Expand Our VDM Policy (An Idea)

[Saja Kain]

Our current policy, for VDM, reads:

• VDM (Vehicle Deathmatch)
  • Do not use your vehicle as a weapon against other players or vehicles.
  • Intentionally ramming player vehicles, occupied or not, is considered VDM.

I can understand and appreciate the rule as it sits. It protects the general population from being victims of vehicular manslaughter or becoming roadkill. I get it. However I think there could be an extension made to this policy that would exclude any wrongdoing if a person deliberately gets in the way of a vehicle. This would also, by default, prevent any player from abusing our current policy to take advantage of any given situation.

As it sits, a person can block something off and prevent access. They could also block an escape route. They could block traffic if they wanted to. There's a number of possibilities here. If a person tries to push / nudge / drive their way through then the person blocking could claim VDM despite the fact that they willingly made a choice to put themselves in front of a vehicle and harms way. (Side note; value of life observation here, by chance?) I think a simple expansion could alleviate this. If John Doe willingly puts himself in front of a vehicle (and it can be proven that he made that choice) then there should be reasonable grounds to void any claim of VDM if they become hurt or worse by making that choice.

[Storrent]

Putting yourself directly in a vehicle's way to goad it to stop is not only a violation of VoL, but also flat-out metagaming. It's a 100% out-of-character rule that running people over is a no-no. Sure, your character might react in a negative way (as one might do when they witness someone being run over) but to use the term "VDM" in character, or knowing that someone could get "deported" for using their vehicle as a weapon makes no sense from a roleplay perspective, as the rule is in place because of people who do not roleplay. I'm in favor of this change, and though it may bring up some grey areas of "whodunnit," I believe that this change will allow for more dynamic roleplay due to less fear of having to jump through hoops during a scenario.