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Hey everyone, Hope everyone's doing well and getting ready for the holiday season. December was always special around LS-RP, I remember all the treasure hunts and winter/Christmas events we used to hold. I'm looking forward to seeing something like that in-game again as we celebrate the season... next year. It's been quite challenging over the last few months to keep track of the remaining work. Trying to keep tabs on all the features in my brain has proven quite inefficient, so instead of trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing and which features are left to develop or test, we made a list. This list itemized every single outstanding feature or activity we've yet to complete before the server is launch-ready. As I was compiling this list a few weeks ago I realized that even that isn't enough. Really, is the trucking system the same as a phone call? Much different; so we started adding estimates to everything. 4 hours to finish phone calls, 16 hours to finish trucking, 2 hours here 4 there and so on. I've done estimations on an enterprise level in the past and it's a known secret that at the start of the project, unless you have a thorough specification, they're just made up numbers. Nobody knows and everyone's guess is meaningless, you're just working in a ballpark. Since we're nearing the end of the initial development, we're in a different position and it's much easier for us to list out all the things we've yet to do. So we've done that, and estimated how much it'll take. Based on these numbers, we realized that we've underestimated the amount of work remaining when we scheduled the release for Q4 2021. With the rest of the leadership, we were facing the following options: Option 1: Release in Q4 2021. We release in Q4 2021, as late as possible, but still meet the deadline. This gives us the pros of keeping up on our promise and taking advantage of the hype the LS-RP project currently has. The downside of this option is that we'd be releasing a game mode without a lot of important features and with a lot of potential bugs, since we'd have to be adding new features all the way to the launch date. Lacking features and bugs will result in a disappointed community and a potential loss of players. Option 2: Postpone the release for the 2nd time. We delay the release a bit. This allows us to work on features we deem essential but didn't manage to complete just yet. We have enough time to properly test these features (shoutout to our staff by the way - you've done amazing job testing so far). The dreaded disadvantage of going with this option is that we won't deliver on our promise that we'd release Q4, which can lead to the community being disappointed, leading to a potential loss of players. Which one would you choose? Let me know. Since we started deliberating postponing again, I had to go back and read my statement when we had to postpone to Q4. Here's a quote from that post: As I'm reading that I realize that we're in the very same situation now - how come though? Did nothing change since September? There's been no major inactivity for any of the devs or leads, or any "major roadblocks" I could think of that'd cause this delay. I tried to identify the reasons why we're delaying again and this is what I got: - We underestimated the amount of work remaining. The estimate that we should be done by Q4 was not backed by any real numbers, but rather a "gut feeling". - We've added new things to the scope for release. Those things were usually features which we deemed essential but forgot about them early on; or were only made aware of them now. - We spent a lot of time focusing on detail and polish of existing features. - Personal and professional obligations of the team, although this one was kept to a surprising minimum during Q4. After hours of deliberation, we chose option 2. We've taken several steps to make sure this is the last date we give you. We wanted to work towards a concrete date instead of a vague time range ("summer", "q4"). - As mentioned previously, we made an itemized of all remaining features and activities until we're release-ready. - We've added a estimate in hours to every remaining item or activity. - We're accounting for a % of risk dedicated to fixing bugs and unforeseen difficulties. This risk is currently set to 10%. - We've created metrics to monitor whether we're ahead of, or behind schedule. This allows us to play with the scope and reevaluate our current assignments if we're falling behind schedule. Based on these steps and metrics, we came up with the official release date of LS-RP:V on February 24th, 2022. Community Involvement With the release being postponed by just a bit over month and a half, we're looking for ways to keep the community engaged with what we're doing. Here's some milestones you can look forward to in the near future: - Character Customization made available ahead of launch, first for Patrons and later for the general public. - Character Applications made available ahead of launch to the general public. - Staff Reinstatements opening ahead to get ready for launch. The concrete dates of each will be announced separately at one point or another; but we're aiming to release the character customization server this week. There's a few more things we've up our sleeves to keep the community engaged, but I don't want to announce them just yet as they're not as thought through as the rest. If you have any ideas yourself, my inbox is always open. Progress Update I'll try to include a progress update where it makes sense when I write these posts. This should give you the idea of where we are in terms of the schedule and how much work is remaining in different parts of the code. Here's the current status: I've been on a mission to be as transparent as reasonably possible during the development of LS-RP:V. I had a lot to learn from the SA-MP days and I sincerely hope that the information we give you is keeping you excited during the wait; whether it's snippets, blog posts or just random talks on Discord. It's hard at times as we don't want to give away too much for several reasons. Sharing this progress update is yet another step in trying to balance out communication, element of surprise and competitive advantage. Closing Statement I understand any and all feelings of frustration at the announcement today. It's not fun news, but at the same time it's good news. It allows us to work on delivering what we've initially set out to make. I'd like to express my gratitude to the entire staff team who has been actively engaging in improving the server's features and standing behind the project the whole time; to the patrons who keep our infrastructure bills on time and to the community for believing in the project. Thank you for being understanding. If you'd like to be closer to the action, consider joining our discord at https://discord.gg/ls-rp, where we post snippets of our work. Kind regards and happy holiday season, Mmartin on behalf of LS-RP Staff

You already kno, homie. Lol

I deff love it, homie

Great game. if u start late wipe you might as well call it quits. Still recommend for a hardcore shooter. Anybody wanna play NA servers lemme know

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reinstate me and i'll get the job done

Everyone knows that it is not easy to develop a script from scratch. Highly appreciate the hard work from you and the development team is doing here, We're all looking forward to the official launch.

