The "Seriousness" level of RP these days

[Chico]

For me, the structure which governed RP started to get slowly dismantled and as it did so, players complained about the diminishing level and quality of RP. There was a movement for more 'freedom', this being 'Freelancer'.
The problem was that this actually had the reverse effect and speeded up the decline of RP.

Now, people sit in the shadows (Read: Skype/TS) and wait for an opportunity to attack someone elses RP/character, hoping this gives credibility to their lack of RP. When a strong faction with solid RP appears, others do their best to oppose it because it justifies their existence. The problem with this attitude is that once they have been successful in destroying said faction, they too no longer have a reason for existence and die off or move elsewhere, killing all local activity.
This cycle continues with the good RPers setting up a faction which starts to thrive. The vultures arrive, kill them off and that area of Sirius stagnates.
The more often this happens, the less decent RPers stay/arrive/can be bothered. The less this happens, the less the vultures have to do. Activity dies in relation to areas or factions.

RP needs to be given room and structure to flourish. Too many people going 'Meh' and RP is difficult.
As of now, too much 'that'll do' and not enough quality RP on an RP server make it very difficult to take seriously.

Please note that this is my personal opinion and not that of any faction I belong/belonged to.

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