Hypocrisy or Overreaction to an RP Region?

This evening I was invited to a parcel that was labeled an authentic 1920s Berlin region -- a community that they hoped to expand by receiving donations. This invitation was extended to myself and my SL partner by someone who had worked on this region. At the time of the invitation we did not know it was an RP region, only that furries were not permitted (so I forewent my fox form, and assumed my human self).

My SL partner wore a lovely 1930s frock and despite having hundreds of outfits, I settled on a conservative timeless suit (although one could say was Victorian in nature). Upon arrival, we were met with the notecard explaining the rules of the region – and they were many and they, admittedly, left a bad taste in my mouth in their verbiage and presentation (but I tried to not let this bother me).

I’ve been to Gorean sims, Midian, Toxia, Victorian sims, vampire sims, French Baroque sims, medieval sims etc. I read the rules, wear the appropriate tag, and put on my best behaviour. My profile reads far from “griefer”.

Back to the rules we were issued and the explanation that this 1920s Berlin region was intended to be purely authentic and any deviation from the rules would be met with potential banning. There was no visitor tag available, but considering we were in the company of a resident of the region, thought that our attire would be acceptable provided we did not engage the other residents. This theory was reinforced as I was listening to the nearby chatter which was extremely out of character and involved people running over other people in vehicles (a popular sport in Berlin during the 1920s that I guess I missed in my history classes).

We hadn’t walked very far when my partner was informed by the “Polizei” (so the tag read) that she should change her clothes. She politely refused, explaining we were being shown a specific spot by a resident. We were only to be in the region for a brief amount of time. We continued at the encouragement of our guide. We were followed by the “Polizei” into our guide’s building and were both instructed to change our clothes or leave (I repressed my sudden humorous desire to respond by dropping my kit, but I did not).

I was instead… quite shocked. I couldn’t understand how it was perfectly acceptable for very out of character behaviour to take place and two people dressed a little out of era accompanied by a resident were unacceptable. I tried to point out this hypocrisy to the “Polizei” but she took exception to my inferred slander of what appeared to be some skewed fascism from my perspective. The irony continued to run deep and I departed, TPing my partner with me.

I do respect RP in other regions. I am always glad when there are visitor tags available. And when there haven’t been visitors tags available, I make my presence as low impact as possible. I go in, buy what I need or see what I need to see and am out. By nature I am non-confrontational.

And for the first time in my over two years in SL I was actually angry at this Polizei woman and the region she represented. I do not anger easily or quickly. I cannot decide if I overreacted or not. But I was, again, for the first time, quite offended.

Has anyone else had such experiences? I realize I should just let it go, but it’s bothering me quite a bit. Thank you in advance for your insightful discussion.

Seems straightforward enough to me.

Pep (let's go rob a bank in rl; yes, I know it's illegal but I'm feeling poor . . . )

i'd have to vote toward hypocrisy, unless they could prove that there were women on the police force in Berlin during that period of time...

Its their sim. They can make any rules they feel like. Its up to you to visit those sims you feel happy in, and to avoid those you don't like.

There is no shortage of places to visit.

There's also no shortage of power tripping hypocritical rule Nazis on the grid, especially in the RP sims. One of the many reasons I avoid them altogether. (Alternate response: Female fashion fascism in a 1920s Berlin RP sim? Well, I for one am just shocked!)

I think I would have just muted them. I've no time to listen to nonsense.

I know exactly which place you mean because I landed there a few weeks ago on a search for an umbrella to use as a photo prop. There were two free boxes of clothes available at the landing point (which is in a dark building) and those included a drab housewife apron and a drab male suit with cloth cap (removes your hair!) - both fitting for the proletariat of that era. All of it system clothing, with the exception of the cap, IIRC.

While I always appreciate in-theme RP areas giving free outfits to those that visit, almost all of them also drop visitors into a small market or starter area, where there are other, high-quality items that fit their roleplay theme to be bought, should visitors not be enamoured of the proffered free clothing kits.

I had a discussion only last night with some roleplaying friends in SL, about some of the RP regions that are springing up. Most roleplay areas simply cannot survive without renting out market stalls and residential areas, because there is no other profit available to pay tier from creating even the most beautiful RP sim. I have seen countless gorgeous RP sims go under for lack of funding, and more will follow.

However, a few of the newer ones are now insisting that nobody can even *visit* their sim without wearing their meter (fair enough; many meters have an 'OOC Observer' option). But they are expecting people to *pay* for those meters - L$500 in at least one place (and that's the first time I have ever seen a meter not given away free in all my roleplaying time in SL) - plus paying a monthly fee to join their roleplay area.

I'm not against paying a fee. It's very hard to find *good* RP areas that are both thriving and busy, where you can just drop in and fit in, where the rules aren't so restrictive that they insist on all disagreements being resolved by meter combat *only* (here come the power players) and that are outside the usual examples of the above (such as the darker, ultraviolence [usually capture roleplay] RP sims, which are always popular but not to everyone's taste). So if I found a place that I enjoyed roleplaying in, then sure I would pay a monthly fee, to help keep the place going, and as thanks to the creators for making something where I could enjoy good RP.

But I am damned if I'm going to pay L$500 just to *see* a sim, then pay a further L$500 to roleplay in it from the start, when I'm not even sure if I feel that I fit into the place. Give a roleplayer one week's grace from the fee, to try out the RP there and see if they fit in, instead of grubbing money from the outset. Yes, the sims need money to survive, but expecting to obtain it this way is asking a bit too much.

