A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

[Martin_Busato]

This was originally intended as a response to gyzo's "Can we bring back the old playerbase count?" topic but after I completed the post I felt it was worthy of its own topic. 

 

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE:

 

Achieving peak LSRP activity numbers is probably an unrealistic goal given the landscape of the RP scene nowadays, but I do believe there are steps that can be taken to maintain and build upon the current player base. There have been plenty of solid ideas here and elsewhere on the forums that can help bring about positive change in different aspects of LSRP, but my post is going to be focused on the big picture and what all of us can do—players and admins alike—to help LSRP reach its true potential.

 

To touch briefly on why I personally returned to LSRP: it was for Valenti much more so than it was for LSRP or SAMP. In the past, I have publicly voiced my displeasure with LSRP staff. I was very skeptical of the LSRP comeback and thought it was simply a last-ditch marketing gimmick for the GTAV server; I didn’t think it would be successful and had no interest in rejoining until countless Valenti members reached out urging me to reopen the faction. I went through with it and I’m glad I did because the server has exceeded our expectations so far and has allowed us to make a serious comeback as a faction. Upon our return with how accommodating the staff was setting us up with official status and swiftly handling requests, it was the first time since I joined Valenti in 2011 that I felt we were finally getting the respect we deserve as the longest-standing and most renowned faction on the server. Unfortunately, with lengthy delays and several questionable rulings against us recently, this feeling has dissipated to a degree, but I am still of the belief that the staff team is doing a better job than they have in most previous eras. Regardless of player count, LSRP still has major potential and I believe we can make this final era something special if we all work together.

 

CULTURE SHIFT

With that said, everyone needs to remember that the admins are volunteers and we need to adjust our expectations accordingly. The admin team makes LSRP possible and we need to be grateful for that. We need to squash this “us vs. them” mentality that drives a wedge between the players and admins, and we all need to start pulling the rope in the same direction. A clear vision for the future needs to be outlined and at the center of that needs to be a cultural shift that brings the community together as one team working towards the common goal of making the best role-play experience possible. LSRP having a smaller player base doesn’t mean the community doesn’t have room to grow and it isn’t something we should dwell on; instead, we need to look at this as a prime opportunity to build the foundation upon which the new era of LSRP can be built. The success of this server has always been a team effort and that will need to be even more pronounced this time around to ensure we have a community that is sustainable and has room to grow.

 

FACTION SCENE

The faction scene and the great factions in particular have always been the main driver of LSRP’s success. We are currently in a good spot with several long-standing official factions and some solid new factions on the come-up. This kind of continuity of characters and factions is key to creating an immersive, realistic, cohesive, and sustainable role-play environment. To maintain and improve upon the current state of the faction scene, everyone needs to play their part. To build strong, quality factions, people need to consider joining the existing factions instead of creating new ones. Only those who are experienced and qualified should be making new factions with the intent of filling a gap in the current faction scene, but we need to be cautious not to oversaturate certain genres. Faction leaders need to create factions with purpose and meaning, the average player needs to stay IC and focus on the realistic development of their character, and the admins need to incentivize, reward, and help facilitate quality role-play.

 

The standard for achieving official status needs to remain high and admins shouldn’t feel pressured to lower the bar in order to appease to players out of desperation. High standards for official factions ensures a healthy faction scene and lowering the bar will create for weaker, unsustainable factions, as has been seen in the past. Unofficial factions now have plenty of schemes they can apply for and it’s certainly a good thing to reward good performance and give people the tools they need to role-play, but only the best faction(s) in each genre should represent LSRP as an official faction.

 

On the other hand, toxic factions need to be disciplined, and if improvement isn’t seen in quick order, they need to be shut down. LSRP has been doing a good job with this as of late and I have seen the benefits first-hand in the LCN scene. The description of a long-time official crime family that was notorious for rule breaking and subpar role-play early on in the LSRP comeback set the tone. That faction in particular has since improved and are making positive contributions to the role-play. The recent shutdown of another toxic LCN faction was another step in the right direction. The LCN scene is experiencing one of its better eras right now and that is in large part thanks to LSRP bringing the hammer down on these problematic factions.

 

In order to optimize the faction scene, I would like to suggest a revamp of the Faction Team structure as seen below:

Head of Factions and/or Faction Team Council

Official faction leaders (1 from each official faction)

The most qualified admins and players with ample faction experience

Testers/admins who serve the purpose of handling requests in a timely fashion

 

The most notable change is the involvement of the official faction leaders. When LSRP was in its heyday and on an upward trajectory, there wasn’t a massive Faction Team; there was a Head of Factions who consulted the official faction leaders, which worked quite well at the time. The official faction leaders are a highly knowledgeable group and can bring great value to the Faction Team’s decision-making process. Additionally, this ensures all official factions are represented equally in the faction team and limits the potential for corruption. The Faction Team needs to consist of a healthy balance of players experienced in all the major genres. Many players (myself included) have grown increasingly frustrated with their suggestions falling on deaf ears over the years and, as such, don’t speak up like they used to and have no desire to seek out staff positions. LSRP acknowledging this and going out of their way to recruit the most suitable candidates for the Faction Team (and other staff divisions) would go a long way.

