Darkrp - is it going downhill? My opinions and thoughts.

[serverwatch]

Greetings users of the Facepunch community. I am a server watch dog. I often will inspect servers and evaluate their quality and design.

Along my ventures of going on any different types of DARKRP servers I have noticed over the years the quality has drastically decresed. What I used to imagine being on a DARKRP server was like has managed to change into something that worries me about the overall quality of DARKRP.

It is not so much the coding and actual gamemode of DARKRP that I believe is going down (in fact I think that it has vastly improved), but the attitudes and overall feeling to the entire darkrp community.

I feel as though Darkrp has become more of a strict gamemode. What was considered SeriousRP rules and regulations back in the day is now considered the norm on many non-serious DARKRP servers. I extremely am against the ideas of seriousRP as I believe it is ruining darkrp.

Here are a number of things in which darkrp has become overall - stricter.

I feel as if many servers deny that garry's mod was based from Half life 2. An example of this is the police job used to have on many servers the default metrocop from Half-life 2, its being replaced with player models of actual police officers or highly militarised SWAT player models. It just doens't feel right for DARKRP it feels as though servers are trying to make the server more "realistic" and are forgetting that gmod is based from half life 2... I have even known some new players have only joined the game after seeing famous Youtube community users play it and have No idea about where gmod has come from and have never played Half life 2. To me that is very shocking and saddens me that players have come to garry's mod not knowing what the bugbait is for and other hl2 aspects.

Another thing I worry about is that many DARKRP servers have a very negative anti-prop attitudes. The term "Prop minge" is becoming ever and ever more popular and I used to think it expanded to actual malicious use of props (prop spam, prop killing) however I have found on many servers its expanded to someone simply spawning a prop on the ground and just moving it about a bit without disrupting any other players. Spawning props is one of the most fundamental aspects of garrys mod and I feel servers that are against this - are against garrys mod in general and terribly uncreative themselves.

Another way in which many darkrp servers have become stricter and more anti-prop is the introduction of what is becoming a de-facto rule on many servers known as "no building on the streets". This rule disallows any player unless they are a "hobo" job to do one of the most fundamental aspects of GMOD - building, What also is happening on lots of servres is many often almost all the tools used by players to build are being restricted to staff. I Can understand why they assume that this should be done, because certain tools can be exploited/abused, However anything can be exploited and abused for example the Gun dealer job can be used to purchase guns and peform a Mass RDM - But you don't see the servers restrict the gun dealer job? No...

The main argument that is used when I try to convince servers to allow such tools and abandon these rules is "if you want to build - why not go to a sandbox server?". Many people including myself feel that sandbox is one of the greatest gmod gamemodes (the first as well!) however in a sandbox server once you have created something, its hard to put it in context to something else. I believe props and building can be of great use in DARKRP, I have been on a server which allowed many tools to be used and people were creatively Rping such as a scientist building and selling a rocket, a gun dealer selling guns from a car he had created and many amazing WIREMOD contraptions and creations which have aided people in RP. To say that building is not good for RP in my personal opinion - is wrong and very closed minded. Even when i find servers that allow some of these tools for example on one server I build a car using the wheels and thruster tools, It was then removed by an administrator for "not being rp" without warning. I feel this behaviour is ruining garrys mod.

A thing about darkrp that I feel is an ever increasing threat as I have mentioned earlier is the serious-rp nature of many people. Darkrp was never designed to be a ultra-serious RP gamemode in which anything remotely out of character is considers a "minge" and you can become banned for it. I feel as though it was not as big of a deal to be RDM (random deathmatch) once and unless many items were lost it would not be acted upon. Nowdays on %99 of the servers Many of these things are seen as very bad and someone who random deathmatched someone once can be permanently banned.

A thing in DARKRP I have noticed is over time both players and staff have been affected by this serious rp mentality and have grown more agressive and frustrated on the server. There are often arguments in OOC on many servers about minor offences such as RDM (x1), A base having more than 1 fading door or other similar things. An example of this agression is I saw someone build a small cart on the street - An administrator in noclip mode removed it all shouting through the mic with a very agressive tone "No! You can't build on the street! You mother-f**** I'm gonna permanently ban you, minge!" - Many people would expect this behaviour from a younger player whom is administrator however this sounded like an older fellow who should in my opinion as administrator not have such an aggression problem about such a minor issue on the server....

