Hello,

This will (I hope) be my only post on the subject. I welcome dialog on the subject but I know how a seemingly simple suggestion can dissolve into an annoying, fallacy-ridden internet debate. I just thought I should share my experiences in CD over the past two years, and why I'm having a really difficult time getting any character development.

This is not the case for all of my characters. Just this one. Julius starts out usually as a honest individual with few major and damning character flaws. He is not a master of everything. He is terrible around children, and is legally blind without his glasses. There are other flaws too, but his character from a psychological perspective is above board.

That's what makes it hard to RP here on him. Some of my other characters are greedy. Some are vain. Some are bastards, but Julius is different. He's easy-going, relaxed, and makes sound, level-headed decisions. You may think that makes him boring, I say otherwise. Through the past three or four years I've had him on RP rotation, I've experienced relationships with him, conflicts, fights, injuries, grudges, friendships, loves, and losses. These have all been developments linked to him being a good guy, surrounded by those that don't.

It's created friction. And that friction has led to OOC friendships.

So you may be asking what's the problem then? The problem is, I can't make him work in Crack Den. In 2012, I ran with Blackriver Security. A stint that lasted probably six weeks before it went belly up. Then I proposed my own security firm -- Sierra. But because of an unrelated land ownership issue, that also went sour fast. I left for a year, and upon returning recently, naturally I decided to pick up the character after he fought an extended para-military campaign against foreign terrorist groups in the Middle East.

I can't gain street cred, because the conflicts I do encounter are shallow. They usually involve someone who's just...cartoon evil, for no real reason. They just are, because, I suspect, they're trying to game the street cred system, catering to these expectations that it seems are being just arbitrarily laid down.

I can't join the cops, because in bright red letters on the main page, it says they're looking for corrupt cops only. I get the justification. I do. But what are you doing to ensure that that corruption is RP-valid? Anyone can RP a corrupt character. But is this red paragraph going to encourage people to play that role well? Or just join to satisfy the quota.

I can try to go vigilante, but these 'corrupt' cops, also don't seem to accept influences from outside sources. I tried. I posed at someone in what I thought was playing at a deep story with potential complexities. But no. Ultimately that was completely and immediately shut down. No OOC counseling on what went wrong either. Just, we don't like people trying to do our jobs for us, IC. Story wall.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Why would you exclude anyone from trying to develop their character? It seems like these biases toward corrupt players seem to stem the momentum that good players can get when they have an idea for how to RP a moral character that is more than just a simple "White Knight."

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Julius Highfield