Note
These are our core rules which are applied universally while roleplaying.
All players must remain in character at all times unless allowed to go out of character by an administrator or they themselves are an administrator.
"Roleplay now, report later" is the general term that we use. Often more times than not this rule is good practice; however some situations may be better handled at the time of something going wrong rather than waiting to later to report. This may be useful for situations that require both sides of the story or if all parties involved are there on-scene to be talked to. Simple intervention at the time can resolve situations a lot faster than reporting after the fact.
Standard procedure is to fight in an RP manner, however, players can OOCly agree to perform a fight in a brawl done with GTA physics.
An exception of always roleplay is doing a PIT maneuver during a chase.
MetaGaming is when someone uses out of character (OOC) information for in character (IC) purposes. If you attempt to incite MetaGaming, then you're also breaking rules.
Example 1: John Smith walks up to Tim Bloggins and sees the name above their head, then proceeds to call them by that name without ever having heard it in character. This is metagaming because John never found out Tim’s name in character.
Example 2: John Smith dislikes Tim Bloggins out of character because of a disagreement. John then refuses to roleplay with Tim on brand new characters because he dislike them out of character. This is not using out of character information for in 9 OwlGaming Documentation, Release 1.0 character purposes excplicetly like reading someone’s name is in Example 1, however, it is mixing out of character feelings and influencing their character’s actions
A player can be described as a PowerGamer if he or she presumes or declares that his or her own action against another player character is successful without giving the other player character the freedom to act on his or her own decisions. This includes but is not limited to:
- Forcing actions upon a player.
- Failing to allow a player to roleplay their own actions.
- Use of items which you haven't physically obtained.
- Acting superhuman.
- BunnyHopping (Falls under PowerGaming due to unrealistic behaviors without roleplaying).
PowerGaming by definition is the act of forcing actions or performing unrealistically with or without roleplaying.
Character development plays a vital role in what is considered PowerGaming. A character that goes to the gym and works out regularly may be in better physical condition than others involved in the situation. Character development can be passively roleplayed - This can be done through IC means, by interacting on the social media site putting up photographs, status’ or checking in at locations. This is encouraged to do, as it takes a different toll on roleplaying. Character Development should include a Character Story that has been posted on the Forums and is regularly updated. You can find the Character Story Section at https://forums.ardicgaming.com/forum/4-character-stories/.
Special Characters are characters which have a particular subset of skills (superior strength, shooting, stamina, etc), such as but not limited to:
- Mentally Challenged
- Skilled Martial Artists
- Members of Special Operations Forces
- Celebrities
- Characters that otherwise have an unfair advantage over “average” characters
These characters must have UA approval prior to roleplaying as such.
Requesting special characters can be done via the Ticket Center. The requester must provide an extensive character background story with a character that is established in the server (more than 15 hours). The extensive story must include all aspects of the character's life including the special abilities the character has. Along with their abilities/statuses the requester has to provide valid and sufficient reasoning as to how their character gained these abilities/statuses. The requester then must detail the reasoning for having these abilities/statuses and what their intended purposes are.
Requesters who submit a request mentally challenged characters must provide sufficient reasoning as to why they are roleplaying this type of character; along with providing an extensive character background story to back up the foundation of the potential character.
Vehicles which are used as they are not designed, such a lowrider offroading is considered PowerGaming as the vehicle would not be able to sustain such conditions without breaking or becoming inoperable.
Deathmatching is the act of killing another person’s character without sufficient reason or proper roleplay.
There are a few different types of deaths in the server and there's a few ways to portray each type of death.
A player kill is when your character is killed, simulating unconsciousness and amnesia which extends as far back as that particular roleplay situation's beginning. A cool-down period of is required to wait as long as the player does not return to the scene right after their death or remembers anything leading up to and after the roleplay. This may be overruled by an admin if they desire to do so.
Example:
John Smith goes to a bar in a bad part of town and meets a particularly violent drunk named Wilson LaRoche who while minding his own business, hits his girlfriend a few times. John Smith, being a white knight of the situation, tries to intervene. The two get into a physical altercation and while Wilson is inebriated he loses some self control, kicking John Smith repeatedly in the face after he collapsed against an arcade machine. Slumped in the corner, John Smith is player-killed where his health is depleted and he is killed script-wise.
No application is needed to player-kill someone. Only a solid in character reason.