This behaviour is not limited to staff. I have seen players often hold this illogical agression towards fellow players. I accidental Killed someone I said "Sorry" over OOC. He proceeded to insult me and when the administrator took us to an area to speak it Out I asked him "Did you lose any items I would be willing to refund them" and he said "No I didn't lose any items but you broke a rule!"... In my opinion I feel as though offences such as RDM if nothing is lost/ruined then there is no reason to report it. IF I were killed for no reason without losing any items or ruining a RP situation I would not report it to an adminstrator as It doesn't seem necessary.

One more example of this was that I was building a sculpture on the street and not as a hobo! Considered blasphemous on many servers, However it was within rp as I changed my job using the /job command to a "sculptor" and was going to sell them to players. a younger player came to me and said through the microphone "You cant build on the street" and I asked "Am I ruining anyones fun?" and he said "no but its against the rules so its bad" and reported me to the administrator. In my opinion if someone is breaking the rules but not ruining anyone elses fun theres no reason to report them to an administrator.

Thanks for reading my opinions on modern DARKRP! Please discuss some of the aspects I have written about in this post. All opinions are welcome however please refrain from "flaming" and petty insults - we are all mature users here we should be able to discuss this without any drama.

,Server watchdog

[Milkshaker]

Okay a few thoughts and notes based on what you've printed plus a few questions I'd like you to answer.

Firstly within the first moment of me reading your post, I sighed. I sighed because instantly your name makes me physically ill, what it does it it asserts you have some form of right to firstly judge servers and secondly expect respect of your opinion as if it means something.

The questions which come from this are;
1) What justifies you to 'rate' servers and gamemodes?
2) Why do you deserve recognition or respect of your opinion?
3) Why should I care?

That's just from your name, now it's time to read this thing.

Okay, calling yourself a watch dog is a big thing. According to google the definition of a watch dog is
[QUOTE]a person or group that monitors the practices of companies providing a particular service or utility.
"the consumer watchdog for transport in London"
synonyms: ombudsman, monitor, scrutineer, inspector, observer, supervisor; More
[/QUOTE]
Now as a result of that I would ask, which company are you 'watch dogging' as it were? Why do you feel the need and right to scrutinise the works of others?

Continuing on in your post we reach the first error which is more explicit. DarkRP is, I believe the accepted and standardised presentation of the word in our community. Does the fact you demonstrate it in a different way not show that you are so out of touch with the community,, with the people you claim to represent with your views that you therefore cannot represent them nor can you present a view synonymous with that if a typical facepunch user?

Your spelling, is atrocious. Decreased but never decresed.

My next main point is in fact tackling your next paragraph. Now, you state that it is not the actual game-mode coding and such which is causing you issue, however you have entitled your piece to be about DarkRP... You also then go on to say that it comes down to the feeling towards the DarkRP community and yet then present a negative and therefore oxymoronic atmosphere. You're article is exactly what you blame for the problem, therefore you are the cause of the problems you write about and therefore you are making a story for yourself to write based on nothing more than your own actions.

You the. Go on to state about how people changing things in their servers is a generally bad thing with the examples of the metro cop. Now, the way in which we evolve is through experimentation correct? Would you not agree that the fact. People are trying new things, playing and toying with them does in fact help to shift the focus forward to the next big thing in GMod? The Youtubers point is interesting, but the fact we get any attention at all from popular Youtubers is something which broadens the grasps of the community and while I agree that a lot of the time many Youtubers are more than open to criticism and reviews from the players are about the way In Which they present the content which they create for the game which the playerbase play on.

I'm going to skip a lot of this because it's late and I can't be bothered but to tackle your entire article I would say this.