Creating a thriving roleplaying area is a Catch 22 situation. You need to bring in money somehow, because all the pretty streets and mountains won't pay your tier, but to bring in money to your market/home rentals etc you need to keep roleplayers active in the sim, so that other potential RPers don't drop into a howling, empty wasteland and leave after looking around. I've spoken to many wonderful RP sim creators that have tried everything, and I know this paying-for-meters is probably just another solution to finding funding from *somewhere*, but I'm not sure it's the right one.

The point of this long post is, unless the owners of RP sims have outside funding, then all of the strict "don't spoil our immersion!" rules in the world won't draw potential roleplayers to their beautifully-crafted sims. I might have been interested in RP in that 20s Berlin area, and I might have explored the place to see if I wanted to take part in their theme, but after reading their notecard of restrictive rules, this seasoned roleplayer fled the scene and will never recommend that place to any of his roleplaying friends.

You mean, it's their right to be hypocritical? Sure. And it's Elric's right to talk about it. It's up to you to read threads you like, and unsubscribe from ones you don't like

But aren't the 1920s a bit early for Nazis? Oh no, I guess not, Nazi party was formed in 1920.

Oh - I do.

PPP (but this is not one of them)

The real question is: Was this thread Godwinned on Post#1 or Post#5? (^_^)y

You got upset visiting a Police-State sim, and had them tailing you for a minor infraction.

Sounds like they are doing their RP perfectly.

Rock

Since I was the first to mention Nazis (and thanks, Argent, I was hoping someone else would note when the party was founded) I'm claiming credit for Godwinning this one.

whats the name of this sim? id like to visit.

The Golden Era of the Weimar Republic liberal democracy. Absolutely *not* a police state!

Pep ("Parallels and links between the rise of Naziism and Feminism in Germany?" Discuss)

Now I gotta go visit cause I'm curious....

I steer clear of RP sims unless it's a place that suits a photo idea I have.....then I'll find a quiet spot and snap a few pics and hope I don't get booted. I'll wear the right clothes if I have them....if I don't, I'm not buying em!

But.....I do agree that without the willingnes of others to 'pay' for the RP experience.....these tightly run RP areas are going to wither and die. It's enough of a struggle for me to keep my homestead....I can't even imagine creating an RP and then making the rules so strict that it turns people off. Seems like a recipe for failure. I would have been a bit irritated at the situation you described as well......but I don't think I would be spending any extra energy on it.....the hell with em. It's not worth any more then a moment of fleeting annoyance.

I had a guy throw a follower tag on me in a RP sim that I was a member of......I was only a member for the club parties....but I had my tag and I was on my way to the club area.....and this wingnut starts harassing me and throws a nasty follower tag (I forget what the heck it said now) and I had to log out..... I was irritated and I said some less then nice things to the idiot that did it. Then I came back and went to the party. LOL Oh well.....some people just get a little too in to the power trippage. And I could really go in to the psychological profiling of an ADULT that got off on that kind of behavior in the virtual world...but I'm gonna hold my tongue.

The Nazi party was illegal in Germany for most of the '20s, they must have been ahead of their time.

Exactly - and if they want visitors and role players, then they need to get their act together. Carry on as described and they won't get many people and they won't last long.

The rules were clear. You all knew the rules. You were asked, not once but TWICE, to obey the rules. You refused. You don't feel this was rude? (To clarify: rude of YOU.)

The resident should've encouraged you to follow the sim rules, as well. The visitors might be banned but some places would also ban the person who brought them in.

(You were surprised that people who wanted to roleplay German officers were being strict?)

The impression that I got was that this may be more a case of a group of friends interested in that era and creating somewhere to roleplay in themselves, rather than a group of people that actually *want* 'strangers' to come in and join them.

1920s Berlin is a very specific roleplay theme; it's not as sweeping and general as medieval, urban, or Gorean, so it's much less likely to attract the sort of casual roleplayer who is happy to adapt their RP to whichever theme they find and like the look of.

It's highly likely (and this did cross my mind as I read the rules notecard) that they don't *want* other people coming in and 'spoiling' their roleplay, hence the restrictive rules that will put most casual roleplayers off.

Oh, I certainly agree with you. Most definitely. And I am NEVER bored in SL (in fact, the backlog of activities I wish to engage in is astounding). I'm just trying to understand why, for the first time, something truly upset me in SL? Perhaps it's the heat! LOL

I admittedly used the phrase "fashion facist" in relation to her. LOL Not to her face, of course. Which is amusing since I'm a fashion fanatic myself but that's getting way off topic. /me chuckles

Then they would be better off making the sim access only to their specific role playing group.

My guess is that if the "strangers" did not turn up - there would not be much to "role play" about!

Precisely. Thank you. You said it far better than I could. And I think you captured all the reasons why I was so bothered... not to mention that this avatar is not for dressing in poorly designed system clothing! LOL

And I also had to wonder... if fashion was more important than behaviour, they really need a high quality shop catering to such clothing because there is not much on the grid that is authentic realistic 1920s Berlin clothing.

Only you can answer that.

Maybe a subconscious reaction to the milieu or roleplay itself?

/me chuckles.

I deliberately avoided the amusing rule that any Nazi party representation in this RP region was strictly verboten and that Nazis were distasteful to the creators of this RP region.

Perhaps I should have Godwinned the thing right off to break its own cherry.