Been browsing the streets recently and I've noticed every man and their dog think they're John Grisham.

What's with the 2783793232 shite role plays going on? Where have all the street speakers gone? Reading about some cunt lighting up his cigarette and robbing a bank gets boring quite quickly.

People seem to have taken a step back from venturing out into the streets to voice their opinions and now it is more about story telling than actually bringing some discussions to the table. Granted the streets are about role playing but it just seems like everybody is content with life and are more than happy to sit back and let all these Grisham wannabees completely over run the streets. We used to have a very vocal community once upon a time, now it seems we have a real lack of personality going on and the "big characters" aren't really stepping up.

Anyone else thinking along the same lines?

Or perhaps I've got things completely wrong?

There are no characters; only players. Since the Streets is where characters go to discuss things, there's no discussions in the Streets. Anything that needs discussed can be done in private or on IRC with ease. The Streets are just for experience, vision, and an excuse to call this an RPG.

Well, rare or not, Blackbeard. Everytime something happens we get filled in through those same streets that Aniki mentioned.

But you were right. It's mainly RP forum, make a decent story so that peeps read and enjoy it, you win.

It seems to be back and forth. Discussions and speeches have a lot of rinse and repeat to them. Same with our lifestyle. We are mafioso's, so people will want to role play about robbing a bank.

Throw up a discussion, I'm sure someone will reply to you. Much like how a few people did here.

So, you believe people should stop smoking?

Well it gets boring to see people discussing about the same thing over and over, and this, this discussion has happened thousands of times before.

True is everyone thinks that it is important to have some quality roleplay, but you can't demand this from the others. Go ahead, make it your own way, and probably others will follow. But if they don't its not fair to complain because everyone makes his own choices here.

The streets are both for RP and speeches, but I can agree that the number of (pointless?) RP's has been increasing now, it's a tad annoying sometimes. My question is: Does anyone actually read those things?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my GOD.  I cannot believe I actually read this?  How long have you been playing this game Aniki?  The streets are for roleplaying.  Hell, way way way back in the day, sometimes people even ran businesses or newpapers!  

and Maedhros  you can think they're annoying, and I guess a lot of people don't read them, but I'd rather see a full assed role play than a half assed "I'm standing on my soapbox bitching about some aspect of gameplay barely staying in character bla bla bla." 

I mean, is that what you want to see?  because there have been eras where that's ALL the streets were.  Every other street corner had some schlub in a suit yammering away about this life of ours, but they couldn't even do it IC.  

I just don't understand how or why you'd rather listen to a bunch of "speeches" that barely skirt the role play guidelines, than read a role play with an actual story behind it? 

Yes they are role playing, in the main role playing forum, on a role playing game, but the quality of role play is poor and is most likely more for the perks than entertainment.

I have no problem with a well thought out, well written role play. However, the stuff currently on the streets is woeful. A story whereby one day a woman enters into a bar and pinches a mans ass and the next day they are to be wed. It's cringey and embarrassing. What's worse is the fact they felt the need to mass mail everyone else about it too. Truly awful stuff.

Is this what we are resigning to now? Half assed role plays for better vision and some extra credits? I think it's poor form and I think we should hold our selves to a higher standard than that, given that this game has been going for some time. Over the years there have been some amazing stories told out there but never have I seen a time where there are so many sub standard role play threads as now.

In the past, even when there were a small amount of poor role plays out there on the street, it was still broken up by better speakers who brought something more to the streets, that is what I feel we are missing. Players like Zebedee, FlyingPig, even yourself tiggy, you were all vocal members of the community and I feel there aren't enough of those now. More recently we have had the likes of WhereWasI and Maria who brought a little life back out there but again as I said previously, there doesn't seem to be enough of these players to step out into the light and bring some quality back to the streets.

The thing is lillian have you actually tried to read any of them? They are so poor in quality it's truly terrible.

The thing you should expect from everyone is for them to at least remain in character because that's literally their only task. Sadly some here fail this basic requirement on a daily basis which is a continual disappointment to me and why we see moronic references to the person behind the character repeatedly littering the streets. Pathetic.

As to this thread, in my opinion, the problem is neither RP stories nor debates but rather a lack of activity within the game. I'm not a fan of RP stories, so I don't usually participate in them unless I find them particularly amusing. And, whilst once upon a time as a player I used to be intrigued by the debates, I find having spent many years arguing various different viewpoints depending upon my character, these also are pretty boring.

The things that appeal to me are the original ones which I haven't encountered before. Invariably, this is where someone has killed, died or done something controversial. Off the top of my head; Achilles getting himself hitlisted for $300m was pretty interesting. The threads discussing that at the time, some outraged by his conduct, others defending him, was worthy of my attention. I enjoyed that. It was different and fairly literally a matter of life and death.Similarly, ZeQ's thread about his retirement was also a good one. These related to things that happened in the game and required some thought, as my character, as to how I should respond to them.

I want more of that.

Discussion of the importance of family jobs, the street presence (or lack thereof) of leaders or a story about beating up of a fictional mayor; I struggle to care.  

Surely, the state of The Streets would be best with a balance that caters to everyone?


Criticizing pure RP threads is not something I could ever find myself doing – regardless of the standard of writing or whether they are my own cup of tea. There are people that may not be the best writers, but find this practice the most enjoyable aspect of the game. As long as the stories are in-character, I say – let them be.


It doesn’t take much to be more tolerant.


I can understand your point about the quantity of discussions/debates being lower than usual, but I put this down to the level of stability between the big powers. There is a lot of security. We witness the biggest surge in passionate, unique debates when somebody feels wronged; angered, betrayed, etcetera.

I agree that we shouldn't bash people just because they aren't the best writers. As long as they stay in character and tense then what else can we ask of them?

Unless we are to start training everyone before they are allowed to post on the forums, then what can we do. There are a few people out there who I have talked to that have tried to give courses on RP to their members, especially their recruiters. I've seen it work for some and not work for others, and I think RPing is a hard thing to teach. As long as people stay in character I don't see anything wrong with them posting, even if they aren't the best writers. At least they are putting their self out there, and aren't scared to get shit on if people don't agree with them.