Things that annoy or puzzle you about Cantr

[SekoETC]

It feels like Cantr has turned into a doll's tea party. Sure there are some pirates but they pretty much kill you straight away and there's no chance to roleplay at all. Beyond that there don't seem to be any bad guys. I've created some characters that are basically rape baits, very vulnerable, yet no one ever takes advantage of them. I've played for almost ten years, 41 characters, and none of my characters have gotten raped. The closest thing was a mentally challenged character getting groped by a woman because he couldn't express that he didn't want it. Even that was 100+ IG years ago.

[Xander]

I guess it depends on what you see as bad. I know of many people/groups who are often seen as good by some and bad by others (the reality is usually that they are in the middle).

[notsure]

I had a charrie who was raped by someone who didn't speak her language. It's not particularly a pleasant experience.
I'm about half and half for pirate attacks. I've had 2 charries killed right away with no RP and 2 who survived their attacks with somewhat pleasurable RP.

ns

[Swingerzetta]

It seems like a pirate attack that's actually RP'ed runs a much higher risk of failing. Even if the victims are interested more in rp than 'winning', in a general sense, it's in their interest as players to defeat the pirates and continue the storylines they had already been enjoying.
Little romances and dramas are maybe not the height of the cantr experience, but it's better than having a dead char, you know?

So, in the spirit of the thread's topic, a thing that annoys me about cantr is how easily another person's playing experience can be permanently interrupted in seconds by a hit-and-drag attack.

[Black Canyon]

I agree that when my character is involved in a pirate/bandit attack/hunt etc.... my primary focus is on strategy that will enable my character and my character's friends to survive, not creative role-play. It doesn't mean there isn't room for role-play in the process, and now that there is the NDS there is a bit more added in as well, but I'm not going to be typing in clever verbiage while my character gets dragged or hacked to death.

[SumBum]

Oh, and my current frustration: creating a box-of-rocks char that needs to be a follower but only gets encouraged to think for itself. I'm not sure if that's my failing as a player to convey that my char really is too stupid to think on its own, or a lack of chars willing to take charge.

[Doug R.]

It feels like Cantr has turned into a doll's tea party. Sure there are some pirates but they pretty much kill you straight away and there's no chance to roleplay at all. Beyond that there don't seem to be any bad guys. I've created some characters that are basically rape baits, very vulnerable, yet no one ever takes advantage of them. I've played for almost ten years, 41 characters, and none of my characters have gotten raped. The closest thing was a mentally challenged character getting groped by a woman because he couldn't express that he didn't want it. Even that was 100+ IG years ago.

To be completely honest, even if I had a character that was inclined toward this kind of behavior, given the concerns regarding consent and minors, there's no way I'd risk my account engaging in it.

[Doug R.]

When a large group of heavily armed strangers docks to your harbor and tries to make it sound like you're the one with the problem when you don't throw the door open for them.

[SekoETC]

Maybe the NCS rule has killed off most rapes. I know I stopped playing it because it became inconvenient. I mean if you ask someone OOC would you be interested in rp'ing a rape scenario, they can walk out of the room and claim you attempted to rape them, and you would have no way to prove that you didn't, yet from your character's perspective nothing ever happened. It would be poor rp from the victim, but it would be just word against word.

[Money]

Maybe the NCS rule has killed off most rapes. I know I stopped playing it because it became inconvenient. I mean if you ask someone OOC would you be interested in rp'ing a rape scenario, they can walk out of the room and claim you attempted to rape them, and you would have no way to prove that you didn't, yet from your character's perspective nothing ever happened. It would be poor rp from the victim, but it would be just word against word.

Wouldn't that be some form of CRB? I can't imagine PD being friendly to the idea that people can use OOC requests for consent as grounds for rp (in the sense that the characters would act on the ooc info before anything at all had happened in game) much less to start off serious in game legal proceedings.

I've found that with word against word charges like that you have a decent chance of getting off. Your chances of course change if you or your victim have a reputation, be it for good or bad.

[Sunni Daez]

What puzzles me is when 'accidents' happen to charri's that have no explanation.. loss of vision, speech, hearing, motor function... and more.. if yours tries to help.. the help is ignored.. no RP to back it up if you are not RPing the way they want to see it done... I just have a hard time following RP that happens that way. Sorry, maybe this should be in the rant thread..

(( yes, I know in RL this happens.. the sudden loss, but in RL.. the 'victim' is aggressive about it, most times))

[saztronic]

It feels like Cantr has turned into a doll's tea party. Sure there are some pirates but they pretty much kill you straight away and there's no chance to roleplay at all. Beyond that there don't seem to be any bad guys. I've created some characters that are basically rape baits, very vulnerable, yet no one ever takes advantage of them. I've played for almost ten years, 41 characters, and none of my characters have gotten raped. The closest thing was a mentally challenged character getting groped by a woman because he couldn't express that he didn't want it. Even that was 100+ IG years ago.

