I've just joined the server within the past couple weeks and am very pleased with how it looks. It seems to be a step up over any other offering I've come across so far, but I was surprised at the general lack of activity. I've seen a max of about 70-80 people on at peak times during the weekend which although very good for GT-MP, is a far cry from the good old days of SAMP servers like SZR and NGRP, whilst also lagging significantly behind the German servers. I do also appreciate that NGRP and SZR were around a LONG time so had a lot of time to progress but there definitely seems to be something missing here.
As said, so far I've enjoyed my time in the server but other than some interaction with cops, taxi drivers, medics and a small group who pulled me over to still my shipment, there seems to be a general lack of "lifestyle" roleplay. By that I mean that past the government factions there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of activity with people doing the following:
- Occupied businesses - I don't know if most of the owners have moved on and stopped playing now or what, but other than Government factions I've not seen one financial company or car retailer or anything promoting or RP'ing their business.
- Selling of cars/houses - I can see some activity here on the forum but in previous GTA RP servers I've played this has been one of the main things you see happening. The RP exchange of people buying and selling vehicles or property to each other was one of the key fundamentals to servers like NGRP and you could spin a nice little business out of it. Here however it just seems people take their car to the high end or low end and throw it on the block and walk away (im guilty of this also).
- Gang activity - I'm yet to see any "proper" gang activity. The odd person getting attacked or pulled over by a small group maybe, but no actual big gang activity. I don't know if this is happening quietly in the background or what?
The feeling I get overall is that the server USED to be 150-200 people strong at peak times, but has dropped off considerably. I might be completely wrong about this and its actually just starting and growing, but I doubt that.
So with all that covered I think here are a few things that could really promote growth across the server. If any of these have already been introduced and I haven't spotted them, suggested and rejected, or are actually in the works I apologise. I haven't had the time to trawl through ever thread in the server. I'm also not a developer so I have NO IDEA how hard it would be to implement any of this.
Official Server Authorised Gangs - This is a BIG BIG BIG one for me. Yes it's not strictly 100% RP making them server generated, but by allowing people to just create gangs of all forms whenever and however they like you end up with a wide spread of people with 50 small gangs that aren't that visible. Really you need 4-6 gangs that are server authorised and run by very active members. If the people running the gangs disappear for a month or more they should be removed and someone else already in the gang promoted - That way you aren't reliant on one person. These gangs NEED to be very visible to the community. You need their HQ identified on the map so people know exactly where they are based and what their turf is. New people need to be able to sign into the server and identify that these gangs exist from day one. This is something completely missing obviously as I'm still not sure if any exist or are active.
Once the gangs are set up you need to give them a purpose. It needs to be significantly more financially beneficial to be in a gang than to work trucking or w/e. Trucking, farming, fishing etc should be the pursuit of those that don't mind spending 10 hours getting the same amount of cash a criminal can get in 2 or 3. One great thing about SZR were the points that gangs would fight over. These came up as available every 24 hours so the gangs had to be online to fight over them. They were massively financially beneficial as well because the entire weapons and drugs business (weed for healing and cocaine for armour) flowed through them. That way every time someone wanted more than a pistol, they had to go to one of these spots and spend money to get parts which then gave the gangs income. You need this player generated economy in the game with everything linked. If you just have everyone going from point A to B delivering shit you aren't pumping the economy enough. You need people to give money to gangs to get gun parts, they can then create the guns and sell them back to the gangs etc. It's win win for everyone and keeps the money circulating like a real world economy.
Occupied Businesses - As stated above, you need these in game businesses to be fully functional with owners active and in the game. The guy who owns a car dealership shouldn't be a cop as well (gang member sure). For me, if the owner of a business isn't around, the business should be sold off in an auction, with the proceeds going to the previous owner. If he then shows up after 4 months missing his business, at least he has the cash. You should also NOT be able to buy and guns or cars from these businesses unless the owner is offline. If the owner is online then you should have to interact with them. Again I would also suggest there is saturation here with too many car and gun dealerships. Four of each should really be the maximum in my opinion. The same with loan companies. I want to be able to get a loan if they are offline (they can pre-input max amount and pre-requisites) but equally reduce the number of them.
Selling of cars/houses - FORUM ACTIVITY - This one isn't a major but as said, by having the high and low end car markets you are removing the RP element. People should be able to advertise that their car is for sale in game (for a fee) or on the forum. I appreciate this is kind of already in place but it needs to be pushed and promoted more. The forum should be treated as an extension of the server with everyone who plays the game being funnelled through the forum that acts as a sort of IC internet. I want to sign onto the forum and see 100 posts everyday.
Job Levels: The longer you work that job, the more money you make. If someone has made 100 truck deliveries, reward them by making that $1000 trip now $1500. They've done 200 deliveries, okay go to $2000. Make it worth their while to do it.
Stealing Shipments: This one is simple. If its outside the city its fair game. BUT, each person can only steal one shipment every 4 hours and it has to be RP. If you steal a truck hauling fuel, you should be able to take that to a criminal warehouse and sell it for X price of the contents. So if there are 40,000 litres you get $0.5 per litre for example. A nice 20k or $5k per hour of gameplay. If you catch him with only 10,000 litres your profit just sunk. You could apply this to all the jobs with varying amounts to be made. The courier job for example wouldn't pay criminals anywhere near what the fuel or cars do. Equally you could also pay the truckers or whoever MORE for the higher risk shipments. If hauling clothes the criminals won't get much and neither will the trucker. If hauling cars, guns or fuel though, the price goes up for both parties. Although some people (the truckers) might be annoyed by this at first, in reality it only adds to the game. Driving back and forth with nothing happening can be boring after a while. Having the threat of being robbed along your route gives it some excitement.
So yeh, these are just a few ideas I personally would love to see implemented if not already on the way. Let me know what you guys think.
