Problematic Reactions to Antagonists

[MissEvelyn]

We're here to roleplay. Ignoring a player's investment into roleplay is the ultimate slap in the face, and it doesn't feel good - no matter your character's intentions. I think DMs ought punish this behavior severely. We all agreed to the rules on connecting to this server. There is no consent needed to push conflict/antagonistic roleplay on this server. If a player refuses to engage by failing to roleplay, they've broken rule #1 and should be conseqeuenced for it.

Let's make sure, too, if this happens to you you report it.

Agreed. I have the feeling that Arelith of today is much more lenient on rule breaks and people who blatantly ignore RP (which is also a rule break). While the leniency is very much appreciated (and I've certainly been under the mercies of the DMs), I can't help but notice that it also fosters this idea that Arelith is a place where you can play NWN single player and ignore RP entirely.

I would be curious to know how many people have gotten their RPR 10 reduced to 0 Just out of statistical curiosity

Do you all remember the sign that used to be in the character creation area that warned that Arelith is not a fast paced action server, and that players looking to grind and level quickly will find that this isn't the server for them? Times have certainly changed

[chris a gogo]

A long time ago I pulled silverscales player on what I believed was a breach the PvP rules and they pointed out correctly interactive role play is not only typing.
If you talk at someone then they react by walking off that is interactive, you rp'ed they responded, maybe not what you wanted but that is the reaction to your role play.
You are then free to do whatever your character would.

Post by Ork » 31 Jan 2023 15:24

We're here to roleplay. Ignoring a player's investment into roleplay is the ultimate slap in the face, and it doesn't feel good - no matter your character's intentions. I think DMs ought punish this behavior severely. We all agreed to the rules on connecting to this server. There is no consent needed to push conflict/antagonistic roleplay on this server. If a player refuses to engage by failing to roleplay, they've broken rule #1 and should be conseqeuenced for it.

Let's make sure, too, if this happens to you you report it.

I've quoted and bolded the bit that prompted my response before Orc.
If you have reacted by action to the role play of another by walking off or lensing out you have reacted to the role play.
Not ignored it if they stay there carrying on with what they are doing ignoring you then they could be in breach but not if there is some kind of reaction by word or Deed.
Both word and deed is always preferred of course but not required.

[MRFTW]

It says a lot that this thread is allegedly about antagonism yet the only topic discussed is PvP.

Morgy is spot on, PvP is, in essence, an OOC contest and has no place determining the outcome of an IC conflict.

Other servers have a duel feature, which pits two characters against each other in a fair way that allows for RP during the bout. In essence, both players have 5HP, and roll straight D20s against each other, highest wins. A won roll inflicts 1HP of damage and the winner of the roll describes their super cool flying stab, or whatever.

[Ork]

I've quoted and bolded the bit that prompted my response before Orc.
If you have reacted by action to the role play of another by walking off or lensing out you have reacted to the role play.
Not ignored it if they stay there carrying on with what they are doing ignoring you then they could be in breach but not if there is some kind of reaction by word or Deed.
Both word and deed is always preferred of course but not required.

Walking away satisfies the PvP requirement, but it hardly satisfies the roleplaying requirement.

[Mattamue]

When bad things happen to bad adventurers.

[Spriggan Bride]

I'll be honest here there are times when it's 11pm and I worked a full day and took care of family obligations and want to get a little bit of leveling and crafting and what not in before bed and some random stressful confrontation happens and I just can't deal with that right now. I'm not saying this to defend anyone who just walks away... if you're not up to the RP then you should try to get out of it in character or, at very least, explain in a tell if you're about to go and can't take this on or something. But I emphasize. Maybe the other person has been on for eight hours now and is winding down and just can't deal, maybe they're new and don't know how to handle aggression, maybe lots of things, we're all humans behind the screen and we're not all operating at peak capacity all the time.

Point being if you are trying to initiate and feel charitable it might help to shoot a tell to show you're a friendly player behind a hostile character or to try and give them some obvious leeway in RP. You don't have to do this but if it keeps happening that might help. And on the other side of the coin if you're a player who isn't up for PVP when it's thrust upon you, you need to put in at least the bare minimum to let the aggressor know this, through RP ideally and a tell if that doesn't work, and you should probably know when it's time to log out or take a break too if that part of the game seems overwhelming.

[Hazard]

That does suck, and I can sympathise, especially because I know how funny and interesting you make your villains.

