Roleplay Comes
Before Winning

Coastal Living Roleplay is built around serious, immersive, consequence-driven roleplay. These rules are not here to stop you from committing crimes, taking risks, confronting law enforcement, starting conflicts, or creating difficult situations. They're here to make sure those situations:

• Make sense for the characters involved.
• Develop through roleplay.
• Give other players a reasonable chance to participate.
• Carry realistic consequences.
• Aren't done solely to win, troll, grief, farm money, or force reactions.

Don't wait for scripted activities; create stories. Police officers can be robbed. Criminal organizations can target law enforcement. Businesses can fail. People can betray one another. Characters can be corrupt when department policy and staff allow it. Characters can lose everything.

Law enforcement doesn't need to win every encounter, and criminals don't need to escape every one. Sometimes the realistic end of a story is prison, financial ruin, serious injury, losing a job, or death.

Every player is expected to:

• Stay in character while actively participating in roleplay.
• Treat other players as partners in a shared story, not opponents.
• Accept reasonable consequences.
• Keep character conflict separate from personal conflict.
• Avoid exploiting game mechanics.
• Use common sense and keep character behavior believable.
• Follow staff instructions when administrative intervention is necessary.

No rulebook can cover every situation, and exploiting a technical loophole in this one can still be punished. When reviewing conduct, staff may weigh:

• Player intent
• Character motivation
• Prior roleplay
• Scene context
• Severity
• Pattern of behavior
• Whether it helped or hurt the roleplay

Metagaming is using information your character couldn't reasonably know. All information must be obtained through legitimate roleplay. Examples:

• Using Discord information your character never received.
• Watching a livestream to locate a player or learn police positioning.
• Using information from another one of your characters.
• Using OOC conversations to identify suspects.
• Recognizing a masked person by voice alone without enough RP justification.
• Treating player names shown by game mechanics as character knowledge.
• Reading information through walls, menus, nametags, or unintended UI.
• Coordinating crime over OOC voice when the characters have no in-character way to communicate.

Powergaming is forcing unrealistic actions, abusing mechanics, or denying another player a reasonable chance to respond. Examples:

• /me knocks you unconscious instantly or /me breaks both of your arms
• /me removes your tracking device without knowing one exists.
• Using an animation to avoid being shot.
• Exploiting vehicle mechanics to escape impossible situations.
• Using your inventory while restrained when you realistically couldn't.
• Instantly identifying fingerprints or forensic evidence without proper systems or RP.
• Carrying unrealistic amounts of equipment without justification.

Actions involving another character should describe an attempt, so the other person can react.

You may not attack or kill another player without sufficient roleplay justification. Violence must have context, such as:

• Active criminal disputes
• Gang conflicts
• Self-defense
• Robbery
• Kidnapping
• Organized crime
• Prior threats
• Revenge within continuing RP
• Law-enforcement encounters
• Protecting another person
• Other believable motives

Simply disliking someone isn't automatically a reason to kill them on sight. Whenever reasonably possible, let conflict build through interaction rather than instant gunfire.

Vehicles may not be used as weapons without realistic justification. Hitting someone on purpose can be allowed inside an active, life-threatening situation, for example:

• Escaping an armed attacker blocking your vehicle.
• Striking someone who is actively shooting at you.
• Using a vehicle during an already-established violent confrontation.

Randomly running people over, repeatedly ramming pedestrians, or killing people with a vehicle without appropriate RP is prohibited. Collisions must also respect realistic vehicle limits.

Your character must reasonably value their life. That does not mean surrendering the instant a weapon appears; context matters. Consider:

• Number of attackers
• Weapon positioning
• Distance
• Available cover
• Escape routes
• Training
• Character history
• Is the attacker distracted?
• Will complying actually save them?

A trained officer may react differently than an unarmed store clerk. A career criminal may react differently than an ordinary civilian. Someone with a firearm already drawn may react differently than someone with three rifles pointed at their head.

Being incapacitated doesn't erase your memory of what led up to it. If your character survives and receives medical treatment, they generally remember the events unless medical RP establishes otherwise. If a character permanently dies, their story is over.

Incapacitation is not an excuse to rush straight back for revenge. Once you've been medically removed from an active violent scene, let that scene conclude before getting involved again, unless there's a compelling RP reason.

Disconnecting to avoid roleplay or consequences is prohibited. That includes logging out to avoid:

• Arrest
• Robbery
• Kidnapping
• Death or injury
• Vehicle seizure
• Property loss
• Search warrants
• Police interaction
• Criminal confrontation

If you crash during active roleplay, reconnect as soon as you reasonably can. If you can't, let the involved players or staff know when possible.

