- August 2nd, 2016, 5:28 pm
#24483
Everyone's been in that situation where we get slapped in the face by the rules seeming to screw us over. I'm sure everyone here has also been in a situation where, they think they're right for what they did, or they get a big fat ban on their face for doing something that seemed right. If this is supposed to be more like "real life", then this is unacceptable. No society could possibly be this corrupt. This is why I made this post, to discuss the issues of Pandahut RP's rules and roles, and I will have suggestions to fix them at the end.
So, there's several issues that need discussion:
- Bad introduction to the server
- Poorly written rules
- Unenforced warning rules
- Overpowered role abilities
- Lack of moderator authority present
- Suggestions to remedy these issues
The first thing I labeled was the bad introduction to the server issue. I'm not sure whether it's plugin limits or something, but everyone should spawn in the same place, surrounded by the rules in the spawn. That way, they're exposed to them, without having to tab out. This helps newbies because most people can't really be bothered to go study rules for 20 minutes while they're trying to play on a survival server. It just doesn't work. Telling someone "refer to the rules on x website" never works. Which is why so many people get banned for "KOS" within the first hour of playing on Pandahut.
This leads into our next topic, the badly written rules. This mostly pertains to the ideas of what KOS is, but Fail RP will also be discussed.
The definition of "kill on sight" is straight forward. It means that you killed someone upon sighting them, without warning. Seems easy enough. But, the way it's used totally wrong. Someone killing you because you called their mother a whale, according to this server, is kill on sight. However, it's 100% provoked. Still, the admins say "Oh, you killed him? You're getting banned.". That's like saying you'll be heavily punished for shooting someone who's verbally or physically assaulting your family. It's just not how it works in real life. You will be reprimanded, and may face jail time, but it's known to be completely provoked, and in the game and real life, you have witnesses on your side to fight for your case. Revenge KOS is also another thing that needs to be fixed. I don't understand why it's a problem. If you get killed by someone exploiting the rules, you should have the right to kill them back. But of course, I'm going to get hounded by the forum admins for saying that statement.
Fail RP is also something that needs to be properly defined. Most people squeal because you're doing something outside your role's capabilities and get you banned for it, but some roles are just so much more limited than others. This will be discussed more in detail later in the article.
The whole "you're following me so I'll kill you" thing makes this game, ridiculous. Simply going in the same direction as someone will allow them to shoot you, without warning? That's stupid. That's 100% unrealistic, and needs to be removed from the rulebook. You shouldn't get to shoot people for stalking you. Harassing you is completely different. The person you claim to be stalking you might just be heading to the feast you're going to, or might just want to say hello. But, I've seen it time and time again.
Another problematic rule is the "If you're cop I get to kill you if you arrest a bandit" rule. There should be no reason, other than actual group affiliation, that should allow you to interfere with an arrest. That is killing without warning, which is kill on sight. Which is against server rules. I know this is a little early to discuss this role in particular, but it's a very bad rule that needs to be removed. You can't do this in real life. At all. You cannot tell a cop to stop his arrest. You can kill him, but then your name is put on a wanted list and you are hunted until you can't run. The server doesn't do this. It says "oh yeah if you kill the cop it's over." Once again, completely unrealistic. The repercussions are WAY too little, and need to be fixed for realism.
Now, let's speak on the topic of unenforced warnings for a second.
I've run into and seen, more times than I can count, unenforced rules. Robbers or Police officers rarely, if ever, give any warnings in global chat. And, of course, these same people shoot you if you dare move an inch away or pull out your gun for one second. This of course, leads to you losing your stuff, and you getting angry. This is because this is, by definition, kill on sight, which is against the rules. This is the one rule that prevents the server from being straight PvP. So this rule needs to be enforced with the highest amount of scrutiny.
This is going to be the big chunk of the article, overpowered roles.
There are several obvious OP roles. If you can't figure them out, let me list them.
- Bandit
- Hitman
- Kidnapper
- RCMP/Police Officer
The first I listed was bandit. This is because of two things: the lack of warning enforcement and the police officer killing ability. The first is self-explanatory. No warnings, easy free stuff. The second one is something I touched on earlier. This role ability needs to be removed, and it needs to be granted EXCLUSIVELY to those in a group with the person. Nothing else. Raids also need fixing, but that's for something else.
The second is a Hitman. The Pay-To-Win role. It's basically a pay to kill role. Despite it warning the person who has a hit, it still is way too strong. A hitman's friend could see some person with a grizzly, and call a hit. This hitman kills the person, and all his stuff, all his ammo, food, clothes, and other rare items, free for everyone. In real life, a hitman will kill you and whoever you're close to gets your stuff, or it is donated. The hitman and his friends should not get it.
The third I listed is the kidnapper. Now, the role is simple, but it legitimately ruins your day. You're kidnapped, and you can't leave until the ransom is payed or you're killed. It does this in real life as well, but this role is still, really annoying. About as annoying as Mei in Overwatch, if any of you play that.