But to give the other side the benefit of the doubt, they might be burnt out from constant antagonists. There's no real way of telling if the player has limited time, is having a bad day, or that this is just their 10th antagonist this month, week, or day. Good to keep in mind just how big the playerbase is here, and going around intentionally creating conflict for conflict sake might have made sense in the past with a smaller playerbase, but at this point it can sometimes get on peoples nerves as there are just SO MANY players all trying to 'stir things up' all the time. I don't think with a playerbase this large there's any reason to intentionally create conflict, there's going to be mountains of drama just naturally, and there is.

But you're right, they really shouldn't just flat out ignore you. The least they could do is give some interactive reason for why they're leaving or in what manner they're leaving.

I think there's a lot of ways to play an evil character that don't involve actively seeking PvP with people and that that should actually not be the first route to take. Evil, to me, goes far deeper than just being a boogey-man that might fight you. You could create social or political conflict for people. You could turn one group against another, or convince some people 'you' are the victim and they should take your side. There's really no end to how an evil character can be evil in the world, because you aren't as limited by morals and ethics as a good character. PvPing someone is, in my opinion, the last resort and least creative.

[perseid]

Tbh I don't entirely see the problem. I get that it's demoralizing for the antagonist but my own experience has also been that if you're an interesting antagonist most people will want to rp with you to see where you're going with things. I don't see what there is to gain from enshrining any sort of penalty for pcs who simply retreat in these scenarios when often that's what any intelligent person would do when recognizing danger they don't feel prepared to handle. Especially when it seems like the reality of such a change would be that the meta becomes to emote at someone lock them into the scenario since until they offer a reply they'd be rules bound not to leave. This would just exacerbate the aggressor meta that already exists. In the end it makes far more sense to leave the onus on the antagonist to be someone people actually want to be antagonized by.

[Emotionaloverload]

Hello!

Perhaps it is different now but back in the day, logging out of a situation to avoid imminent pvp was a reportable offense.

That said, I have come across many scenarios where players choose pvp as their only means of roleplay in order to get their character's way or tire a faction out. This happens mostly in political situations rather than some Evil Guy floating about but it does make people very tired.

I've been playing here for well over a decade and I still don't know how to deal with that calibre of pvp. It just makes me tired and, frankly, embarrassed for the instigator. No one has been able to provide adequate solutions on how to deal with those scenarios, DMs or players. As such, I find things like that make large swaths of the player base simply tired and unwilling to get involved in hostilities because then know it to be blatantly one-sided and simply unfun. Even if there are players that do excellent pvp with amazing plots, they seem to have to prove themselves to the public before they get anything back because the others ruined it for everyone.

I played evil recently and I found that players ONLY wanted to pvp and not rp at all so my experience is a bit different.

-S

[Royal Blood]

Everyone has their own style and interpretations so like things won't always line up.

Good and evil sorta disregard each other sometimes. I always dislike referring to powerful characters on either side as "Morons" or "Idiots" they're such lazy insults that don't pay credit, in my opinion, to the setting.

But like I said everyone has their own style.

I do think antagonist have it harder in terms of creating conflict. However, I think if the reception to a villains actions is continually poorly received or results in poor encounters it may be worth self reflecting on how a villain is engaging and perhaps finding another way to engage that is more productive.

Vice versa. Consider if you as a player are respecting the climate/setting. It can be tricky sometimes, especially if you've been around for a long time, making sure you're not jaded!

The RPR system is sorta that penalty. RPR is given to RPers who take these things into consideration or taken away from those who don't. Kinda a way to balance and incentivize good RP.

[The GrumpyCat]

Hello!

Perhaps it is different now but back in the day, logging out of a situation to avoid imminent pvp was a reportable offense.

That said, I have come across many scenarios where players choose pvp as their only means of roleplay in order to get their character's way or tire a faction out. This happens mostly in political situations rather than some Evil Guy floating about but it does make people very tired.

I've been playing here for well over a decade and I still don't know how to deal with that calibre of pvp. It just makes me tired and, frankly, embarrassed for the instigator. No one has been able to provide adequate solutions on how to deal with those scenarios, DMs or players. As such, I find things like that make large swaths of the player base simply tired and unwilling to get involved in hostilities because then know it to be blatantly one-sided and simply unfun. Even if there are players that do excellent pvp with amazing plots, they seem to have to prove themselves to the public before they get anything back because the others ruined it for everyone.

I played evil recently and I found that players ONLY wanted to pvp and not rp at all so my experience is a bit different.

