Job suggestions to improve the server!

[MikeDawg]

3 hours ago, Fiendfyre said:

https://fire.lsgov.us/viewforum.php?f=158&sid=7078be641f3107e5a37746a9ed7d44bb

 

Again, this is already in place. 

I acknowledged that FD was already in place of that, but again I stress to you that it isn't doing good. There is still nothing wrong with having more jobs primarily for doctors and nurses.

[Sparkles]

1 hour ago, MikeDawg said:

I acknowledged that FD was already in place of that, but again I stress to you that it isn't doing good. There is still nothing wrong with having more jobs primarily for doctors and nurses.

If they are going to have to apply, why not leave it with FD? People are either going to want to RP it or not. Shouldn't take away from a faction because you think more people will apply if it's done by the server instead. 

 

Same as lawyers. Even with a shorter simplified process & test, we barely have any. 

[izumi]

I would like to point out that the FD's hospital recruitment isn't closed and if you want to join it, you can apply whenever.

[Grover The Good]

Theory

 

Scripted jobs should serve a dual purpose: provide a reliable, constant source of income for players and offer a base around which roleplay, and eventually factions, can be created. A scripted job that fails in either aspect is a badly designed scripted job because it doesn't encourage players to roleplay to earn or because it provides money without encouraging roleplay. LSRP's current scripted jobs somehow all fail in doing both, since they cannot be done in co-op while also paying out so little that players are better off doing literally anything else, including AFK'ing, rather than participate in them.

 

Some of the most innovative faction concepts in LSRP history were built around scripts. To name a few:

• Unity Taxi. The faction revolved entirely around the taxi driver scripted job and it was one, if not the first, wholly "civilian" faction to obtain official status, back when official status meant something and not that you were propped up by the staff because you're a cookie-cutter concept. Though details are hazy all these years later, the faction worked around a scheme where the leadership owned a significant number of taxis that they would loan out to anyone interested in roleplaying a taxi driver in return for a percentage of the fares earned, which eventually turned into having actual employees and company-owned taxis once they got the official faction script support. At some point it even had a dispatch to take and organize calls and it was completely player-grown and operated.
   
• Reg's Trucker Association. This one was a proto-union of truckers based out of Blueberry and that welcomed anyone with the trucker job. They would regularly organize convoys to the most distant pickup points, had a radio frequency on which truckers could communicate to fight the boredom of driving around the county on their own and had turned a disused part of the map into a trucking depot where truckers could go to have their trucks checked by mechanics, plan runs with other truckers or just hang out. Once again, completely player built out of a scripted job.
   
• The Port of Los Santos. At its very core, the Port of Los Santos was a bunch of people who hung out together at the docks and whose main goal was to help unload truckers who would bring supplies to the ships faster than they would have alone. Though not exactly revolving around the script job per se, the existence of a script job nonetheless made it was easier for players to find a common task to roleplay around and eventually build it up from there. The Port was wildly popular for a while, until legal factions management, the natural enemy of legal roleplay, decided it was a good idea to arrest everyone and the mayor for staging a completely in-character strike, like it was the 19th century, and the Port, while continuing to exist, never achieved the prominence it had again. Don't fix something that ain't broken at its finest.

These are just the most memorable one, but it's likely that a walk through the archives would provide many more tales of scripted jobs leading to established factions.

 

Practice

 

With the past in mind, let's focus on the future (as grim as it may look) and turn the theory into practice. Some of the suggestions in the main post are a good starting point to build something around, but are still too focused on the scripted/earning part and not enough on the roleplay and others are simply not feasible and/or would have so much downtime or be so unpredictable in their provision of roleplay that are simply not worth pursuing.

 

With that said, some of the concepts that should instead be explored or enhanced are:

 

• Garbage job. A classic that needs to be redone from the ground up ASAP, introducing co-op checkpoints whenever two players or more board the same trash truck and splitting the total reward by the number of players that carried out the mission, with a higher payout the higher number of players are involved. It encourages players to roleplay together, can be undertaken by a multitude of characters regardless of their position in the server (fully legal characters, criminal characters roleplaying a legal front, etc.) and can be used to build multiple faction concepts around it.
  Possible applications: gabagool LCN waste management front companies, City Department of Sanitation.
   
• Taxi Driver job. Are you talking to me? To favor self-employed taxi drivers, encourage the creation of companies and promoted the re-investment of funds, make it so the publicly available taxis can only be used for a limited amount of runs in the course of a hour or lower the reward significantly, whereas privately or company-owned taxis can do as many runs as they want or get the full reward. This would incentivize players to work towards getting their own taxi and/or work for companies or employers while also motivate enterprisingly-minded players or organized crime groups with plenty of money to launder to build companies. 
  Possible applications: taxi companies, either legal or fronts.
   
• Trucker job. Another job that needs to be redone from scratch to encourage more interactivity between players, including making it so that two people or more can do the same route, either with different trucks or in the same one, which can be roleplayed as main and relief driver. Same as the taxi driver job, limited runs or lower reward if the truck is publicly owned, unlimited runs or full payout if the truck is owned by the player or by a player-run company.
  Possible applications: truck companies, either legal or fronts.
   