I take your point... but still, something about this observation unsettles me. There's a gaping chasm between people being reluctant/unwilling/uninterested in roleplaying rape, on the one hand, and the game being a "doll's tea party" on the other.

Rape is about the most brutal thing I can imagine to "pretend." I mean, there are lots of games in the world that (oddly, I think) focus on murder or death... from board games like Clue, to kids playing war, to "whodunit" parties that begin with the announcement that someone at the party has been murdered, and someone else there is the culprit.

But imagine if someone threw a party, and said "Hey everybody, we're going to play a game. One of you has been raped! And one of you is the rapist! Here are some clues we'll use to deduce who it is!" Good times? I think people would be revolted. I don't know why murder is kind of a game and rape absolutely is not, but it's the case.

Similarly, there's a fundamental difference between death and rape in Cantr. Everyone accepts that death is a possibility in the game. You could get kidnapped, treated badly, and killed, and you might be upset but you'd probably have to own up in the end to the fact that it's just part of the game. But if you were raped in the game, graphically, with no OOC discussion at all... the game is a game, but it doesn't take place in a vacuum. Real people are behind those characters. People who may themselves have been through some things they'd rather not have to relive through a game that's supposed to represent, in some sense at least, an escape from reality, not function as a perfect parallel of it.

I think OOC consent is required before RP'ing any kind of rape scenario, end of discussion. I wouldn't be against playing it, personally -- I can go to dark places and darker than this, even -- but OOC consent is absolutely necessary. This is a game... rape in Cantr context would be like real-life BDSM, in which consent and boundaries and rules, understood ahead of time, are absolutely essential and not to be violated except by assholes. With no apology for the use of the word.

That's just part of being an adult.

[computaertist]

I think OOC consent is required before RP'ing any kind of rape scenario, end of discussion. I wouldn't be against playing it, personally -- I can go to dark places and darker than this, even -- but OOC consent is absolutely necessary. This is a game... rape in Cantr context would be like real-life BDSM, in which consent and boundaries and rules, understood ahead of time, are absolutely essential and not to be violated except by assholes. With no apology for the use of the word.

Agreed.

I had a character meet a character played by a player that almost certainly wanted to roleplay rape as the victim based on their description of events. A purely OOC statement would have been preferred to be sure, but I could take the hint. Unfortunately for the other player if I was right about their desire, I had too much IC reasons to turn down the bait and not enough OOC reasons to take the it. The extra OOC push could have done it, since going only on their RP it could have been some sort of trap or test or something. And I didn't have enough intrinsic motivation to play such a horrible person to bother to ask fr it myself.

[SekoETC]

There was a sketch, maybe on youtube, where people were playing a rape game and the new person in the bunch had to play the victim and wear a jumpsuit with bruises painted on it and panties around the knees or something like that. I think it was supposed to parody how people are okay with murder mysteries but how rape is a taboo. I think it was supposed to be funny on some level but it really wasn't. I can't remember if I finished watching it. The other people in the group were acting like it was an interesting game, while the victim's player was weirded out.

I think I'm interested in roleplaying a rape scenario because there are so many emotions involved, and not just when it happens but afterwards as well (assuming the victim doesn't get killed). It can change the personality of both the assailant and the victim.

Recently one of my characters was in a situation where someone expressed IC a wish to have sex with her without seeming to care about her preference. If he had just grabbed her, I would've played it out, but because he said you still have a chance to escape, she did. I counted to ten between clicks when leaving the building, to give him a chance to drag her, but he didn't follow fast enough. Thus she ran away.

[saztronic]

I get it, it's just...

If you had a rape fantasy in real life (some people do, of all genders and persuasions)... I mean not REALLY to be raped, but to roleplay it, in real life, because you found the idea arousing....

That would be difficult to arrange. It would have to be with someone you trusted a lot. You'd probably have to discuss it extensively in advance. You'd have to have safe words and automatic shut down options. It could be done, and safely, but only with a lot of preparation and forethought and careful planning with someone you trusted.

Should it really be any easier in Cantr? I don't think so.

So... it might "kill the role play" buzz a little, or even violate the CRB a bit, but I don't see any other way to set it up than with some fairly heavy OOC conversation. And if you're a good enough role player, and your partner is, you should be able to get out of it what you want anyway. But it's hard, and fraught with pitfalls, and should be approached that way, with respect.

Thus concludes the weirdest post I have ever put on this forum.