A Guide to RPing as a Mechanic.

[FatSam]

Let's start this guide by stating that I am not an expert mechanic. I don’t and never will claim to be and anything I miss in the following guide, please feel free to comment down below and if I agree then I will be sure to add it into this guide.

With that stated, I’ll give you a little background on me. I started playing as part of Devils Orphans Motorcycle Club in which I helped run a motorcycle shop by the name of Chrome Domes. On the latest server, I played on I set up, established and ran the most popular and high-quality mechanic RP on the server through a shop called Riverside Rods which to this day is still running on the server, albeit not under my ownership anymore.

Knowledge
A huge misconception is that you need to know every detail of how a car works and have to be a professional mechanic in order to RP as a mechanic. This is far from the case. If in doubt google it. You will often find a quick youtube video, or even a how-to article that can be used to walk you through the correct RP to take.

For example if you wanted to install a spoiler onto a car. A quick google search brings up this webpage. https://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-t ... r-on-a-car . Which has a step by step of what you will need and how to do it.

Type of Mechanic
There are two main types of mechanics that you are going to be roleplaying as. These are amature and professional. The main difference in these is going to be the amount of tools you have available to RP. They type of jobs you would be able to do as well as some of the steps that you would take in terms of the work. This can be seen in something such as installing new rims onto a car . Below I will write the RP and we can look at the differences between the two.

Amature :
/me pulls a jack to the car, after lining it up he would begin to jack up the front of the car before pushing jack stands under to support the car.
/me would lift the rear of the car in the same manner, pushing two more jack stands under each corner of the car in order to keep it supported from the floor.
/me would take a tire iron cracking the wheel nuts before removing all four wheels from the car.
/me would lift the new wheel into place pushing it onto the car making sure it is sat correctly.
/me would tighten the wheel nuts on the new wheel, turning it after to ensure that the wheel moves correctly.

Professional :
/me would pull the car into the shop driving it slowly and carefully onto the car lift.
/me would step out, lifting the car into the air in order to allow him to work on it.
/me would use a ratchet gun to remove the wheel nuts of all four wheel pulling them from the car and placing them to one side.
/me would remove the new rims from the box, wiping them down with a cloth before walking over to the tire machine.
/me would use the tire machine to mount the rim onto a new tire, he would balance each wheel before taking them back over to the lifted car.
/me would mount the new wheels onto the car, tighten them into place and checking that they are spinning correctly.

As you can see from the above examples, the differences don’t come from the work being done but from the situation of the mechanic. The professional has more tools and equipment available to him and would take more care when working on a car that isn’t his own.

When working as an amature mechainc it is ok to take liberties, for example its perfectly normal for an amature mechanic to use cable ties, spray cans or improvised tools whereas a more professional mechanic would take the time to do the job in a way that represents professionalism and the company he is working for.

PPE

As a mechanic you will be working not only with oils and chemicals but with sharp edges, obstacles and tools. In a professional environment PPE would be required but abvously as an amature mechanic wearing PPE is completely up to you. The following are items that would be used and worn by mechanics in both a profesiaonal and amature environemnt.

Face mask ( When painting )
Protective glasses ( When grinding, cutting or using machines )
Protective clothing or overalls
Latex gloves
Tool belt
Steel toed shoes / work boots

As stated previously the above don’t have to be worn but think of the setting in which you are working and would your character be expected to wear some of these items.

Shortcuts

When it comes to mechanical RP you will encounter a lot of repetitive RP that will need to be RPed multiple times. This can become very annoying and time consuming to have to RP. There are however ways to do this without seeming like a cop out.

This can be seen with something such as replacing standard parts such as brake discs. The following will show how I think it should be RP’ed in comparison tohow it shouldn’t be RP’ed.

Don’t
/me would remove the wheel from the car, He would remove the brake callipers before pulling the disc from car.
/me would repeat the same process on the other wheels of the cars.

Do
/me would start removing the brake callipers and discs from the car. He would move from wheel to wheel repeating the process of removing the brake discs until all four discs have been removed from the car.

The above methods both outline the same process however in my opinion the second lays out a much smoother way of presenting the RP in a way that better covers up the shortcut that you have taken.

Animations

There are some specific animations that can be used to enhance the RP that you are doing as well as making for much more interesting looking screenshots.. Some of the scenarios I have encountered are listed below.

Working under a car : A lot of the lie down animations can be used and will clip you under the car so that it looks like you are laying under it.
Working under the hood : general bending over animations, or cleaning animations will work for portraying that you are working with your hands in the engine bay.
Spraying a car : Cleaning animations can work in this situation.
Working on wheels or by the ground : Crouch animations as well as lie down animations should be used here
Cleaning a car : Cleaning animations can work in this situation.

Mechanic RP can be very rewarding in the fact that it allows you to develop your character, meet new people that are part of the public and the car community as well as providing some very unique opportunities such as long terms RP of project cars or restorations.

The RP can and will be repetitive if you let it be however if you are into cars, car culture and the car scene it can proving endless amounts of RP, RP opportunity and is a great way to keep interesting RP that can happen when the main group you RP with are not online.

That concludes this guide. I didn't go into specific jobs as a lot of this can be googled and step by step guides or videos can be found. Youtube and the internet are great resources and even the best of us need to use them at one point. I have had huge amounts of fun over the time of RPing as a mechanic, met some brilliant people and would highly recommend it.

Please comment below any questions or feel free to PM me if needed. Thanks for taking the time to read and I look forward to seeing you in game.