First I want to open with something that gets thrown at me a lot. I am not against people who do not roleplay. If you want to just keep your head down and click on aliens, you do that. I'm not here to stop you from having your fun. Nor am I necessarily against the memers. People who act like idiots, crack jokes, and make pop culture references are surprisingly accurate representations of enlisted men, so you do you. I mean, I can't really complain about you guys, I'm one of you. This is largely aimed at people who ignore the fact that this has roleplay at all, or actively rail against it. You might disagree and want change, but at this point in time, this is a roleplaying game according to the server rules. And a lot of people come here for that experience.
This is the culmination of a lot of stuff, but the one that made me write this is medbay storage. It is broken into nearly every round, especially on lowpop. It is never addressed, because there are very rarely MPs on in my timezone, and if there are, they don't mind. To break the window and then steal supplies are two minor crimes, which they can (and usually do) elect to ignore. If it was an isolated incident, it would be an IC issue. But it's consistent, and widespread across a large section of the community, which to my eyes, makes it an OOC issue that requires either mechanical enforcement (eg, making the windows unbreakable like req's) or admin intervention. In a round today, I tried a little experiment. I told all marines over general, and medics again over medical channel, that all requests from medbay for supplies would be accepted. I assigned a doctor to medical storage to ensure that all requests were filled promptly, so they couldn't whip out the old "BUT I NEED MUH INJECTOR BEFORE FIRST DROP". Marines still shotgunned the window, in front of the doctor. They would rather not roleplay than type one line asking permission from someone who was standing by to facilitate their requests. As a response, we closed chemistry. And again, there were no MPs. That's when I realised that without MPs, there's no roleplay standards, because roleplay is only really enforced by marine law. So I spent the entire round distributing drugs until an MP rocked up, and then I was arrested.
But it's not just that. The blatant disregard for orders in favour of ungaing. Disassembling parts of requisitions because you're mad at the RO. Destroying squad req. Deploying without essential gear, or wearing the shorts from the gym.
I mean, let's be real, most marine law violations are pretty LRP, and considering that (until recently) we had no antags besides the xenos, they've always basically existed as a soft way for roleplay standards to be enforced ICly. What marine is going to risk brig time and possibly dishonourable discharge just so they can get their piece of equipment (stuff stolen from engineering, stuff stolen from medbay, disassembling various parts of the ship for metal, etc.) slightly faster? Breaking a window for example doesn't merit admin intervention, but it's not something you can just do if we want to accept that this is a roleplaying game. Hence, the existence of MPs.
So what can be done?More people should play MP.I honestly have no answer.Give us Warhammer 40K style commissars attached to every squad with the power of summary execution.If there are no MPs, staff should step in, or spawn themselves in as an MP while also attending to admin duties? I dislike the idea of heavy handed administrative interactions for RP violations, but it'd work. Keep an eye on player behaviour shipside and address the issues directly? Make medbay windows unbreakable, req walls unable to be disassembled, all that? I don't like that either, because there are situations where breaking the windows or walls might be beneficial, like during a boarding or if there's nobody staffing those areas.
Honestly, I just want some clarification, and perhaps a bit more staff involvement. Are we a TDM, or a roleplaying game? If we're TDM, then all my complaints evaporate. It doesn't matter, all that matters is powergaming in order to win, in which case breaking into places to get the best equipment makes perfect sense. If we're a roleplaying game, do the things I've described above, when done frequently, constitute a violation of roleplay rules? Or, are they as I have found out so many times when ahelping them, IC issues? If that's an IC issue that does not constitute a breach of the roleplay standards, what does? Are MPs still fit for purpose? And before the usual argument of "it's both" comes out, that doesn't address the issue. The game can be both, but saying that it's both doesn't address the issue of roleplay standards. It's either a roleplaying game, or it is not. Saying it is both a TDM and a roleplaying game means that you accept that there must be roleplay standards.
I'm not advocating for HRP or even MRP. I'm advocating for LRP, which does not mean NO roleplay. It means LOW roleplay. Behave like a sane person who wants to keep their job. Sane people who want to keep their job don't violate the law instead of waiting. They don't damage their workplace because they're salty. They don't do half the shit we do. And yes, this might result in a few of the dumber funny things we do getting axed, but I think it would create a better gameplay environment.