 

ROLE-PLAY MINDSET

Everyone needs to adopt the mindset of focusing on the realistic development of their characters. Stay in the moment and embrace every scene. The play-to-win mindset, trigger happiness and seeking quick thrills is not the best way to go about role-playing and it drags the server down. LSRP is marketed as a heavy role-play server and we need to back this up.

 

Below I have linked two threads from the old forums related to this topic:

(39) [Tutorial] A case for RPing realistically - Los Santos Roleplay

(39) Realism + Character Development = Fun = Success - Los Santos Roleplay

 

MARKETING

Other posters have already outlined different approaches that can be taken to market the server and I am in agreement that this needs to be a major focus for staff. Aside from this, word of mouth will go a long way in bringing old players back to the server, but we all need to do our part to make the best role-play environment possible in order to lure people back. While I am of the opinion that the staff team has improved, there is still a stigma weighing them down and they need to continue making positive steps to repair their reputation for some players to ever consider a return.

The admins also need to recognize the value many of the long-standing official factions bring from a marketing standpoint. Countless players have come through these factions and people who are otherwise disgruntled with LSRP staff can potentially be lured back by the prospect of rejoining their old faction and continuing their character’s story. Remove the red tape and let these historic factions thrive.

 

PLAYER RETENTION

Marketing is useless if we can’t retain the players we bring in. Having a strong faction scene will go a long way in attracting and retaining players. On top of this, the community needs to be welcoming and the game needs to be as user-friendly as possible. LSRP does a good job of allowing players to have creative freedom, but there are still plenty of instances of the admin team being overbearing on people’s creativity. Remove unnecessary restrictions and applications; allow players to craft their characters as they see fit within reason. Factions and players who have made mass contributions to the server over the years should especially be given the benefit of the doubt and more leeway.

 

As others have stated, having the current script-based jobs as the main moneymakers for new players won’t cut it. The government needs to have funding available for companies so that money can be earned through actual role-play as opposed to mindlessly farming scripted jobs.

 

I suggest the introduction of a new staff division or a “buddy system” of sorts committed to helping new players learn the ropes not only in regards to the game itself but also how to role-play realistically and develop a character.

 

We need to focus on retaining players who are here to role-play and develop a realistic character. It’s usually quite easy to decipher between someone who is here to role-play and someone who is not. Discipline and ban rulebreakers/toxic players who only serve to disrupt the experience of real role-players; LSRP being lenient with these types of players out of desperation to keep the player count up is counterproductive.

 

Additionally, LSRP needs to be cautious with how much time they put into the GTAV server. I’m not sure if this explains the recent increase in wait times, but the increased focus on GTAV certainly had a damning effect on the SAMP server last time around and history tends to repeat itself. GTAV is covered, but there is clearly still an appetite for SAMP and thankfully LSRP has filled that void for now. Most of us are here because we aren’t interested in GTAV. The SAMP server, in my opinion, should be the top priority; don’t take it for granted.

 

TL;DR

Role-play is a collaborative game and people need to stop being so selfish. Take responsibility yourself, regardless of your role on the server, and think about how you can positively contribute to the community. Focus on role-playing and developing your character realistically. We need to come together as one team to create the best role-play experience possible for the success of LSRP going forward.

 

[Klag]

You touched on several key points that I've been discussing recently.

 

I agree 100% that the server is now in a better place than it has been for years (despite the playerbase), regarding staff availability and willingness to improve. I see player suggestions are taken into consideration and implemented at a satisfying pace and there's more love for up-and-coming factions (speaking from my own experience since the re-opening).

 

42 minutes ago, Martin_Busato said:

The standard for achieving official status needs to remain high and admins shouldn’t feel pressured to lower the bar in order to appease to players out of desperation. High standards for official factions ensures a healthy faction scene and lowering the bar will create for weaker, unsustainable factions, as has been seen in the past. Unofficial factions now have plenty of schemes they can apply for and it’s certainly a good thing to reward good performance and give people the tools they need to role-play, but only the best faction(s) in each genre should represent LSRP as an official faction.

 

Also spot on. The standards have to remain high no matter what. Not only for official factions but in general. I've seen too many players get away with things that used to and should be punishable. Can't be afraid of taking a step back and losing a few bad apples in order to grow. 

