So, substance and deeper roleplay on Outlands?

[Roven :D]

I'm aware we all like to:

A) Act like pretentious cocksuckers
B) Fuck
C) Do drugs

but I have to suggest that we come up with something more productive, more Half Lifey than that (other than pulling the stupidest of stupids and shooting at Overwatch units). Agricultural initiatives, people with weapons doing more than walking around with them and shooting smart asses, we should actually come together and act like humans trying to overcome the Universal Unions inter-dimensional regime. Maybe I've been gone a couple weeks but something tells me not too much progress has been made on that end and being that there's such a tiny fabric of super-serious roleplay (ma favorite) on Outlands I figured we should have a little thinktank thread on how to improve things.

I said Agricultural initiatives, armed groups acting towards the greater good of the population and I guess it'd be pretty badass if we had some sort of mildly republic-ish or democratic system for the village. A village council, something of that general, vaguely related nature. Just to bring something more to do other than jibber jabber about how badass we were before the war. Mind you, I am not down for nominating someone to a position of badassery or responsibility simply because they had the money to buy a rebel vest.

Okay, thinktanks blitzkrieg.

[Dallas]

Perhaps some kind of religious movement that ISN'T let's sacrifice vorts to the lamb god, maybe something like "Mercerism"?

A good post though, I hope this sparks a flurry of ideas.

[Kevin]

Well we had the civiwatch, which consisted of vested men and women who watched over the outlands, then the Stronghold... then Jury... all these groups strived towards helping people, but all failed. And believe it or not, there is a group of people that pretty much run the outlands. There's men and women in the town that pretty much tell everyone what to do in case of some sort emergency. But whether you like it or not, the outlands is more of a wild wild west situation.

[Roven :D]

Of course it is, but what does that leave people without guns to do other than follow people with guns around; thus giving people with guns a false sense of importance which as a result widens the gap between those with and those without and yes everyone eventually get an opportunity to be one of those people but the greatest question is does that have to be the way of the world at all times out there? I wouldn't want to think so. I would like to that there's a radio operator, a guy looking for food, a guy growing food, a guy shooting food, then aside from that the greatest issue we face and face alone is how does one make a difference in the struggle against the Combine.

I'm absolutely positive that there's a contingency of armed people who are watching over things but that's genuinely what I greatly disdain and I'm sure others agree. I personally don't believe there's enough regular opportunities for passive RP other than crouching around the fire for drugs, alcohol and stories. I'll expand with more ideas that fill the holes that groups like CiviWatch and Jury had.

Both their issues were common, they had a simple purpose that pertained simply to maintaining order and the common defense. What about food, pharmaceuticals, blankets, and goals like actually taking on the Combine or even better: maintaining the continuity of Human civilization as opposed to Union civilization. When we get the food, the weapons, the blankets and the goals who doles these things out, who's worth doling them out to and how do we complete our goals with all hands on deck? Infrastructure.

These structures needn't be made 'official' in writ or passed by parliamentary procedure but some sort of initiative to do something greater is needed because when I think Outlands I think of the Resistance getting shit done. Not any planned Resistance, not a super sekrit order of administrator/oldfag elitism, but simply the people who can gather and discuss what they must do and who is willing to do each individual thing according to ability and skill.

The reason why its necessary is because there isn't enough Resistance roleplay, simply isn't. There's anti-citizen roleplay, sure, malignant roleplay yes but player-friendly, serious, cognitive Resistance roleplay is not offered as much here as other servers and its foundation is kept between a club of people with weapons and ideas, not action. I really tried to do something that would make the server a place where the Combine were fifteen percent benevolent but the Combine do not like that.
Most members of the CCA and the OTA are not interested in some random asshole coming along and saying how things are going to be. They are perfectly content beating people and saying "Disperse" while sitting with an erection in anticipation for an actual resistance movement to give them something to do. A worthwhile city administrator making the Combine look good, I concede, does kind of go against the entire idea of Half Life 2 (at least as far as Gordon's timeline is concerned).

This leaves a result demanding the Resistance to be formed, to be cognitive, to be united, to be helpful and to leave their pissy little attitudes at the door and leave tasks to complete and things to do for the newer people or the people who don't have a lot. If you're just there to shoot shit and look cool and have a following then you're not right for the Resistance. You should get yourself a stunstick and join the rest of the people like that, where they're welcomed and belong. The beginnings will be very passive, but once things are organized and a generally agreed plan of action has been drafted it would make sense that the Resistance would begin serious operations to do something to undermine the UU. It requires some effort, but we like this fucking game don't we? We love it. We want it to be fun and as some know only we can make it fun.

[Dallas]

That was the single greatest thing I have ever read in regards to HL2RP...
I agree 100% with this, people always lose sight over the key things humanity has fought for and still does. Basic rights that the Union have removed by force. If we had "a guy" responsible for organizing a real, human resistance (not some psycho raiders raping and killing with no regards to the survival of the species) it would be you Roven. Seriously that is how things should be done, an emphasis on exactly why the resistance fights.

