[Neus]

I'm not aiming to shoot anyone's opinions down, but I did want this to be a discussion, so I want to respond to a few points. Again, you are free to disagree with me.

Point one, SL2 is a game that does not take itself very seriously, and neither do the players. This is the only setting with MMO-esque recurring events and incredibly bland settings that lend themselves to no particular vibe. I'm fine with OOC being excluded from certain areas, but it just won't be very popular or heeded. There have been times where I've disturbed roleplay for a comedic break or what not, whilst I was on call with virtually every one else in the scene. Sometimes it's welcome, and it's uncommon enough that one has to read a room before throwing their foot in their mouths. Historically? People that oppose these breaks are branded rp elitists, who were so mesmerised with their slice of life one say / 5 minute pause ARR PEE that they would vocally oppose the presence of OOC backdroppers.  That is not to say there aren't unwelcome breaks, I am sure many no prompts on PvP have been pressed, or some [OOC] tagged characters drag through a scene, but it's not something that has ever stopped me from interaction.

There is a difference between the game being more welcoming and not taking itself seriously, as you put it. Some players not taking the environment seriously, and therefore contributing to this problem, does not also mean that it is encouraged by anyone else. Trying to put forth that kind of argument when you yourself admit to this behavior does not make it very convincing.

While you sometimes do it around people you are in a call with and therefore are familiar with, what you need to understand is that this normalizes this kind of behavior and causes it to be repeated by others elsewhere, because they think everyone is okay and expecting it. Even worse is labelling people who are being bothered by it as 'elitists' instead of understanding that this kind of behavior can be disruptive.

You are very critical of the game's setting and game elements, but don't seem to understand how the behavior you're defending is even more detrimental. Because while game elements such as the recurring events may not seem very 'realistic' and vaguely pierce the RP veil for some, people acting out OOC jokes ICly completely rips it off the wall for everyone.

I'm not against people having fun with others. If you want to joke around in OOC in private with your friends, that's totally fine. Doing it in places where it disturbs others is not.

A lot of people are quick to call it favouritism, given the things historically given a go ahead. I will say some absolutely stupid things have been okay'd, and otherwise tame things are categorically denied - Such as skateboards and zippers, in a sense that comes across entirely arbitrary in contrast to everything else amidst setting. I could entirely see it, but knowing none of the GM's personally I won't comment.

Considering I am the one who has said no to skateboards and zippers, anyone chalking that up to favoritism is just being silly.

People have friends. Clique rp is generally justified through public RP being both monotonous and developmentally neutral, shallow and superficial. I will preach from the hill tops that this is a matter of setting and players discarding their IC's too easily, and not just 'Your clique doesn't like mine.' as quality rp is far too rare for even the most stubborn of people to discard. Again I think you are weighing 'memeing' far too heavily. Our topical conversation can only go so deep when we are but acquaintances at a place shallow enough to be described with 'An arena.' or 'Dock town.' Hencewhy player housing is so successful by comparison. I believe it well within your power to remove hermits from their shells, just not by smacking them on the wrist.

Would you like to elaborate on what you believe I can do on this matter?

Eventmins are anything but a solution to this problem. The world is fluid only when it serves to sweep up the results of some dramatized event. However many times hospital was bombed, The falcons attack arena, what have you is swiftly forgotten as if consequence was but an afterthought; And no eventmin will be able to remedy this global prerogative. This exists due to a lack of actors, consequence, and reactions. For instance, there are no wars, no politics, feuds or ongoing damaged relations with anywhere else. Everything is just peachy. Should some player have the go-ahead to intentionally sabotage relations with terroristic actions in another continent? There is expected to be no consequence, and the event falls into trivia territory. Next, the lack of actors. As you bring up

Eventmins exist to help facilitate player ambitions. They are an avenue you should use if you have goals you personally want to pursue.

Hospital bombings and random attacks on the arena are like lightning - they're flashy and they get everyone's attention for a moment, but they don't have a lasting impact. Do they not have a lasting impact because the game demands they don't? No, it's because of the nature of these sorts of actions. The bomb blows up, the damage is repaired over time, people forget about it or mention it ICly as a past thing that happened. May I ask what you would expect otherwise in this example?

I'm not sure where the impression that there are no wars/politics/feuds/etc. comes from, either. I don't do anything with them personally, but they definitely exist in the lore. I don't really want to argue hypotheticals when the perception is so fatalistic ("why do anything because nothing would ever change"), but if I could critique the idea, breaking down relations by doing random bombings on another continent doesn't make much sense. If you want to shake things up like that, join one of the factions you're trying to stir up and take aggressive action that way. There's no reason for relations between two factions to break down when there's no evidence or logical reasoning to point towards it actually being a hostile action from the other party.