• Delivery Driver / Postman job. Much like the trucker, but on a smaller scale and doable with smaller vehicles, all the way down to a bike in the case of the postman. Like the taxi driver job, make it so publicly available trucks are limited in their hourly runs and motivate people to either buy their own truck (being their very own owner-operators) or seek employment with an already established company or faction.
  Possible applications: delivery companies, United States Postal Service (USPS)
   
• Construction Worker job. One of the few jobs that don't involve constantly moving around the map, its payout should depend on the amount of roleplay you provide (i.e. amount of /me lines or a similar criteria) instead of distance covered or similarly to the garbage job (the more players involved, the higher the payout). Both would encourage roleplay over grinding (and yes, having it based on /me's can be abused, but everything else can, too), but the latter would also incentivize players to partner up in order to earn more and thus prompt player to seek employment in an established company and/or found one and look for employees. Works well with a variety of concepts (fully legal, low-level street gangsters working as laborer, OCGs using construction companies as fronts, etc.) and can be used to introduce mapping changes organically by offering projects to player run companies instead of spawning fully-built abominations in the middle of the city with little to no roleplay behind it. 
  Possible applications: construction companies, either legal or fronts.
   
• Cashier / Store Attendant / Business Employee job. Another job that requires you to stay fixed in one place, same as above. In addition to serving as a job that fits most backgrounds, it also serves to turn gas stations, 24/7 and similar establishments into roleplay hubs, since open businesses tend to attract the playerbase. This job should be able to be given by any company in the entertainment field (clubs, bars, etc.) to its employee and should work within the confines of the interior the establishment is set in to prevent abuse. It would be a one-size-fits-all job for all player-run companies that interact with the public.
  Possible applications: stores and businesses, either legal or fronts.

All other jobs suggested in the main post don't really work or are redundant. News reports should be the prerogative of infotainment factions, if anything for a minimum level of quality control and reliability, and also because a news factions, if well roleplayed (most aren't), brings way more roleplay to the players and the server as a whole than a random job you can pick up through a rotating yellow "i". Hospital staff requires OOC knowledge to back the roleplay up and that can often be ascertained only by other players. Car salesmen can already be roleplayed by players since there's nothing preventing the establishment of used car dealerships (except the players' lack of imagination) and it's another position where the player dedication and knowledge makes the roleplay far more enjoyable. Same goes for gun dealers, though it calls into question why Ammunation shops cannot be owned by the players.

 

Conclusion

 

Overall, by looking at the current state of scripted jobs it looks like they were badly designed on purpose, perhaps with the hope of establishing a completely player-to-player economy that, very unsurprisingly, failed to materialize the moment the playerbase dropped under a certain level. Without going out of the way trying to reinvent the wheel for a third time, take some of the scripts that did a lot of good in the past, give it some polish and an update to bring them into the modern times and let people use them as tools to build roleplay, instead of trying to employ them to steer the playerbase in the direction you think they should be going. 

 

Whatever you do, however, do it fast, because time and patience are running out. 

 

This reply has been written in collaboration with @arrdef.

 

TL;DR

 

Scripts are tools. Treat them as such.

[Yaffa]

@MikeDawg @Fiendfyre

 

I have run SAN from pretty much since the server started and so far I've had 2 applications which I both had to deny because of inactivity and insufficient English.

 

So when you say people love to RP news reporters that's not really true. Say there was a script to support more news, like I've been saying from the beginning, there'd be a lot more interest in news RP. Right now the server's scripts are solely focused on gang / mafia vs cop / sheriff RP. All the different systems in place for the PD to ticket vehicles, a whole computer system with everything, a complete darkweb, and not a single line of script for journalism or news RP. In an RP server. All I could do was post news on the forums, and later on Discord, which was nice, but it doesn't do anything IG or incentivize people to head IG.

 

I've tried to stay invested in the server but with the low playercounts and prominent people leaving lately it's really hard to find suitable news topics. I've tried contacting staff members to put more effort in the comms team because the entire team is dead on its ass. Many people want to give the server a boost but there is -so- little comms coming from the staff that it's just wearing me out. The community meetings were a great idea to keep the playerbase invested and there's been a few at the beginning of the server and that got dropped quick. I've also tried to get that back on its feet with no support. The last update (minor) was over a month ago. Devs posting snippets a 1,5 month ago about a phone anim and that has yet to make it IG. Don't show snippets of something if it takes ages to implement. A snippet should be implemented in a much smaller timeframe.

 

More than a month ago the news script RP (which should have been in since the beginning, 'barebones') was forwarded to devs and we've heard nothing about it. Adding to that... A simple camera, which has been requested from the beginning, has yet to make it into the server.

 

All these smaller jobs you're suggesting are good when the server's playercount is very high. Nobody wants to RP a janitor in an empty building when there's 50 people on. Everyone wants to be a part of something big, and when those parts are all filled -then- people will be interested in these smaller jobs. To climb up the social ladder. Right now all these jobs aren't needed, you can just roleplay them. Devs need to focus on other things, not giant new features but more features to upgrade all existing stuff. Implementing current approved suggestions. (Which is being done I believe)

 

I still hope the server takes a turn.

