Now the brass tacks.
Given the IP stated this was for 'public random RP' you have a conundrum. Â It sounds like you are wanting public random antagonistic RP. Â There are many different types of antagonists and all of them have differing levels of issues when faced with the public.
The most banal of these are what my circle has started to dub "stupid evil".  There's another saying that goes along with this  "stupid gets you dead."  These are your more cartoon character levels of evil.  "I'm going to burn down your bar" or "I'm going to beat up these people."  That sort of level of banal evil has an issue;  there is no way to sustain this without invalidating the stories of the 'good guys'.  If an antagonist of this sort keeps showing up, getting caught, showing up again to rinse / wash / repeat, the only real purpose of this sort of antagonist is to portray the incompetence of the protagonists, or the failings of a system.  Both of these eventually end up with the protagonists becoming more and more harsh in an attempt to permanently resolve the story or ignoring the antagonist as if they don't exist. Â
Most 'random open RP' villainy, sadly, ends up falling into the above category.
To use Gegenji's 'overwhelming counter response' example of nicking someone's gil pouch in the quicksand getting extreme level so of counter play, this is absolutely expected. Â If you're at at the mall, and someone points and yells at someone running off with "He stole my purse!" you can expect, at the least a good portion of people to get involved if there's no real reasonable risk of personal harm. Â In MMO's you have the added issue that most players are well seasoned combatants so have less fear of personal harm (for whatever reason). Â To not attempt to assist would be to break character for them.
You kind of have to plan around stuff like this. Â To really put people on about this, you need to exert a level of OOC control. Â The simplest example of this is to plant your own target instead of picking someone random.
An example using the same set up that could work. Â RP out bumping into them. Â Apologizing, what have you, maybe spill your drink on yourself, as a distraction / excuse for rushing off. Â Give it a good 5-10 minutes and then have that person declare their coin-purse has been stolen. Â Some people will put two and two together, but you're gone. Â Repeat this process several times with other OOCly willing participants and you may start getting a reputation and congratulations, you're now in a good place to start a story for any who are interested in investigating but without being caught blatantly red handed.
Eventually the antagonist would need to get caught, or the goods returned somehow or the story serves no purposes but to distract from RP already going on.
Then you have the subtle evils / villainy. Â These are beautiful. Â These tent to be more 'supporting cast' than antagonists. Â There are several FC's which entirely fall into this area. Â
Again, Gegeenji mentioned something about this as well. Â These are the manipulators, the 'fixers' the 'problem solvers'. Â From your Rumpelstiltskins, to your politicians, to your corrupt Yellow Jackets, these are those that enhance others stories but with a twist or an unexpected cost. Â Something to further their own gains while not directly acting themselves. Â It has it's own world of issues esp today but I'm out of time for the moment so I'll have to deal with that later.
Given the IP stated this was for 'public random RP' you have a conundrum. Â It sounds like you are wanting public random antagonistic RP. Â There are many different types of antagonists and all of them have differing levels of issues when faced with the public.
The most banal of these are what my circle has started to dub "stupid evil".  There's another saying that goes along with this  "stupid gets you dead."  These are your more cartoon character levels of evil.  "I'm going to burn down your bar" or "I'm going to beat up these people."  That sort of level of banal evil has an issue;  there is no way to sustain this without invalidating the stories of the 'good guys'.  If an antagonist of this sort keeps showing up, getting caught, showing up again to rinse / wash / repeat, the only real purpose of this sort of antagonist is to portray the incompetence of the protagonists, or the failings of a system.  Both of these eventually end up with the protagonists becoming more and more harsh in an attempt to permanently resolve the story or ignoring the antagonist as if they don't exist. Â
Most 'random open RP' villainy, sadly, ends up falling into the above category.
To use Gegenji's 'overwhelming counter response' example of nicking someone's gil pouch in the quicksand getting extreme level so of counter play, this is absolutely expected. Â If you're at at the mall, and someone points and yells at someone running off with "He stole my purse!" you can expect, at the least a good portion of people to get involved if there's no real reasonable risk of personal harm. Â In MMO's you have the added issue that most players are well seasoned combatants so have less fear of personal harm (for whatever reason). Â To not attempt to assist would be to break character for them.
You kind of have to plan around stuff like this. Â To really put people on about this, you need to exert a level of OOC control. Â The simplest example of this is to plant your own target instead of picking someone random.
An example using the same set up that could work. Â RP out bumping into them. Â Apologizing, what have you, maybe spill your drink on yourself, as a distraction / excuse for rushing off. Â Give it a good 5-10 minutes and then have that person declare their coin-purse has been stolen. Â Some people will put two and two together, but you're gone. Â Repeat this process several times with other OOCly willing participants and you may start getting a reputation and congratulations, you're now in a good place to start a story for any who are interested in investigating but without being caught blatantly red handed.
Eventually the antagonist would need to get caught, or the goods returned somehow or the story serves no purposes but to distract from RP already going on.
Then you have the subtle evils / villainy. Â These are beautiful. Â These tent to be more 'supporting cast' than antagonists. Â There are several FC's which entirely fall into this area. Â
Again, Gegeenji mentioned something about this as well. Â These are the manipulators, the 'fixers' the 'problem solvers'. Â From your Rumpelstiltskins, to your politicians, to your corrupt Yellow Jackets, these are those that enhance others stories but with a twist or an unexpected cost. Â Something to further their own gains while not directly acting themselves. Â It has it's own world of issues esp today but I'm out of time for the moment so I'll have to deal with that later.
