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Direct Combat vs Non-Combat Interactions


CovertSphinx
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Direct Combat vs Non-Combat Interactions  

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How do you guys prefer to focus your RPs? Do you love RPs/settings that promote a heavy amount of direct combat between characters (Kind of like all those anime that have plots entirely based on and revolving around fights. Your typical "shounin" sotospeak)? Or do you prefer to stay away from direct combat and develop the plot in a less violent (but still as dastardly) fashion? If it's a mix, what's the kind of split that you typically take to?

 

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I don't like combat for combat's sake alone, but if the plot or characters would end up fighting, I have nothing against a fight. To me combat is best when it helps push the rest of the plots along, not a merely a show of who's strong. Its all about what's natural for the setting and characters, and as a tool to push the stories along. 

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Honestly, most of the time, I prefer my threads without a fight, but every now and again I do like a good fight, and I can't imagine my threads and plots on sites without fights, so I would say a mix is probably the best. Too much fighting and it gets hard to keep thinking up new tactics and it gets hard to do a lot of good character development (see the anime Bleach, which actually had REVERSE character development), but too little fighting and I tend to think it's often too unrealistic or a bit too peaceful/dull. Y'all need a good fight every now and again, even if it's just a gladiator-style sport circuit or in an in-game virtual world. They say that violence is the last resort of intelligent men, but I think that because it's even included at all it shows it's sometimes necessary.

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I voted for about half and half, I like to mix them pretty evenly. Because on a colonial/ pirate themed site, one can't do without battles and duels. But there are more aspects to highlight than mere battles: work scenes, balls and party scenes, public holidays and fairs, pranks, romance, friendship, mentorship...

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I love a good combat thread, but I tend to avoid them unless I'm writing with a player I'm familiar with and trust not to turn it into some ridiculous, drawn out affair because they can't stand their character to lose. There are just too many role players out there that have no concept of what being in a real fight is like. I would definitely say that most have never been in an actual physical fight. Film fighting portrayal, where most get their refs from, is the same as firearm portrayal -  with 10 rounds being fired from a 6 round revolver and what not. 

 

Yeah, you're character might be a 6'4" monster but lemme tell you that little 5'6" dude that's been boxing since he was yay high is going to fuck him up every single time, and it'll happen so quick your head spins. 

 

So I definitely prefer a stat system or nothing for combat threads unless I'm writing with a partner I'm familiar with. I love it when one of my characters gets a beat down, but I want it to be buyable. Having to navigate all the power play and god mod angles of consent based rp is frustrating enough without messing with players who think their 'barely out of HS been in a few street fights boot camp rookie' can whoop up on a SEAL trooper. 

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Person 1: "Wanna spar?"

Person 2: "Sure. Fair warning, he's a speedy lil shit. Prolly gonna dodge a lot. -plays a kickboxer trained and built more for manoeuvrability than brute force-"

Person 1: "That's fine. -plays a bulky monster with no technique whatsoever and dubious training-"

-battle commences-

Person 1: "Dude, he keeps dodging."

Person 2: "... yeah?"

Person 1: "Dude. Not fucking cool."

Person 2: "I said he would. He'll wear down eventually."

Person 1: "-throws a fit and ragequits the site-"

Person 2: "Ladies and gents, I found the site sore loser, chasing them off included free of charge."

 

I've had far, far too many variations and different angles of this particular scenario and end result, and this was actually a very mild instance. I will actively avoid conflict entirely in threads, sometimes even if it doesn't make sense for the character and the situation. I don't care, I'm not doing it. Unless there's a system in place to make sure I don't relive the above, yet again, I'm out that Popsicle stand. (Yeah, I'm a bitter jerk, I ran a Bleach site for 12 years, and a couple Pokemon sites for about 3-4 years total, lemme tell you the constant headache that was. Even when they had a system.)

 

Sometimes, I'm pretty sure that crap threatens to give me panic attacks. -snort-

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I normally prefer to avoid combat when I can. ESPECIALLY when its thread partners that I'm not comfortable with or know very well. But once I'm comfortable with how my threadmates write, I'm unopposed to duking it out a little here and there where necessary - although 80% of the time it's usually against NPC opponents rather than other PCs. I tend to be more of a....PvE player than a PvP player but can do a mix of both when it suites me. 

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I like combat threads... but I usually only do them cooperatively with other players. Usually in the form of a really powerful enemy has shown up, something that by rights no singular character could take on by themselves and win. Thus forcing a group to work together to win. Our characters themselves are no slouches though in terms of their own power. So it's not like they can't take hits (they do), it's just in a 1v1 the other character is just that much better equipped.  I wouldn't do a combat thread with human level characters though. (Always superhuman level.) Simply because, like mentioned, people have no idea how real fights go down. It's never like the movies. (More on that in the spoiler.)

