My problem with the current state of roleplay on SCP RP!

My problems with civil networks SCP RP come to it not being a true dynamic role-playing experience, I could talk forever but I have 3 main points
  1. The lack of player influence on the server in content, function and in consequence
  2. The CI problem.
  3. IN GAME IN CHARACTER IN ROLEPLAY
I will start with my first point, you as a player have very little to no influence on the server. Breaches are as a matter of fact a core part of the concept of SCP however the way that the functionality of the server impacts this is very negative to the role playing experience and my beloathed concept of "server health"

I would like to say I have absolutely no care for the concept server health but you degenerates of civil networks are hard enough to reason with, realism to the setting, lore accuracy and role play should always come first in crafting a good role playing experience, combative balance is not something which interests me and it is not what I wish to achieve in any capacity
Back to my point, breaches are the main problem in my view
They happen at random intervals or they happen due to them being "hacked out"This is horrible for role playA roleplay server at its core MUST be to the fullest possible extent be driven by the heart of the community, the playerbase!
If players aren't actively making in character choices in an environment things should not occur abnormally
Things don't happen for no reason, Google newton's laws. If I am a researcher and I fuck up during testing a breach should be possible, if I am a containment engineer and I improperly configure something a breach should be possible
It should not occur for absolutely no reason, power failures and outages that happen randomly aren't player actions and are not good roleplay in any capacity
And to the "hacking" problem
Hacking as it exists in the server does not make sense, the fact that the security of the site can be compromised with some device and matching patterns is not something is viable, site security shouldn't be this weak (without other things being sabotaged)
Another thing that diminishes player impact on the role-playing environment is the issue of replenishables with the idea of logistics and also in character obtaining of itemsI'll start with replenishables
Chefs, vending machines, chemists, medical cabinets
They all have things in common
You can take items from them and they run out
However they automatically will become replenished after a length of time




This is bad for the reason that it is another thing that diminishes player interactivity with the server
My solution?
The implementation of the group of interest known as Logistics global operations into the server
Implementing logistics would be a great thing for the server for a few reasons, firstly they are already an established group within the server and have contracts with both the foundation and UNGOC
Secondly it completely solves the replenishables problem!
Logistics will deliver crates with chemicals, food, medical supplies and weapon equipment on to the site, perhaps other materiel once they are implemented
Now what was I saying about in characterly obtaining items
Of course you should in fact spawn with items which are key to your class
Your clipboards, binoculars disguise cards
But there are some items I believe one should not spawn with


That would be weapons and this should apply for every class which currently spawns with weapons
Every player which spawns with weapons should have an item
This would be a key of sorts to access their weapon kit from an armory
You might ask, why do we need this?
I wish to make weapons a replenishable for all groups
Armouries must have weapons delivered to them to function
LGO would not only be a key part of the server but also something that drives teamwork in surface operations
I believe I've blabbered about my first point enough

POINT 2
CI ARE A PLAGUE TO THE SERVER
CI as it exists currently does not have a realistic place within the role-playing environment and must be either immediately removed or entirely revamped with all current holders removed and a new team consisting of event team and game masters being put as temporary leads
I'm not even going into detail on why they shouldn't exist in their current form
Their blatant disregard for server health isn't my main issue even, my main issue is the blatant disregard for resource and human lives, CI are meant to be a terrorist faction, if you can justify them having something of an "infinite man generator" realistically then by all means however I suggest that they be MASSIVELY reduced.
The new CI should be a group that must operate in secret
Still as evil and brutal but under much more cover
They must entirely integrate themselves into the ranks of the foundation to survive
They need to be able to hack into the foundation databases via roleplay driven means and spread disinformation on the scipnet
The main focus of CI raids will be infiltration, information extraction, theft of resource and on rare occasions the theft of SCP items