It would appear that you as a player of the gamemode do not enjoy watching people deviate from the status quo, you refuse to look for a server wherein your own Roleplay needs are met and have decided instead that the servers you play on must conform to you. You have also decided that serious rp has no place here and therefore have decided to rule it out entirely as a form of DarkRP.

Tl;DR OP has been banned from a serious DarkRP server and is now mad.

Don't sign your posts either.

[TheMrFailz]

[QUOTE=Milkshaker;46306115]-glorious comment-[/QUOTE]

Well holy shit. That's one goddamn glorious reply post.

But to answer OP's question: DarkRP was never uphill in the first place.

[bluebull107]

[QUOTE=TheMrFailz;46306673]DarkRP was never uphill in the first place.[/QUOTE]

I think it's fun :(

[Aeternal]

I rarely play DarkRP but I can say that it is going downhill because of what the Gmod Community made it into. It sounded fun at first and it was a great idea but nothing can ever turn out the way we expect.

To answer the OP's title (even though it's not required or even asked to), yes; it is going downhill. Not because of how it was made, but what it was made into.

[TheMrFailz]

[QUOTE=bluebull107;46306957]I think it's fun :([/QUOTE]

Well perhaps I eh, went a bit overboard. For the most part it's gone down the shitter but there are some non-serious servers that are ok.

[Exho]

Oh my god, his name is "serverwatch". It should be pretty obvious that he isnt serious, not really a troll but the same attitude.

[serverwatch]

[QUOTE=Exho;46307389]Oh my god, his name is "serverwatch". It should be pretty obvious that he isnt serious, not really a troll but the same attitude.[/QUOTE]

Excuse me? How is having the name "serverwatch" mean that I am not serious. I chose this name because in the future I'm going to be starting up a blog reviewing different gmod servers...

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

[QUOTE=Milkshaker;46306115]Okay a few thoughts and notes based on what you've printed plus a few questions I'd like you to answer.

Firstly within the first moment of me reading your post, I sighed. I sighed because instantly your name makes me physically ill, what it does it it asserts you have some form of right to firstly judge servers and secondly expect respect of your opinion as if it means something.

The questions which come from this are;
1) What justifies you to 'rate' servers and gamemodes?
2) Why do you deserve recognition or respect of your opinion?
3) Why should I care?

That's just from your name, now it's time to read this thing.

Okay, calling yourself a watch dog is a big thing. According to google the definition of a watch dog is

Now as a result of that I would ask, which company are you 'watch dogging' as it were? Why do you feel the need and right to scrutinise the works of others?

Continuing on in your post we reach the first error which is more explicit. DarkRP is, I believe the accepted and standardised presentation of the word in our community. Does the fact you demonstrate it in a different way not show that you are so out of touch with the community,, with the people you claim to represent with your views that you therefore cannot represent them nor can you present a view synonymous with that if a typical facepunch user?

Your spelling, is atrocious. Decreased but never decresed.

My next main point is in fact tackling your next paragraph. Now, you state that it is not the actual game-mode coding and such which is causing you issue, however you have entitled your piece to be about DarkRP... You also then go on to say that it comes down to the feeling towards the DarkRP community and yet then present a negative and therefore oxymoronic atmosphere. You're article is exactly what you blame for the problem, therefore you are the cause of the problems you write about and therefore you are making a story for yourself to write based on nothing more than your own actions.

You the. Go on to state about how people changing things in their servers is a generally bad thing with the examples of the metro cop. Now, the way in which we evolve is through experimentation correct? Would you not agree that the fact. People are trying new things, playing and toying with them does in fact help to shift the focus forward to the next big thing in GMod? The Youtubers point is interesting, but the fact we get any attention at all from popular Youtubers is something which broadens the grasps of the community and while I agree that a lot of the time many Youtubers are more than open to criticism and reviews from the players are about the way In Which they present the content which they create for the game which the playerbase play on.

I'm going to skip a lot of this because it's late and I can't be bothered but to tackle your entire article I would say this.

It would appear that you as a player of the gamemode do not enjoy watching people deviate from the status quo, you refuse to look for a server wherein your own Roleplay needs are met and have decided instead that the servers you play on must conform to you. You have also decided that serious rp has no place here and therefore have decided to rule it out entirely as a form of DarkRP.