I was talking just today about how poor the server's marketing has been.
I've come back to the server because a friend of mine spammed my IG about it, otherwise I wouldn't have known. I didn't even have Discord installed at that point. We need better strategies to let the world know that LSRP is alive and well.

[MeowTheEpic]

1 hour ago, Martin_Busato said:

ROLE-PLAY MINDSET

Everyone needs to adopt the mindset of focusing on the realistic development of their characters. Stay in the moment and embrace every scene. The play-to-win mindset, trigger happiness and seeking quick thrills is not the best way to go about role-playing and it drags the server down. LSRP is marketed as a heavy role-play server and we need to back this up.

That's LSRPs main issue right now as a large chunk of active groups prefer this approach, cheap quick thrills with little to no regard towards server standards that honestly make me wonder if it's even a heavy RP server anymore. It's as if white collar crime doesn't exist to some people outside the LCN scene and prefer to RP the same hotheaded no bullshit in your face type of character as it's always guarantees them nonstop escalation to the smallest encounter. 

It's a community effort to guide those who are guilty of doing, hell, maybe even shun and ostracize them if necessary as some people are too hard headed to see any error in their ways. Maybe utilize the faction team you suggested to point out such organizations/groups so the staff team may take appropriate action to guide them properly, It's genuinely sad that at parts of the map it's difficult to mind your business and develop your character without people approaching you with OOC malice chasing those quick thrills.


 

1 hour ago, Martin_Busato said:

As others have stated, having the current script-based jobs as the main moneymakers for new players won’t cut it. The government needs to have funding available for companies so that money can be earned through actual role-play as opposed to mindlessly farming scripted jobs.

LSRPs new player experience need a complete overhaul, a new player will find it extremely difficult to fund any form of RP without having to grind excessively for days, on V the startup was easier and had systems in place to support RP while SAMP rots away. LSRPs economy is beyond saving and it will never be fixed, a proper approach the staff team can make is to simply throw money at RP it's as simple as that.

Players should be able to start a company or a business or lease an office without having to think about grinding scripted jobs, I'm pretty sure most of us if not all are grown adults with little to no time to dedicate to anything other than roleplaying with our factions and friends.

[manslaughter]

1 hour ago, Martin_Busato said:

This was originally intended as a response to gyzo's "Can we bring back the old playerbase count?" topic but after I completed the post I felt it was worthy of its own topic. 

 

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE:

 

Achieving peak LSRP activity numbers is probably an unrealistic goal given the landscape of the RP scene nowadays, but I do believe there are steps that can be taken to maintain and build upon the current player base. There have been plenty of solid ideas here and elsewhere on the forums that can help bring about positive change in different aspects of LSRP, but my post is going to be focused on the big picture and what all of us can do—players and admins alike—to help LSRP reach its true potential.

 

To touch briefly on why I personally returned to LSRP: it was for Valenti much more so than it was for LSRP or SAMP. In the past, I have publicly voiced my displeasure with LSRP staff. I was very skeptical of the LSRP comeback and thought it was simply a last-ditch marketing gimmick for the GTAV server; I didn’t think it would be successful and had no interest in rejoining until countless Valenti members reached out urging me to reopen the faction. I went through with it and I’m glad I did because the server has exceeded our expectations so far and has allowed us to make a serious comeback as a faction. Upon our return with how accommodating the staff was setting us up with official status and swiftly handling requests, it was the first time since I joined Valenti in 2011 that I felt we were finally getting the respect we deserve as the longest-standing and most renowned faction on the server. Unfortunately, with lengthy delays and several questionable rulings against us recently, this feeling has dissipated to a degree, but I am still of the belief that the staff team is doing a better job than they have in most previous eras. Regardless of player count, LSRP still has major potential and I believe we can make this final era something special if we all work together.

 

CULTURE SHIFT

With that said, everyone needs to remember that the admins are volunteers and we need to adjust our expectations accordingly. The admin team makes LSRP possible and we need to be grateful for that. We need to squash this “us vs. them” mentality that drives a wedge between the players and admins, and we all need to start pulling the rope in the same direction. A clear vision for the future needs to be outlined and at the center of that needs to be a cultural shift that brings the community together as one team working towards the common goal of making the best role-play experience possible. LSRP having a smaller player base doesn’t mean the community doesn’t have room to grow and it isn’t something we should dwell on; instead, we need to look at this as a prime opportunity to build the foundation upon which the new era of LSRP can be built. The success of this server has always been a team effort and that will need to be even more pronounced this time around to ensure we have a community that is sustainable and has room to grow.

