[Doctor Internet]

Something that's been brought up a lot, in both public and private, is how CityRP is very much trying to straddle the line between the Casual and Serious RP communities. Using the "semi-serious" moniker, which nobody knows the meaning of, with systems for both casual and serious elements, and suggestions for both sides.

So, two goals.

1. Define what a serious or a casual gamemode are.
What are the rules they have.
What are the systems they have.
What are the focuses.
What defines serious as serious, and casual as casual.

2. Decide which we should aim towards.
Removing / replacing / improving / updating systems which focus towards the other element.
Going through suggestions and seeing how they fit into the new paradigm.

---

My question for today.
What defines a serious or a casual gamemode?

[Dick]

Personally, it should just lean to casual at this point. It is clear that the "more serious" atmosphere isn't working otherwise people would be around roleplaying without the requirement of new content frequently. An example of this is HL2RP. It is a very smaller community nowadays for a few reasons - While yes, it has been pretty much an exact replica from when it was released over 13 years ago. New content has always been added to it but hasn't been to the point where it would bring people into the community as a whole. SeriousRP can generally be done with very little (interactive) content available as the majority of roleplay is done via the player base with some events done by staff members either daily, or weekly depending on the server(s), you play on. While there have been many other reasons as to why

GmodStore is a massive part of the addons that are generally done for DarkRP Based Servers as the majority of its code it written for that. Systems such as xGangs, Fleodon's PCMod, Realistic Police System, Mayor Voting System, Void Character and many more - All do different things and change the way the gamemode works but one of the things they all have is that they are all connected via a system to make the server interesting. Whether that is having the ability to have a permanent job, have an in-depth database system to find a person's vehicle and view warrants, have an in-depth clan system to have a weapon vault or a different democratic way of becoming the bossman in charge of the town/city.

To finalize my thoughts, my answer to What defines a serious or a casual gamemode is this.

Serious RP doesn't require much content as the majority of content provided is generally done through player interaction via /s and /me. Fighting, Communicating or telling a story - It is all done via the community as a whole whether that be staff or player.

Casual RP is more relaxed on the RP aspect of taking it to the letter and more just there for a theme. If you peer at DarkRP - The gamemode provides job such as Secret Service, Police, Gun Dealers, Gangsters. These are all just there to suit the casual role style and is there to let people know what they are supost to be doing as that role. Casual RP does require more content to keep players enticed to keep playing on the server especially when you look at any market similar to this whether it belongs to MilitaryRP, PoliceRP, StarWarsRP or other DarkRP Servers. The main thing that keeps or breaks a player away from the server is the type of content it provides from both the development, general staff and player community as well.

[Cole]

Serious RP is more oriented on the RP itself and relies on the players to create unique and in-depth interactions, etc.

Casual RP normally consists of mechanics that either assist or completely automate roleplay interactions that normally would have to be done manually through player interaction.

[goigle]

Yup, Cole is spot on. Back in the day the rules or some post (on fearless) specified that semi-serious meant that the RP was serious but that the game mode & rules didn't make you exhaustively act out every action.

I do agree that over time that tagline has meant different things to different groups.

The game mode over time has definitely shifted from semi-serious to more casual as we add things via script. That's not a complaint or a criticism, just an observation. I have said some of the more serious RP players say that CityRP is becoming too reliant on script instead of good RP and that too many people are using it as a crutch without developing proper RP skills. To a certain extent, I agree: over time you can definitely see most players prefer doing things via script instead of /me and /it which has in turn made RP that's better than DarkRP more accessible.

I wouldn't quite call it casual either just because of how seriously some people take it, but if we had to choose casual is more accurate.

[Burnett]

I think our overall game mechanics fit the Casual style quite accurately.

This would also help us shift to a different server category, as brought up in the second meeting 2 weeks ago, where it was brought up, that we should move the gamemode to the DarkRP category, while maintaining our style.

[FINGamer]

casual 

[Zambie ^‿^]

100% casual.

[Tom*]

Casual.

[Doctor Internet]

So, now that we've defined Serious RPs as focusing on deep roleplaying and player interaction, whereas Casual RPs focus on mechanics and content, where does the community think we sit currently, and where should we sit?

@FINGamer
@Zambie ^‿^
@Tom*

[Taylor]

So, now that we've defined Serious RPs as focusing on deep roleplaying and player interaction, whereas Casual RPs focus on mechanics and content, where does the community think we sit currently, and where should we sit?

@FINGamer
@Zambie ^‿^
@Tom*

Currently Casual, we should stick to Casual

[Midget.]

You can't do Serious Roleplay on Garry's Mod, at least not to the levels of other games.

So Casual

[Tom*]

So, now that we've defined Serious RPs as focusing on deep roleplaying and player interaction, whereas Casual RPs focus on mechanics and content, where does the community think we sit currently, and where should we sit?

@FINGamer
@Zambie ^‿^
@Tom*

We definitely sit casually at the moment, but people get confused about what you identify as so you have clashes of different people and groups trying to play two different game modes on the same server you know. In all honesty, we are borderline darkrp, I think you'd have a good shot dipping your toes into the DarkRP market. Dark RP isn't what it used to be, it all pretty much what FL and LL have been, just casual cityrp. So I think you'd fit nicely into darkrp category rather than a made-up confusing one. 

[Mr.Sir]

Bring back the good Old Doomforting-Shooting-raiding-cops-for-3-hours days



Casual

[Doctor Internet]

Thank you all for your input.
I'll leave this open for now, but we now need to find out what changes we'll be needing to make in regards to development, to support a more casual audience.
Cheers.