Just RP It - On the last 4 years

[xu1gua]

First of all, this is not a topic where I will argue with people on MTA:VC RP and how realism-RP is not for Argonath, but I will keep the title as it is now just to get a good laugh at the people who would reply without even reading the first post.

Now, on to the actual topic. It's quite a long read, so prepare some chocolates, blankets, pillows, and beer.


Today is my fourth anniversary on Argonath (Happy 9900th post too :roll:)... here's to another 4 years of RPing it :drunk:

Over the past four years, I have worked as an admin and law enforcer on Argonath. Perhaps one reason is because both the government and law enforcement in my country are all f**ked up, so I decided to portray something else here, something I could actually look at and be proud of. For those who like seeing me here, we will have some more good times together... for those who can't stand me, bad luck. :razz:

As a person, I usually have two sides; a serious and pragmatic person, and a carefree happy-go-lucky person, albeit one personality. I have made many friends (and enemies) over time, many of them are no longer here. Occasionally, some of them come back, and I end up happy just like the rest of you would if it happens to you.

So, for those who still do not know, my name's JDC (or Jonathan Kolta, whatever works), and I will tell you another part of my story.


Part One - MTA:VC

My first roleplay in MTA:VC was in a convenience store, the one located south of the North Point Mall. I remember admin =AV=Grzesiek was hiring some players to work there and sell goods, and gave me money to pay the workers while he was busy with something else afterwards. Perhaps you can say that was my first management roleplay experience on Argonath, one that would be followed up with me becoming a salesman of various goods (i.e: ice cream, pizza, "I LOVE RABIES" merchandise, dildos, human organs, preserved fetuses, and some other goods) later on in my Argonath career.

On my first day as a cop, I encountered a bank robbery RP in MTA:VC. I remember responding to the bank and going after the criminals, after which we succeeded. An admin who was working as a cop (guess who, mentioned above) was also present, and distributed money to the other cops. It was then that I learned about teamwork as a cop on Argonath, this experience and the convenience store are two memories I will never forget in this community.

When I applied for ARPD after several days, CopSforza (Dpt. Chief) accepted my application since [R*]ber (the Chief) was away. I remember learning my first ARPD knowledge as a cop from him and TonySforza, the SWAT Commander. That's right, the Deputy Chief and SWAT Commander were also bosses; a testament to MTA:VC players' abilities to switch between roles. Most of the time I was a cop, although at times I would also be a robber, or a fat mexican with a chainsaw. Until now, I remember TeaM-Trobby when I see the fat robber skin.

Relations between cops and criminals were in good fun, generally better than what we have today. I remember being able to chase someone and have a hell of a lot of fun with them whether they ended up getting killed / jailed. The entirety of aspects the old system had between cops and criminals are not all applicable today, but the values are; sportsmanship made sure you had fun with the other guy regardless of what sides you and he/she were on.

RP in general was much more diverse, owing in part to the lack of scripted goods, but even more so to the quality of the players. There were some scripted pastimes / ways to earn money such as hunting for mushrooms (with the occasional unlucky dude dying from eating all the poisonous mushrooms) and fishing (where you could drown or hook the sock of the guy next to you), but those did not affect our ability to RP. Armed with /me and imagination, we used a whole array of goods that would never make it into the scripts.

Money was not much of a problem either. Sure, you could not buy a phone or a radio without it, but you could still enjoy the gameplay to the fullest; weapons were littered all over the city, all cars (except cop cars for non-cop players, the server would slap you since we did not have scripted car locks) were free for everyone to use, as well as the properties. This was before the invention of the SA:MP properties system by Argonath, when you paid to have your name stamped on a property when someone used !place.

The only car I ever owned was a Virgo, at first it was because I could not afford a better car, but eventually I grew to love that car and wouldn't sell it even after I earned enough money to buy myself a construction site, and then some. You can find it today in front of the huge boat in VicePort, where the sailors spawn.

The admins were quite strict too, meaning we had less rulebreaking to worry about. In fact, admins' time was more readily spent on helping new guys get accustomed to the server and dealing with hackers, because we would simply kill any deathmatcher who tried to attack us instead of crying like a baby. One thing the veterans of old had were combat skills, which in some cases made hackers leave out of respect or because they were beaten. Many of them are still present today, though I remember most those faces such as TeaM-MIB, TeaM-Elite, TonySforza, ArjunSforza (who is known today as [R*]Cutt3r, the Manager you all love), EvilSforza (where are you now?), [R*]ber, =AV=Grzesiek, =AV=MrJohannes (aka Janek), Team-Trobby, TeaM-Snake, and some others. The three prominent groups back then were Team MTA (TeaM), the Argonath Veterans, and The Sforza Mafia. Good times.

