Toklo23

I'm a fairly new player, having been around here maybe 5 days. I feel like this robbing mentality is what shifted me from the civ path down to the criminal one. Allow me to elaborate. I came on for the first time and went through the introduction and managed to obtain a driver's and trucker's license. I spent my first days in the city hauling fuel across the state, filling up stations. It wasn't much, but it was honest work. I learned the basic skills of using your inventory and managing cash and taking salaries etc etc. I had quite a few very pleasant experiences with role play around the bank. In the back of my mind I knew not to expect anything crazy because it's an NCZ and there's probably a lot of crime out there, but I didn't think much of it. So on one delivery I'm running I'm hauling down the freeway and get stopped by some dudes on bikes, who proceed to hold me at gunpoint, get me out of the vehicle, steal it, rob my possessions, and then take off. The rping was weak but as an unarmed truck driver, all I could do was comply. Really from that point on most of my experiences outside of NCZ's were all robberies, from trying to fill up with gas to getting the vehicle stolen to being shot while out for a walk along the beach. Eventually I came into some illicit work and being around these criminal locations, the robberies just became more frequent and the players more hostile. Of course these being more criminal-centric areas and me being a solo player, the chances of being robbed are much higher. However, these experiences really have tainted the level of trust I have for players when I encounter them now. My first instinct is to always draw a gun, because I fear for my life and property otherwise. I'll only confiscate a weapon if I see it, maybe some valuables depending on the player or my financial needs. But I don't do it for some thrill or to score a quick buck, I feel like I almost have to. My character has become such a paranoid person because of all of these previous experiences. Plenty of these encounters are justified, given the questionable work I'm involved with now, but to be robbed in the middle of the day in the middle of the city in plain sight? It is what it is, but it does get a little old. When I see a group of people my first instinct shouldn't be to draw a gun or run away like that, but I've just become so paranoid and defensive over my life and property that I have to be willing to die in a shootout over it as opposed to be stripped of my possessions and left stranded. I'm enjoying my time here, and while the robbery mentality can be tainting, there have been a few good and decent role play experiences that have come from it. I just feel limited to being the shadow man behind the gun now because if I don't, then who's to say the other guy won't draw one on me? I guess I've played the victim card enough so that I became the villain. Again it is what it is, but the influx of crime and the whole cops vs robbers mentality probably exists and keeps growing because life as a solo factionless civ is just unforgiving. You're just an easy target.

Good day everyone. I've been playing for the past couple of days and in my time settling in, I've had a little time to consider some suggestions, the most prominent being traffic along the streets of San Andreas, or the lack thereof. Now, I have no understanding of how the coding/scripting/magic/witchcraft that goes into developing the mods that make the server what it is, so I have no idea if this is even possible, but I'll share anyways. I'd like to see npc's back on the streets of the map. I don't know if they've been gone since the beginning, or were removed for a certain reason, but the map just feels so empty without the traffic you're used to seeing in the regular game. Even when interacting and rping with other players, everything still feels a little lonely. So the basic premise is to add npc's into the game to add to the atmosphere and further enhance the environment. Different times of day could yield different levels of traffic, as in real life. Bumper to bumper traffic during rush hour in certain parts of the city compared to sparse traffic in the middle of the night. And, just to be clear, my idea includes npc traffic only, not npc pedestrians. NPC traffic will completely ruin police pursuits, as players will try to ditch their vehicle and steal an npc's in order to evade easier. This is a valid point, however I see a solution. In real life, rarely, if ever, does a suspect attempt to steal a car along a major freeway or busy road. Carjackings during pursuits usually happen in parking lots or gas stations or other residential areas, and pursuits usually end there as well, since the suspect has very little time to get away before they're taken down by the cops. And, a player attempting to stop an npc going 50+ mph on a major road and jack their car is completely unrealistic, and could be taken as that player disregarding their safety and therefore devaluing their life and personal property due to the obvious danger. Now, if for some outlandish reason that were to happen, the victim of the car jacking would most likely be able to inform police of the stolen vehicle anyways, and possibly a description of the suspect, defeating the purpose of attempting to use a "cool" getaway vehicle. Should a player try and steal a parked car, they should have to go through the process of unlocking it via bobby pin, which brings me to my next point. By default, all npc vehicles, both active (driving) and parked, should be locked. Most car makes and models going back at least 8 to 10 years have automatic locking systems when a vehicle is put into drive. So it's extremely unlikely that a given player could just run up and drag someone out of a vehicle and drive off, and if they were able to, the likelihood of bystanders witnessing the incident would be high, given the area. If a player wants to steal a parked car, they should have to go through the process of using bobby pins to get inside. So what prevents players from abusing this feature and instead of utilizing the already available transportation services, just bounce around in different stolen cars? Good point. My idea here is to implement a system that has a random chance of flagging the vehicle as stolen, giving the police a description of the vehicle and plate number, as well as a last known location. When trying to break into a car currently, there is a random chance of whether or not the bobby pin will work, and the same could be applied to stealing an npc vehicle. There's a moderate to high chance that the vehicle ends up being flagged as stolen. ICly, this could be an npc looking out the window noticing the carjacking, or the owner of the vehicle coming back to where they parked to find the vehicle gone. It still depends on police trying to find the suspect, but the extent to which the cops want to rp that kind of situation out would be up to them. Alright, but what about players abusing npc traffic by just taking cars and scrapping them or modify them? Also a valid concern. The solution I see works similarly to a certain game mechanic found in regular GTA Online. There are certain vehicles that are flagged as "too hot" and cannot be modified or sold. If possible, all npc vehicles could receive a similar flag that prevents them from being scrapped. It's already impossible to modify a stolen vehicle as it stands in Eclipse. The same could be applied to trying to modify a stolen npc vehicle. So, the takeaway here is that traffic would do so much to add to the atmosphere of the server. We don't have to be able to interact with npc's in the ways we are able to with players, but traffic would do so much to breathe life into the city and other parts of the map. The roadways wouldn't feel as sparse and dead as they currently do. It's nice seeing the occasional player flyby on the opposite side of traffic every now and then, but to be able to rp and play around real flowing traffic would tremendously boost the environment the server has to offer.