Don't knowingly abuse bugs, glitches, unintended mechanics, or script behavior. Examples:

• Duplication
• Infinite-money exploits
• Animation exploits
• Shooting through unintended areas
• Inventory duplication
• Escaping restraints through menus
• Entering inaccessible interiors
• Exploiting vehicle storage
• Bypassing cooldowns
• Intentionally abusing desync

Report significant exploits to staff. If you discover a serious economy exploit, you're expected to report it, not use it.

Robberies are allowed when reasonably supported by roleplay. Not every robbery needs a thirty-minute backstory, but it should make sense. Don't repeatedly rob people just because the game lets you search inventories.

Police officers, deputies, troopers, investigators, and other armed government personnel may be robbed, kidnapped, disarmed, held hostage, interrogated, or targeted by organized criminals.

Targeting law enforcement carries serious risk and should be treated that way. Kidnap an officer and expect an extensive response. Repeatedly hunting isolated officers just to farm police equipment is prohibited.

Taking another player hostage is allowed, but hostages must be genuine participants and the situation should carry genuine risk. Don't use friends as fake hostages to exploit robbery mechanics or negotiation systems.

Players may kidnap other characters when supported by reasonable RP, for purposes such as:

• Ransom
• Interrogation
• Revenge
• Leverage
• Organized crime
• Gang conflict
• Political or institutional leverage (within reason)

Kidnapping shouldn't be used to keep someone out of the server for excessive periods. Long-term captivity needs communication and meaningful RP for everyone involved.

Think beyond scripted robberies. Criminal enterprises can include:

• Organized theft
• Vehicle theft
• Fraud
• Extortion
• Protection rackets
• Illegal gambling
• Smuggling
• Weapons trafficking
• Drug distribution
• Money laundering
• Corruption
• Fencing stolen goods
• Contract crimes
• Burglary
• Robbery
• Kidnapping
• Organized fraud schemes

Build networks, relationships, enemies, and legitimate fronts. The strongest criminal RP comes from people, not scripts.

Gunfights need believable causes. Not every encounter should escalate to gunfire. Context determines legitimacy.

You don't have to stop just because police light you up. Fleeing is permitted. But drive with some regard for vehicle capability, damage, terrain, weather, road conditions, and your own survival.

A wrecked sedan shouldn't keep doing 120 MPH after severe crashes. Off-roaders may beat road cars in the dirt; sports cars may outrun police SUVs on the highway. Vehicle choice matters.

Acknowledge significant damage: major frontal collisions, multiple rollovers, severe engine damage, losing multiple tires, or falling from serious heights.

A minor scrape doesn't mean you have to abandon the car. A car that rolled six times down a mountain shouldn't keep driving like nothing happened.

Law enforcement may use vehicle intervention techniques according to department policy and circumstances. Criminals may deliberately strike police vehicles when realistically justified.

Neither side should treat vehicles like consequence-free bumper cars. Force should reflect speed, vehicle type, danger, and circumstances.

Government employees are held to a higher RP standard because their actions affect so many other players.

Corruption can make for excellent long-term RP, but it can also seriously damage the economy and justice system. Significant corruption generally requires staff or department-leadership approval, including:

• Selling evidence
• Leaking confidential intel to criminals
• Accepting major bribes
• Planting evidence
• Direct participation in organized crime
• Sabotaging major investigations

Minor character flaws or questionable conduct don't automatically count as major corruption.

Government resources shouldn't be casually handed to civilians: restricted weapons, department vehicles, confidential databases, evidence, specialized tactical gear, or government credentials.

A criminal acquiring these through legitimate RP is very different from a government character simply giving them to a friend.

Medical personnel are characters, not revive machines. When EMS is available, take part in the medical RP, and let injuries reasonably match what happened.

Someone shot multiple times shouldn't sprint away right after treatment. A severe crash can mean significant injuries. A minor fistfight shouldn't automatically become catastrophic unless the players involved choose that direction.

On-duty EMS are generally neutral medical providers. Attacking EMS without significant roleplay justification is prohibited.

Neutrality isn't magical immunity, though. If an EMS character gets directly involved in crime, violence, intelligence gathering, or other conflicts, consequences may follow.

Portray injuries reasonably. Nobody expects three real-world hours of roleplaying a broken ankle, but significant injuries should matter. Gunshots, major crashes, stabbings, and explosions should have consequences beyond getting patched up and carrying on as normal.

A Character Kill permanently ends a character. You may choose to CK your own character.