They will have to work hard to achieve anything as upon spawn they will have nothing bar hacking devices and disguise equipment
I believe this would harbour a greater RP experience than the CI of now and I believe it is entirely possible
Perhaps they could even try to blackmail LGO into delivering equipment to them as LGO won't inherently be controlled by the foundation as an independent company
We could even see RP storylines of LGO entirely embargoing the foundation. there is so much possible RP that CI could do, this amount will be increased with these changes I believe. However what I instead see from CI is a group that rove around the site and generally disrupt roleplay, with no regard to the lives of themselves or foundation members and every time this happens they are alive again, this has no place in a serious RP server and SCP RP should never again advertise itself as such if it wishes to preserve this status quo of subpar roleplay

POINT THREE

In game, in character, in roleplay
As much as the discord makes interacting with members of the community easy, as much as teamspeak makes in character communication during combat scenarios and such easier and as much as the forums are a good tool for challenging staff all three of them have something in common
They fundamentally take away from the player roleplay experience and curb immersion
People using external documents is permissible as the ingame functionality of what we have been given is subpar at best, people using discord is permissible as there is no good in character way to divulge key information to large groups of people who may even be offline except for documents which again barely function
How do I propose to fix the lack of things being done in character? My first thought is a complete revamp and optimisation of the in game documentation systemAlong with this I'd propose a completely new scipnet, with an email system, departmental chat room and keeping the document storage mostly intact as it hasn't raised problems itself
The new email system would be a great alternative for departmental notices and operations, secure communication between individuals and even some in character banter
Who doesn't love harassing their colleagues on email? Anyway I believe revamping the document system so that it is optimised and suited for proper formatting would bolster use of ingame documentation, of course external could be acceptable in out of character circumstance however this would make in Character affairs easier by tenfold
Anyway what else? The forums, applications for positions should be done entirely in game and in character
Just for the reasons of roleplay, in character stuff yada yada
Teamspeak is alright for now but the amount of metagaming that takes place there is appalling, the radio system being reintroduced would be a viable option if optimised to not light the server on fire

Hope you fellas enjoyed this bit of yap, feel free to comment why you think I'm right here or wrong, I hope to receive a response to this from SL, NL or the like for I must ask? when will this bullshit end? When the fuck will I be able to join your server and roleplay without being randomly engaged with these freaks who do nothing but ruin everyone's day?
 
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A lot of these points are valid. Unfortunately though the 'bullshit' ends on a new service, Site-9. Site-65 is no longer Serious Roleplay it is dubbed "Semi-Serious", Although unsure how semi it is.

People take IC actions OOC like you've just punched their mother (God help anyone if I RP'd my first O5 character in todays community).

SCIPNET is low quality and awful to navigate, No wonder Researchers struggle to produce documents.

Site-65 suffers heavily from role bloat and we got too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to combative power. People get so bored in E11 and other roles they factory reset back to treason roleplay to have some semblance of fun (I don't blame them).

I'm cautiously optimistic with Site-9, If they bring over staff from servers that have a low standard of roleplay then Site-9 WILL suffer the same fate. This would be a damn shame considering the immense effort being poured into the new service.
 

Aaron Hench

Well-known Member
Sep 11, 2024
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Good points, but implementing this would require a lot of overhauling and time.

CI really are just a raid GOI. There wasn't much RP being created when I was in it. Of course, F is hostile to them and GOC is neutral, so RP creation is limited.
 
Apr 19, 2024
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In terms of the breaching and the ranks such as juggernaut or thaumotolagist, you have to remember that this is a business for Ventz. Running 3 servers nearly 24/7 can be extremely expensive especially when meant to have a cap over over 100 people online each server at all times. This is not including paying NL, developers or employees as well.

In order to keep the servers running, they need to monetise and this therefore means that they must sacrifice role play to allow people to have VIP ranks. I’m sure if Ventz had billions of pounds he’d end up hosting CN just for the role play, but life doesn’t work that way.

Remember this, Civil Networks Ltd is still a company and the purpose of a company, is to make money.
 