 

Spoiler

 

In real life fights end extremely quickly. Usually within a few minutes simply because the physicality to fight uses a TON of stamina, even with an adrenaline boost it's not going to be a prolonged event. Trained athletes/military personnel are oft the exceptions because they have built their stamina up for that very purpose.

Though in the example of the 6'4" vs 5'6"  trained martial artist... sometimes the martial artist will win, but there's also a lot to be said about the sheer power differential between weight classes. A 6'4" guy with some muscle is going to hurt a lot more if he gets his hands on the small guy. It's why in combat sports like UFC the classes are pretty tightly regulated.

 

Similarly anyone playing the badass chick (like Black Widow) who can kick anyone's ass? In real world fights that is exceedingly rare.  (And contrary to popular belief testicular shots are not a guaranteed victory. For a strong or drug addled man... it hurts, but the pain can be pushed through. So all it will really do is make him way angrier.)

 

Similarly whenever firearms are employed in the movies (compared to real life) they're pretty far off. In real world situations the average case has only a few rounds being fired (2-3).  Reloads in real life are extremely rare. Most of the time whole ordeal is over in a few seconds in the real world. Accuracy in real life high stress situations is not great, the surge of adrenaline and/or heightened heart rate makes it very hard to shoot accurately. (Anyone who has use of force training will know exactly what I'm talking about.) 

Plus the movies oft fail to demonstrate how loud firearms actually are. There was a scene from John Wick 2 which is just terrible. Even with suppressors they'd still be about 130-135 decibels per shot (unsuppressed 9mm is approx 160 decibels, most suppressors knock off about 25-30 decibels). So like a jackhammer going off every time they shoot. Everyone around would know exactly what was going on and they'd be panicking. 

 

 

I'll do the odd player vs player thread though too.  As a note I usually end up playing more powerful characters (when I play canon characters) so when doing player vs player I hold back a lot. (When I'm playing original characters my characters are on par with everyone else's but I'll dial back in other ways. Like for my Hunter character, their training is to kill. But against another player I won't usually have them going for kill shots.)

I'll usually give people a chance if I've never played with them before to see what they're like. But if they're pulling stunts like dodging attacks perfectly all the time or shrugging off hits that should at least make them wince a few times? Then I'll either end the thread somehow (probably with a very large explosion that would essentially force a retreat) or just mention to them "Hey, just a heads up but there's some give and take here... you can't dodge/tank everything all the time." and see how things go from there. If they still aren't listening then thread ends.

 

 

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@VirusZero  I loved that scene you mention just for the sheer obscurity of the situation in RL context -- yet it somehow fits gorgeously with the way they have the world set up. Definitely subscribes to the "Rule of Cool" lol

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I both like and dislike combat, but I'm usually on RPs where there's some heavy combat element. Mostly against NPCs, which is how I prefer it. It's fun to show off/beat up a character in short bursts of action. PVP is riddled with bruised egos and wounded pride, which isn't worth it. Even with friends you risk someone getting upset. I've seen people discuss it in detail, what tactics their characters use and their strenghts and weaknesses, and a sort of "probable victor" determined. They left room enough for the end to be up for interpretation. It had the effect of managing expectations and made them enjoy the writing itself rather than whatever end result happened, which is the only times I've seen PVP end with both parties happy.

 

I've never had the chance to do PVP combat of a hostile nature myself though, only a single sparring match that went through the same process as above. The one time the chance came up no one wanted to face me because they felt the character would ruin theirs even if he wasn't the strongest combatant (for people familiar with SW, it was a character who knew Force Sever and the opponent would've been a dark sider). It sort of highlighted that a lot of people don't trust others in PVP. It also totally offended me with the implication that I wouldn't play fair. 😞

 

The non-combat situations are a delight though, it's just fun to play two or more characters off of each other.

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2 hours ago, Indy said:

 I've seen people discuss it in detail, what tactics their characters use and their strenghts and weaknesses, and a sort of "probable victor" determined. They left room enough for the end to be up for interpretation. It had the effect of managing expectations and made them enjoy the writing itself rather than whatever end result happened, which is the only times I've seen PVP end with both parties happy.

 

This is exactly what we are doing, in order to ensure the story continuity and that everyone agrees to the main aspects. Besides, it is more fun if we join strategies and brainstorm a beautiful duel/ battle!

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I said 50/50, but probably not that even. I love combat, but I don't do it often because there just aren't many opportunities on this side of the interwebs. Plus, although I don't mind my character getting his ass kicked, I am incredibly picky about it. I won't let some overpowered noob win even if it is technically "in character."

 

It's sufficient to say that if the other member is not okay losing, I don't want to fight, even if my character will lose.  I don't want to play against a sore loser or someone who always "has to" win. It's not fun, and I'm not going to enjoy it if I feel like the other person expects to win purely because they perceive their character to be superior.

 

We are all taught to win in life, but not all of us are taught to lose.

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