On Matherson, certain players and activities have become more prevalent that are explained as "role playing". I'm not going into names and actions because this is an issue that merits serious discussion, not flame-induced locking. Broadly speaking, the actions I'm talking about involve members of the same faction killing each other intentionally. There are other actions as well, but this serves as the most visible form of "role playing". Let's take a look at "role playing" in another game where ganking, griefing and killing members of your own faction are acceptable: Eve Online. In Eve, can-flipping, gate capping, market scamming and other really mean activities are all considered within the scope of the game's intent with regards to "role playing". It is explained, accepted and practiced as such. And Eve Online is as far on the other side of the gaming spectrum from Planteside 2 as you can get. The Planetside 2 equivalents: team killing, sundy dusting and using squads to track "targets" are NOT within the scope of Planetside 2's intent. Planetside 2 is billed as a "MMOFPS" not a "MMORPG". Those last three letters and the differences between them are important. FPS - First Person Shooter - is an established genre based on the notion of teams competing in various forms of capture-the-flag. FPS is a mature genre with a well-established gaming culture with very well-defined limits of fair game play and griefing. Planetside 2, by design, acknowledges and incorporates these. The clearest indicators that PS2 follows the conventions of FPS and not RPG are the mechanics of reward. Going back to Eve Online, actions against faction mates are rewarded. Can flip in nullsec - get paid. Gate camp with a sacrifice to CONCORD to loot the contents of the victim's ship - get paid. Scam a newbie with a contract to ship goods from a locked base to keep the collateral - get paid. Team kill in PS2 - no points, no certs and the risk of weapons lock. Although that risk seems to be so low that it is almost arguable that TKing is within the scope of PS2's design. When you can blow up 2 full busses and still have a functioning weapon, it raises some questions. Still, though, you don't get paid. Dust a squad at a cap point- You really don't get paid. And yet, when confronted, these griefers claim "4th faction role playing" or some other nonsense. This is an FPS, not an RPG. The game is about teams taking capture points, not taking advantage of the inherent trust in being on the same team. In PS1, we had the occasional KillTheMedTerm OS on a vehicle pad or the rage-induced vengeance killing. But we did not see the persistent deliberate interference with the game anywhere close to the level we see it in PS2. Even players who I really didn't get along with played in good faith. We didn't like each other, but we were on the same team and played the game as such. And it needs to stop. Or needs to be stopped. For my part, I have an Eve Online account and I know all about finding safe routes through nullsec to ninja mine Jaspet. When I come to play PS2, it's to enjoy the challenge of using team-based tactics in a military contest over ground, not to wonder which of my team-mates is going to blow up my bus or tank for the third time or to watch out for teammates to shoot me in the back. There are plenty of enemies to do both. I don't know how it is on other servers, but "role playing" is breaking the game on Matherson. I don't log in as much as I used to. I sure as hell don't buy station cash. Soon, I may not even play at all. These are not threats - I'm telling you how this is affecting my perception of the game's entertainment value. "Role playing" is reducing the entertainment value of the game. What can/should be done about this? 1. Fix the griefing system. Right now, if I blow up a sundy full of 12 troops or put one bullet into a Max, it's the same amount of grief. Huh? There is no way to accidentally C-4 a bus. Weapons tap should be immediate and for a long damn time. 2. Fix the griefing system. As somebody's TK stats approach the same level of killing enemy targets, reduce the threshold and extend the time of weapons lock. If your stats are more friendlies than enemies, permalock everything but med juice and glue. Seriously, at that point you really need to move onto something else. 3. Fix the griefing system. Impose grief points on ALL characters under the same account. Can't bounce characters just to keep at it. (Although you can account bounce, but hey that's FTP, right?) 4. Fix the griefing system. For every point of grief you get, that's one point of FREE grief others get against you. i.e. - if you TK, others don't suffer a penalty for killing you back. (Kind of like a kill right in Eve) 5. Charge money. This problem is primarily attributable to FTP. What is the number one response from griefers? This: "I've spend $10 million in station cash. Sony isn't going to do a damn thing to me." Is PS2 really "pay to grief"? OK, make grief points cost certs and/or station cash. If you run out of grief points, you have to buy more before your unlock timer starts. Put a cap on how many you can buy per 24-hour period with certs. Make station cash grief points really expensive. I'm certain others have ideas that are much better than these. The bottom line is this: "role playing" must stop. It's breaking the game.