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RODSIN

Well-known Member
Jun 12, 2024
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(S)pain
There is a great point that CI don't operate as they do in the server. Yes that's true, although we all have to think about the gaming side. CI is if not the most known GoI aside from the SCP Foundation, they function meh according to lore, in reality there would be no more than 2-6 dudes for one site all of them from Delta Command. Although I understand that there shouldn't be many people raiding, in terms of playability (I don't know if thats a word but its understood), having a bunch of dudes in a Semi RP server raiding to another team is cool.

One thing that should happen, at least in my opinion, If I have more time I'll do a suggestion is add an event with different GoI's, sucha s SH. In this event there would be a small of these folks going around kidnapping a scp (to save them bc in lore, all they want is to retrieve as many of these scp's as possible (more or less) ) and until a following event if that scp, lets say 939-2 has been taken out by SH, no one can be a 939-2 unless the SCP Foundation have babies 939.

About your point on Logistical Organization I would see it as something great! What we have now is the Marshall, Carter & Dark. According to SCP Foundation view (their wiki basically):
"They are a "club" based in London. For super-rich and with really good connections and they have had conflicts with the foundation on numerous occations for collecting rare and obscure items, along with providing its members the most exclusive, exprensive and rare experiences available. "

Knowing this, we shouldn't have these folks as the ambulant seller of products, more like another faction that may sell equipment for exclusive folks and the Foundation (quote): "Have refused to accest to members". I see that an an addition of something cooler, also because is a great excuse for GOC to be there. There would be supplying food and medical-issue equipment to the civilians or the SCP Foundation.

As an addition (edit) GOC and their allies do have a neutral-normal relationship with The Foundation. Moreover, these two have been in war so it would not be weird to see them fighting one another, so these Supply folks could do great supplying CI if the situation between GOC-SCP Foundation is bad. This is just an idea I just got :)

I'll return to keep commenting on this when I have more time, either way, correct me If I have fucked up, all of this for the greater good :]
 
Last edited:

"Fang"

Well-known Member
Apr 13, 2024
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CI ARE A PLAGUE TO THE SERVER
CI as it exists currently does not have a realistic place within the role-playing environment and must be either immediately removed or entirely revamped with all current holders removed and a new team consisting of event team and game masters being put as temporary leads
I'm not even going into detail on why they shouldn't exist in their current form
Their blatant disregard for server health isn't my main issue even, my main issue is the blatant disregard for resource and human lives, CI are meant to be a terrorist faction, if you can justify them having something of an "infinite man generator" realistically then by all means however I suggest that they be MASSIVELY reduced.
The new CI should be a group that must operate in secret
Still as evil and brutal but under much more cover
They must entirely integrate themselves into the ranks of the foundation to survive
They need to be able to hack into the foundation databases via roleplay driven means and spread disinformation on the scipnet
The main focus of CI raids will be infiltration, information extraction, theft of resource and on rare occasions the theft of SCP items


They will have to work hard to achieve anything as upon spawn they will have nothing bar hacking devices and disguise equipment
I believe this would harbour a greater RP experience than the CI of now and I believe it is entirely possible
Perhaps they could even try to blackmail LGO into delivering equipment to them as LGO won't inherently be controlled by the foundation as an independent company
We could even see RP storylines of LGO entirely embargoing the foundation. there is so much possible RP that CI could do, this amount will be increased with these changes I believe. However what I instead see from CI is a group that rove around the site and generally disrupt roleplay, with no regard to the lives of themselves or foundation members and every time this happens they are alive again, this has no place in a serious RP server and SCP RP should never again advertise itself as such if it wishes to preserve this status quo of subpar roleplay
While I do agree that the state of RP in the sever especially on US is lacking this would just be extremely detrimental to sever health. NL have stated multiple times that the sever isn't ment to be a hardcore RP sever. And CI have the ability to create great RP and just like every other faction/department its just an issue with the current leadership.
 
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Snake

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Dec 20, 2023
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maybe reduce the lag, cant roleplay when everyone teleports around. most unfun experience ever
Unless there's like 110 people on the server the lag isn't that bad anymore since the server upgrade. The exceptions would be if a dupe is placed down
 
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RODSIN

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Jun 12, 2024
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maybe reduce the lag, cant roleplay when everyone teleports around. most unfun experience ever
As snake said, that happens when they are a lot of people connected on the server. Nevertheless, when there are less than 80-90 I can get easily 70-95 fps and nice connection (indeed depends of your pc and location).
 
