What if you try to engage someone in RP, but they just flee while saying few words? I had this happen today and the person implied they were going to report me for it.
I say hello to the person, by name... Follow them for a bit, then disrupt them.
They cruise
I disrupt again.
I ask how he is doing today
he says not well
I say "Maybe you will feel better after I collect the bounty on you" ( a bit of an attempt at humor here, RPing a heartless AI trying to be personable )
He was not amused and said nothing.
He cruises again and I disrupt. At this point I feel there is little I can say for two reasons.
1. He is still trying to get away by spamming cruise and thrusters, and if I stop to type he will escape
2. I am RPing an AI with very limited conversational abilities
To be fair, I fire a few warning shots against his shields.
He attempts to use a nearby trade lane, I disrupt it and fire a few more warning shots past him. (im not going to let him go, but I want to make sure he has a chance to dodge, or finish typing so as to put up a fair fight)
Now his hull is damaged and he just sits there, waiting for the lane to go up.
I fire a bit more, he remains silent
I bring him down to a sliver...
he says "stop"
The lane is about to go up, and...
With a sigh of disappointment I kill him.
Isn't this becoming one of those scenarios that ends up causing drama over the laws of the game that then ends up punishing the majority for the acts of the minority?
Common sense + Fairplay + The Internet + Anonymity = Good times. (Unless your Udo).
Please, this is scenario has pushed the limits of the rules because its attempting to still be PvP while coinciding with the rule. Unless it happens a lot more often, why bother?
' Wrote:You gotta look at WHY the rule was created in the first place. It used to be way back that you'd be flying along and get insta-killed without even knowing what happened. Imagine you're a miner not paying attention to your surroundings as you rake in your rocks and all a sudden you get the respawn screen in front of you. How pleasant that is. Well that's kinda what we're talking about here.
This is a game that we're all supposed to enjoy. Its not for some to enjoy.
Exactly.
There isn't a stopwatch you have to adhere to. There isn't some magic ruler of absolutes.
If they look at your conduct and you are considered to be placing griefing as a priority over perpetuating a good time (Not to say shakesphere. But, perhaps, yelling CATCH after you and a friend dual launch snacs) etc etc.
Yes it's a grey area. Yes it's fuzzy. Yes it should remain that way.
If you think you're being a jerk with some /preset ***DARKSUNRAGELIGHTKILLHUMANS*** message then you probably are be.
When you see a Phantom, what do you do? Run? scream? call the navy?
Why?
Because they are going to KILL you. They are heartless murderers, that is their RP.
If it was all about RP and not PVP, this would be a chat room, not a space combat game.
But what if someone doesn't want to RP with you? are you obligated to ignore them because they are not in the mood, or in a hurry to finish their trade run etc?
Role play MEANS that at least one of the actors / participants in the drama has fulfilled his portion of the bargain. It implies that the continuing stage upon which things are occurring has had a consistent atmosphere.
It does NOT imply that there is mutual interaction between all of the players.
Here's an example: You're flying along in a corsair gunboat, and a bretonian transport flies past. You rub your hands gleefully, and fire a CD. "Avast, ye swab! Stand to and Deliver!" goes out over your coms. No response. "Hold it, bucky - I want 2 million Sirius Dubloons to let you pass!". No response. "Bugger it all, open fire!" and you blow up the transport. Turns out that the pilot was asleep (alt-tabbed) and the chief engineer was in his quarters boffing the maintenance chief. No mutual interaction occurred, yet there was role-play.
Let's do the same example: You're flying along in a corsair gunboat, and a bretonian transport flies past. You rub your hands gleefully, and fire a CD. "Avast, ye swab! Stand to and Deliver!" goes out over your coms. No response. "Hold it, bucky - I want 2 million Sirius Dubloons to let you pass!". The Shire then opens fire upon you as the pirate. Guess what - there was STILL role-play before combat was initiated.
THAT is one of the biggest mis-understandings of rule 5.2 by the player base. All the rules says is that All attacks must be the result of some form of role play. It has NEVER said that BOTH parties have to actually say something, OR that you have to tell someone that you're opening fire upon them.
This particular warning was the result of someone who was white / green to the target - thus the target having not any kind of clue at all that he even potentially going to the target to an attack. It's not even like a Freelancer ID'd pirate - where the target could scan the attacker and now he was going to be attacked - this was a pure ambush and nearly PvP abuse.
Oh, and I have a feeling that all mercs in Liberty space are going to get kicked out again, since there's a bounty on Liberty Navy ships and they're ambushing them left and right. (That's just me thinking out loud.)
Does this mean if someone gives me an engagement notice, with full role-play, I can open up on them, without saying a single thing?
I admit, the sanction definitely caught me off guard, and I was thinking about posting a thread about it. If anything, I see less preset messages being used now.
' Wrote:the chief engineer was in his quarters boffing the maintenance chief. No mutual interaction occurred
Oh, I beg to differ Agmen......
My two cents: it depends on the situation.
I mostly use presets with folks that may try to run, traders on my pirate and smugglers on my lawfuls.
I start with /l1 but if they stop and RP, I start typing manualy. If they dont reply and just run, /l2 /l3 /l4 then boom. I may skip ahead to /l4 or whatever my engagin msg is depending on the situation.
Now, that said, droping presets in sequence them boom, that just seems to be PvP abuse to me.
Reminds me of .84 when a LOT of Freelancers were hanging around liberty, getting paid to assist unlawfuls, and instakilling the cop/navy pilot that had been sitting beside them for half an hour with minimal warning, I once saw a cruiser get instakilled that way, lage merc/FL bomber swarm parked beside it suddenly all open up in sequence, preset msgs too.