If a character is player killed and the scene is left after they respawn, the players involved should roleplay that the unconscious character is found by a good Samaritan, emergency services were called and they were taken to the hospital. The person that was player-killed would then after they respawn at the hospital, roleplay in the hospital for a period of time for their injuries to heal and continue to roleplay those injuries accordingly. A cool-down period is required of 2 hours to wait as long as the player does not return to the scene right after their death or remembers anything leading up to and after the roleplay. This may be overruled by an admin if they desire to do so.
Do not respawn and immediately run around as if nothing happened!
A character kill is when your character is permanently killed and the ability to access that character is disabled via script function. They serve as a means of permanently ending a character's life and their story. Character kills should not be taken lightly. Remember, a majority of situations can be dealt with before resorting to a character kill by beating, player kill, etc.
Example:
John Smith over time due to his addictive personality accumulated gambling debt from a local underground poker establishment. Weeks pass and John Smith fails to make consistent payments on the gambling debt, totaling $50,000. He is threatened and beat up but continues failing to pay his debt. The poker facility manager and crime boss decides to kill John Smith as retribution for not paying back the money and to send a message to the other people that owe him money that they should pay in a timely manner.
A sum of $50,000 is a substantial amount of money. If a smaller amount is owed, say, $10,000, a severe beating may be in order and perhaps the crime boss' goons break into his house and steal stuff from him to get some payment and a loan would never be given to John Smith again because $10,000 would likely not warrant something as severe as murder.
An application is necessary to character kill someone due to the severity of it. If your character kill application is sensitive, you may send a private request which is sent to our senior administrators. Private character kills may be sent to upper administration members as well for the most privacy. Additionally, character kills may be accepted in game by a single administrator for situations where you require a quick response where you otherwise could not wait for an application.
In order for a character kill to be valid, the character being killed should generally be killed script wise. There are a few types of exceptions to this. If for example someone's foot is exposed and it is shot over and over and they die script wise, they would not necessarily realistically die. Thus, if they received reasonable medical treatment before they bled out, they'd survive and lose their foot. On the other hand, if that person hadn't received prompt medical attention, they would bleed out and die, warranting a character kill even if they hadn't died scriptwise. Another example of this would be if someone is run over by a vehicle. With the game physics, they may not lose very much health, but in reality, they would very easily be killed at a high speed impact.
A character kill scenario is exactly as it sounds, a scenario of serious roleplay where character kills are issued to characters that die. These are common in roleplay events and large or serious situations.
In order for a character kill scenario to be valid, there must be proof. An administrator must witness the situation or there must be roleplay logs, a video, credible eyewitnesses or comprehensive screen shots then shown to the handling administrator. Character kill scenarios may happen at any time an administrator deems necessary, thus, players should always be realistic and careful as they would in real life.
A character kill scenario may not necessarily be publicly mentioned to people involved to prevent metagaming where people shoot just to get a character kill where they otherwise wouldn't have shot if they didn't know them shooting someone was a guaranteed character kill on another player.
Below are some brief examples of character kill scenarios. They are by no means a comprehensive list showing the only situations you may be character killed but instead serve to give you a better idea of what are the most common scenarios.
Someone showing disregard for their own life or unnecessary risk such as acting suicidally or generally not caring for their actions as carefully as they would in real life. Some more detailed examples of this would be:
- Pulling a gun out on a police officer during a traffic stop when you are going to receive a traffic infraction, your character is then killed.
- Reckless handling of a vehicle or aircraft and crashing it which would clearly result in death, especially at a very high rate of speed.
- Police acting like they’re invincible, failing to follow proper safety protocol, acting out unrealistically in situations where they normally wouldn’t.
Please note, not all forms of disregard must or even should result in a character kill. The circumstances of the scenario and context matter greatly. If someone is resisting capture or kidnapping against 4 people, their chances of actually escaping and telling the police is slim to none which means if one of those 4 kidnappers is a hothead and shoots the person resisting capture, it should not be immediately deemed a character kill. The weight of their actions should be taken into account. In some instances this should matter when the response can be considered as a “Fight or Flight” response instead of disregard of life.