 

FACTION SCENE

The faction scene and the great factions in particular have always been the main driver of LSRP’s success. We are currently in a good spot with several long-standing official factions and some solid new factions on the come-up. This kind of continuity of characters and factions is key to creating an immersive, realistic, cohesive, and sustainable role-play environment. To maintain and improve upon the current state of the faction scene, everyone needs to play their part. To build strong, quality factions, people need to consider joining the existing factions instead of creating new ones. Only those who are experienced and qualified should be making new factions with the intent of filling a gap in the current faction scene, but we need to be cautious not to oversaturate certain genres. Faction leaders need to create factions with purpose and meaning, the average player needs to stay IC and focus on the realistic development of their character, and the admins need to incentivize, reward, and help facilitate quality role-play.

 

The standard for achieving official status needs to remain high and admins shouldn’t feel pressured to lower the bar in order to appease to players out of desperation. High standards for official factions ensures a healthy faction scene and lowering the bar will create for weaker, unsustainable factions, as has been seen in the past. Unofficial factions now have plenty of schemes they can apply for and it’s certainly a good thing to reward good performance and give people the tools they need to role-play, but only the best faction(s) in each genre should represent LSRP as an official faction.

 

On the other hand, toxic factions need to be disciplined, and if improvement isn’t seen in quick order, they need to be shut down. LSRP has been doing a good job with this as of late and I have seen the benefits first-hand in the LCN scene. The description of a long-time official crime family that was notorious for rule breaking and subpar role-play early on in the LSRP comeback set the tone. That faction in particular has since improved and are making positive contributions to the role-play. The recent shutdown of another toxic LCN faction was another step in the right direction. The LCN scene is experiencing one of its better eras right now and that is in large part thanks to LSRP bringing the hammer down on these problematic factions.

 

In order to optimize the faction scene, I would like to suggest a revamp of the Faction Team structure as seen below:

Head of Factions and/or Faction Team Council

Official faction leaders (1 from each official faction)

The most qualified admins and players with ample faction experience

Testers/admins who serve the purpose of handling requests in a timely fashion

 

The most notable change is the involvement of the official faction leaders. When LSRP was in its heyday and on an upward trajectory, there wasn’t a massive Faction Team; there was a Head of Factions who consulted the official faction leaders, which worked quite well at the time. The official faction leaders are a highly knowledgeable group and can bring great value to the Faction Team’s decision-making process. Additionally, this ensures all official factions are represented equally in the faction team and limits the potential for corruption. The Faction Team needs to consist of a healthy balance of players experienced in all the major genres. Many players (myself included) have grown increasingly frustrated with their suggestions falling on deaf ears over the years and, as such, don’t speak up like they used to and have no desire to seek out staff positions. LSRP acknowledging this and going out of their way to recruit the most suitable candidates for the Faction Team (and other staff divisions) would go a long way.

 

ROLE-PLAY MINDSET

Everyone needs to adopt the mindset of focusing on the realistic development of their characters. Stay in the moment and embrace every scene. The play-to-win mindset, trigger happiness and seeking quick thrills is not the best way to go about role-playing and it drags the server down. LSRP is marketed as a heavy role-play server and we need to back this up.

 

Below I have linked two threads from the old forums related to this topic:

(39) [Tutorial] A case for RPing realistically - Los Santos Roleplay

(39) Realism + Character Development = Fun = Success - Los Santos Roleplay

 

MARKETING

Other posters have already outlined different approaches that can be taken to market the server and I am in agreement that this needs to be a major focus for staff. Aside from this, word of mouth will go a long way in bringing old players back to the server, but we all need to do our part to make the best role-play environment possible in order to lure people back. While I am of the opinion that the staff team has improved, there is still a stigma weighing them down and they need to continue making positive steps to repair their reputation for some players to ever consider a return.

The admins also need to recognize the value many of the long-standing official factions bring from a marketing standpoint. Countless players have come through these factions and people who are otherwise disgruntled with LSRP staff can potentially be lured back by the prospect of rejoining their old faction and continuing their character’s story. Remove the red tape and let these historic factions thrive.

 

PLAYER RETENTION

Marketing is useless if we can’t retain the players we bring in. Having a strong faction scene will go a long way in attracting and retaining players. On top of this, the community needs to be welcoming and the game needs to be as user-friendly as possible. LSRP does a good job of allowing players to have creative freedom, but there are still plenty of instances of the admin team being overbearing on people’s creativity. Remove unnecessary restrictions and applications; allow players to craft their characters as they see fit within reason. Factions and players who have made mass contributions to the server over the years should especially be given the benefit of the doubt and more leeway.

 

As others have stated, having the current script-based jobs as the main moneymakers for new players won’t cut it. The government needs to have funding available for companies so that money can be earned through actual role-play as opposed to mindlessly farming scripted jobs.