I understand that people may feel that way after looking at the Bloeden plots, but that didn't play out the way it did because 'Dev wants his perfect snowglobe slice of life to never be disturbed'. I do want things to get shaken up, but I also want things to make sense.

There is a key lack of actors. GM-Approved minor nobility is a pseudo-exception, but are rarely given credence and even rarer to be known about. There are no religious zealots, no subterfuge politicians out for greater office, and no feuding lords. Players don't inhabit the right roles, because water sourcing offers no RP value. I do not think this is a matter of there being dismissive gms, or that players are just too shy to ask ;  But that there's a clear lack of structure to sigroganan world. Nobody knows what roles could be attained where it not suggested by some authority, because no systems are in place. Players have to form their own roles around them, such as hospitals, adventuring guilds or even to a lesser extent the guards. If you want to sincerely remedy this, more lore is needed, as to how Sigrogana and other nations function; As well as key case examples and individual liberties offered to players to do something with this role, rather than just twiddle their thumbs expectantly. If players are not to take these roles, they need to exist in game somehow.

This key lack of actors in vital roles prevents players from reacting in any other way than slice of life monotony, and for sure stifles the creativity players would otherwise be able to harness.

I agree to a point - that there isn't an extremely clear structure to the political world beyond noble houses. I also feel, however, that as I fill in more details, sometimes players perceive it as me putting up more barriers and the environment somehow becoming more restrictive, which is part of the reason why I haven't really put in the effort to do so.

I also feel as if this wouldn't necessarily stop players from trying to pursue positions even if they don't know the exact details, but I won't deny that it could just as easily be a deterrent.

I for one see PvP as a vital part of my characters identity. They don't have to be good, but their build has to thematically fit them like a glove, and I have spent many hours fucking around to facilitate this. I will say that the grind to 60 happens not because 'I must be ready to fight as I envision it', but the growth of 1 - 60 is literally too jarring of a transition for me to be cool with, whereas build to build 60 + Offscreen LE's allows for far finer control, and demonstrates the effort I put into making a character 'RP ready.' in much the same way of FI's and Profiles, a point I am sure I mentioned either on my post or the PM.
Maybe people who only play this game to PvP see reaching 60 that way, but 1 - 60 being 'development' seems lost to anyone but new players, and given GM insistence that player characters are average in setting; it almost feels disingenuous to suggest level ones grow to corroborate the backstory you set in place. Sure, they can mechanically grow stronger from 1 - 60, but doing two dungeons and doubling in strength just breaks whatever immersion SL2 has. The worst way to ''''''''FIX'''''''' this problem is to make grinding slower. Subtle, but seperate tiers of strength would be far more effective, aka exactly what people are doing with tiering their builds through LE's right now.
Additionally, there are players that try to capitalize on the underleveled. "KEKW"
Doing some form of RP reward system would be fine and dandy, but would not help the GM's biased mentality a lot of players feel, but may be worthwhile to increase the longevity of characters I guess. With walrus stepping down from the GM team, this process is also going to take a lot longer, perhaps unviabley so.

Now, some points others have pointed out to me, that should take precedence over those that you have presented;
A lack of mechanical tie in to RP, as suggested by miller, that a lot of mechanics are poor for the rp environment; Such as the regularity of black beast raids, the entire story, and the core gameplay loop of BDPs do not inherently lend themself to RP elsewhere. The former being some trivial but good for exp / murai minigame that happens however many times a reboot, and the latter a pivotal part of the gameplay loop that could see much expansion to facilitate greater RP. As they stand, BDP's are something you want done quickly and quietly, so your focus can be on better thought out elements of the game.
I think Ethan was the first to mention this one : The conflict between adding Mmo / stiff mechanics and improving the rp landscape of the game divides too much attention. My personal opinion is that SL2 should be considered a roleplaying game first, and a turn based strategy mmo second, but all the recent updates have focused on adding new content and features to the PvP system, which I shall refrain from commenting on here. No surprises the landscape has been stale for my demographic. I want to do things, not sit around and discuss PvP unbalance.
I don't remember who brought it up first, but do something about the guards.

I find a lot of this contradictory. 'A lack of mechanical tie in to RP', but 'don't make grinding take longer', but 'doing two dungeons and doubling in strength breaks the immersion'. I'm not really sure what problem you want to be addressed, or if there's even a problem, so I can't really comment in much detail.

I think the healthiest thing you can do for the game right now is clearly outline your thoughts, intentions, and perceived problems as they arise

That's good, because that's the entire point of this topic.