Roleplaying Fear (Disregard for Life continued)
Fear is the common emotion that most humans will experience when their life or someone else's life that they care about (or someone else's life in general who you may not know, can sometimes spark fear). What is roleplaying fear? Roleplaying a situation appropriately where he or she would experience fear within themselves or for someone else if lives were in jeopardy. For example, John Doe is armed with a gun and points the gun at John Smith's face. John Smith does /me does not care that there's a gun in his face. If John Doe decides to shoot John Smith because he doesn't care that there's a gun in his face; John Smith expect to be CKed and not PKed. That's disregard of life, why? Simply put, because John Smith is disregarding the safety of himself in a very real situation. The same principles would apply if John Smith's wife was the one with the gun pointed at them and John Smith does /me doesn't care that his wife has a gun to her head. Why? Simply put because it's generally Disregard of Life and technically PowerGaming.
Lastly, we're not saying that everyone has this emotion of fear; however most common people do. So if you want your character to not have the emotion of fear, this technically falls under the rule 2.7 Special Characters. This falls under this rule because it technically is giving your character an advantage over others but not having to deal with the moral dilemma of the emotion of fear. Characters who clearly don't roleplay fear and end up dead will not be able to request a CK appeal.
Robberies which are organized, whether spur of the moment or heavily pre-planned are common circumstances in which a player (the robber) may be character killed. This includes heists, Ammu-Nation robberies, quick 24/7 robberies, etc.
Your character is being robbed by someone who is wielding a gun, rather than give up the $100 you have in your wallet, you pull your own gun out and attempt to shoot the robber. The robber then shoots and kills you.
A car of gang members burst into a convenient store to rob it. Inside is someone carrying a gun. Upon seeing the men aim a gun at the cashier, they draw their gun and manage to shoot two of the robbers and kill them.
Furthermore, just like with disregard for life, not all robbery related deaths have to be character kills. If robbers jump out of a van and aim guns at a woman on the side of the street, it is a normal, instinctive reaction for someone to immediately run at the first sight of a gun. If that woman is then shot in the back, her death wouldn't be considered a character kill. If she is, however, cornered in an alleyway for a moment with guns to her face and she tries to run or escape or physically resist, she's had some time to think about the scenario and running isn't a purely instinctual response at that point, thus, her death could be a character kill. (Though again, it could just as easily be a player kill too! Those do have severe consequences!)
Some events such as large fires, catastrophic weather, terrorist attacks, freak accidents, etc, are pre-planned or set up and supervised by admins. Some naturally occurring events become these types of large situations such as a large gang shootout, large pile-up car accident, and so on. During these types of events players may be eligible for a character kill as well.
- A plane crashes into a building where the fuel catches on fire and you are caught in the blaze.
- A landslide beside a mountain which crushes you as a civil servant or simply there as a civilian.
- A manhunt for a criminal within a certain area who is knowingly armed and dangerous, etc.
When any player roleplays death it may result in a character kill. A player cannot kill themselves or roleplay death and then have it appealed to come back, or try to roleplay coming back to life (unless assisted by CPR or defibrillators) within reasonable limits.
Characters that infiltrate an organization to gain intelligence, insider knowledge, evidence, or any other means of information that could harm the survival of an organization. This clause focuses primarily on law enforcement infiltrating criminal organizations, but is applicable the other way around or with criminal organizations infiltrating each other as well.
- A detective joining a street gang to help police take them down. One of the gang members finds out and murders the detective.
- A lawyer joining a law firm to plot and overthrow the organization, steal accounts, clients, etc. One of the scumbag lawyers involved hires a bum to stab the infiltrator in a spur of the moment idea just after a big argument.
- A criminal or informant joining the police department to gain knowledge for a gang. A detective with corruption that finds out they have been deceived in a blind rage one night kills the informant.
A brief forewarning, not all shootings or scenarios need to be character kills. Just because a character kill may happen does not mean it has to happen. Admins are encouraged to treat more shootings and situations as player kills and be more strict about character kills because it will generate more roleplay for everyone involved.
If a situation arises where the death of a police officer is justified by the hands of (a) criminal(s) due to serious ramifications that the player would suffer if caught, a character kill may be enforced for both parties. Police officers as a whole though are not character killed if they are simply doing their job and character kills on police officers are also not justified if you are utilizing violence on a police officer to prevent yourself from being caught for less substantial crimes such as robbery, battery, drug dealing, weapon possession, etc. Players who escalate the level of force used against police officers cannot use that escalation to justify a character kill.
An example of this will be below:
A criminal is fleeing police custody for a drug charge. If they shoot at police to escape this, it wouldn't be a character kill because the punishment they are fleeing from is not essentially life threatening like life in prison would be for murder. If the criminal fleeing police for a drug charge shoots at the police, even though this was escalated to potentially attempted murder, a character kill wouldn't be valid because the escalation was done by the fleeing party. Forcing a character kill on the officer at this point would mean that the vast majority of police deaths like this are character kills which is unsustainable.
