Light RP, Community Growth, Private Server Discussion

[Katabasis 83]

Update! Server is live at 173.199.86.106:2302

So first quick synopsis of what I'm intending to do over the course of the next year of alpha/beta.

1. Run a private, whitelisted, Light RP server for a large community (max server pop not just 40).

2. Have a community enforced set of rules centered on fair combat, rational actions based on character backstory or group/clan goals, and mature interactions.

3. Grow a large community whose purpose is long term interactions on a single server (think EVE online and guild wars etc on a smaller scale of course).

So here is the main purpose of my thread. I want to gauge interest in this type of a community, ask for opinions on things like server rules/RP rules/payment options and fairness, and to organize and centralize my group's backstories/RP elements.

So what is your interpretation of "Light RP"? Mine would be something like this: the player would need to make core decisions on a few factors such as character personality, their threshold for aggression/aberrant behavior, their short term and long term goals, who are their enemies (if any permanent ones), how they will react under extreme duress. An example would be perhaps my character is a bandit. Am I solo? Who are my targets? Why are they my targets? How do I react to threats, trade requests, or being outnumbered? I would need reasoning for all my actions. I am not a psychotic murderer so I wouldn't KOS. I would hit any unarmed target that would possibly have food/medical supplies. I would trade with other bandits and I would avoid military/police groups. I would in general avoid most armed targets since they require way too much risk to rob. I wouldn't kill my victims because they are a source of supplies down the road. If they know I'm just out for murder they will know not to trust me and they would learn to KOS me. I would wear specific clothing to distinguish myself apart from the military (no combat helmet, no tssko vest, no camo, only civ clothes maybe). These things are all considered when creating a persona. They give every interaction a reason. They give every death a story, an experience that is completely unique to that character. The next time you respawn maybe you are a trader. Or maybe you join the military police clan living out of Cherno and protect your past marks.

We currently have a teamspeak and many people already playing at various times. I am a streamer with almost 4k follows and 350k views. We are a mature, over 18 (most of us are in our 30s), group of gamers who prioritize friendship over "leet" gameplay. I have streamed for over 2 years playing various games in a permadeath playstyle such as borderlands 2, dishonored, d3, skyrim, fallout nv, etc. and I stream nightly at around 9pm PST at twitch.tv/Katabasis and my YouTube is at www.youtube.com/katabasisgamer. Please do not think it am trying to self promote. I'm am not sponsored, I make no money from this, and I have no intentions of trying to seek a job from this. My goal is to make great friends and share amazing stories.

So what are your thoughts on a community like this? What kind of rules do you think we should have? My friends and viewers will most likely be using this thread to discuss character builds and RP stuff. I will be allowing viewers to control my personal character RP build and how I interact with others. This game is an excellent sandbox so let's get to making and breaking some castles.

TLDR - if you need one of these you are most likely not the intended audience. Sorry.

Edit - so the server has been up for almost a month. We have had some crazy fun. Seems that when experimental patches go up there is a lull time while people either play the experimental servers or they take a break till the patch comes up. After playing around with different types of RP and after conversations we have all had on Facebook and teamspeak I think the general consensus is that people prefer an EVE style experience instead of a solo or duo RP interaction. This provides more endgame group play but does initially limit the storytelling.

I will give an example (fictional) of what I mean by EVE style light RP (it is similar to old school Darkfall). The 15 members of the Chernarus Liberation Front have laid claim to Elektro as their home base. They chose this due to proximity to spawns, double firehouse spawns, and ease of defense due to how open the approach to elektro is. They tend to fight for the benefit of the average citizen although they do intend to expand regardless of the neighboring settlements' opinions. A coalition of mayors and sheriffs from the surrounding towns get together and discuss a plan to limit the scope of the CLF's expansion. They inform the CLF leader of the details. He disagrees and takes offense at their audacity to limit their operation. War is declared. The coalition is undermanned and outgunned due to their towns lack of weapon spawns. They do however have tons of food and use their resources to hire a mercenary force that operates out of Riffy. Combined they wage war until the CLF relents and agrees to a compromise with the coalition. The NE firehouse will be a neutral zone where anyone from the surrounding towns can go to loot weapons and supplies.

Within this engagement there is a story, political intrigue, misinformation, propaganda, alliances, and possibly betrayal. There is also however a ton of combat, which us what dayz is about.

This is what I dream of when I think "light RP server". At the moment we just don't have enough regulars to have that many split up groups. Time will determine if we can find enough but it takes people willing to work towards creating this environment purposefully.

Thoughts on how we can achieve this?

Edited February 2, 2014 by Katabasis

[Graphite (DayZ) 2]

Well Kata you know I'm all for it. Already have my character named "Smiley" due to the mask he wears. Looks like a bandit but is completely friendly.

[argent1 0]

+1

 

I'm interested and the ideas you put down are good.

[wgaf 251]

The appealing, special, original and amazing thing about DayZ is its focus on plausible simulation, and abandonment of everything arbitrary. That it's just people interacting with people.

 

Because of this, I couldn't have a lower opinion of what you're proposing, or of similar abominations. 

