This isn’t a counter to my argument. Nowhere did I say antagonists weren’t rich with potential. But the big, big, big, BIG problem here is you keep using “plot” and “tension” as a justification for your argument - but random, walk-up RP doesn’t have a plot.
In literary criticism, plot is considered distinct from story. Plot refers to the ordering of events of the story, as they are shown to the reader or audience. Plot is structure. It is exposition - elaboration - inciting incident - complication - climax - falling action - resolution - denouement. Tension as you describe it depends on that structure. It depends on the investment and expectations of the reader or audience. It is more than just risk or jeopardy, it is more than just the stress and anxiety involved in worrying for a character’s fate, it is the anticipation of a problem or conflict and the knowledge that, one way or another, it will be resolved in a way which has lasting changes for the character, for good or for ill.
Random RP has no plot, or structure, or narrator of any kind. To me, the joy of random RP, or casual RP, or improv RP, or social RP, or whatever you want to call it, is that it is entirely character-driven, not plot-driven, and - unique amongst all mediums of fiction - it allows for a kind of story-telling which mimics the ebbs and flows of everyday life. It allows for perhaps the fullest, most true-to-life realisation of a complex human psychology in fiction, allows for the full range and breadth of human thought and feeling to be expressed, allows for the development of truly three-dimensional characters. Of course, there’s the possibility for storylines, or character arcs, to develop organically as a result of a character’s experiences and relationships - but, like in real life, there’s none of the neatness of plot, none of the tidiness of narrative.
There’s an ego, I think, an entitlement or a presumption in viewing yourself, as a criminal roleplayer, the antagonist of somebody else’s story - especially when it is on the basis of one violent interaction, in which they are expected to emerge the loser. Without the collaboration or consent of the player, such an occasion is likely to be a minor incident rather than a major event. You won’t move their story along, you won’t advance their plot, you won’t cause tension. You won’t contribute to the development of their character. And, in addition - there’s unlikely to be a resolution or a denouement. The consequences to any criminal character will never include significant or lasting disadvantage, because death or imprisonment brings an end to roleplay, and doesn’t create more.
If anything, the only tension, stress, and anxiety you will cause for the player will be entirely OOC. “How unsatisfying is this likely to be?” “How much of my time is going to be wasted?” “Why is this alleged career criminal trying to beat me up in public, in full view of patrolling guards?” “Two days after my beating, why have I encountered this same career criminal violently assaulting another person, in daylight, in an open street, in full view of the Guard, a day after their arrest?”
I want to add, by the way, that I have been a criminal roleplayer. I have dealt with, time and again, meta RP, god-emoting, and consequence dodging - most of which I used as fuel for further character development. I played a deliberately underpowered stick-up artist - an average Joe criminal with a severe depressive, self-destructive streak and an aversion to violence that rendered most of her robberies complex attempts at out-bluffing her victims. When I did stick-up somebody, I telegraphed, far in advance of the actual robbery, my character’s ill intent with subtle tells and emotes - twitchy fingers on her gun, surreptitious glances, slightly too bright smiles as they attempted to lure strangers into deserted alleyways and dead-ends - little things which gave players plenty of opportunities to back out gracefully IC, or turn the tables on my character. I wonder if you would make the same allowances for the escalation of a fight? I wonder if it’s even possible to do that, in fact.
At times her perpetual victimhood grew tiring - but, for the most part, finding herself at a physical disadvantage gave me, as a roleplayer, plenty of material to work with as she tried to talk her way out of a bad situation, or struggled to secure her survival as she got tangled up in webs she had herself blundered into.
That being said, the times I have been best able to represent my character’s cunning and insight have been in events - her greatest criminal achievements have been in DM’d heists. And this is my point - there are some concepts that require a narrator (or DM) and the structure of a plot in order to be realised properly - and organised crime is definitely one of them. And sure, you might say you disagree - but you’re the one that created a thread titled “why criminal roleplay doesn’t last or have a place on Argent Dawn”, then identified the reasons why. Those reasons aren’t ever going away.