-S

To be clear, blatently logging out to avoid pvp is definatly reportable.

[ElevenOne]

From my experience, I hate PVP on NWN, why?

Because mechanically speaking is awful. Most of the time the winner is the one first to strike or the one who was most buffed.
Also, I don't build my toons/gear to have max AB, AC, Saves etc etc etc just to PVP, so most likely in PVP I'll go down in one hit or two. Flawed characters are the most fun to play.
So, when I get killed in two hits, I wait 5 minutes in limbo, go to some tavern and RP the wounds and.. well, depending on what happened try to follow the "I don't remember what happened too much" event and just be annoyed that someone completely interrupted my play session with penalties for x hours and just log out for the night as sadly on Arelith getting killed in PVP means your toon suffers penalties that can't be dodged / healed.

In some cases, I tried to RP these cases, but, it always have been an awful experience and the trigger to start PVP is something very silly, I once experienced a PVP because a one line from a drow "I don't like your elven friend *attacks". All the antagonist I met seems to be quick trigger players, shot first, ask questions later.

Sometimes I don't even finish writing a sentence and the battle already started. Other times, I did not even had a chance to say a line and the battle started. There was an event the whole "RP" was in draconic and my toon didn't knew the language and ended dead.

For example, my last two experience with an animators:

A) A group of 5 players runs passes shouting "We are in a rush with a dead friend, MOVE", we were two, the other toon I was partying says "animators.. pathetic". Then they set us to hostile, runs back half a map and starts attacking / chasing us for 2 maps. They RP was "MOVE WE ARE IN A RUSH TO REVIVE OUR FRIENDS", but just the word "pathetic" caused them to forget their RP completely and start attacking us. 5 vs 2.

B) Another one was just last week, as soon as I saw the guy with zombies, he starts buffing. No words, no RP, nothing... Sees me.. starts buffing for 1 minute, then their summons and once he finishes he starts RPing saying "What do you want?"

I have never experienced any antagonism RP where I could even RP, neither they offer me the non PVP "you lose option". As soon as "conflict" arises, the other side just start buffing without even crossing 10 sentences, types !, and attacks.

So, even if you want to RP antagonism / PVP, the other players also have the option to flee. Is a total valid option to do. Just like in real life, when there is a robbery in a store or there is a gun shot. Do people bothers to talk to the bad guy? Most of the time everyone just hides or runs. Why would be different on a RP server?

Also, you don't know what the other player scenario is, is he powerful enough for a battle? are all their spells / wards up for a battle? Are they carrying a large amount of coins? Were you fully warded with an horde of summons along you while the other was not? Maybe they are a commoner and just wants to run. Maybe they thought you weren't alone and 10 archers where hidding in the bushes. Maybe they really wanted to play that toon the next 2 hours and getting killed would mess with their play time.

Finally, even if someone plays a good character, it does not mean he's a paladin that HAS to fight an evil-doer.
Running away is and should be always an option available in my opinion.

[Marsi]

Food for thought on the "I just don't like conflict" thing:

A player claims they don't want any part in conflict roleplay. Their character starts out innocent enough. But little by little, they toe their way into the halls of power, into areas of competing interests, all the while the player thinks to themselves: "I'm just doing my thing here! leave me alone! I just don't find pvp fun!". It doesn't work like that. That's disingenuous.

The very fact of your character belonging somewhere, having opinions, having a position of authority, making decisions, etc, etc, is to exert a kind of social or political force. Someone somewhere might wish for things to work differently in your part of the world and they have every right to challenge you. You have entered the proverbial arena. I'm not even talking about PvP here.

By taking up space on the server and then working to maintain a favourable status quo, you are somebody's antagonist.

[Hazard]

From my experience, I hate PVP on NWN, why?

Because mechanically speaking is awful. Most of the time the winner is the one first to strike or the one who was most buffed.
Also, I don't build my toons/gear to have max AB, AC, Saves etc etc etc just to PVP, so most likely in PVP I'll go down in one hit or two. Flawed characters are the most fun to play.
So, when I get killed in two hits, I wait 5 minutes in limbo, go to some tavern and RP the wounds and.. well, depending on what happened try to follow the "I don't remember what happened too much" event and just be annoyed that someone completely interrupted my play session with penalties for x hours and just log out for the night as sadly on Arelith getting killed in PVP means your toon suffers penalties that can't be dodged / healed.