[The_Man 393]

I have an interesting in participating with a light RP community. The public hive is entirely too large to have any sort of consistent RP so I eventually will join a community to satisfy my need for RP! 

 

I'm working on the graphics and small details for my character right now. 

 

My character is likely going to be a university student that participated in a research program in the Arctic. He returned back to Chernarus on the beached ship that we all know is in Rify (North-Eastern Chernarus). I will likely stick to low-tier weapons and not gear up too much. If I do have a lot a gear it will likely be survival orientated and not for PVP. I would not adopt a Kill-On-Sight attitude. I will likely stick with my own people and be wary of strangers. I don't have much now in terms of background story but I just finished one of the graphics. I would be interested in forming a small group to expand on the backstory. 

 

 

I like your ideas though for a light RP server. Hope you keep us updated. 

[Katabasis 83]

Hahaha graphite. Smiley sounds like a scary dude to run into. I'll be on in about an hour or so. Trying to figure out how to stream dayz using obs and quick sync instead of crawly xsplit and dxtory.

Argent - feel free to drop thoughts or opinions here or in twitch or teamspeak. I try to have only 18+ in teamspeak tho.

[Katabasis 83]

The appealing, special, original and amazing thing about DayZ is its focus on plausible simulation, and abandonment of everything arbitrary. That it's just people interacting with people.

 

Because of this, I couldn't have a lower opinion of what you're proposing, or of similar abominations.

I'm actually really interested in what you are saying but I'm having a hard time understanding. I thought the RP side of what I'm talking about is abandonment of arbitrary gaming restrictions. Are you saying you hate the idea because you think it forces rules down your throat and you lose the ability to make your own ideas? If so I understand what you are saying but tbh if you applied a rationale you can make a character that would be able to make snap decisions based on current situations alone. Basically a mental head case burned out by PTSD or schizophrenia. Or am I just misinterpreting your hatred about RP in some other way?

[Katabasis 83]

I have an interesting in participating with a light RP community. The public hive is entirely too large to have any sort of consistent RP so I eventually will join a community to satisfy my need for RP! 

 

I'm working on the graphics and small details for my character right now. 

 

My character is likely going to be a university student that participated in a research program in the Arctic. He returned back to Chernarus on the beached ship that we all know is in Rify (North-Eastern Chernarus). I will likely stick to low-tier weapons and not gear up too much. If I do have a lot a gear it will likely be survival orientated and not for PVP. I would not adopt a Kill-On-Sight attitude. I will likely stick with my own people and be wary of strangers. I don't have much now in terms of background story but I just finished one of the graphics. I would be interested in forming a small group to expand on the backstory. 

 

 

I like your ideas though for a light RP server. Hope you keep us updated.

Oh shit man I dig the idea! My bro is a prof at a university and I'm a high school English teacher. The idea of a bunch of science students trapped in a zombie apocalypse in pseudo Russia is awesome! Feel free to toss ideas around here or better yet come to the teamspeak and let's talk later tonight.

[wgaf 251]

I don't hate RP, I love role playing games. 

 

But it destroys what DayZ is.  A 'game' where there are never any rules of any kind, where, just like in real life, everything that happens is because of people interacting, and the only 'rules' that govern their behavior are calculations about self-interest, desires, attitudes, etc. That's what makes DayZ special. That's the only way it rises above the grime of the Arma2 engine, the genre, etc. 

 

Everyone in DayZ is already forced to roleplay all the time, but they're forced to play the role of a human being.  

Edited January 5, 2014 by HCHellCaptain

[broguenz 333]

Asking people to pay and be legally able to do so might be your biggest hurdles.

Edited January 5, 2014 by RogueNZ

[The_Man 393]

Oh shit man I dig the idea! My bro is a prof at a university and I'm a high school English teacher. The idea of a bunch of science students trapped in a zombie apocalypse in pseudo Russia is awesome! Feel free to toss ideas around here or better yet come to the teamspeak and let's talk later tonight.

 

Cool, glad you like it! I'm a student at University right now and that is what kind of sparked the idea for me. I feel like it could make for a really interesting RP experience. I will try to get on Teamspeak tonight but I'm not sure yet. I will add you as a friend on here and contact you via private message if anything comes up. 

 

I don't hate RP, I love role playing games. 

 

But it destroys what DayZ is.  A 'game' where there are never any rules of any kind, where, just like in real life, everything that happens is because of people interacting, and the only 'rules' that govern their behavior are calculations about self-interest, desires, attitudes, etc. That's what makes DayZ special. That's the only way it rises above the grime of the Arma2 engine, the genre, etc. 

 

Everyone in DayZ is already forced to roleplay all the time, but they're forced to play the role of a human being.  

 

I see where you are coming from but these type of communities do not ruin DayZ in my opinion. These games prosper by creating sub-communities. You can't give people (creative or not) a sandbox and try to force them to play the vanilla game without adding any sort of creativity into it. You talk about the role of human beings. Well, humans are curious and creative creatures, thus, RP. (Lol at my logic) 

 

These small communities provide a different kind of RP that is very enjoyable. However, the challenge of RP of this kind in the public hive is also fun. Why not both? Give people a choice. 