Another thing I could remember were the hackers and DMers. MTA:VC's scripts would go down now and then, and we'd get the occasional hacker / deathmatcher every now and then. When that happens, we would hole up in places like Fort Baxter (which is what we referred to as 'Operation Jericho', courtesy of EliteTerm) or the Junk Yard, and hunt every bastard who tried to deathmatch us to bits, as well as hackers. That's right, we hunted the hackers and deathmatchers instead of running from them like people do today. Sound like fun? It was.

It was all fun and games (quite literally) until that day came: Yahoo! bought the All Seeing Eye (ASE), shutting down the only server browser MTA:VC had.

This caused the population of Argonath MTA:VC to drop, and all the other MTA:VC Servers to die. Even if we are lonely on MTA:VC, we are still the only server to survive there, owing to a vast community which had its roots in MTA:VC; many of the folks still here from 2006-8 were players on MTA:VC in its prime.

Today, the remaining population of MTA:VC are mostly MTA:VC veterans, particularly faces such as myself, Jenn Kolta, SugarD, and the guys from TeaM. Why not head over to MTA:VC? You could get lucky one of these days and enjoy some good old-fashioned Argonath RP with some of the verterans.


Part Two - SA:MP

A year ago, most of the people reading my topic were familiar with my SA:MP history, although this time I will elaborate on it more.

I first became an admin in January 2009, joining the team as a Lvl1 Moderator. Back then the administration system on SA:MP was divided into 7 levels; Trial Moderator, Moderator, Admin, Property Admin, Main Admin / Developer, Community Leader, and 1337/Owner. Today it is still divided into 7 "levels", although classified more so as 5/6. The SA:MP Community Leaders at the time were [R*]Crimson (who left !crimson / /crimson with us), Meriadoc, Gimli (sexy grandma dwarf), and Sharphis (the original King of AFK).

The first line I saw as a Moderator (after receiving my rights and info from [R*]xcasio) was "Welcome to the Spam Chat ", by admin [ALS]Stof. Back then, the admin chat was the same kind of yellow as PMs are now, meaning more than one unlucky administrator probably got their eyes hurt by all the bright colors. :razz:

The SAPD at the time was led by SAPD Chiefs Hank_Rafferty, [R*]CBFasi, and Nicholas_Angel / [R*]Trix. The FBI was under Fernando_Rivera, Jaaskaa_Kolta, and [WS]Wolfe. James_Hunter was the Commander of SA:MP SWAT back then, with FBI and SWAT being locked in a de facto war of sorts (which I still do not know why until today). Back then the SAPD was not as huge as today, FBI was barely functional and suffering from lack of manpower, and =AV=Flameman was the LVPD Captain. I will never forget SA:MP as it was when I first arrived.

My first experience on Argonath SA:MP after accidentally blowing up the gas station was getting together with some new players and having gay sex ( ) out of sheer boredom on top of a sign west of Palomino Creek. One of the guys was named Sunny_Vince, do not know if he is still around.

Innuendo aside, one my first RP on SA:MP was using one of the Agent skins (black suit with shades) and getting with some other new players and creeping out some guys, Agent Smith style. The first admin I met on SA:MP (and still remember) was Jaaskaa_Kolta, although I remember some others who you do not see much today anymore; [R*]MrsS, MrNeo, Haldir / [R*]wdoyle2, and some others whose names I forgot but will remember when I see them. My next notable experience was involvement in the MTA:VC-SA:MP interstate case, although I have elaborated on that enough times already.

Next up is my brief SAPD time before I got accepted as an FBI Cadet, I remember driving around in a Police Ranger with Dpt. Chief [R*]Pancher, nearly killing him in the process. It was not the last time I would almost kill superiors because of my bad driving, as it happened again in 2010 with [R*]Fernando, [R*]Jaaskaa, and John_Leppi. After getting accepted into FBI as an Agent (Jaaskaa promoted me because he was so tired of seeing me as a Cadet), I worked with many old Agents, including Bueto_Fishcop, Blank_Federico, Sarah_Scalise, Lite, and some others. There was a guy named Sean_Archer too, one of the FBI's first members who was inactive due to military services IRL.