 

I suggest the introduction of a new staff division or a “buddy system” of sorts committed to helping new players learn the ropes not only in regards to the game itself but also how to role-play realistically and develop a character.

 

We need to focus on retaining players who are here to role-play and develop a realistic character. It’s usually quite easy to decipher between someone who is here to role-play and someone who is not. Discipline and ban rulebreakers/toxic players who only serve to disrupt the experience of real role-players; LSRP being lenient with these types of players out of desperation to keep the player count up is counterproductive.

 

Additionally, LSRP needs to be cautious with how much time they put into the GTAV server. I’m not sure if this explains the recent increase in wait times, but the increased focus on GTAV certainly had a damning effect on the SAMP server last time around and history tends to repeat itself. GTAV is covered, but there is clearly still an appetite for SAMP and thankfully LSRP has filled that void for now. Most of us are here because we aren’t interested in GTAV. The SAMP server, in my opinion, should be the top priority; don’t take it for granted.

 

TL;DR

Role-play is a collaborative game and people need to stop being so selfish. Take responsibility yourself, regardless of your role on the server, and think about how you can positively contribute to the community. Focus on role-playing and developing your character realistically. We need to come together as one team to create the best role-play experience possible for the success of LSRP going forward.

 

 

"The recent shutdown of another toxic LCN faction was another step in the right direction."

 

Yup. the PB will definitely go up now with valenti, bellomo and galleani running the mantle. Was this post drafted up before we closed or after? Cause you were real quiet while we were active. I'm actually flattered buddy

 

ill wait for the ban/warning from Spectre and Russel Muldoon w/e the fuck his name is.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2024 by manslaughter

[trksthtmn]

16 minutes ago, manslaughter said:

I'll wait for the ban/warning from Spectre and Russel Muldoon w/e the fuck his name is.

 

 

You've got it.

 

I'll reply to this properly in several hours when I've got the time to formulate a proper response, but from skimming through I can assure you I and others are working on and actively pushing a similar (if not the same in areas) agenda. Stay tuned for a reply later on.

Edited October 25, 2024 by trksthtmn

[Kunis]

4 hours ago, MeowTheEpic said:

LSRPs new player experience need a complete overhaul, a new player will find it extremely difficult to fund any form of RP without having to grind excessively for days, on V the startup was easier and had systems in place to support RP while SAMP rots away. LSRPs economy is beyond saving and it will never be fixed, a proper approach the staff team can make is to simply throw money at RP it's as simple as that.

Players should be able to start a company or a business or lease an office without having to think about grinding scripted jobs, I'm pretty sure most of us if not all are grown adults with little to no time to dedicate to anything other than roleplaying with our factions and friends.

 

As someone who’s really involved with the new player experience at my company, I.B.L 1218, I have to agree. We’ve created a new player experience that partly centers around the trucking job, but there’s so much more that could be done for RP if legal companies got the attention they deserve. Right now, a lot of companies are just fronts for illegal factions.

A balanced mix of civilian, illegal, and legal RP is what makes the server interesting. The trucking job attracts new players and keeps them hooked for a few weeks, sometimes even longer. This creates a great window to help them find a purpose in the game. 

Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind offering them a higher starting salary of several thousand per paycheck, since we still require a lot from our employees to keep them on board. 

 

Suggestions:

- Overhauling and creating a new legal/companies team.

- Being more open to scripted salaries and/or company funding for companies that have proved themselves.

- Finding a way for companies to generate their own money. (The money could be used for employee bonuses and such)

- Currently company owners rely solely on their own personal wealth to keep companies afloat, whilst it's probably not a problem for very wealthy individuals, it's become a slight problem for me since i've put in 10 million out of 25 million just to make sure that everyone gets a salary of 500 dollars per paycheck.
 

Quote

As others have stated, having the current script-based jobs as the main moneymakers for new players won’t cut it. The government needs to have funding available for companies so that money can be earned through actual role-play as opposed to mindlessly farming scripted jobs.

 

Government is more than capable of this, they face too many barriers when trying to evolve the legal scene (Mostly OOC restrictions and long processes that have to go through the staff team). They've been nothing short of incredible during the months we've held discussions with them, trying their absolute best to find solutions for my company.

 

Quote

Other posters have already outlined different approaches that can be taken to market the server and I am in agreement that this needs to be a major focus for staff.

 

I really hope that staff have taken all of the suggestions to heart from previous threads. I can't help but feel that there's a large portion of ex-players that aren't even aware of the server re-opening. If it wasn't for my friend noticing I probably wouldn't be here either.

