Here at Gutter Trash Alley (GTA) we welcome role-players (RPers) of all skill levels. At GTA, you are free to be yourself. Everyone must show respect to others and have acceptable roleplay behavior.
General Terms & Abbreviations
Emoting
'Emoting' is when you display your character's words, movements, body language and tone of voice all together to form a complete action or reaction to the events unfolding around you. All emotes start with
/me in local chat.
/me was working on a vehicle when he heard a commotion, turning to face the source of the disturbance. "Hey, knock it off!", he shouted at the group as he took a few steps closer, clenching the long wrench he held in his hand.
This is an example of an emote. It shows the character's response to an event within their surroundings and initiates them into the roleplay. Remember, chat range is a radius of 20 meters — anything that happens outside of that range, your character will not hear and have no knowledge of. Emoting is
ESSENTIAL to good roleplay and all roleplayers should be emoting on a sim intended for roleplay.
RP — Roleplay
The next level of immersion where you act, think and behave in game as if you were a character in that game, not a real life player. You treat others as if they were part of that story and respect what you see and know instead of using game mechanics like the in-game camera to zoom in far or teleport. Use your wits and intelligence — ask yourself what your character would do with the current knowledge and resources they have, then act upon that.
OOC — Out of Character
Your real life self. In a roleplay scenario, when communicating something OOC you do it in brackets like this: ((brb, need to grab some water)). It is merely how two people communicate during a roleplay scene. Always respect the person's time and let them know if you will be stepping away from your keyboard or otherwise unable to respond for any length of time.
IC — In Character
Your persona that you play and give life to in Gutter Trash Alley. This persona might be like you or not, but is reacting to roleplay surroundings as you emote and respond to your environment. If you saw someone get shot, your real self will know it's a game and do nothing — but your IC persona might decide to help them or run away and hide.
Godmoding
'Godmoding' is when you disrespect other people's roleplay and put your own character in a god-like position where you cannot be harmed or lose. When someone pulls a gun on you, don't try to do a back flip, pull out two guns, reload, and headshot the entire PD force in milliseconds. Let's leave the superheroes in the movies. The idea is to play together, not to create a self-centered game. Nobody will enjoy playing with you if you conduct yourself this way.
Powergaming
The act of using an in-game mechanic, any external information, or a roleplay concept to favor your own character or story so as to give an unfair or unrealistic advantage. Powergaming can take several forms but is generally rooted in "playing to win" instead of honoring the creative roleplay. Playing your character should always be more important than playing the game.
Metagaming
When a player uses knowledge that is not available to their character in order to change the way they play (usually to gain an advantage). In general, it refers to any gap between player knowledge and character knowledge which the player acts upon. Zooming in on someone 600 meters away to see what they are doing and then using that information is also metagaming.
It is strongly advised that all RP is announced OOC first to make sure all parties are in agreement and enthusiastic about the interaction. IC actions of any kind, especially offensive ones, should be initiated in an RP manner giving all parties time to understand what is going on and react. Your RP actions should not be final — they should be based on action and reaction.
When someone engages you in RP, make it a habit to check their profile as they might give out information about their personality type. Please remember most people choose to play different personalities than they are in RL. IC and OOC are always separated. If you are unclear about someone's intentions, politely address them OOC in IM.
Refusal to RP is acceptable, but will turn you into an OOC persona, and we will stop RPing with you. Let's say you commit a failed assassination or police track you down for a crime you committed, but you refuse the RP as a consequence of your actions. That's ok — we'll consider you OOC and all future actions you take on sim will be seen as OOC.
If you can't handle your own, and you are the type that begins OOC humiliations and insults immediately after a failed RP — stop RP'ing. For us, this is a fun game between friends. If it's not the same for you, you're in the wrong community.
Combat in GTA is not the purpose of the game, but it is allowed because it can add to immersion. While engaging in combat it is advisable that you announce your intention in a roleplay manner, giving others time to react. During combat, the following are not allowed:
Teleporting away during combat
Teleporting others to you
Using any unapproved scripted items to block or protect yourself
When shot down, you choose one of two options:
Capture — Lasts a minimum of 1 hour (or more based on your RP). In capture mode you cannot use weapons but can be healed or take damage.
Hospital — Critical injured mode for 24 hours. You cannot use weapons, cannot take damage, but you are free to RP as critically injured and can heal yourself.
Any of the following actions are considered the person to be neutralized: teleporting away, logging off, removal of the HUD, running into a private home (that is not a group's headquarters).
RP Areas
All public institutes: PD, FD, MD, City Hall, Courthouse are considered RP areas
All business locations, restaurants, and clubs are considered RP areas
Mafia HQs are considered RP areas
RP areas are not allowed to have active Security Orbs. Lockable doors are available on request.
Private homes are NOT RP areas unless agreed with the rental owner, or they are part of RP that involves more people (PD can consider private homes an RP area if they have reason or information of hostages, kidnappings, or suspects).
RP People
All members of public institutes: City Hall, PD, MD, FD are considered full RP personas
All business owners are considered full RP personas
Any person wearing the GTA Civilian, Prostitute, or Crack Whore tag is considered a full RP persona
Think outside the box, be witty, use your imagination and question yourself: 'How would my character think or act in this scenario?' or 'How would I go about it if this was real life?'
Do not try to blur the lines between IC & OOC. Instant messages are ALWAYS considered to be OOC conversation. Do not treat your fellow roleplayers disrespectfully and then defend your actions as if they were your character's (IC). If you are on sim and not in the mood to roleplay, make sure that is known to all with a group tag or some identifier that states you are strictly OOC.
Emote only what is necessary. When planning scenarios or roleplaying, a lot of things might appear to be "by default." You might think simply because you're part of the mafia that you carry a gun — but that's not always the case. Emote the important aspects of your appearance. There is no need to tell us about your cute little butterfly tattoo or how your grandfather was a Colombian drug lord. Give out the details that we can use now, in interaction with you.
Be realistic. If you are surrounded by multiple armed people, react realistically. Try to talk your way out of it — reaching for your gun is a sentence to death. Think logically about how you might survive the situation and use your people skills. No matter the result, being a good roleplay partner means accepting consequences. If you commit a crime, give people the chance to react to that. Don't TP out of the sim and come back later or check when the police are not around.
Real Life (RL) always comes first. If something comes up and you must exit the roleplay scene earlier than expected, it is common courtesy to tell your fellow roleplayers that you have to leave and when you might be back. Mutual respect goes a long, long way.
To reiterate — IMs are NOT the place for roleplay. IMs are meant for OOC conversation. Do not send emote IMs across the sim to someone who can't see or hear you. Take the time to meet people and talk to them face-to-face. We're all humans, not pagers.
Every action calls for a reaction. Respect other people's right to a reaction. If you RP as a drug dealer but say you don't RP with police, you don't RP at all. RP in a community goes either all the way or no way. It's all about respect. If you use the community to RP but don't give others the chance to interact with you, you're not welcome to roleplay at GTA. However, if you are willing to abide by these rules, you are certainly welcome to be a part of our community.