Tl;DR OP has been banned from a serious DarkRP server and is now mad.

Don't sign your posts either.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the detailed response.

First of all as I explained in a previous reply I chose the name server watch dog because I am going to start reviewing and monitoring servers. I already have a databank in which I keep notes on servers that I've played on e.g recommended ones and ones to avoid. I want to give back to the gmod community by making this and helping people decide what servers to play on.

When you said what justifies me rate servers and game-modes is that I am by nature a critic. I like to review restaurants and other things in my spare time so i thought why not do that with gmod?

And the part about recognition I know I am not recognised very much publically in the gmod community however I have been on garrys mod since gmod 9 and witnessed many major events in the gmod community.

"Why should I care?". Well this is a discussion forum and I'm just trying to start some discussions and share opinions I dont see any reason to be very negative on this thread....

Regarding my spelling I don't see how it matters. yes its not perfect but it is not "txt spek lek dis" so I fail to see the concern that you have.

I am not the cause of the problems that I right about I'm trying to encourage debate/discusisons about this topic and how in my opinion darkrp is becoming a worse place for many people.

[rotor2]

I actually like dark RP. I believe there are too many servers and a lot of them have the same scripts, but I've always thought of it as a gamemode you can jump into with some friends and do stupid shit. I like the stupidity and chaos in the gamemode. It's stupid fun, and I rarely ever play it, but I've never taken it seriously. I've had a lot of funny moments, and the screaming children are part of the experience and is pretty fuckin funny to me.

[leveluptime]

[QUOTE=serverwatch;46308077]Excuse me? How is having the name "serverwatch" mean that I am not serious. I chose this name because in the future I'm going to be [b]starting up a blog reviewing different gmod servers...[/b]
[/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Io0Bvu8.gif[/IMG]

[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Image macro" - Craptasket))[/highlight]

[b]EDIT:[/b]
Worth it.

[boibon]

[QUOTE]gmod is based from half life 2[/QUOTE]

A certain roleplay might not be, why must it keep to the metro-cop models?

[Sat👀shiAaron]

DarkRP is just the same shit all over again... Open up a shop that rarely gets business, arrest loads of people for no reason or run around shooting everyone in the area.

[serverwatch]

[QUOTE=leveluptime;46311595][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Io0Bvu8.gif[/IMG][/QUOTE]

if all you wish to do is slander us by posting about irrelevant stuff then go elsewhere to people who want to listen to you and as for 'leveluptime' yes thats really all you are is a lad a kid a child so try to keep up with all this adult stuff then you wont be that clueless to me immature to gain laughs that aren't coming so my advice is to just give up with the pointless banter because we are bored and tired of it all.

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

It's very strange that on an offical Garry's mod forums the moderator/adminstration staff members are not taking action against these failed troll attemps such as posted by "leveluptime". Also people rating posts "dumb" and "funny", not very mature at all. Also some of the other threads on this forum are extremely immature/irrelevant is this really what the gmod community is represended by? On the counter wise there seems to be mature discussion threads posted here with no silly childish "internet memes" and "hashtags", all these things contribute to making the forum look bad to outsiders.

I am sorry to say but many members of this bulletin board system seem to have the maturity levels of children/teenagers and I came here to start a simple discussion/debate however I have been called a troll and when I tried to reply to some critisism people have rated my post "dumb".

Maybe whoever designed this forum needs to get some maturity inside them because its just childish in my opinion and im sure that th

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

[QUOTE=rotor2;46311358]I actually like dark RP. I believe there are too many servers and a lot of them have the same scripts, but I've always thought of it as a gamemode you can jump into with some friends and do stupid shit. I like the stupidity and chaos in the gamemode. It's stupid fun, and I rarely ever play it, but I've never taken it seriously. I've had a lot of funny moments, and the screaming children are part of the experience and is pretty fuckin funny to me.[/QUOTE]

I agree with your part about how it's supposed to be non-serious fun, a bit of chaos and messing around its a good laugh to have with friends. I actually think that seriousRP'ers are less mature than non-serious rpers in my personal opinion.