The fourth is the Bandit's counterpart, the Police force. Police, like Bandits, should not be able to shoot a robber to end a robbery, now, they can run up and cuff the person, but a robber should not be instakilled by a cop. Warnings should be provided to the robber if he's not shooting. If he is shooting, then of course you should shoot back, the same goes to the other side, Bandit killing cops.
The last topic is one that's quite obvious, but isn't really followed through with. Moderator activity.
There have been times, plenty of times, where a KOS happened when a moderator was not present, and the issue was unsolved. This leads to either A, a KOS fest, or B, a player or two quitting the server permanently. There should be moderators on at all times, or there should be measures to kick/ban people by server vote if administrators are lacking. This power of course creates an honor system among the players. Honor systems tend to be unreliable, however, unless Pandahut actually has a moderator on 24/7, it must be in place.
Now, for my suggestions on how to fix these RP servers. Some may have been discussed earlier, but others are something I'm throwing in at the end.
- All buildings must have signs with a title, and raiders should have to do /raid (building title). If it doesn't have a title, it's free game.
- Bedrolls should be made indestructible. This way, to loot a base, you HAVE to /raid it first.
- Police/Bandit assist killings should be removed, and all roles should be allowed to participate in conducting or ending a raid.
- Kidnappers need a time limit. Let's say four hours. So you can't force someone online for a day and a half.
- Hitmen need a rework. You should not lose your stuff if you are killed by the hitman, or you should be given it back. Getting a hit on you basically tells you "sell everything or run away and hide", which is dumb. Hits should also follow the four-hour limit, so it's not unreasonable to survive one.
- Revenge KOS on bandits or cops should be allowed. If Avenge KOS is allowed, revenge should be. Groups should not exclusively be given the right to defend their friend or avenge them. Individuals should be able to take revenge. However, this revenge should have a 12 hour IRL time limit (not in-game time), and may be allowed to be compensated for.
- Police impersonation should be more than wearing a police vest. It should be wearing the whole outfit.
- Gun licenses need a little bit of tweaking, but I'm sure you're aware of that.
- There needs to be more than 2 Pandahut RP servers. Convert some of the absurdly low-pop PvP servers to RP.
- Campfires shouldn't be illegal
- Indoor sentry defense grids should be completely fine
- /rescue (x name) needs to be a command.
- /assist (x name) should also be a command, and should basically be a warning to cops/bandits to stop what they're doing.
- Ongoing situations should have their messages appear more than once
A few personal ones are here as well.
- There should be more kits available. They should also cost bamboo.
- Bamboo should carry over between server types, so, your RP server bamboo would have its own pool of all the RP servers, and the PvP servers should share them as well.
- Zombies should give a higher bounty, 25-50 is what most servers give.
Anyways, if you've got here, thanks for reading this. Hopefully some of the server administrators implement some of my suggestions. I'd appreciate some feedback in the replies about my suggestions, and maybe suggest your own ideas as well.
So, there's several issues that need discussion:
- Bad introduction to the server
- Poorly written rules
- Unenforced warning rules
- Overpowered role abilities
- Lack of moderator authority present
- Suggestions to remedy these issues
The first thing I labeled was the bad introduction to the server issue. I'm not sure whether it's plugin limits or something, but everyone should spawn in the same place, surrounded by the rules in the spawn. That way, they're exposed to them, without having to tab out. This helps newbies because most people can't really be bothered to go study rules for 20 minutes while they're trying to play on a survival server. It just doesn't work. Telling someone "refer to the rules on x website" never works. Which is why so many people get banned for "KOS" within the first hour of playing on Pandahut.
This leads into our next topic, the badly written rules. This mostly pertains to the ideas of what KOS is, but Fail RP will also be discussed.
The definition of "kill on sight" is straight forward. It means that you killed someone upon sighting them, without warning. Seems easy enough. But, the way it's used totally wrong. Someone killing you because you called their mother a whale, according to this server, is kill on sight. However, it's 100% provoked. Still, the admins say "Oh, you killed him? You're getting banned.". That's like saying you'll be heavily punished for shooting someone who's verbally or physically assaulting your family. It's just not how it works in real life. You will be reprimanded, and may face jail time, but it's known to be completely provoked, and in the game and real life, you have witnesses on your side to fight for your case. Revenge KOS is also another thing that needs to be fixed. I don't understand why it's a problem. If you get killed by someone exploiting the rules, you should have the right to kill them back. But of course, I'm going to get hounded by the forum admins for saying that statement.
Fail RP is also something that needs to be properly defined. Most people squeal because you're doing something outside your role's capabilities and get you banned for it, but some roles are just so much more limited than others. This will be discussed more in detail later in the article.
The whole "you're following me so I'll kill you" thing makes this game, ridiculous. Simply going in the same direction as someone will allow them to shoot you, without warning? That's stupid. That's 100% unrealistic, and needs to be removed from the rulebook. You shouldn't get to shoot people for stalking you. Harassing you is completely different. The person you claim to be stalking you might just be heading to the feast you're going to, or might just want to say hello. But, I've seen it time and time again.