Other players generally may not CK your character without appropriate agreement, staff-approved circumstances, or established server systems. Serious long-term stories can sometimes lead to forced character consequences, but those require staff oversight.

Organizations should have identity, structure, and purpose, not function as roaming death squads. Groups are encouraged to develop:

• Territory
• Businesses
• Alliances
• Rivals
• Leadership
• Recruitment
• Criminal specialties
• Internal rules
• Legitimate fronts

Gang conflict is permitted and should originate through RP: territory disputes, business interference, theft, betrayal, debt, informants, retaliation, or organized criminal competition.

Conflict doesn't need staff approval just because violence may happen. But ongoing wars must stay roleplay, not turn into OOC competitions over kill counts.

Even during an established conflict, keep reasonable context. Spotting a rival gang member doesn't mean gunfire every time. Ambushes and attacks can happen when appropriate, but let conflict develop naturally.

There's no blanket "revenge rule." Characters may retaliate for what happens to them, provided:

• The character reasonably remembers the event.
• The target is reasonably identifiable.
• Revenge happens within continuing RP.
• OOC motivation isn't driving it.

Masks matter. Don't identify a masked character just because you recognize the player's voice. Identification can become reasonable through a combination of clues:

• Voice
• Clothing
• Tattoos
• Vehicle
• Behavior
• Prior information
• Physical build
• Speech patterns
• Associates
• Investigation

In-character social media is fair game for roleplay, and public posts have consequences.

Out-of-character Discord posts may not be used as in-character evidence unless the channel is specifically designated as an in-character platform.

Stream sniping is prohibited. Nothing learned from watching another player's stream may be used in character. Streamers are encouraged to protect sensitive information where practical, but the responsibility not to metagame rests with the viewer.

In-game recordings can exist when the game world reasonably supports them: body cams, dash cams, security cameras, cell phones, CCTV. Don't claim an invisible camera existed just because your personal recording caught the incident.

Bodycam footage follows department policy. Recording your gameplay doesn't mean your character's body camera captured everything. If the camera was removed, disabled, destroyed, or never equipped, your recording can't stand in for IC bodycam evidence.

Unless there's a serious exploit or an immediate administrative problem: play the scene out.

• Don't stop a gunfight halfway through to argue about rules.
• Don't refuse an arrest because you think the officer misunderstood a law.
• Don't refuse a robbery because you think the criminal broke a rule.

FailRP is significant behavior that contradicts reasonable roleplay or breaks immersion, such as:

• Completely ignoring serious injuries.
• Treating dangerous situations as jokes.
• Unrealistically escaping restraints or performing impossible physical actions.
• Repeatedly provoking police just to start pursuits.
• Intentionally disrupting serious scenes.
• Treating death or violence as consequence-free.
• Using unrealistic game mechanics for an advantage.

"FailRP" isn't a catch-all accusation for any decision you don't like.

Drawing police attention isn't automatically prohibited. Characters may taunt or challenge police, commit crimes in front of officers, or create deliberate distractions.

What's prohibited is repeatedly doing meaningless things with no character motivation just to trigger pursuits or gunfights, like:

• Burnouts outside police stations
• Ramming cruisers for no reason
• Shooting near police to force a response
• Driving past officers screaming until chased

Don't insert yourself into major active scenes without a real reason to be there. Hearing sirens doesn't give your character a reason to join a shootout. Friends, gang members, witnesses, journalists, and nearby civilians can get involved when appropriate. Random players who showed up because they saw activity on the map should stay away.

Third parties may intervene with genuine RP justification: rescuing an associate, defending family, helping their organization, or protecting their property. Intervening based on OOC knowledge is metagaming.

Coastal Living has very few artificial safe zones. Police stations, hospitals, government buildings, businesses, and public areas exist in the same world as everything else. They aren't magical immunity zones, but violence in heavily protected or crowded places carries realistic consequences.

Don't exploit spawn locations to ambush, rob, kill, or repeatedly harass players who just joined. Give everyone a fair chance to load in and join the world.

Treat homes, businesses, warehouses, and other properties realistically. Access gained through exploits is prohibited; criminal entry should use legitimate systems or staff-supported RP when required. Owning property doesn't make anyone immune to investigation, warrants, robbery, or crime.

Businesses should be real RP entities. Owners are encouraged to hire employees, manage finances, advertise, host events, build relationships, and compete with other businesses. A business can also serve as a criminal front when supported by RP.

Don't manipulate the economy through:

• Exploits
• Alternate characters
• Script abuse
• Artificial transactions
• Coordinated money duplication
• OOC cash sales

In-character scams may be permitted. Out-of-character scams involving real money are prohibited.