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

[QUOTE=rotor2;46311358]I actually like dark RP. I believe there are too many servers and a lot of them have the same scripts, but I've always thought of it as a gamemode you can jump into with some friends and do stupid shit. I like the stupidity and chaos in the gamemode. It's stupid fun, and I rarely ever play it, but I've never taken it seriously. I've had a lot of funny moments, and the screaming children are part of the experience and is pretty fuckin funny to me.[/QUOTE]

I agree with your part about how it's supposed to be non-serious fun, a bit of chaos and messing around its a good laugh to have with friends. I actually think that seriousRP'ers are less mature than non-serious rpers in my personal opinion.

[Milkshaker]

[QUOTE=serverwatch;46308077]Excuse me? How is having the name "serverwatch" mean that I am not serious. I chose this name because in the future I'm going to be starting up a blog reviewing different gmod servers...

[B]You wish to give back to a community which you intend to force to your own website?[/B]

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

Thanks for the detailed response.

First of all as I explained in a previous reply I chose the name server watch dog because I am going to start reviewing and monitoring servers. I already have a databank in which I keep notes on servers that I've played on e.g recommended ones and ones to avoid. I want to give back to the gmod community by making this and helping people decide what servers to play on.

[B]"Databank" suggests you're trying to quantify your posts... Why is your opinion regarding servers valid or worth listening to? You want to help the Garry's mod community by trying to rip its content out from under its feet by degrading its content.[/B]

When you said what justifies me rate servers and game-modes is that I am by nature a critic. I like to review restaurants and other things in my spare time so i thought why not do that with gmod?

[B]That does not justify you to be a reviewer.[/B]

And the part about recognition I know I am not recognised very much publically in the gmod community however I have been on garrys mod since gmod 9 and witnessed many major events in the gmod community.

[B]So?[/B]

"Why should I care?". Well this is a discussion forum and I'm just trying to start some discussions and share opinions I dont see any reason to be very negative on this thread....

[B]You wish to be negative about servers yet do not wish to take any criticism...[/B]

Regarding my spelling I don't see how it matters. yes its not perfect but it is not "txt spek lek dis" so I fail to see the concern that you have.

[B]How can I trust your output if you cannot be bothered to type in actual English?[/B]

I am not the cause of the problems that I right about I'm trying to encourage debate/discusisons about this topic and how in my opinion darkrp is becoming a worse place for many people.

[B]See my earlier statement[/B]
[/QUOTE]

[holon]

The main problem I see here apart from your atrocious spellings, handling of criticism and opinions is that you are self-proclaiming yourself as a watchdog.

Nobody knows you, trusts you or respects you - and therefore are going to ignore you. You'd have to build up a reputation first before attempting anything like this.

Regardless, Garry's Mod simply doesn't have a wide enough array of popular gamemodes to review. If you were truly serious about this, you'd review some of the smaller ones that don't get much limelight - instead of just nitpicking against current trends which you don't like. That is not reviewing.

[Gfoose]

Wants to give criticism, can't accept criticism.

[Frying1pans]

When I play DarkRP and I do something illegal in gm_construct I just hide in the hidden room and wait untill they stop chasing me

[Pastor_Necro]

Get off your pedestal, no-one cares about your high horse opinion.

[QUOTE=Gfoose;46325834]Wants to give criticism, can't accept criticism.[/QUOTE]

[TpsTheHunter]

DarkRP is so easy to edit, even a six year old can do it! Which explains why there's so many DarkRP servers out there..

[Thelurker1234]

-actually I'll snip this-

[MrCraig2]

DarkRP is full of abusing 6 year old owners who are like "z0mgz 1 h4v3 l33t derk rp s3rv3r which is g0nna g3t d0n3tions, l00k guys m3 s3vr3r has cust0m m0d3ls 0ff th3 w0rksh0p"

ps. some servers are good, this is just the majority of them

[Uberpro]

It's funny what SeriousRP seems to mean these days. You guys think that if a server has shittons of rules and restrictions, its serious rp?

