if necessary, but should be tried to solve the problem outside the streets.  However I do understand that human nature won't always allow for others to make mistakes, I myself am already begining to chastise those who do not post in character, only in my head or with those around me at my home, I have yet to do it on the forums.

Those are just my opinions, and I hope they aren't to jumbled and confusing, as I seem to do on occasion, if they are my appologies and I would be glad to try to clarify anything!

Interesting thread here, and i can see why you posted this Hot_Lips. I for one, really enjoy role playing my character and feel the streets are ment just for this. Abel, i understand that OOCitis occurs now and then and i will have my fun when i see it happening in the streets. Why? Because it is fun, it is why i play this game. Here, i play and act like a mafioso. I create my character and try to put myself in his own skin in the era of 1930. Now, i can understand it is not easy to role play it perfectly without making mistakes. But... i always believe that was the reason for street thread, to role play. Even though i have my fun when someone makes OOCitis's in the streets, i never get upset or personaly concerned with anyone. It is just for fun... and, if two "characters" dont get along in the streets? Is that really wrong, if they can remain friends in OOC? I think not, and... well, as role players we cannot be friends with everyone. Otherwise we would call this wonderland and not Mafiareturns. Just my humble opinion there. I never take anything personal... i am 100% role player here. Just the way i am! :D

I thank you all for relaying your thoughts and I hope we get others.

One thing though, I do agree with you, Abel, that TRs rules and guidelines were strict, and perhaps it tied the hands of those who had enough experience to reply to certain threads, but it molded me into the kind of mobster I am today. I'm not saying I'm perfect...far from it...but it did give me the sense of growth as a newcomer and this is my point.

I sincerely believe, with the responses to here and now, guidelines would be appreciated by the population of MR. NOT because I believe the streets are trash (far from it) but most new mobsters do not have training when it comes to RP. ThomasRourke was on the right track in my opinion, perhaps a little looser of a hold for sure, but I long for the day when guidelines are set up again, whether a public MR guideline or a CL guideline.

Oh, and something caught my attention. Emilio, using 'man' or 'bro' will NOT get you into trouble...so no worries!

hah, good, I hoped not, no one ever said anything so I figured it was ok xD