[Deceive]

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

The main thing I think that will attract more players and improve roleplay is the amount of player interaction we can create, with more player interaction, the server is forced to be more integrated with roleplay, improving the server as a whole.

 

I completely agree with this sentiment but I'm failing to understand how this will improve player to player interaction within the server.

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

Delivery Driver (like AMAZON or FEDEX)

 

End of the day, this is just trucker job with a new name. When trucker job hasn't increased payer to player interaction, I don't think this can. Also, /startshift with this will simply create in players doing /startshift and AFKing, this is definitely not the way to go around it. /mission system suites it better.

 

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

Construction Worker 

 

What you have described under this is already there and is pretty active but with a different name. LSGOV Public Works division.

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

Car Salesman (Yes really, a car salesman)

 

I really don't see people doing this. The problem isn't that nobody wants to interact with a car salesman but people in general simply don't want to RP a car salesman.

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

Cashier/Janitor (One behind the counter, one cleaning around the store)

 

Thing is. It's already VERY difficult to find staff for active businesses. If you look at the active ones, it's mostly the owners themselves sitting at the counter, especially if this not backed up by the faction. Doing this a scriptwise job is not only going to kill whatever remaining staff that businesses are actually getting but also lessen the money circulation that happens between the players.

 

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

Doctor's, nurse, janitor, receptionist

 

Nah, we need more members in FD badly but this isn't going to help out. I have played in FD for multiple years and trust me, people who are actually into medical RP are a HUGE minority everywhere. "INTENSE RP" sounds great on paper but when medical RP ACTUALLY gets intense, most players can't handle it. Just ask FD, how often a player sits through without tabbing out. There's already a hospital division that's supposed to do what you're suggesting but there's simply nobody interested at the moment in it.

The case is similar to the car salesma, people would love to have one but don't want to be one themselves.

 

  

On 10/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, MikeDawg said:

News Reporter

 

I really agree that journalism is a field that needs script support but it's better to get people to join SAN and help make it active than create a script job out of it. 10 people broadcasting their "NEWS" is going to get super annoying and eventually it'll fade out after the initial hype. The sector in itself is similar to medical RP or FD. The ones who are truley into it are in the minority and won't be able to put the work behind it to make this a success.

[Sparkles]

53 minutes ago, Yaffa said:

I've tried contacting staff members to put more effort in the comms team because the entire team is dead on its ass.

On this, I know @Dos Santosis looking into who's going to run things now that Sal left. I also joined it to help get it active, as the marketing stuff is crucial. 

 

56 minutes ago, Yaffa said:

A simple camera, which has been requested from the beginning, has yet to make it into the server.

From what I understand this is being worked on, but it's not an object that currently exists for GTAV so that makes things harder

[memooh]

2 hours ago, Yaffa said:

@MikeDawg @Fiendfyre

 

I have run SAN from pretty much since the server started and so far I've had 2 applications which I both had to deny because of inactivity and insufficient English.

 

So when you say people love to RP news reporters that's not really true. Say there was a script to support more news, like I've been saying from the beginning, there'd be a lot more interest in news RP. Right now the server's scripts are solely focused on gang / mafia vs cop / sheriff RP. All the different systems in place for the PD to ticket vehicles, a whole computer system with everything, a complete darkweb, and not a single line of script for journalism or news RP. In an RP server. All I could do was post news on the forums, and later on Discord, which was nice, but it doesn't do anything IG or incentivize people to head IG.

 

I've tried to stay invested in the server but with the low playercounts and prominent people leaving lately it's really hard to find suitable news topics. I've tried contacting staff members to put more effort in the comms team because the entire team is dead on its ass. Many people want to give the server a boost but there is -so- little comms coming from the staff that it's just wearing me out. The community meetings were a great idea to keep the playerbase invested and there's been a few at the beginning of the server and that got dropped quick. I've also tried to get that back on its feet with no support. The last update (minor) was over a month ago. Devs posting snippets a 1,5 month ago about a phone anim and that has yet to make it IG. Don't show snippets of something if it takes ages to implement. A snippet should be implemented in a much smaller timeframe.

 

More than a month ago the news script RP (which should have been in since the beginning, 'barebones') was forwarded to devs and we've heard nothing about it. Adding to that... A simple camera, which has been requested from the beginning, has yet to make it into the server.

 

All these smaller jobs you're suggesting are good when the server's playercount is very high. Nobody wants to RP a janitor in an empty building when there's 50 people on. Everyone wants to be a part of something big, and when those parts are all filled -then- people will be interested in these smaller jobs. To climb up the social ladder. Right now all these jobs aren't needed, you can just roleplay them. Devs need to focus on other things, not giant new features but more features to upgrade all existing stuff. Implementing current approved suggestions. (Which is being done I believe)

 

I still hope the server takes a turn.

W 

[imu_pertrauka]

Working in a 24/7 script wise and getting paid not by owners but by the server.

 

Maybe something like a pharmacy or something.

[MikeDawg]

We now have that in game