I enjoy the jaw dropping action of the events but I also want relaxed RP that doesn't include shooting droids.
Just join
ENGINEERS lol.
Jokes aside, this is painfully true, and has been brought up again and again, mostly by veteran players when speaking about player retention after events, which at times can drop the server down to empty even just 30 minutes afterwards. I can even relate (I was not staff once), back during the Arquitens deployment, the map was large, somewhat detailed, and had good possibility for all sorts of RP, ranging from base defense (both on the ground and in the air), patrols, repair, talking with locals, search and rescue, attack missions, and more. While it is true that we got to experience many of these RP experiences, they were spread out, and if you weren't on during peak time (right before or after an event), you were almost sure to miss them. I distinctly remember requesting a BARC speeder for patrol, and even got some others to join to make a patrol group, only to be shut down because: "
there isn't anything going on, why would staff give you speeders?" While this was annoying at the time, I tried to personally take the mindset of "why not" when becoming a GM, allowing people to create their own RP as long as it's valid and doesn't interfere with others. While I am
definitely not the only GM that allows players to create RP, there is still a large void while on base, with the most going on usually being cert trainings.
I think that a easy to implement solution would be pushing
support staff to run passive RP, as they are already allowed to, and I even remember some of the most fun on base RP coming from support staff, rather than a full time GM. We have a
lot of support staff, and while they are very helpful assisting GMs during events, players during trainings, and maintaining the server, among other things, how many can you list that also run passive RP often? I understand that many support staff choose to not become GMs because they weren't interested in running or creating events, and I respect that, but I think that all of them (personally, I cannot think of one support staff not capable of putting together an on base operation) are more than competent to run passive RP, whether it be something easy, like an on the whim patrol that meets some droid squads, or a thought out, planned series that incorporates event characters, a storyline, and larger scale battles. I think that GMs should also be encouraged to run more passive RP, but as a GM, I can understand just wanting to play your trooper sometimes.
I had people walk up and tell me "Hey this isn't a serious RP server you can drop the act" as if it wasn't painfully aware that no one else was acting as a character.
This is a kinda' dumb remark, and while it isn't appropriate, I understand how some people could get upset if lets say it was interrupting an out-of-character conversation or the sort.
However, like what some people have already said, playing a character on an RP server is more than acceptable, actually, I would hope that it would be encouraged. I don't want to say this hypocritically, as I am guilty of having (at least my trooper) just be myself, unfortunately I just personally find it difficult to maintain a character. Going back though, we definitely have a good amount of people who do create a character for their troopers, and act in character while on the server. While it may not be as many as other servers, I think it's mostly due to the fact that the server is advertised, run, and understood to be a semi-serious server. There is also a reputation of people picking on and mocking those who go "overboard" on their characters (which I have also done, and I hate myself for it), which is a problem that stems from "tradition" in a way, as people have done it before, so they think it is acceptable to do continuously. Despite what I may have said in the past, I respect anyone who can create and hold a character.