I've always thought it meant a server where everybody is roleplaying their characters, (e.g. hl2rp or whatever) subsequently everyone who isn't roleplaying gets banned.

These servers sadly tend to have ridiculous amounts of restrictions (e.g. building) and rules too to play it safe and keep the griefers in check, making the servers utterly boring and dull. but that's still not what I think seriousRP means.

[Lord_TAcoz]

[QUOTE=serverwatch;46312839]if all you wish to do is slander us by posting about irrelevant stuff then go elsewhere to people who want to listen to you and as for 'leveluptime' yes thats really all you are is a lad a kid a child so try to keep up with all this adult stuff then you wont be that clueless to me immature to gain laughs that aren't coming so my advice is to just give up with the pointless banter because we are bored and tired of it all.

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

It's very strange that on an offical Garry's mod forums the moderator/adminstration staff members are not taking action against these failed troll attemps such as posted by "leveluptime". Also people rating posts "dumb" and "funny", not very mature at all. Also some of the other threads on this forum are extremely immature/irrelevant is this really what the gmod community is represended by? On the counter wise there seems to be mature discussion threads posted here with no silly childish "internet memes" and "hashtags", all these things contribute to making the forum look bad to outsiders.

I am sorry to say but many members of this bulletin board system seem to have the maturity levels of children/teenagers and I came here to start a simple discussion/debate however I have been called a troll and when I tried to reply to some critisism people have rated my post "dumb".

Maybe whoever designed this forum needs to get some maturity inside them because its just childish in my opinion and im sure that th

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

I agree with your part about how it's supposed to be non-serious fun, a bit of chaos and messing around its a good laugh to have with friends. I actually think that seriousRP'ers are less mature than non-serious rpers in my personal opinion.

[editline]23rd October 2014[/editline]

I agree with your part about how it's supposed to be non-serious fun, a bit of chaos and messing around its a good laugh to have with friends. I actually think that seriousRP'ers are less mature than non-serious rpers in my personal opinion.[/QUOTE]

Libel*

[Nickolas Cat]

A grand reason to me that rp servers have become more strict is cause of what you said earlier
Youtubers
There's a lot of people on Youtube who just go about to rp servers and screw around, resulting in their fans doing the same thing
Monkey see Monkey do

[TornadoAP]

[QUOTE=Uberpro;46570294]It's funny what SeriousRP seems to mean these days. You guys think that if a server has shittons of rules and restrictions, its serious rp?

I've always thought it meant a server where everybody is roleplaying their characters, (e.g. hl2rp or whatever) subsequently everyone who isn't roleplaying gets banned.

These servers sadly tend to have ridiculous amounts of restrictions (e.g. building) and rules too to play it safe and keep the griefers in check, making the servers utterly boring and dull. but that's still not what I think seriousRP means.[/QUOTE]

Yeah HL2RP is usually pretty dull, but there are some servers out there as well as other universes that are pretty damn fun to roleplay in, such as Star Ship Troopers.

HL2RP used to be a hell of a lot more fun but with the bunch of new 12 year old players coming in griefing the whole damn servers have caused the owners to crack down and enstrict some harsher rules causing the whole damn thing to get duller.

[editline]27th November 2014[/editline]

[QUOTE=serverwatch;46305664]-holyfucklongpost-[/QUOTE]

I don't think a SeriousRP mentality is coming in the DarkRP community, it's more of the natural immature 12 year old dick mentality that gets fun from other people suffering causing your problems.

[VictorianCrow]

Eh, I still like it but it gets old after a while. Personally I don't really see much being said about it anymore. like youtubers used to make videos on it all the time but they stopped now. Sad to see this gamemode go. D:

[buu342]

Ugh, stop posting. Let this thread die.

[VictorianCrow]

[QUOTE=buu342;46591148]Ugh, stop posting. Let this thread die.[/QUOTE]
But... but... WE ARE RANTING ON DARKRP!!!@#!#! Don't judge. lol