A criminal has an arrest warrant out on them for murder which would result in life in prison. The player shoots at the police officer to prevent the officer from identifying and arresting them so they may escape. The police officer may be killed in this situation where substantial stakes are at risk. Foreknowledge is a mitigating factor in this circumstance. If the officer did not know there was an arrest warrant for murder, the chances of them being character killed are reduced. If they did know they had an arrest warrant on them for murder, the chances are increased.
During a gun deal where a high-level gang leader is involved a police officer pulls up on them. In order to protect the identity of the high-level gang leader and prevent an investigation which could cripple the gang, everyone flees and a few of the gang members at the deal shoot at the police officer, killing them.
Factions may have a character kill clause that you inherently take upon yourself by associating with them. These factions are generally illegal ones. In order for a character kill clause to be valid it must be present on their thread and submitted to the Faction Team so they are aware of it and can validate your claim of the clause in the future to ensure it is not being made up.
Generally character kill clauses for factions cover anyone who is an associate and above. The criteria for someone to be character killed is nearly endless and is generally approved by a leader of the faction. This is the inherent risk in being part of illegal roleplay. You are considered an “associate” and above if you willingly take part in illegal activity with an associate or member of the faction.
Extreme or disgusting roleplay requires a certain list of rules before it can take place. This type of roleplay is anything that directly or indirectly affects the involved parties. This includes the parties that are committing the acts and the parties who are the result of the act. This directly includes the 2.23 “consent rule” stated below.
Every party involved, including witnesses, must OOCly agree to participate in any of the situations listed below:
- Rape
- Cannibalism
- Bestiality
- Necrophilia
- Sexual Harassment
You may withdraw your consent at any time during the roleplay.
Roleplay in the following list is prohibited in any circumstance:
- Sexual roleplay of minors (younger than 16)
Binds to draw or holster one handed weapons are allowed as they naturally have a faster draw time. Two handed weapons such as assault rifles, rifles, shotguns, etc. require a manually typed out /me to draw the weapon, unless it is easily accessible due to predetermined RP (gun racks, gun slings, gun on lap, etc).
Binds for throwing spikes for PD is allowed. This is due to vehicle pursuits happening at a fast rate; meaning PD members don't have time to write out /me and /do to deploy their spikes in a timely fashion. This falls under giving time to react aka not powergaming. So essentially, so that suspects aren't powergaming (driving through a zone without giving time to react for PD members to throw down spike strips) PD are allowed to throw down spikes. A /me is automated for them. PD cannot spam the command as all PD cruisers are kitted with 2 Spike Strips. Meaning if PD rapidly throw down multiple spikes, they are now powergaming and could be punished.
Players are forbidden from logging out during a roleplay unless approved by an administrator. Do not join in a large roleplay situation if you cannot commit the time.
After criminal activity in which Law Enforcement may become involved, you must wait 30 minutes prior to logging off or switching characters.
Seeking attention from law enforcement or emergency services by shouting at them, making 911 calls to be chased, etc, is prohibited.
All actions may leave traces left behind from the roleplay. Such as, but not limited to:
- CCTV Footage
- Fingerprints
- Tire Treads or Shoe Imprints
- Broken Locks / Doors
- Glass Fragments
- Civilian Witnesses
Etcetera
Notes should be dropped indicating this evidence and information must be given to any overseeing administrators so they may relay the information to investigative parties.
Vehicle descriptions via /ed should be used to present the physical features of the car, not internal specifications or information which cannot be readily seen from the outside.
Cameras - Government
Government CCTV Cameras are by default, roleplayed as a non-PTZ (pan, tilt and zoom) camera at 90 degree angle. The camera has 720p resolution at 15 frames per second. The data is stored locally in most buildings with no cloud backup unless a Law Enforcing building.
All government buildings and gas stations are assumed to have sufficient cameras to cover most common angles both inside and outside even if no physical item is there.
Cameras - Player Owned
Player owned cameras must be roleplayed being installed. All CCTV camera installations/upgrades must be approved by an administrator and added to the interior note with the accompanying log file. Recordings must be stored somewhere and specified within the roleplay logfile. If storage location isn't specified then the camera's recording will be held on local storage within the building and this will be assumed to either be in a storage room or bedroom (or equivalent).