 

 

 

[MoneybagsCarminati]

15 hours ago, Martin_Busato said:

ROLE-PLAY MINDSET

Everyone needs to adopt the mindset of focusing on the realistic development of their characters. Stay in the moment and embrace every scene. The play-to-win mindset, trigger happiness and seeking quick thrills is not the best way to go about role-playing and it drags the server down. LSRP is marketed as a heavy role-play server and we need to back this up.

 

I've been saying this to people.  A lot of people still do not realize that there is no winning or losing in roleplay.  I speak from experience when I tell anyone reading this thread that when this community becomes more about you instead of the people in it, you're already spiraling into a rabbit hole of poor standards and competitiveness.  

 

Realistic character development are the key words here.  This all takes lots of time.

 

I hardly remember what year Valenti got here, but they got here around the very time LSRP first launched.  Were talking about a faction thats been around for more than 10 years.  Meanwhile, Bellomo crossed the 10 year mark this year.  Valenti and Bellomo were both official too at different points, but Im sure we can all agree that the official status doesnt make you developed or give you development.  Development comes down to the consistency of each individual.

 

When Busato talks about development, hes not talking about your level, hes talking about how available a person is to participate in or create roleplay over long stretches of time.

 

If we can all get on board and push the realistic development mindset, I am confident LSRP will become a canvas for like minded people who want nothing more than a thriving roleplay community.  One without the play to win mentality.  A community that accepts personal wins and losses as one simple thing:  Character development.

 

I hope the staff keeps this attitude.  Keep aiming for a better future.  Keep creating a better script.  You'll in turn see a better attitude from players.  Time to start working together.

[fruit]

11 hours ago, Kunis said:

 

A balanced mix of civilian, illegal, and legal RP is what makes the server interesting. The trucking job attracts new players and keeps them hooked for a few weeks, sometimes even longer. This creates a great window to help them find a purpose in the game. 

Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind offering them a higher starting salary of several thousand per paycheck, since we still require a lot from our employees to keep them on board. 

 

Suggestions:

- Overhauling and creating a new legal/companies team.

- Being more open to scripted salaries and/or company funding for companies that have proved themselves.

- Finding a way for companies to generate their own money. (The money could be used for employee bonuses and such)

- Currently company owners rely solely on their own personal wealth to keep companies afloat, whilst it's probably not a problem for very wealthy individuals, it's become a slight problem for me since i've put in 10 million out of 25 million just to make sure that everyone gets a salary of 500 dollars per paycheck.

 

 

I agree.

 

IMO players who are new to roleplaying are mostly captivated by the openendedness of the concept. You can mostly do anything that you likely wouldn't be able to do in real-life, which is why its so easy to get hooked to the server. Newer players tend to join the civilian and legal roleplay sphere first, before venturing towards the illegal scene when they have enough experience and knowledge about how to roleplay. Therefore civilian and legal roleplay tends to be the breeding ground for new players, and its paramount to invest more effort into improving it.

 

I strongly support the suggestions listed by Kunis. Though I haven't had hands-on experience with the company system since relaunch, I do agree company system needs improvements. I propose the following improvements (if they aren't already implemented):

• Introduce a paycheck and bank system for companies, which works like this:
  • Each company would start out with a company bank of $200,000.
  • Every hour, logged-in employees would receive a paycheck of $500, deducting this amount from the company bank.
  • The company bank will replenish back to $200,000 at the end of each week.
  • Company owner can add money to the bank. This money can be withdrawn from the company bank anytime, unlike the money each company starts with.
  • Company owner can tweak the paycheck of each rank, with a cap of $2,500.
• This would allow for a much easier route to setup a company. Ontop of this, it would also make companies more mindful about how they run their business. For example, if you have 50 employees in a company, you'd need to think about how you allocate the paychecks without going into debt. This should hopefully also result in more diverse set of companies, rather than a single enterprise hoarding all the bartenders, security guards, truckers under a single company, which is unrealistic.

 

I'd like to also mention some of the sheer unused potential when it comes to businesses on the server. The V-Rock Hotel, Visage, Los Santos Forum, Los Santos Aquapark are some of the most unique businesses that LSRP can offer, yet they are inactive. I strongly urge the management to either auction these businesses, or make them more active.

 

Similarly, I also want to stress how much diversity goes a long way. There are too many clubs / bars on the server at the moment, and most of them are empty during openings because there's only so much you can do at these businesses until it gets repetitive and boring. Recently there was a boxing event at Stage 25 (?). I remember almost half of the server was there because that was a business / event that we hadn't seen in ages. Businesses that already have roleplay going on (e.g., boxing events, racetracks) rather than forcing players to initiate roleplay (bars, clubs) tend to be more popular among players from my experience.