Wait... what? This is the first time that I've heard anyone legitimize TKing by claiming that they are just role-playing as some 5th column saboteur or something. Usually confrontations with these TKers just results in a "lol L2P n00bz" or something like that. They don't defend their actions because their actions are indefensible. I don't think anyone on here thinks that you can justify TKing by claiming that you were a spy or something. That's pretty darn messed up, because it's unlike in the real world where you can catch spies. In PS2 you can't catch a spy until after the fact, and even then you are penalized for executing them. TKing really needs to be addressed. If you shoot or run over someone, you should be instantly whisked away to the VR room for a courts martial, where the person you killed and the 4 closest friendly players can vote on whether you will be punished or not. If you are found guilty, then you'll go sit in a 15 minute sentence. If not guilty, you will be returned to the battlefield, and any losses you incur (like a tank you were pulled out of) will be refunded. Multiple guilty verdicts (say 3) will result in a 1 day suspension. Accumulate 3 of those and it's a weekly suspension. Etc. Because yea, accidents happen. But they still have to be investigated.
Yea, one last night sent me tells saying he was "role playing" after killing me repeatedly. Apparently it's a "thing".
Lack of punishment for teamkilling sucks when you're on the receiving end but I've been incredibly thankful for it lately while I've been using the new MCG. I swear there must be some graphics bug that make the MCG bullet stream look like candy to my fellow TR because they just can't help themselves from running in front of me as soon as it starts spinning up. As for the RP excuse, I'd bet you real money they were just messing with you. The types of players who go out of their way to TK will do it with or without an 'RP' excuse.
It was a pretty long post and I skim through it. Sorry if I misread anything. that said...people can role play whatever they want, but know that "Role Play" is not valid justification for griefing. the term RPG used as a genre in video games is a bit misleading as its root is based on the fact that it was labeled after D&D pen & paper dice games because they had similar concepts of stats based game play.....not really that there was "role playing" involved.
If I roll a 5 or below I have to TK you man, I'm sorry those are the rules, this hurts me more than you but I AM chaotic evil
#4 is the one I really agree with. The others seem a bit unnecessary. I've always hated getting grief points for defending myself against some **** who thinks they're hilarious gunning down friendlies spawning at the sunderer. Even better, highlight players with high grief points. That way somebody who has been teamkilling will get shot on sight by people tired of their shenanigans. The only issue is balancing it so people who get an accidental teamkill don't start getting pummeled by friendlies. If some idiot sprints in front of my engie turret, I don't want to get penalized for that (more than I already am). You know the guys I'm talking about, the ones who think running in front of the max who's been firing for 20 seconds straight suppressing a doorway is a great idea.
Somehow, I have a feeling these people have no idea what "roleplaying" is. Behaving like a Higbybag over the Internet is not Roleplaying, that's just being a Higbybag over the Internet. /yell chat screaming about FREEDOM!/DUTY!/SCIENCE! is roleplaying. "GINYU FORCE RULES!" is roleplaying. "VICTORY IS OUR TRADITION!" is roleplaying. Even mildly spamming "YOU WANT NO PIECE OF THIS!" is roleplaying. Being a team-killing Higbybag is not roleplaying. But a tight dress? Oh Higby, he's casting Magic Missile firing his Rocket!!
I'm going to assume "We're just RPing" is going to be the new excuse for the 4th faction. I mean, even if it was going on, just think how dumb that concept would be: "I'm playing a spy so i can blow up your sundy that I can spawn to from almost any point on the map if I'm in your team" In terms of grief punishment, I'm just curious what would happen in cases of "mysterious" deaths. What I mean is i'll just start out and be cruising around in a plane and all of a sudden get a message that says "Deplyoable Kill +39 XP" or "Team kill" with some guy's name. Or other times where I get TKs when I'm enroute on a flash in the middle of nowhere with no enemies within 3-5 lattice... Hitting the one cloaked inf that just so happened to be there would require intentional aiming or the stupidest luck. The other problem is I can't count the number of times where I've been in a doorway shooting a solid stream of bullets and other people strafe in front of me, or how I'm trying to launch a rocket at a near dead tank and it hits the spawn shield damaging everyone.