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It completely invalidates it because the supposed summary was inaccurate. You can't summarize something that's not even one of the points brought up and the quote proves that. That's putting two and two together and getting five. Legal roleplay is just as important as illegal roleplay. None should be prioritized but neither one should be neglected or given precedence. There must be an equal balance. But to synopsize the argument: I'm not suggesting that LSRP should deviate from its system, what I'm suggestion is that it takes advantage of known issues in its own and other communities and corrects it. A lot what has people crossing its fingers for LSRP is problems that were on LSRP but weren't as bad. If you can rectify the problems and be receptive to constructive criticism without being sensitive to it then that's a step in the right direction. A lot of the time constructive criticism is perceived as discrediting when in reality all it is is a suggestion in the interest of bettering something. A lot of it has to do with miscomprehension as well. Instead of saying, "the server has so many problems," I'm saying "the server could be better if..." At the end of the day what I'm trying to do is bring forward an opinion that has the potential to better the server. Again, it's an opinion but it's one I feel is shared by the wider community. 1. People with no experience in a genre shouldn't be handling reports that require experience in said genre. 2. People with no experience in a category or minimal experience in a category shouldn't be making decisions based on "rules" alone. They need to be able to put themselves in a character's shoes. 3. In terms of transparency I feel that players should be clued in on the decisions that either negatively or positively effect their characters or accounts. These "discussions" sometimes remain hidden and secluded and I've witnessed my fair share of hidden agendas impacting decisions. It cancels out the bias claims that are always associated to subgroups and gives players clarity. 4. Be consistent and forthright. If the community plays on this "case by case" or an arbitrary system then it opens it up to claims of double standard. Don't enforce a standard at your discretion. It must be on-size-fits-all. 5. Be engaging and ingenuous with the community. "Verified discussions" was a step in the right direction but after the departure of the administration that implemented it it was neglected and the public were given very few answers. A system like that should be implemented universally. 6. Put more power in the community's hands. In most communities discussions and decisions are open and closed. Meaning that any administrator or support member can close threads based on their discretion. In other words, if they don't like or agree with it then it's not worth the time of day. Stop this and let them play out. 7. Don't confuse "heavy" roleplay with hyperrealism. On other servers your faction is given virtually zero chance of existence if it doesn't go in line with Southern California. In a nutshell, if you're not an Armenian, Russian, skinhead or gang banger then you're held to an outrageous standard. Let players do what they want as long as their concept treats San Andreas like Southern California. All this "they wouldn't be here" shit is nothing more than micromanagement. If their concept isn't too far fetched and outside the lines of realism then leave them be. Who gives a fuck if there's three Italian crime families and a Serbian faction? 8. Put more investigative powers in the PD and SD's hands. Good criminal roleplay means good law enforcement roleplay. They bounce off of each other. 9. Make people value their characters. Enforce a CK rule if they put their lives at risk. 10. Stop with the excessive amount of OOC prison time unless it's murder. Maybe even repeat robberies to try and crack down on chain robberies. People will just name change and it ruins longevity and continuation and also investigations. 11. Give players breathing space. Less micromanagement and bureaucracy. If we have a business and change characters, let us keep our move our businesses without stupid levels of scrutiny. We shouldn't have to account for every little thing our characters do down to the color of its socks. 12. Don't lower the standard because "they're all we've got." There's always ways around work load, most just don't want to spread it around. I wasn't planning on writing this much so that "synopsis" I had planned is out the window 😂 But this has been on the back of my mind for months. And for the record, as a former member of staff, very little in the aforementioned "staff meetings" ever came to fruition. Most of what was said or brought forward was wrote down like something was being done but very rarely was. It was always put in the rear-view. But a fresh start will change that, I hope. Again, it's food for thought and was brought forward constructively. At the end of the day it's going to be a collective effort. Why not start prior to launch?

The benefit of hindsight is knowing what you done wrong so that you can make it better. The reason other servers are used as a comparison is because it's applicable to this server's growth. People that claim its prototype and old apparatus will be the reason for its success are being naïve and simple-minded. You look at what gave LSRP longevity and you look at what gives GTAw longevity: each platform had no competition and were able to monopolize the brand. Now you're looking at a completely different landscape in the sense that for once in our existence there will be competition. Recent shortcomings and failures of other prominent servers show you first hand that incompetency and putting people where they don't belong are the driving force behind mass migration. Tossing a coin and hoping for the best upon launch is like playing Russian roulette and is more of a hit-and-hope assessment. Contingencies need to be put in place and experience, knowledge and understanding should be behind every decision, every role and every enforcement. What needs to be understood here is what made LSRP successful in the past will no longer be its strength. Similar to what I've explained above, the reason for its success also has the potential to be its Achilles heel. At the end of the day and I'll be the first to admit, there was a lot of room for improvement. The reality was the server hadn't been the same from around 2018 or so and this was through an overall lack of standard, something the most of us (even in IFM at the time) turned a blind eye to. Looking at others' mistakes is just as important as looking at your own mistakes except in this case, you can feed off of others' mistakes and hope to capitalize on it. It's not giving the wrong impression at all, it's highly applicable and anybody that doesn't understand that are part of the problem of being stagnant and complacent. You can fix your own mistakes. You can learn and improve from others' mistakes whilst also taking advantage of them. It's a double edged sword.

Mikee, but it's the Christmas edition

1st option, on my momma, the hype brings more people and we can power through the issues. Feb 24th isint that far away but some ppl mighjt dip we will see