Guide to Bribery

[Foulspawn]

Preface: I come from a country that rates very highly on the corruption scale and have experienced cases of bribery in just about every aspect of life. This guide is aimed for people who wish to improve their understanding of the  'Corruption' part of 'Murder, Corruption & Betrayal' and is in no way meant to be used as a baseline for any kind of real life guide.
I hope I don't have to say that giving or taking a bribe is illegal in most civilized societies and you should NEVER do so. This guide is about the fake universe that Armageddon MUD is set in.
With that out of the way, the guide will be divided into two parts: Giving a Bribe and Taking a Bribe, because both actors involved in this have a specific role to play for this to work.

What is a Bribe: A bribe can be best described as a tangible favor delivered or promised to skew someone's judgment or actions in an influential and illegal manner. This can include but isn't limited to monetary, physical goods, favorable decisions and actions.

Part I: Giving a Bribe.

In a normal, civilized and law abiding society bribery is a taboo practice and handled under extremely discreet circumstances. As the overall feeling of corruption grows however, this practice gets more visibility and acceptance, with this serving as a great indicator of corruption in a system. Knowing how to give a bribe is important and that is what we shall approach in this first part. The following are tips for a society that is not the peak of morality and one that would rank in the lower half of the corruption index.

Point 1: Do not overact or overthink. One mistake many make when roleplaying this situation is that they tend to overthink their bribery. You're about to make someone richer or happier than they were in return for a favor, you don't need an elaborate scheme or to be flustered about it. The more natural this transaction feels, the better. In a world where this official has likely taken a hundred other such kickbacks, you acting like this is a very special occasion is off putting and breaks one's belief that this is a realistic situation, which we want to achieve with roleplaying to a degree.

Point 2: Do not overpay. Bribing someone is the criminal equivalent of paying for a service and overpaying is detrimental to everyone involved. When you overpay you drive up the price of a service past what it should be, you are lightening your coffers more than you should, you are making the receiving suspicious and are likely making others who might want the same service unhappy. The higher the bribe, the higher the suspicion of the receiver will be, especially if this is for a mundane or small favor. At the same time, you're modeling the receiver's ideas regarding this and potentially causing future clients to be unhappy with you.
Remember that bribes can be favors too, not just physical goods or monetary gains.

Point 3: Know what to call it. When you've grown familiar with someone, you can straight up call it a bribe and everything will be fine, but this is regarding someone who you might be bribing for the first time. While you can call it a bribe, there are words that can be used to tip-toe around it and still deliver the same message. Example:
Amos: Thank you for hearing me out.
Arm: If those sharps act out, we'll take care of them.
Amos: Oh, before I go, here, I think you dropped this.
Amos hands over a stitched carry satchel to Arm.
Arm: I see. Well, thank you. And now that you mention it, I believe we need to scrutinize those knife ears.

It's a little something, it's a 'gratitude', something they dropped or a gift. If you're talking to someone who's not a sack of bricks, they'll get the idea and learn that it's profitable for them to uphold their end of the bargain. Make sure you have boundaries set when you're bribing someone. Gifting someone something is different than 'gifting' them something. Don't get in the habit of giving away free stuff or you'll be labeled a CHUMP.

Part 4: Understand a rejection. There's a soft denial and a hard denial, and you need to know the difference between the two. If someone says "Oh, I can't take that." or something that is perceived as a softer denial, try again, be insistent. People will put up this façade to help pad their own morale fiber, but in reality anything outside of a hard rejection is an invitation for you to try again. If someone asks if you're trying to bribe them, say you're not, you're just trying to make sure they know you care, or want to show your gratitude for their time.

If someone is outright denying you, showing aggression, indignation or anger towards it, stop. Staunch moralists exist everywhere and all you'll get is trouble if you try to force a bribe onto them.

Part II: Taking a bribe

Depending on what position your character may be in, there's a high likelihood that they have taken a lot of bribes already off-screen / from characters that aren't mentioned. This should be something they're used to and comfortable with. Even if you believe that they haven't, exposure to such behavior should be something they are used to seeing or at least hearing about.

Point 1: Keeping up your end of the bargain. You just got a bribe and you're faced with the dilemma of doing what you actually were bribed for or not. Once you accept a bribe, you enter a mutually assured destruction contract with the briber. Nine out of ten times, this means you should keep your end of the bargain if it means putting yourself in other harm's way. People like predictability and comfort. You doing what they expect you to do gives them both and will likely continue to create plot and give you 'business'.

Remember, if they go down, so do you, and vice-versa, at that point.

Point 2: Playing your part. Depending on how the briber gives you your little incentive package, act appropriately. If they say it's a gift, play along and pretend it is. If they say that it's yours to begin with: it was. Don't use the word 'bribe' as that can put people on edge. Skirt around this and act as if you know exactly how this is going to go. Assure them that you know what's going on by wording your response accordingly. If you feel like you were bribed too little, make it voiced in a soft manner. Maybe a little more backing could go a longer distance.

Point 3: Asking for a bribe. Don't ask for a bribe directly. You telling someone they have to bribe you is going to end bad mostly. Even if they do, they'll resent you for asking. Instead, use wording that would imply this would help. This is best shown with an example:
Bad Example: If you want this done, it'll cost you.
Notice how this example puts the onus on them and feels forceful?
Good Example: This may take some time and I might have some trouble getting it done with what I have now, you know how these things are, right?
This puts the fault on your end and makes it look like their incentive is purely their decision rather than yours.

Point 4: Corruption runs deep. In a corrupt system, all wheels are greased along the way. If you've got witnesses, coworkers or superiors who might be privy to what you're about to do, sharing is caring. Everyone loves kickbacks and this keeps the system going. You may need to divide your earned keep, but think about the long term gain rather than the short one.
Final Thoughts:
I might update this guide with more points and parts once I think of them, but I felt like this could help some of the people who have never really dealt with a corrupt system in a real world setting.

[Coda]

Fantastic post, thank you.

[Inks]

Great post mate. S tier.

[adri]

Love it.

[Jimpka_Moss]

Sticky worthy, or something, because this is up there with other guides in quality and information. Excellent job.

[mansa]

There is a request to put this in the Original Submissions.

FYI, the Original Submissions have been fixed!
https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,59732.0.html