 

Also, making business entrance fees free or Level 5 and below players would be a great addition. The business owner can be paid the amount of the entrance, but it's not fair to make someone new to the server enter a business for 50% of their net worth.

 

Edited October 25, 2024 by fruit

[Kunis]

37 minutes ago, fruit said:

 

• Introduce a paycheck and bank system for companies, which works like this:
  • Each company would start out with a company bank of $200,000.
  • Every hour, logged-in employees would receive a paycheck of $500, deducting this amount from the company bank.
  • The company bank will replenish back to $200,000 at the end of each week.
  • Company owner can add money to the bank. This money can be withdrawn from the company bank anytime, unlike the money each company starts with.
  • Company owner can tweak the paycheck of each rank, with a cap of $2,500.
• This would allow for a much easier route to setup a company. Ontop of this, it would also make companies more mindful about how they run their business. For example, if you have 50 employees in a company, you'd need to think about how you allocate the paychecks without going into debt. This should hopefully also result in more diverse set of companies, rather than a single enterprise hoarding all the bartenders, security guards, truckers under a single company, which is unrealistic

 

 

I mostly agree with everything that you wrote, making companies more accessible to people who have very little to no money is a great idea. 200k might be sufficient for newly starting companies, however it becomes a little more problematic once you have around 50-60 employees as you stated.

 

I'm burning through roughly 75-125 k per day with the current setup, along with paying out almost 300-500k once a week when doing weekly company RP events. If we'd really want companies to be more prevalent we'd need to figure out some way to pay the company owners back so it isn't a one way street. 

Not only are we offering a server feature for the new players of LS, we're also coming up with events, daily tasks and weekly events to captivate their interest, whilst paying for everything and spending countless of hours catering to them on a daily basis.

 

With "Paying us back" I don't in any way mean that we as company owners should be swimming in cash, but that the employees themselves could generate income for the company which could then be transfered directly to the company bank.

 

 

[MoneybagsCarminati]

Heres a list of things I'd like to see LSRP make a change on for the purpose of realism:

 

1. PK war lists need to go.  In a perfect world, the entire concept of PK wars would need to go, but meeting in the middle here I think that list exchanges are nothing short of an incitement to metagame between leaders.

 

2.  A Stranger system needs to be in place. I wrote a thread about this and it wasnt discussed.  People should not inherently know who anyone is and there should be absolutely no inclincation as to who they could possibly be until youve roleplayed with them.  I am not a fan of nametags.  I am not a fan of health bars.  Its all an incitement to metagame to an old head like me, but we manage to exist with them.  I hope that changes.

 

3.  Be tougher on deathmatching.  Extend our definition for deathmatching because "poor reason to kill" is a cop out for the concept of deathmatching.  Either write a small list (for staff) of what can be considered a valid reason for a player to PK to another player, or perhaps write a list for whats unacceptable, so new players know early.  We all know the nature of GTA without roleplay is "shoot a guy for stepping on your shoe and keep shooting anyone in your way till the army arrives with tanks."  Where the nature of any roleplay server should be "I could lose my life/character if I screw up this piece of work."

 

I am a heavy advocate for making life harder for deathmatchers and metagamers.  And of course, when I first started Bellomo, there were a lot of conflicts to be had and settled to establish ourselves so as someone who has been accused of having a deathmatcher mentality at one point or another I'm proud to say that each and every deathmatching accusation against me has been either withdrawn or debunked.  This is because I draw a fine line between what I consider acceptable and unacceptable.  A few small examples.

 

To me, if you kill a guy for calling you an asshole in front of your friends, its unhinged to kill him for it but its not deathmatching.  You have a reason.  In comes "poor reason" to kill.  Now I would admit that its a poor reason (morally) to kill someone but people who have studied mobdom know that people have been killed for similar if not smaller reasons.   We need that fine line between whats deathmatching/poor reason to kill compared to a valid reason in this server, we need it highlighted and easy to access so people know whats OK and not OK.  Another example;  A guy wants to test out his gun.  Its wrong to say that Richard Kuklinski, a polish hitman who did work for the Italian mob was a reasonable man, he was more a psychopath.  He would blow anyone away just to make sure his gun works.  Obviously, in our environment, this would be considered deathmatching, unfortunately for the people he did that to, they don't get to respawn at the airport. This server has regulations regarding such behavior that would consider something like that deathmatching, and I agree.  I notice that a lot of people want to roleplay psychos, and those are the ones who get caught up on deathmatching, poor reasons to kill.

 

So without rattling off 50 examples, allow me to just say my point given these examples.  The deathmatchers should be vehemently punished as they disrupt roleplay and the developmental mindset.  But we should outline and highlight what will be considered deathmatching/poor reason to kill and what will be considered valid.  This will advance the  realistic development mindset.