You may not sell server currency, vehicles, property, weapons, characters, accounts, or any other in-game asset for real-world money unless explicitly authorized through official server systems.

Vehicles may be stolen when supported by game mechanics and RP. High-value or unusual vehicles may draw police attention. Repeatedly stealing cars just to destroy them or inconvenience people may count as griefing.

Stealing emergency vehicles is permitted when justified, not simply because one was left unattended.

Fly and sail realistically. Pilots shouldn't perform impossible or suicidal maneuvers just because game physics allow it, and aircraft crashes should carry substantial RP consequences.

Weapons are dangerous objects, not casual props. Think about visibility, location, weapon type, police response, witnesses, and consequences. Walking downtown with a rifle should draw attention; openly displaying illegal weapons should create risk.

Drawing a firearm dramatically escalates a situation. Pointing a gun at someone may reasonably cause them, or others, to respond with deadly force. Don't expect people to wait politely after you threaten their life.

Long-range attacks need sufficient RP context. Randomly shooting players from extreme distance with no interaction or established conflict is prohibited. Organized ambushes, tactical engagements, and planned attacks built through RP may be permitted.

Torture RP requires cooperation between everyone involved. Graphic or prolonged torture must never be forced on someone who's uncomfortable. Use /me and implied descriptions instead of explicit content.

Never force sexual content on another player. Explicit sexual roleplay must stay private, consensual, and within community platform policies. Sexual harassment disguised as "roleplay" will not be tolerated.

Characters can be unpleasant people, but roleplay is never an excuse for targeted OOC harassment, hate speech, or discrimination. Handle extremely sensitive content responsibly and never use it primarily to shock or harass. Staff may step in when content crosses community boundaries, even if it's claimed to be "in character."

OOC harassment is prohibited, including:

• Following players across platforms
• Repeated unwanted messages
• Threatening real-world harm
• Sharing personal information
• Targeting someone over an OOC disagreement
• Encouraging others to harass

Sharing, or threatening to share, another person's private information is strictly prohibited. That includes addresses, phone numbers, employment, family information, private photos, account credentials, and IP information.

Never impersonate server staff in an OOC capacity. A character impersonating government personnel in character, where in-game laws and RP allow it, is a completely separate matter.

Include useful evidence whenever possible: video, screenshots, timestamps, character names, player IDs, and witnesses. Keep reports focused on rules, not personal attacks.

Knowingly submitting fabricated evidence or deliberately misleading staff may result in serious punishment. Being mistaken is not the same as lying.

Staff avoid interrupting ongoing roleplay whenever possible, and ordinary rule disputes are generally handled after the scene. Staff may intervene immediately for:

• Exploitation
• Severe harassment
• Cheating
• Major technical issues
• Threats
• Deliberate mass disruption

Staff members in roleplay are players during that roleplay. They can't use administrative authority to win an IC conflict, and administrative information can't be used as character knowledge.

Not every behavior can be written down. Staff may act when conduct clearly violates the spirit of serious roleplay even if it isn't explicitly listed, based on context and precedent rather than personal preference.

Depending on severity and history, administrative action may include:

Not every first offense needs punishment. Staff distinguish between genuine mistakes, misunderstandings, poor judgment, recklessness, intentional rule-breaking, and repeated patterns.

The following may result in immediate permanent removal:

• Malicious cheating
• Server exploitation causing major damage
• Doxxing
• Credible threats of real-world harm
• Serious targeted harassment
• Attempting to compromise server infrastructure
• Selling cheats or exploits
• Mass intentional disruption

Whitelist access is a privilege granted because staff believe you can contribute to the community. Whitelisted players are expected to understand basic roleplay terminology, server expectations, character separation, realistic consequences, and proper OOC/IC separation.

Whitelist status may be reconsidered if a player's behavior repeatedly shows they aren't compatible with the server's style.

Success here isn't measured by arrest count, kill count, money, vehicles, gang territory, police rank, or criminal reputation. Some of the best RP comes from losing:

• Getting arrested may create a court case.
• Losing a business may create revenge.
• Being betrayed may start an organization war.
• A police investigation may last weeks.
• A minor traffic stop may introduce two characters who later become enemies.

We value realism, but this is still a multiplayer game. Nobody's expected to simulate every minute of real life. Good realism means actions feel believable, not thirty pages of paperwork before every interaction.

When realism and enjoyable roleplay conflict, look for a solution that keeps believable consequences and keeps everyone involved in the story.

Before you act, ask yourself:

If the answer is no, reconsider.