RPR Archive The RPF Community Council

No need to get hostile, Winged_Jedi. Chill out.

EDIT: Fellow mods, I was wondering. Can we have maybe like an RP ,like in the Star Wars RP forum, where they interview and show the different RPs there are. Like Kalio_Dynkos' Holonews thread?

 

I don't think Winged_Jedi was being hostile--he was making a full-throated argument. And I concur, I really don't think that a rating system would be viable for RPGs. You would almost have to "rate" every post inside of it since the entire concept of RPing is the coming together of many different people playing different characters in different scenarios. Perhaps the fartherest one could go is to put a disclaimer in the first post if there is a good chance of any particular type of questionable material--violence would be the first that would spring into my mind.

~ DS5

 

That, hostile? Hardly. I apologise if it appeared so. Which illustrates my point about how people can read things differently.

EDIT: In agreement with DS5. Rating system is not viable, people have just got to make their own judgments on what is acceptable and what isn't. Most of the time they'll be correct in those judgements.

 

When I first posted about a rating system I had a disclaimer idea like LSA mentioned in mind. Like I was just thinking if you know there could be a lot of violence you could put a little disclaimer in, and I thought of just having a rating instead.

 

Caution: Thread contains nudity

 

Well fine. Instead of ratings, we can just warn people beforetime what may be in the RPs. Like LW's example. Warning: RP contains very dramatical and disturbing events such as violence and gore; Those who can't handle these sorts of things are not encouraged.

 

IMO, I don't think an RPG should be allowed to contain gore. Violence is acceptable, to a point, but gore is beyond the point acceptable in violence.

I am not the type of guy who doesn't enjoy a good gorey film, but I am just saying that it should not be allowed here. After all, none of the films were gorey, I have yet to read a gorey book in the EU...why use gore here? I am sure there are other sites for that.

 

I'm referring to the non-Star Wars RPG. Now look, My F.E.A.R RP is succeeding, it has gore and violence. Well, at a minumum. Still it doesn't offer anything visual like a picture or something. Jeez. My game is based on a PC Game, it has tons of gore. But mine is just a rendered RP. What's the problem? If you don't believe me, check it out. Check the PC game out.

 

alpha, I don't think anyone insinuated that there was a problem with your current RPG, from my perspective. They're merely discussing the strictures of violence in an RPG.

IMHO, I believe that gore should not excessively exist on these forums. I think the proper boundary is vaguely implying the loss of a limb. For example:

Nick looked down at his defaced arm, where the hand he once possessed was nowhere in sight, and a trail of the metallic red liquid inside and outside of his body could be seen from yards away.

If you want excessive gore and violence, there are plenty of other forums for that type of stuff. As for this forum, I think the overall PG/PG-13-rating goal should be upheld.

 

An excerpt from my RP, F.E.A.R. Please tell me if this is the kind of gore you're talking about:

After the "execution" ended, Paxton walked up to the dead bodies, bullet holes teared through them like a screw driver into a wall. Blood continiously flowed from their wounds, apparently their armor could't take that much of a hit at the same spot, how accurate these soldiers shot.

Paxton crouched down and examined the damage, looking into the faces of the dead. Blood splattered faces, even some of their arms were torn apart. There was so much gore, Paxton grinned. "Hmm...Hmhm...they deserve to die." He mentioned and moved closer to a dead male and took off his helmet. "Bitter cold blood." He said and held the dead man's neck and hoisted the dead body up. He took a bite out of the man's neck like a hamburger, how gruesome that looked like. Except this was cannibalism, but Paxton enjoyed doing this part, more like a buffet for memories, so to speak.

He had to do this to know their secrets, it was the only way. He bit off a peice of the dead soldier's flesh, an audible Rip, Crack, Chack! Paxton's face was stained with blood, he licked his lips and moved towards the cheeks. He teared through the skin, pulled out the muscles and sucked the marrow from the bones. Blood splattered onto the wall, Paxton glanced over his shoulder at the other side of the hallway.