In some cases, I tried to RP these cases, but, it always have been an awful experience and the trigger to start PVP is something very silly, I once experienced a PVP because a one line from a drow "I don't like your elven friend *attacks". All the antagonist I met seems to be quick trigger players, shot first, ask questions later.

Sometimes I don't even finish writing a sentence and the battle already started. Other times, I did not even had a chance to say a line and the battle started. There was an event the whole "RP" was in draconic and my toon didn't knew the language and ended dead.

For example, my last two experience with an animators:

A) A group of 5 players runs passes shouting "We are in a rush with a dead friend, MOVE", we were two, the other toon I was partying says "animators.. pathetic". Then they set us to hostile, runs back half a map and starts attacking / chasing us for 2 maps. They RP was "MOVE WE ARE IN A RUSH TO REVIVE OUR FRIENDS", but just the word "pathetic" caused them to forget their RP completely and start attacking us. 5 vs 2.

B) Another one was just last week, as soon as I saw the guy with zombies, he starts buffing. No words, no RP, nothing... Sees me.. starts buffing for 1 minute, then their summons and once he finishes he starts RPing saying "What do you want?"

I have never experienced any antagonism RP where I could even RP, neither they offer me the non PVP "you lose option". As soon as "conflict" arises, the other side just start buffing without even crossing 10 sentences, types !, and attacks.

So, even if you want to RP antagonism / PVP, the other players also have the option to flee. Is a total valid option to do. Just like in real life, when there is a robbery in a store or there is a gun shot. Do people bothers to talk to the bad guy? Most of the time everyone just hides or runs. Why would be different on a RP server?

Also, you don't know what the other player scenario is, is he powerful enough for a battle? are all their spells / wards up for a battle? Are they carrying a large amount of coins? Were you fully warded with an horde of summons along you while the other was not? Maybe they are a commoner and just wants to run. Maybe they thought you weren't alone and 10 archers where hidding in the bushes. Maybe they really wanted to play that toon the next 2 hours and getting killed would mess with their play time.

Finally, even if someone plays a good character, it does not mean he's a paladin that HAS to fight an evil-doer.
Running away is and should be always an option available in my opinion.

This is a painfully accurate description of "conflict" on Arelith. lol

[dallion43]

People tend to have a hard time "disconnecting" from their PC. People come to Arelith to have fun. Majority of people don't find conflict fun. A high percentage of their interactions with previously met "Antagonists" consisted of "Leave or die", I can't take it anymore!attacks, or similar unsatisfying interactions. Those people's reaction output to conflict typically is different from what you would want.

But, the same people are fun to interact with when playing non-antagonist PCs. The fact that there are a lot of people on Arelith is one of its strengths.

If someone just walks away, your PC can send them off with a witty remark and move on, looking for someone with a different reaction. Of course, it doesn't mean people can do whatever and then claim "I hate conflict". But it is usually easy to apply common sense to distinguish between the two.

I would recommend showing your antagonist side gradually. Start slowly, RP somewhat neutrally first while giving clues that you are in fact, a bad guy. Escalate gradually and judge the reaction. If they go with it, it will be successful and interesting for both sides. If you see that they don't appreciate it, then another escalation won't be fun for either of you. Find a RP reason why not. "Your PC got a bad feeling", "Seen a guard", "Hmm, he/she will be better as an long term information source then a dead body." etc.
Next time the player you interacted with might be more at ease and more open to options.
Yeah, it depends on class, place, etc, if starting slow makes sense RP wise. But even from the PC perspective, gaining information on what you deal with before you act is logical. I personally see Antagonists as a careful, generally calculating bunch. I doubt Joe the I repeat the act and expect different lives long even in magical setting.

Imo, of course.

[Grimey Straatwalk]

I think one thing to consider is that it's okay for your character to be a victim. You don't have to protect the character at all costs.

If you spend all your time blocking any actions from others it simply stops good RP. If you allow a more powerful character to drag your character into something it can lead to some really fun situations.

If the antagonist is just hunting for a PvP fight then that's not good RP. It's okay to walk away from that situation if there is no RP to be developed.

[HeyLadyOfDecay]

I often find PvP the quick solution:

I don't mind losing, I have been in situations where I had a chuckle with other side afterwards.

What frustrated me is when your death is the sort that cuts RP, These sorts of deaths makes me feel they don't respect me as a role player.

It also tells me that the other side doesn't value a life, Which is an unbalanced Arelith thing as we have to take death serious, life is often more taken as a joke.