Over time, I learned plenty of things and gained plenty of experience in SA:MP FBI, although I still kept rank as an MTA:VC FBI Agent, even after the "fall" of MTA:VC. Outwards, the FBI guys seemed like a silent type, but I learned they were [mostly] a great bunch. Chase_Greggor is but the most notable example, for good reasons.

Some people say I got removed after 2.5 years in SA:MP FBI because of corruption. This is not true; my corruption record (except for raping some prisoners as a DPD sheriff, but I wouldn't really count that as corruption ) as a cop is zero, as even now I do not hesitate to punish subordinates for breaking regulations. The real reason I was removed was because of complaints of my Hunter usage on a mass DM riot in Grove Street, which was one of the legitimate grounds for usage. There is little more I could elaborate on without leaking FBI C Division protocol. It was a bit of a loss, but I do not regret it as it allowed me to experience things from a new perspective and open up some new opportunities, such as a fun career in DPD under the drunk katana-wielding sheriff, Jcstodds.

About 1.5 years ago, I began criticizing the majority of SA:MP Ideas. At first most of them seemed good, but over time I realized most of them contain some sort of shit that does not fit well with the Argonath RPG agenda. Some people get pissed from my posts and moan like... moaners, while others actually accept the pointed out flaws and learn. People have wondered where I base my opinions on, and I would answer with experience / Argonath vision / MTA:VC learnings. Nevertheless, when asked if I am married ingame, I would say "I am married to my wife, who I beat every day, and her name is SA:MP Ideas". :razz:

As of now, I am still working as a Moderator (it has been decided I need a break from bans) and DPD Deputy Sheriff. Who knows what the future may hold.


Part Three - Beyond SA:MP, VC:MP, and other info

Later on I will be taking up residence on Argonath LU as well, and I am also trying to get a copy of IV after Jaaskaa invited me to IV:MP a while back. Perhaps I will drop by MTA:VC too, but keeping active on 3 servers is already tough as it is, although I might be able to manage; my University schedule is not as time-taxing as my High School schedule was.

As for my leadership / admin style, I take Aragorn, MIB, and CBFasi as my role models. While I recognize the merits of being a kind and lenient admin (such as Gandalf, [R*]Cutt3r, [WS]Legend, and [R*]Dellstorm who are respected as well), I believe more in firm discipline and less tolerance; prevention is better than cure, just as not eating loads of shitty food is much better than spending on cancer treatments. One of the things I disdain the most in this community is how people abuse the kindness of those kind admins we have in our team.

About the changes in the community, I would not worry too much about it. In spite of all the weird and useless shit (which far outnumbers the useless ideas) that get proposed, we still have the Owners around here to keep things in line.

Piece of advice for the younger players out there: Listen to influences such as Jcstodds, EliteTerm, Jenn, GiacJr, and others versed in the old Argonath ways. It will help you.

Happy playing.


tl;dr:



Read it, lazy. :razz:

Provokative Comment removed.
Please do not post statements in order to invoke negative reactions from other members.

Questions can be directed to my PM.
- Caltson

[Leon.]

Despite our rather heated arguments in the past, I still love you.

Rest assured, the roflrealismserver kind of roleplay was never my primary type.

[JDC]

Despite our rather heated arguments in the past, I still love you.

Rest assured, the roflrealismserver kind of roleplay was never my primary type.

I love you too weegee. :banana:

[EliteTerm]

Happy 4th anniversary man!

[[Rstar]Paul]

Happy anniversary!

[~Legend~]

Enjoyed reading that - happy 4th anniversary, JDC.


P.S. It's fairly awesome to see and think about Argonath from different people's perspectives; especially of those from 'back in the day'.

[TheRealStof]

Happy 4th Anniversary dude! I have a really old pic for you when you were pretty much new



Managing to piss people off since 2008 hahahaha. Glad you're still around bro.

[McGarrett]

Happy 4th Anniversary dude! I have a really old pic for you when you were pretty much new



Managing to piss people off since 2008 hahahaha. Glad you're still around bro.

 

[JDC]

Happy 4th Anniversary dude! I have a really old pic for you when you were pretty much new



Managing to piss people off since 2008 hahahaha. Glad you're still around bro.

Thanks guys. All in day's work!