CI ARE A PLAGUE TO THE SERVER
Plague? Like the quote from hit book Paradise Lost "Should Intermittent Vengeance Arm Again His Red Right Hand to Plague Us?"

CI as it exists currently does not have a realistic place within the role-playing environment and must be either immediately removed or entirely revamped with all current holders removed and a new team consisting of event team and game masters being put as temporary leads
I'm not even going into detail on why they shouldn't exist in their current form
Their blatant disregard for server health isn't my main issue even, my main issue is the blatant disregard for resource and human lives, CI are meant to be a terrorist faction, if you can justify them having something of an "infinite man generator" realistically then by all means however I suggest that they be MASSIVELY reduced.
The new CI should be a group that must operate in secret
Still as evil and brutal but under much more cover
They must entirely integrate themselves into the ranks of the foundation to survive
They need to be able to hack into the foundation databases via roleplay driven means and spread disinformation on the scipnet
The main focus of CI raids will be infiltration, information extraction, theft of resource and on rare occasions the theft of SCP items
I agree with the sentiment that CI as it currently stands is not accurate at all, nor is it as good as it could be. It is currently seen as a "Secondary Faction", which is the reason for CI's very high player cap of 120, but in return no activity requirements.
This does result in the effect of it being a Secondary Faction, but also results in CI getting stupidly high numbers for what it is, which is an issue from how it has been molded and made to be.

Although;
They need to be able to hack into the foundation databases via roleplay driven means and spread disinformation on the scipnet
The main focus of CI raids will be infiltration, information extraction, theft of resource and on rare occasions the theft of SCP items
I have to say, people don't care enough for this, and this doesn't have an affect on anything.
>Disinformation is cool, but people genuinely don't care enough about it IC or OOC, making it basically pointless.
And the Disinformation that would be cool to do, is currently being done by CI!
>Infiltration doesn't actually mean anything, it's what you do during it.
>Information Extraction would be wonderful, if things were actually left about In Character. The DEA Operations channel is the best example I can give.
Although this can still be good in some cases - Take me and my RP storylines, and how I've used my RP knowledge to create RP interactions, just by using my yapping skills.
>Theft of Resources/SCP Items is pretty good, although both of these require Staff/GM, and I would rather more available RP options, I still feel like this is possible. Resources we can and try to do, but stealing SCP objects can take away RP from Foundation in some cases. Take stealing an SCP from Inanimate, like 1025, the book. Stealing it would remove a lot of Testing RP for newer players, as they couldn't test on one of the few available SCP's.
What about animate SCP's? Well we only get to keep those for 30 minutes. Even if they decide to stay, then what? Most RP that can be done with the anomalies has already been done before in regards to tests and finding new things out, which leaves us with mostly just Crosstests and GM RP Enhancements (With ladder having being done by CI a couple times). One of these is defo easier than the other.

They will have to work hard to achieve anything as upon spawn they will have nothing bar hacking devices and disguise equipment
I believe this would harbour a greater RP experience than the CI of now and I believe it is entirely possible
Perhaps they could even try to blackmail LGO into delivering equipment to them as LGO won't inherently be controlled by the foundation as an independent company
We could even see RP storylines of LGO entirely embargoing the foundation. there is so much possible RP that CI could do, this amount will be increased with these changes I believe....
The first point seems good, but I mean, that's literally what CI spawn with.
Look at the Deep Cover Job. Keycard, Gun, Hacking Device, and Basic Tools like the Personnel Tablet. What a riveting experience gathering all of your equipment from dispensers! Except it isn't.

As for the second point, idk who tf LGO is.

Overall I feel like CI should take the direction you ask for, being more of a quiet and more Deep Cover based faction, but a lot of the points you bring up for current CI have issue in my opinion.