Often when I find that there are those that are quick to pvp, basicly had a few bad experiences with pvp with said player or group. I just lose intrest in interacting and just avoid them.

Me on the other side of pvp coin:
I'm in everlasting subdue mode and players often find me engaging in an ooc conversation to ensure consent.

It sometimes can really get to me, not because I've got a blurry line between me and my character, but the difference of respect between players.

Anyway, this was my ted talk.

[Llopast]

I will share a metaphor from my friend which helped me personally. Perhaps, it will clear some PVP-RP aspects for you too:

As as an pvp-instigator consider yourself a man who invites a woman for a date. Ask yourself:

1. Whose idea was it? Who is ultimately responsible for everything that happens next?
2. Will giving a woman an escape route make your approach less attractive?
3. If you do your personal best, does that mean that 100% of the women you approach will respond positively?

If you are (suddenly and unpredictably!) denied:

1. How rational is it to be angry with a woman in whom you have invested time and possibly money for drinks?
2. Can insults and threats help in this situation?
3. Will you report to all your friends/family/police about the woman who rejected you?
4. What are the chances that a repeated approach with the same attitude to the same woman will lead to a different result?

What does this all mean?
1. As an instigator take responsibility for yourself
If you provoke an in-game conflict, you are acting as a mini-DM. Your task is to think about how to make the scene interesting for the opposite side. As already mentioned in this thread, the more violent the conflict you plan, the more ways to retreat, the more time to react, the more explanations you give to your potential adversary. If you do not soften the situation OOC, then you are perceived in terms of real emotions.
Here is what the official wiki says (by Chris): "Remember that people are more keen to go along with your conflict roleplay if you don't force it upon them and give the other player also ways out or chances to influence the outcome. It's one of the fundamentals of dynamic-episodic roleplay."
2. Stop being attached to the result (overall!)
As Mister Grumpy already said Arelith is a role playing server. If you expect everything to go your way, change your mind. Not only it will make you a better RP-er, it will also make you more successful IRL

[God_In_Action]

I find that a big obstacle to fun hostile RP is that there never feels like there is much space between friendly RP at one end and PvP to the death at the other. It can be quite difficult to instigate antagonist ic and clearly hostile RP without having it devolve down into PvP to the death.

I wish that PvP didn't so often have to be to the death and I wish that it was easier to trust other players not to immediately try to engage in to-the-death PvP as soon as conflict happens. Non fatal hostile PvP is normally more fun and leads to better future RP than fatal PvP.

I see a few reasons for this:
1) antagonism can be a slippery slope into PvP because whoever acts first gains large mechanical advantages, for example from warding or getting the first attack in.
2) there is no way apart from OOC tells to communicate intention to other players
3) you have no way of knowing another person's intention (which feeds into #1)
4) by our own choices as players, too many people genuinely want to PvP to the death rather than seeking to have fun hostile but non-fatal RP
5) once combat has started, you can't pause it to type or take time to emote because that immediately puts you at a huge mechanical disadvantage and you WILL lose. The only way to do this is to trust the other player (which isn't easy due to #3 and #4)

[Distant Relation]

Having seen an off-color, harmless joke being responded with with an instant killbash, I'm not surprised there's 'problematic reaction to antagonists'. As the last few posters have already described, people are way too quick to resort to lethal pvp, especially in situations where they know mechanically they cannot lose and act IC with the surety of victory brought to them by OOC knowledge.

I can count in one hand the number of times I've been faced with an 'antagonist' that wasn't just gunning for a pvp kill and instead wanted to actually make some kind of story out of it. Heck, I once got mugged in Crow's Nest with no actual mechanical pvp happening! I couldn't believe my eyes.

[Xarge VI]

I've played quite a few antagonistic characters over the years, some thoughts that might be useful for aspiring villains:

• As mentioned before. Don't use PCs as NPCs. Instead, use NPCs as NPCs. The lasso/rope is a wonderful tool that allows you to catch Npcs. You can even RP through the captive with the -associate command.

So when you want to have your Kali Mah moment, don't use a random player character as the guy getting his heart ripped out. Use an NPC for it. Consider the player character as Indiana Jones.

I've fallen to that mistake in the past, but then a player on the receiving end spoke up politely and I learned. I'm not huge fan of OOC communication, but sometimes friendly feedback goes a long way, if the one who gives it can keep a level head.

