I'm quite content with how the thread had been developing; however, I do believe that tact could have been used in certain responses.
I've got my 10:22PM coffee ready just to help me break everything down...
This is an open community that prides itself on an individual player's ability to contribute to the story of others through the exposure of the characters that they create for the enjoyment of other players.
It is entirely correct that the event runner (and any player) is free to disregard anyone else's /roll(s). Even an XA cannot force a player to /roll; however, this implies that the player in question is purposefully exhausting all peaceful options in resolving a confrontation with another player. Eventually, an administrator is going to stop wasting their own time and forcefully remove the troublemaker from the scene.
1) You are correct in that administrators who are currently running missions are more likely to be distracted with either pre-existing, or higher priority tasks. A sizable amount of admins have difficulty with balancing the numerous tasks assigned that each event (no matter the size) requires. MOBCOMM plz.
2) We will not allow /roll rules to become a blanket rule for the entire community to follow. /Rolls are detrimental to quality roleplay within Garry's Mod, as there is no thorough foundation for enabling players to customize their character to such a degree; too many players would max out all three of the stats in the current character creation menu, if it were allowed. Garry's Mod isn't DnD. I love DnD, but this isn't DnD.
2a) The best way to handle /roll's is to handle them on a case-by-case basis, by each and every player involved. Players are encouraged to play for story, or play to lose. It's understood that a Master Sergeant has more Close Quarter Combat skills than a Private-- a /roll-off should not be required in every single engagement between these two; however, if both sides want to or can only agree to a /roll-off, then that is how it will have to end.
I've played in a community that required a player to /roll for slicing a sleeping character's throat. It made no sense then and makes no sense now.
3) Administrators who would not mind accepting /rolls are numerous, but require a signal from the players before they're willing to not S2K (e.g., a player who legitimately ninja'd an event character and started off the engagement with a /me followed by an immediate /roll to get the event character's attention). The easiest way to know if /rolls are acceptable is to ask via Global OOC or via /report.
3a) The difference between what you had experienced on the server and what I have just provided an example of is based off of if it was logically possible for a /roll-off to exist in the first place. A character who is on the receiving end of a "/me has successfully leveled their gun at the back of the character's head after a series of events" does not get the option of having a /roll. They've already lost their fight and are now contributing to the storyline.
4) I like the idea of combining /me's and /rolls for the sake of saving screen real estate. I'll pester @kipper about this when he finds himself free.
5) An admin that unfairly restricts a player from contributing to a story is one thing. However, it is a common issue for a player to, in an attempt to create a unique experience for others, end up causing problems for the remainder of the playerbase (I like to call this involuntary mission-slaughter).
We've had past problems with characters purposefully taking wounds for the sake of creating passive role play for others (bless their hearts). What ended up happening was it turned two hour long missions into three or four hour long missions, destroyed any form of legitimate storytelling on the event side of things, and caused "unnecessary" strain on our Combat Medics as they received undeserved rude glances for taking any longer than two minutes to stitch a wound that was not "earned" via /event text.
With that said, do let myself or any of the other XA's know if you believe that you're being purposefully treated unfairly by a member of our staff. While we do not punish players for joking around or prodding others, we draw the line at harassment and our staff are of no exception to this.
The unfortunate truth is that it is difficult to design a good mission. It's easy to run a mission, though. There are guides available to the administration team on the forums (and via sarcastic admin commentary over teamspeak) on how to run a proper mission from start to finish. In order to have the most potential to make something of your character, you either have to be a part of a Specialization (Medical/Engineering), or have earned your way to either Private First Class or Lance Corporal (as you'll begin to have the opportunity to be assigned special tasks where the MI leadership dictates on a case by case basis).
The majority of fun from SSTRP comes from being in either of the two categories mentioned above, for newer players. The more experienced players have already had their taste of the two and are perfectly fine with supporting others' rise and fall.
As for the second note... Right. I'll take a look at the CQC/Roll Modifier thread and make appropriate adjustments to make it more clear that it is a voluntary and unique methodology used to settle disputes that cannot be settled via Play2Lose or standard narrative (e.g.: Marine Sergeant defeating the Private via logical IC CQC skillsets).
That bomb vest incident, regardless of if it was necessary or not, could have been given proper attention. That's right. You could have had a moment there. What most likely happened is that the admin knew that your character would have died and purposefully withheld commenting (as it probably wouldn't have checked off enough boxes on the PK-process). What also likely happened is that the admin wasn't paying attention at the time, as once they die, they usually have to do something to replace their character's now-vacant space. Usually this means spawning a ragdoll, typing an /event, or, in this case, setting up a Gbomb from the Q menu and ensuring that it's placed and activated rightly to not unnecessarily damage other players.
I agree with the admins' actions on the barricade part. As described by some of the team, the scenario that you had described was too illogical to allow for a /roll-off. Again...
A character who is on the receiving end of a "/me has successfully leveled their gun at the back of the character's head after a series of events" does not get the option of having a /roll. They've already lost their fight and are now contributing to the storyline.
If you had managed to legitimately ninja your way around the administrators, gotten behind them, and performed a /me&/roll combo, for them to only turn around and gun you down-- they'd be having a discussion with an XA right now.
The funny truth is that most /roll-off encounters are discovered after players destroy an admin-played event character through a hail of hot lead, which ends up with the admin in question spamming Global OOC chat with "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU LITTLE CUNTS DON'T SHOOT THE RHINO WITH A NAME THIS IS A ROLE PLAY SERVER AAAHHHH".
Please do let me know if you have any further issues with understanding when /roll would be acceptable or not. When in doubt, /me it out. Except for when you're facing NPC's. Those bastards don't /me for me, so I don't bother /me'ing for them.