Quick as an animal, Paxton got up and wiped his face with his sleeve. His unique leather jacket stained with blood and sweat. "I am man who doesn't want things to go to waste. I am the "scrounger" indeed." Paxton closed his eyes, licking his lips again. "Jeremy was right...the Sergeants do know everything. Nick's brother...Ian...he may know something...I'll get him...I'll see to it..." Paxton dozed off into a day-dream, and snapped back to attention. "Men, I want Nick's brother alive! His name is Ian Richards, a Corporal. Use stealth as possible, we don't want them to retreat." Paxton ordered, a soldier saluted and replied, "Yes, Commander!" The Clone in lead looked at his men and dispersed.

What's up with everyone using the name "Nick?" Seriously...stop.

 

That's a pretty large leap over the edge, IMO.

 

Well? How was it?

 

It's definitely not to my taste (spot the rather gruesome pun). Certainly the cannibalism scene could have been implied instead of described. Such techniques often work better anyway.

However, that doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong. If all the RPers involved in the game are fine with that, then why would it need to be 'censored' at all?

 

I agree with Dark-Enigma, I find that to be a bit over the line, but not by much. It could be a lot worse. The part that seemed wrong to me for this forum is the cannibalism part. That should have been implied, as Winged_Jedi said.

 

I'm an open book, if they have a problem with that (Which I'm certainly sure they don't) then they would tell me beforehand. I'm not an ignorant person who just posts around stupidly. The Cannibalism scene is one of the mysterious and perhaps surprising parts of the story, you just have to understand it before you judge. There's a meaning behind it. I just wanted to capture the true superb and moving essence of mystery and perhaps horror, since it's the backbone of the game.

EDIT: You obviously don't know the true meaning of F.E.A.R. "Art is everywhere, it just has to pass through a creative mind."

 

Regarding the Warning: Thread contains... stuff, how if the GM or whoever puts the banner up, supposed to know what is going to be in the thread before it happens?

You could have an idea which potentially promises gorey firefights, but dies too early, or you could have a PG thread going on, then scenario or inspiration prompts a post that takes the thread up to the next highest strata.

 

I was thinking that a "warning" could be put in RPGs that GMs know could have a potential for violence. For instance, Kingdom Hearts probably wouldn't need one, but F.E.A.R. could have a simple disclaimer noting that this RPG has the potential for violent posts.

~ DS5

 

But the problem is that the examples you mention are at opposite ends of the spectrum, whereas most games will fall somewhere in the middle, making it very difficult to judge.

My personal opinion though, is that any game has the potential for anything. The nature of the text based RP is that the only limit is the players' skill and imagination. Even a Winnie the Pooh game could become the story of a bear's murderous honey-fuelled rampage if a player could write it skilfully enough.

 

You guys are so funny.

EDIT: Oh, and regarding the 'warning' notifications. Would an appropriate mod please edit the opening post of F.E.A.R stating that it contains violent and graphic posts.

 

Naturally, Winged_Jedi--who hasn't been a part of a good old fashioned murder spree at the hands of a bear with a lust for blood and honey? However, the potential for extreme posts is probably null in that RPG. That's why I mentioned such a polar opposite like F.E.A.R., a warning post is almostly certainly in order in that circumstance because the likelihood for graphic posts is high.

Of course, I don't think that there should be a standing rule on warning labels for RPGs, it can be very subjective. But, I do think that it's something that should be kept in mind why a GM is crafting his or her game.

~ DS5

 

who hasn't been a part of a good old fashioned murder spree at the hands of a bear with a lust for blood and honey?

Anyone read Penny-Arcade?

[image=http://www.penny-arcade.com/docs/gabe/pooh.jpg]

Anyway.

I'm definately for a warning system, but it should be implemented at the GMs desgression, and then, if things get out of hand, by Mods themselves.

Potential problem threads should be marked by the mods for extra watch, so if something in them gets a little out of line, it would be easy to slap a Warning on the first post or maybe a RDA in the title (Read Discression is Advised.)

 

SePOOHroth- that is pure genius.

 

Nice!

A warning would be good, but my personal opinion stands: no Role Playing Game should be allowed to contain too much violence. If done correctly, the violence can be implied and have the same, if not better, effect.

 

I always figured that violence in RPG's would have to stay along the lines of the violence in the films. Sure, people get limbs chopped off, but there isn't a whole hell of a lot of blood and gore (with the exception of the finale in Episode III). Doesn't it say in the rules that the stories have to be PG rated...like the films?