• Take it personally. It's cool to be a cool guy who doesn't give a Snuggybear. But being that kind of villain and also creating meaningful conflict is hard. Not impossible, but it takes quite a bit of thought to display emotions without displaying them (I specifically created one character to toy with that contradiction)

Because we get back to 1. PCs aren't NPCs.

On the other side of the coin. Antagonists aren't the only players responsible for conflict. Best bet is to consider the villain who comes to disturb the important writ-doing, addy grinding, loitering or whatever with the gravity of a dangerous individual. It's really tempting to resort to PvP if the character encountered is too much of a cool guy to give a Snuggybear about the danger you represent.

It doesn't mean giving up or rolling over if you don't want to confront. It just means reacting. It can be as simple as emoting the tension in the atmosphere.

His hand, rested on his belt- moves a little closer to a sword's handle, his previously jovial grin now frozen on his face at the revelation as he looks at Sir Murderface McSlaughter and slowly steps away from him

[DM Monkey]

Food for thought on the "I just don't like conflict" thing:

A player claims they don't want any part in conflict roleplay. Their character starts out innocent enough. But little by little, they toe their way into the halls of power, into areas of competing interests, all the while the player thinks to themselves: "I'm just doing my thing here! leave me alone! I just don't find pvp fun!". It doesn't work like that. That's disingenuous.

The very fact of your character belonging somewhere, having opinions, having a position of authority, making decisions, etc, etc, is to exert a kind of social or political force. Someone somewhere might wish for things to work differently in your part of the world and they have every right to challenge you. You have entered the proverbial arena. I'm not even talking about PvP here.

By taking up space on the server and then working to maintain a favourable status quo, you are somebody's antagonist.

I just want to echo this great point by Marsi, and also add that things don’t always have to go your way!

[LurkingShadow]

The tables can be turned. Login on after a good nights sleep to hear "You guys do nothing to defend the settlement!!!" as the NPCs just stand there and let antagonists walk through the gates. Or that of late, I noticed many attacks by "villians" happen at 5-6-7 AM in the morning for GMT. That is quite an odd way of doing things aswell, avoiding prime time to get "easy" wins?

To say its "not okay to avoid PvP", I say it is. To play antagonists will always put you in a situation where people will dislike you, ic or ooc and ther will be drama. It is simply how it is. Most people are raised, coded to dislike villians an literally kill them or drive them away from "Structure" and "Stability". Many just ignore it because they wish that structure and stability andnothing to do with people that bring the chaos. Are these players forced to join in the chaos because antagonists feel offended by them just walking away? Or what is the point here?

[Edens_Fall]

i honestly find it incredibly disappointing that a total aversion towards PvP is so prevalent on this server, to the point of some players wishing to "opt out" of it entirely

do people really just hate losing that badly, or am i missing something?

All it takes are a few bad experiences with PvP encounters to scar a player againist further suffering. I mean, how many times does someone want to see there RP or dungeon run pounded into the ground by superior numbers/builds with little to no counter play? I can count on both hands the number of enjoyable (non winning BTW as I am terrible at builds) PvP encounters I have had over the years. More often then not its a one side greatly overpowering the other and using the PvP to control the narrative to there own ends with little interaction past "your evil now die!".

I don't know about you, but that's just not a very fun thing to experience often and we are here to have fun after all. Personally I don't blame the person who lens or bolts away at the sign of trouble, though I feel less so to one who logs as an OOC escape.

Just my personal thoughts on the matter.

[Shadowy Reality]

Or that of late, I noticed many attacks by "villians" happen at 5-6-7 AM in the morning for GMT. That is quite an odd way of doing things aswell, avoiding prime time to get "easy" wins?

So you're arguing that antagonists can only engage in PvP in your prime time? We have people all over the world playing on the server, there's nothing wrong with them wanting to do this in their own prime time. 5/6/7 am GMT is pretty much prime time in the US, where more than half the player base is.

Are these players forced to join in the chaos because antagonists feel offended by them just walking away? Or what is the point here?

To an extent, they are. When you log in to Arelith you enter a contract to abide by the rules, the first of which is to Roleplay. Arelith is not a setting of peace and collaboration only. As Marsi said, you are someone's antagonist. So you do have to roleplay with them. If you hate villains OOCly that is entirely on you, Arelith would be a much poorer place were all villain characters to leave.

I strongly advice you to try shed this mentality. Go play in the Underdark, be a villain, be a monster. Your perspective might change.