FiveM Upvotes
Gameplay & roleplay

RDM and VDM

Also called random deathmatch, vehicle deathmatch

Killing another player without roleplay reason, on foot (RDM) or with a vehicle (VDM) — the most-enforced rule on most servers.

RDM is shooting someone with no in-character reason. VDM is doing it with a car. Both break the premise that actions have motives, and both are the most common reason players are banned from roleplay servers.

The rules exist because the alternative is unplayable. If any player can kill any other on sight, every interaction becomes defensive, and the economy, jobs and stories that make a roleplay server worth joining stop functioning within a week.

Enforcement in practice needs evidence, which is why servers push players to record clips and why staff ask for them in reports. A report with a thirty-second clip gets resolved; a report that is one player's word gets argued.

Related rules complete the set: new life rule (you do not remember your death), combat logging (disconnecting to escape a scene), and fear RP (acting as though your character values their life).

Related terms

Roleplay (RP)The dominant FiveM genre, where players act consistently as a character inside an in-world economy and rule set.Metagaming and powergamingUsing out-of-character information in character (metagaming), or forcing outcomes others cannot react to (powergaming).Bans and appealsThe enforcement record behind a server's rules, and the process that makes that enforcement survivable.

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