Another problematic rule is the "If you're cop I get to kill you if you arrest a bandit" rule. There should be no reason, other than actual group affiliation, that should allow you to interfere with an arrest. That is killing without warning, which is kill on sight. Which is against server rules. I know this is a little early to discuss this role in particular, but it's a very bad rule that needs to be removed. You can't do this in real life. At all. You cannot tell a cop to stop his arrest. You can kill him, but then your name is put on a wanted list and you are hunted until you can't run. The server doesn't do this. It says "oh yeah if you kill the cop it's over." Once again, completely unrealistic. The repercussions are WAY too little, and need to be fixed for realism.
Now, let's speak on the topic of unenforced warnings for a second.
I've run into and seen, more times than I can count, unenforced rules. Robbers or Police officers rarely, if ever, give any warnings in global chat. And, of course, these same people shoot you if you dare move an inch away or pull out your gun for one second. This of course, leads to you losing your stuff, and you getting angry. This is because this is, by definition, kill on sight, which is against the rules. This is the one rule that prevents the server from being straight PvP. So this rule needs to be enforced with the highest amount of scrutiny.
This is going to be the big chunk of the article, overpowered roles.
There are several obvious OP roles. If you can't figure them out, let me list them.
- Bandit
- Hitman
- Kidnapper
- RCMP/Police Officer
The first I listed was bandit. This is because of two things: the lack of warning enforcement and the police officer killing ability. The first is self-explanatory. No warnings, easy free stuff. The second one is something I touched on earlier. This role ability needs to be removed, and it needs to be granted EXCLUSIVELY to those in a group with the person. Nothing else. Raids also need fixing, but that's for something else.
The second is a Hitman. The Pay-To-Win role. It's basically a pay to kill role. Despite it warning the person who has a hit, it still is way too strong. A hitman's friend could see some person with a grizzly, and call a hit. This hitman kills the person, and all his stuff, all his ammo, food, clothes, and other rare items, free for everyone. In real life, a hitman will kill you and whoever you're close to gets your stuff, or it is donated. The hitman and his friends should not get it.
The third I listed is the kidnapper. Now, the role is simple, but it legitimately ruins your day. You're kidnapped, and you can't leave until the ransom is payed or you're killed. It does this in real life as well, but this role is still, really annoying. About as annoying as Mei in Overwatch, if any of you play that.
The fourth is the Bandit's counterpart, the Police force. Police, like Bandits, should not be able to shoot a robber to end a robbery, now, they can run up and cuff the person, but a robber should not be instakilled by a cop. Warnings should be provided to the robber if he's not shooting. If he is shooting, then of course you should shoot back, the same goes to the other side, Bandit killing cops.
The last topic is one that's quite obvious, but isn't really followed through with. Moderator activity.
There have been times, plenty of times, where a KOS happened when a moderator was not present, and the issue was unsolved. This leads to either A, a KOS fest, or B, a player or two quitting the server permanently. There should be moderators on at all times, or there should be measures to kick/ban people by server vote if administrators are lacking. This power of course creates an honor system among the players. Honor systems tend to be unreliable, however, unless Pandahut actually has a moderator on 24/7, it must be in place.
Now, for my suggestions on how to fix these RP servers. Some may have been discussed earlier, but others are something I'm throwing in at the end.
- All buildings must have signs with a title, and raiders should have to do /raid (building title). If it doesn't have a title, it's free game.
- Bedrolls should be made indestructible. This way, to loot a base, you HAVE to /raid it first.
- Police/Bandit assist killings should be removed, and all roles should be allowed to participate in conducting or ending a raid.
- Kidnappers need a time limit. Let's say four hours. So you can't force someone online for a day and a half.
- Hitmen need a rework. You should not lose your stuff if you are killed by the hitman, or you should be given it back. Getting a hit on you basically tells you "sell everything or run away and hide", which is dumb. Hits should also follow the four-hour limit, so it's not unreasonable to survive one.
- Revenge KOS on bandits or cops should be allowed. If Avenge KOS is allowed, revenge should be. Groups should not exclusively be given the right to defend their friend or avenge them. Individuals should be able to take revenge. However, this revenge should have a 12 hour IRL time limit (not in-game time), and may be allowed to be compensated for.
- Police impersonation should be more than wearing a police vest. It should be wearing the whole outfit.
- Gun licenses need a little bit of tweaking, but I'm sure you're aware of that.
- There needs to be more than 2 Pandahut RP servers. Convert some of the absurdly low-pop PvP servers to RP.
- Campfires shouldn't be illegal
- Indoor sentry defense grids should be completely fine
- /rescue (x name) needs to be a command.
- /assist (x name) should also be a command, and should basically be a warning to cops/bandits to stop what they're doing.
- Ongoing situations should have their messages appear more than once
A few personal ones are here as well.
- There should be more kits available. They should also cost bamboo.
- Bamboo should carry over between server types, so, your RP server bamboo would have its own pool of all the RP servers, and the PvP servers should share them as well.
- Zombies should give a higher bounty, 25-50 is what most servers give.
Anyways, if you've got here, thanks for reading this. Hopefully some of the server administrators implement some of my suggestions. I'd appreciate some feedback in the replies about my suggestions, and maybe suggest your own ideas as well.
