This topic was made in combination with mainly Que and I, with input from many other veterans of the community who want to help get Argo back on its feet as one of the best SA:MP severs out there, which I believe can absolutely happen with help from our members...
Each section was written by either Que or me and you can see in parenthesis ( ) who wrote what... but while we wrote different paragraphs the message is the same from ALL of us.
Lastly, this is a very long post... for a very big problem.. if you do not want to take the time to read it do not bother replying please.....
If your post will be nonconstructive, irrelevant or be aimed at any direction that will or can lead to a wrong turn of this topic's existence, that/them post(s) will be reported and ignored.Below - you will find some of the veterans approach of getting Argonath back to its high standard, mixed with an already loving community. A couple of hours of discussions has been spent on each point. This is the result and the changes we think will benefit the roleplay and this community.
First of all - we all need to realize that this is where we are right now. Argonath's activity and its quality standard has dropped dramatically. It has been caused by various of factors, and all can be worked on. Nothing is a dead heat. Therefore this topic.
#1 - Skip the ignorance (Que)
This is the most important point. Skip the ignorance. Quit disrespecting the scripters. Quit being a stubborn child because you lost your assets in game. Show some respect and keep your head up high. Argonath's positiveness is drowning, and YOU are letting it happen with the piss of yours. We all choosed to play on Argonath to have fun, not for people to harass or disrespect one another.
Also comments like:
"Why aren't you contributing instead of moaning?"
"If you don't like it here, then leave.""If you got a complain, use [email protected]"People should not leave. Every player here should be here. There will always be a bunch of nutshells, but we're speaking in general. Do not use such arguments. Them, if any, are not contributing. Keep up the positive tone. Work for a better community. People will always have different opinions, hence it is even more important to listen to them. Not all, not always, but still - keep it positive and be open minded.
And lastly: If people hated Argonath that much, they wouldn't still be here 5 years later trying to fix what's wrong. Keep that in mind Argonathians.
#2 - Reward the roleplay (Vince)
When I joined Argonath in late 2007 we were a roleplay server. People knew how to have fun, but they also knew how to pretend to be the character they were playing. And when you did this, you were rewarded.
Whether it was roleplaying security at Argonath's Disneyland off the coast of Angel Pine and getting paid 10k by Aragorn, or roleplaying a mechanic at GS9 during the days of Rage Incorporated with my old pal [RI]Frank_Hawk (some of you may have heard of him?), people encouraged roleplaying, and when you played on the server you could find someone who would appreciate it, usually in forms of being paid for services, also known as RPing.
An issue that we have now (or had on previous RS4) was that people sort of gave up on roleplaying, and cared more about "material" objects. Instead of having a nice shootout with police and saying "nice gun fight" after or "that was close, maybe next time :P", it was provocative, offensive or even just simply dumb.
Another example is ownership, which thankfully has been addressed in RS5. In the end days of RS4, it mattered more how much money, businesses, and houses and cars you owned than just roleplaying with players. Who had so many millions, when the next $1m lotto was coming to buy guns and armor to go pew pew police or buy armor to patrol with 4 cops in a car and kill any suspect who did not /gu in 3 seconds.
To add onto that, this is not complaining. Because now we present solutions! RS5 introduced the reset, which removed everyone's stats. Everyone started over, which would have worked well if the script was finished when it was released. Oh well, we can work with that.
With the amount of people who left due to RS5, we can start over. But in order to get good players again, we need to reward those who do the
RIGHT thing. Official groups such as SAPD, Corleone, Gvardia, etc should be the priority to scripters. They should be able to submit ideas to get scripted in to help REWARD their official status. If they do not DESERVE official status, do not hand it out, very simple....
Groups that are not official or recognized much who roleplay should also be rewarded in other forms. While script support is hard, especially since scripters are working to fix bugs on RS5..... we can reward groups who do the right thing by giving them "Gang Territory" where they hang out. Make people realize this by adding simple objects, an announcement of "Official Gang Territories" decided by HQ team, etc. Houses, a bar, even money for good roleplay attempts, it doesn't matter. As long as it gives them credit for their work. Let those who roleplay and encourage roleplay
NOT ONLY with themselves but with
new players,
rival factions such as criminals RPing with cops and not just killing, and so on and so on.
#3 - More strict rules against deathmatchers, the opposite against roleplayers (Que)
The more we played and the years passed by - the more rulebreakers and deathmatchers came to be noticed. The amount of roleplay decreased and more of the scenarios ending up with a couple of kills turned out to be the main event of all scenes. The same individuals came online to do the same repeated things, and endless many times destroyed the roleplay with their trigger hungry attribute.
Instead of warning people for using swearing in roleplay, which is for us all the most smudgy rule of them all, focus on the ones who's actually harming the community. Who gives
two shits about someone who is actually acting like an afro-American in Willowfield, using a couple of offensive words in a couple of sentences? It doesn't harm anyone. Neither does it offend anyone either. For those who can roleplay properly can understand the difference between roleplaying a role and being so much out of it as it goes. It is a huge difference.
Punish the repeated deathmatchers a lot harder, give the roleplayers more space to do what they adore the most. Continue to
strive towards a better play in game by removing the dirt, not the opposite. It has been about Combat Shotguns and fast cars and luxury houses owned by individuals playing they have dyslexia for the last couple of years.
The list under is what we discussed during the chats, what we found important and is something that should be looked at, changed or even fixed to make Argonath a better place.
uno: Contribute positively.
dos: Official Groups should be rewarded by their RP, not only activity.
tres: Removal of the swearing in RP-rule.
cuatro: More character based roleplay. You is you, and a role is a role. Monster or gangster.
cinco: Punish the rulebreakers a lot harder. Deathmatchers the most.
seis: Give out Gang Territories. More focus on Gangs/Groups in total.
siete: Wake up the forum. Refresh it. Boost it up. Make it active.
ocho: Skip the ignorance, be open for discussions/changes/feedback. Negative or positive.
nueve: Have fun whilst roleplay. Enjoy your play.
diez: Do not give up on this community. Help out.
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