Edited October 25, 2024 by MoneybagsCarminati

[donnie brasco]

4 hours ago, MoneybagsCarminati said:

1. PK war lists need to go.  In a perfect world, the entire concept of PK wars would need to go, but meeting in the middle here I think that list exchanges are nothing short of an incitement to metagame between leaders.

 

 

Now this I can agree with. You wipe a whole factions leadership and members at once, they might as well make a whole new faction.

 

 

[Blaz]

I’d like to see two things happen on the server. Firstly devs should give us something new scriptwise that will attract new or old players.

Secondly LSRP management needs to change the map of LS a little bit. The server’s map is basically the same since 2019. Give us some new and cool places where we can RP.

[MoneybagsCarminati]

11 minutes ago, donnie brasco said:

 

Now this I can agree with. You wipe a whole factions leadership and members at once, they might as well make a whole new faction.

 

 

Right.  Or like, you know, if you kill a guy and it gets void, dont roleplay it.  Or if you get killed off from something, dont RP any memory of it.  And don't ban evade for the sake of pissing people off because it sets the wrong example for people, you know?  

 

Play to win mentality.  Its an epidemic on these kind of servers.  Now please, for the sake of this discussion, go honor your ban and let the men speak.  

[MoneybagsCarminati]

I think every time a thread like this gets derailed, it goes to show how much it needs considering.  

 

To players: Develop your characters.

To staff:  Hear out your players.

To rulebreakers:  Habbo Hotel. Bye. 😅

[jcgortez]

10 hours ago, MoneybagsCarminati said:

Heres a list of things I'd like to see LSRP make a change on for the purpose of realism:

 

1. PK war lists need to go.  In a perfect world, the entire concept of PK wars would need to go, but meeting in the middle here I think that list exchanges are nothing short of an incitement to metagame between leaders.

 

2.  A Stranger system needs to be in place. I wrote a thread about this and it wasnt discussed.  People should not inherently know who anyone is and there should be absolutely no inclincation as to who they could possibly be until youve roleplayed with them.  I am not a fan of nametags.  I am not a fan of health bars.  Its all an incitement to metagame to an old head like me, but we manage to exist with them.  I hope that changes.

 

3.  Be tougher on deathmatching.  Extend our definition for deathmatching because "poor reason to kill" is a cop out for the concept of deathmatching.  Either write a small list (for staff) of what can be considered a valid reason for a player to PK to another player, or perhaps write a list for whats unacceptable, so new players know early.  We all know the nature of GTA without roleplay is "shoot a guy for stepping on your shoe and keep shooting anyone in your way till the army arrives with tanks."  Where the nature of any roleplay server should be "I could lose my life/character if I screw up this piece of work."

 

I am a heavy advocate for making life harder for deathmatchers and metagamers.  And of course, when I first started Bellomo, there were a lot of conflicts to be had and settled to establish ourselves so as someone who has been accused of having a deathmatcher mentality at one point or another I'm proud to say that each and every deathmatching accusation against me has been either withdrawn or debunked.  This is because I draw a fine line between what I consider acceptable and unacceptable.  A few small examples.

 

To me, if you kill a guy for calling you an asshole in front of your friends, its unhinged to kill him for it but its not deathmatching.  You have a reason.  In comes "poor reason" to kill.  Now I would admit that its a poor reason (morally) to kill someone but people who have studied mobdom know that people have been killed for similar if not smaller reasons.   We need that fine line between whats deathmatching/poor reason to kill compared to a valid reason in this server, we need it highlighted and easy to access so people know whats OK and not OK.  Another example;  A guy wants to test out his gun.  Its wrong to say that Richard Kuklinski, a polish hitman who did work for the Italian mob was a reasonable man, he was more a psychopath.  He would blow anyone away just to make sure his gun works.  Obviously, in our environment, this would be considered deathmatching, unfortunately for the people he did that to, they don't get to respawn at the airport. This server has regulations regarding such behavior that would consider something like that deathmatching, and I agree.  I notice that a lot of people want to roleplay psychos, and those are the ones who get caught up on deathmatching, poor reasons to kill.

 

So without rattling off 50 examples, allow me to just say my point given these examples.  The deathmatchers should be vehemently punished as they disrupt roleplay and the developmental mindset.  But we should outline and highlight what will be considered deathmatching/poor reason to kill and what will be considered valid.  This will advance the  realistic development mindset.

 

Bro what are you actually rambling about? You want staff to make a definite list of instances where a shooting would be OK, and then go on to ramble on and on about how you want to shoot someone for looking at you the wrong way because you're a mobster. You should realize that if a list were ever to be made, there is no way looking at a mobster the wrong way would ever be included in it.