Buildings that are not owned by the government with CCTV cameras with no interior notes specifying how system is operated with installation logs etc; will be assumed as a low-quality camera with no active night-vision recording in 720p at 10 frames per seconds (regardless of what the name of the item specifies). The camera's recording will be held on local storage within the building and this will be assumed to either be in a storage room or bedroom (or equivalent).
If install does not specify storage location for recording on the notes/logs - the footage will be wiped 7 days from activities caught on camera - unless the storage has been specified.
All roleplay must be done within a confined zone known as "Los Santos". There are exceptions for dynamic situations such as car chases which may naturally lead outside of the roleplay zone. Additional exceptions may be specific ones approved by the Upper Administration Team such as the drag strip in Las Venturas.
All in-character adverts made on the forums or in-game through /ads or the phone application shall abide by the roleplay rules. Non-roleplay and unrealistic advertisements are strictly forbidden, as they must mimic real life official adverts made by ad companies. Therefore, the use of offensive, sexual or demeaning language is forbidden.
An example of an unrealistic advert would be the following:
- Making an advert with someone's name to contact that person,
- Selling firearms, narcotics or any illegal items therefore mentioned in the public advert,
- Using advertisements to send a message to someone, an example, stating that the John Doe is a bad person, etc.
Accents are used in game to distinguish a character's origins as to where they may be from. Accents are a script-wisely used feature and can be determined in in a character's /editlook. Accents can vary from Eastern European to Southern America. Some of the more defined accents such as Irish, Scottish, Russian and some US state-wide accents may be determined more precisely in the character's portrayal. We advise for characters to use the accent feature if their character would be of an uncommon tone to the locals of the neighbouring districts as they would potential pick up on this unfamiliar dialect.
Examples of good terminologies to utilize the accent feature;
- Russian
- Scottish
- Cockney English
- Northern English
- Texan
- Heavy/thick Southern Texan
Outcome:
[Texan Accent] John Doe says: Howdy.
[Cockney English Accent] John Doe says: Howdy.
Examples of bad terminologies to utilize the accent feature;
- American
- Heavy American
- Typical Russian
- Is speaking very good American interpretation.
Outcome:
[Heavy American Accent] John Doe says: Howdy. ← Not very specific.
[Is speaking very good American interpretation Accent] John Doe says: Howdy. ← Wrong way to use the accent feature.
[Typical Russian Accent] John Doe says: Howdy. ← Not very descriptive for people who may be able to identify certain Russian accents, it would be better use just say “Russian”.
As you can see there are limits on how to use this feature but it is all to aid roleplay. We encourage players to identify their accents as best they can without actually describing the accent in a sentence. That is what a /do is for if the player decides to know further about the accent your character is using. Failure to use this feature properly is considered to fall under trollish behavior considering that this is a simplistic system to use. If you are unsure about to how to use the system it is always best to ask for help. We don't plan to punish players if they don't fully understand how to use the system, but we ask players to try to use their common sense when deciding on how to define their character's vocal attributes.
Trip Skip is designed for roleplayers who are roleplaying in situations where it may involve sexual actions. Trip Skip is a voluntary rule and does not need to be enforced as long all parties involved agree that they are looking to roleplay the actions. This allows those who don't necessarily want to do sexual roleplay but; realistically know, that the situation is leading to this environment. For those who feel uncomfortable doing sexual roleplay, Trip Skip passes the sexual roleplay scene, and the players can decide what would have happened during the interaction. This rule is designed to bring both parts of the community together for those who don't mind roleplaying sexually versus those who do. After a Trip Skip has been initiated the players can discuss in vague or in detail as to what would have happened i.e. actions that took place, locations and every other detail involved. After all parties are satisfied with the actions that would have took place, they can roleplay accordingly after the illicit scene.
Players should remember what job the play within the server. If a player is a mechanic and owns multi million dollar assets, this doesn't really make sense for the player in question. If a person lives in Grove Street (a very poverty struck part of the city) but has a $450,000 dollar car this doesn't really make sense either. Realism with Assets aims to ensure that poverty struck places remain that way so that it doesn't break immersion with surrounding players. If players are seen driving up to Idlewood Pizza Stacks for example, parking their vehicle there for a length amount of time, their assets could be deleted due to this not being realistic at all. Similar poverty struck places will have the same outcome. Players who purchase properties that is in a low income area but purchase really good vehicles could have their assets removed for similar reasons. This is a decision made by the Economics Team of the server. No one else can make this decision to remove your assets other than the ET.