Asking people to pay and be legally able to do so might be your biggest hurdles.

 

Donations for servers is allowed I think. If the community wants to donate then I wouldn't see any sort of legal issue. Then again...I'm not a lawyer. 

[gibonez 3633]

Like the mod the future of the game lies in mods and more importantly private hives and servers.

 

It's just a better way of controlling hackers, server hopping, combat logging and ghosting.

[The_Man 393]

Like the mod the future of the game lies in mods and more importantly private hives and servers.

 

It's just a better way of controlling hackers, server hopping, combat logging and ghosting.

 

Something you and I can finally agree on! Beans all around. 

Edited January 5, 2014 by The_Man

[fig0451 85]

Kata, do you have any experience with moderating a forum or running an rp community? If not, expect all the bullshit you could ever imagine, multiplied by one hundred.

If you're gonna do it through a whitelist, that will help, but expect everyone to bend the rules to the breaking point literally all the time.

 

That said, I applaud the effort.

[Katabasis 83]

I don't hate RP, I love role playing games. 

 

But it destroys what DayZ is.  A 'game' where there are never any rules of any kind, where, just like in real life, everything that happens is because of people interacting, and the only 'rules' that govern their behavior are calculations about self-interest, desires, attitudes, etc. That's what makes DayZ special. That's the only way it rises above the grime of the Arma2 engine, the genre, etc. 

 

Everyone in DayZ is already forced to roleplay all the time, but they're forced to play the role of a human being.

Ah I see now. I would actually suggest that deep down you would like an RP server for the very reasons you say you don't. You crave the depths of humanity and dayz, well she provides that in abundance doesn't she. At a certain point though you have seen it all. Then you can go on a server like this and experience something new. Maybe you encounter a hermit in the Black Forest who raves at you as you travel through his land, chasing you with an axe. Maybe you find a group of scientists who are conducting experiments in Elektro out of the hospital and they are hacking up zombies and looking for a cure, possibly willing to trade dozens of saline bags for armaments of various kinds.

All RP does is add more diverse human reactions beyond the limitations of game mechanics.

[Katabasis 83]

Kata, do you have any experience with moderating a forum or running an rp community? If not, expect all the bullshit you could ever imagine, multiplied by one hundred.

If you're gonna do it through a whitelist, that will help, but expect everyone to bend the rules to the breaking point literally all the time.

 

That said, I applaud the effort.

Hahahaha. As a streamer for two years and also as a high school teacher I have seen some shit and can handle it with grace, dignity, and humility. Good point tho. My community is pretty tight and provides a good base on which to litmus test the newcomers.

[Katabasis 83]

Asking people to pay and be legally able to do so might be your biggest hurdles.

Nah I've done this stuff for minecaft and handled donations through paypal for streaming through two tax years. It's no issue.

[fig0451 85]

Highschool teacher? I salute you, that is just unimaginable amounts of bullcrap I could not put up with.

[Katabasis 83]

so currently i am streaming .  the viewers have come up with my backstory.

 

My name is Max Neeson and I served in the Chernarus Defense Army during the war against the zed.  After the fall of society, my family was ruthlessly murdered by members of a cult gang called the Skeleton Gorillas.  I am on a mission of revenge.  Recently I met up with an informant in the town Staroye named Smiley who i paid a bag of rice for intel.  The gang's headquarters is located in Cherno.  Unarmed, I must now find firearms for myself, my old war buddy Aimee Hightower, and Smiley to take the war to the Skeleton Gorillaz home turf.

[The_Man 393]

Tried to watch the stream. My internet is not good enough to stream at such a high quality. Sorry! 

[Katabasis 83]

Tried to watch the stream. My internet is not good enough to stream at such a high quality. Sorry! 

ya i will tone it down for tomorrow .. just getting obs fine tuned

[HeinrichM 18]

I don't hate RP, I love role playing games. 

 

But it destroys what DayZ is.  A 'game' where there are never any rules of any kind, where, just like in real life, everything that happens is because of people interacting, and the only 'rules' that govern their behavior are calculations about self-interest, desires, attitudes, etc. That's what makes DayZ special. That's the only way it rises above the grime of the Arma2 engine, the genre, etc. 

 

Everyone in DayZ is already forced to roleplay all the time, but they're forced to play the role of a human being.  

 

So then why is a group of people who want to play on a private server (when private servers become available) and role play together any better or worse than people who don't want to role play and do their own thing on a public server?  It's just people doing what they want to do in their own way.  Isn't that being human?

Edited January 5, 2014 by HeinrichM

[HeinrichM 18]

I like this idea you have.  I will have to check your stream out sometime; I missed it tonight.

[Katabasis 83]

I like this idea you have.  I will have to check your stream out sometime; I missed it tonight.

No rush, like I was telling some people last night we have months to solidify ideas and goals. At the moment, server admin options just aren't good enough to make a solid server yet. Mainly since it lacks whitelists.

[wharrislv 0]

It sounds really fun.  I've been following katabasis for years on twitch and he's definitely my favorite streamer.I bought Day Z just to get in on this.  See everyone there!