Passive Mode?

[Madlaggz]

This is such a bad idea it actually ranks among other glorious ideas such as the infamous ramps through LVP in what 2012? - That almost entirely killed the whole server.

If this is implemented then rest in piss, LVP DM. LVP needs more conflict and action on the server, not a way to pacify huge amounts of the players. Not even mentioning the INSANE amount of laming and abusing that will follow such an implementation!

Again, how is more action going to occur if many players have no desire to take part in it to begin with? Indeed, I have seen many new players join our server only to be teleported to, chased, and killed countless times before simply quitting (never to return, either). Would you say that is fair? I understand that fighting is a large aspect of LVP, but it is not the only one and we must remember this. The population of SA:MP as a whole has shifted, Madlaggz, and while we will always be a home for gangs and fighting, it is not fair to become exclusive to fighting on a server with just as many non-fighters. How is one aspect of our beloved server more important than others?

As I said before, Las Venturas Playground has its foundation in both deathmatch and freeroam. Yes, I agree in that we have tried to be many things over the years, though I fail to see how this particular suggestion somehow signals our demise. Further, this concept (if implemented) would have strong anti-abuse measures. Obviously so long as there is a system it will be fought against, but stringent coding can make all the difference.

I do understand that the mission is to create an environment where freeroam and deathmatching are equally balanced. I must offer an retort to that classical view maintained by the LVP Management; LVP is not and has never been a freeroam server nor a deathmatch server nor a combination of both. It is its own game.

LVP has been and will continue to be nothing but Las Venturas Playground. It is a unique playmode that offers a wide array of possibilities but most important of all; Las Venturas Playground is a game - not an interactive chat in a virtual world. 

I am pointing this out because your proposal has an unfortunate consequence; you're removing the elements of the playground that makes it a game. In order to interact fully with a game, you must have some sort challenge; a barrier your must circumvent og break. In the main world of LVP this is clearly to stay alive - if you're not alive, you simply cannot do anything on the server. 

It is a simple dynamic which is primary in most games and is absolutely fundamental to the succes of LVP. Why is it fundamental to LVP? It is because it generates action amongst the playerbase, i.e. something to do, talk about, stay away from, be focused on, etc. This is a fact regardless of your predisposition to 'freeroaming' or 'deathmatching'. If you 'deathmatch' you simply pick up the fight and get in on the action; but if you 'freeroam' your goal is to collect money (properties), buy houses, do minigames (where you already are protected from fighting), etc. This means in order to achieve your goal you must overcome difficulties; fighting on the streets, hostile gangs, insufficient funds, getting a car etc. If there is no difficulties to overcome, there would be no point in achieving the goals - creating a /passive mode eliminates the danger of hostile players and therefore a 'short cut' to achieving the more freeroamy goals of the game. 

But why is hostility so important to maintain and even promote? As mentioned a /passive mode would make it easier to achieve the goals of the more peaceful aspects of LVP, and as you already pointed out, plenty of fighters also enjoy buying properties, getting houses, doing minigames, etc. This means that the /passive function not only will be used by pacifists but also by fighters and generally everyone of the server - it makes the game 'easier' by paralyzing interaction players between. (And also adds a really huge risk of widespread abuse depending on how smart the coding is done) 

Why is 'easy' bad for the server and why should we promote hostility? I could draw a pretty clear parallel to your recent changes of the economic system of LVP. it is clear that it is a huge improvement to the server; it was simply getting way too easy to collect and spend cash. Thus you were right to cut the bank balances of almost everyone and make everything way more expensive and difficult to attain. In this scenario you corrected a wrong path the playmode was following and protected the state of the game LVP is; there are goals and difficulties to overcome in order to obtain the goal. The keyword here is 'difficulties' and those were quite obvious when it came down to the economic system; it's all pretty much numbers and not social interactions. 
     The /passive mode affects the social interactions on the server in a huge way. It is the inflation of the economic system. It pacifies the gameplay and is exactly what it's called; passive. Having a passive game leads to a passive community with limited social interactions. If we took the 'forced' hostility out of the streets; what does the players of the game have to overcome in order to strive in the game? Then it'll just become an interactive chatroom with a diminishing community - no point in the game and no reason to organize in gangs and clans. Would there be any point in Chill Pills [CP] or whatever they noobs call themselves' existence if they weren't in opposition to something? This fundamental opposition of fighting on the streets is exactly what's being removed with the /passive command.
     Opposition and hostility on the streets generate interaction between players and must be promoted, not diminished; it leads to friends and foes, to gangs and clans, to fights and cruises. It serves a purpose as the heart of a community - don't break our heart, TEF. Let's have a party instead and love and hate each other 'till the end of days.


Besides, everybody knows that you only want to implement /passive as a way to circumvent the latest chatter about you admins abusing your fucking godmode. Sorry, it doesn't work that way - you can't just give everybody godmode when you can't have it in order to keep it. You gotta get down on the streets and fight with us anarchists and get your fucking head stomped to the curb, you evil pussy noob-admins.

Yours truly and with plently of love 

~Madlaggz, aka. Abu Bakr al-Kebabii