[YankeeSamurai]

The HL2RP server grew up in an intensely anti-everythingresistancerelated environment. Resistance stuff was usually very short-lived, frowned-upon, and stamped out ICly and OOCly with a Spanish Inquisition-like fervor. The result is what you see now:  fat, sprawling UU gameplay and hardly anything in the way of intelligent resistanceRP.

If things are similar to how they were when I stopped playing, the few quality groups of resistanceRPers tend to be very secretive and under the radar. The last thing they want is the attention of the masses and/or the admins.

My suggestion might be taken as pretty elitist, but here it is:
Look at what everybody else is doing wrong and figure out how exactly they failed. Then take the initiative and start your own resistance group, make it the best, and only take people who you think are good enough god dammit.

[NRK]

I miss you Yankee <3

Admins pretty much only come for the CCA. The only viewpoint in decision making comes from the viewpoint of the CCA. Therefore, it's not really fair to people like me.

[The Joke]

In regards to Civiwatch/The Alliance. We more or less died out IC because our leader went insane and was trying to kill us. Also we focused on giving people food and shelter, plus whatever the hell else they needed. But if they crossed the line and did not go by our rules we simply threw them out. If someone did not want our help then fine, let them do what they want to do. We never gave out weapons or ammunition because, as you said, people would just try to act elitist and say "I have a gun so you should obey and follow me". No matter what people say the Civiwatch never tried to act that way. Also we never gave guns or ammunition out because true fully. In my time in CG I have seen weapons abused too many times. Its actually quite unbelievable. Sorry if this is going off topic but I just thought you should know.

[YankeeSamurai]

In regards to Civiwatch/The Alliance. We more or less died out IC because our leader went insane and was trying to kill us.

Sounds like the leader got sick of leading it OOCly. I think the Alliance did more good than harm, he really should've handed command down to a different player : /

"I have a gun so you should obey and follow me". No matter what people say the Civiwatch never tried to act that way.

You were in the bloody faction yourself, so of course you would say that.

Civiwatch was a mixed bag, you never knew what sort of player you were gonna get. I roleplayed with some good ones and saw some other ones that did a really shit job. From the perspective of an outsider, the players that were shit brought down the entire faction. That's why I suggested earlier that new factions should keep their recruitment standards very high.

[Lone Wanderer <??"?]

This made my day. This is by far one of the best suggestions I've read thus far. 

The main reason why these groups like JURY, Civiwatch, and dear god, the Alliance, all failed was because quite honestly they scared people away. I remember playing on the Outlands outside City 18. I was generally new to the Outlands, and was getting used to everything; I would have been just like a citizen going out of the city. I stumbled upon the Alliance's base. I was threatened with being shot should I not leave. Now, I'm not saying all those groups were like this and that everyone within them did this either. But still, the uncertainty that the group could be hostile or unhelpful scares people away.

Aside from that uncertainty, the ranking systems that these groups have is quite annoying. These are Resistance groups, a band of rebels, not a military organization. Why people keep on using military ranks makes no sense to me. While there should be a group of commanding people, others should be considered equal. People don't want to join a group and be stuck at the bottom; it's no fun at all. I've found that generally, ranks in a Resistance groups are more elitist than CCA. Now before you go on complaining about it, think about it. What do ranks actually serve in a Resistance group? Sure, it shows your dedication, progress, and maybe your duration of time with the group. It may be a way to divide up who can do what. The way I see it, aside from a few select commanders and people who hold the group together, everyone should be generally equal.

Overall, I definetely think that the administration team needs to pay more attention to ResistanceRP. People complain there isn't enough events that involve citizens. I agree, and a good way to fix it is to create more ResistanceRP related events and roleplay. Those events will involve everyone. The anti-citizens can be doing the actual Resistance-related activity. CCA/OTA would be involved in the attempt to stop it, and normal citizens would obviously be caught in between.But ResistanceRP won't just add more citizen related events. If we can get a good, solid group of excellent roleplayers who are supported by a group of watchful administrators, good things can happen. Post complete.

[Roven :D]

Well everyone interested in putting together the next worthwhile, good, balanced Resistance organization with passive beginnings please PM me your interest and I'll see to it that we eventually come together IC in Precint 3 on the subject. It's overdue and I'd like to skip over some of the ingame formalities.

[The Joke]

Who are you thinking of putting into this organization? Have you considered player who are on Outlands more than city?

[BltElite]

As yankee said, resistance rp requires extreme secrets, and those who hold the high resistance orgs that are of high-rp levels, keep themselves secret as they would do.

The problem sometimes, is those high level rp'ers who do things, the rp is treated like a minges rp(Eg, spraying shit onto a wall, CCA just think its a minge or suchlike.)

You need to, as yankee has said about 5 times, keep recruitment standards high.

And the admins need to slack off on stomping down resistance RP - stomp down 'rebel' RP for sure, as thats the stupid one. Resistance, no, thats the good one.

[Globey]

yeah, most admins seem to go into ultra-kill mode when they catch wind of resistanceRP.
I almost had a group running myself, before I had to leave.