Scripted Business Owners - Minimum Weekly Hours Requirement

[Hector2Fingers]

I feel that owners of scripted businesses on the server should be subject to similar requirements as those who serve in certain factions.  With the limited amount of businesses with script support available on the server, there is no reason that an inactive player should be allowed to keep a scripted business if the only time that they log in is to restock their store, gas station, dealership, etc. 

There should be a minimum of 5 hours a week gameplay on the server (or something similar) to allow scripted businesses to be owned only by players actively playing on the server. 

Obviously, people will have OOC things that can prevent this at times.  So, there should be a certain type of LOA system that could be implemented for business owners similar to those in factions as well.  Potentially business owners could have a member of faction management staff that could oversee something like this.

[Celestial]

-1

[Willowick]

+1 even as a business owner. Always been one of my biggest annoyances seeing the limited scripted businesses with inactive owners that only log on to refill the shop and head back out. Many other players are very active on the server and don't get an opportunity because of it.

 

I personally think a another way to 'fix' the issue, without having a minimum OOC hour amount would be to drastically reduce the max stock of stores items, gas and vehicles which would require more IC ordering, which in turn  requires the owner to be in town a bit more and also provides more RP to truck drivers.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Willowick

[Hector2Fingers]

12 minutes ago, Vixxey said:

-1

Care to elaborate as to why?

[Jonaseriksen07]

-1 

I do kinda like the idea but it should be more like, in 6 month you should have a minimum of 250 hours. Having 1 week minimum of 5 hours seems way to strict for something that is player owned that a player has used countless hours grinding up to. The reason that some factions has a minimum of 5 hours is due to higherups in the faction has agreed to that rule which then would be a ic issue. However getting forced by OOC rules seems very weird to me. 

All of that being said I do believe that this shoud be a IC matter and something that should be descussed as such. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Jonaseriksen07

[Celestial]

21 minutes ago, Hector2Fingers said:

Care to elaborate as to why?

People have worked hard in the past and present to get to where they are now, and taking anything away just because a player is inactive implies that all of their hard work has been rendered ineffective.
If a player logs in to restock their business, they show interest towards it. Taking it away for that specific reason is a punishment for not playing which doesn't seem wise or right.
It will be more like faction termination due to inactivity, which is entirely different and should not be applied to assets.

In comparison, house removal due to inactivity is for players who haven't played in a particular length of time, not even logging in to check on their houses. Owners of businesses login to restock their stores/dealerships, that's the difference - doesn't matter how often they play.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Vixxey

[Hector2Fingers]

58 minutes ago, Vixxey said:

People have worked hard in the past and present to get to where they are now, and taking anything away just because a player is inactive implies that all of their hard work has been rendered ineffective.
If a player logs in to restock their business, they show interest towards it. Taking it away for that specific reason is a punishment for not playing which doesn't seem wise or right.
It will be more like faction termination due to inactivity, which is entirely different and should not be applied to assets.

In comparison, house removal due to inactivity is for players who haven't played in a particular length of time, not even logging in to check on their houses. Owners of businesses login to restock their stores/dealerships, that's the difference - doesn't matter how often they play.

While I 100% agree that there is a massive grind and money saving that generally goes towards becoming a scripted business owner (have been one in the past), I fail to see how it effects the server in a positive way when someone can simply log on once a week or so, take 10 minutes to place an order for gas (as an example), log off and continue to accumulate wealth on a server they don't play on.  

I also am not suggesting that if you don't log in for 5 hours every week, your business is stripped from you (was simply using a 5 hour minimum as an example from a faction).  I think it needs to be taken into consideration by the server staff and determined if someone is contributing to/participating in the server or just accumulating wealth by logging in for a few minutes.  In a typical business, an owner would have to manage employees, payroll, inventory, etc.  Or they would pay someone to do it for them.  This server script does not allow that, and all scripted businesses (except for loan companies) are completely self sufficient outside of placing an order of the product.  If there's more I'm missing outside of that in which is required to run a business, then I apologize.

In the past, when staff has offered up business properties for auction/raffle, they have noted that Inactive Players are not allowed to bid/enter.  So there'd be no difference in my opinion of an inactive player winning an auction versus an inactive player "running" a business for 10 minutes per week.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Hector2Fingers

[Phantas]

Honestly businesses need a rework to entice more player interaction, than they need restrictions on people who only log in to restock. 

[Curtins]

+1

[STE]

I like the idea but 5 hours per week is too excessive. Should be spread across for example a 3-6 month period and if the inactivity is reached and the business is auctioned, all the money should go to the previous owner as they're crazy expensive now and they don't deserve to just lose the money. 

[Chunder]

In any case I believe it should be more about the activity of the business rather than the activity of the player. For instance, if the store isn't stocked for X amount of time then it will be marked inactive.
This is also actively tracked IC with licensing, maybe instead of making it OOC then the government can more actively track the licenses being paid and also check the stock themselves actively.

[Hector2Fingers]

14 hours ago, Chunder said:

In any case I believe it should be more about the activity of the business rather than the activity of the player. For instance, if the store isn't stocked for X amount of time then it will be marked inactive.
This is also actively tracked IC with licensing, maybe instead of making it OOC then the government can more actively track the licenses being paid and also check the stock themselves actively.

I believe this is already in place ICly.  I recall reading that gas station owners are only allowed to be empty on gas for X number of days before fines/seizure from the licensing department.  My main issue is those who log on simply to restock/collect their money and don't contribute to the server in any other fashion which I can't really think of a good way to track that ICly.

[apologisemeow]

On 5/10/2022 at 4:29 PM, Jonaseriksen07 said:

-1 

I do kinda like the idea but it should be more like, in 6 month you should have a minimum of 250 hours. Having 1 week minimum of 5 hours seems way to strict for something that is player owned that a player has used countless hours grinding up to. The reason that some factions has a minimum of 5 hours is due to higherups in the faction has agreed to that rule which then would be a ic issue. However getting forced by OOC rules seems very weird to me. 

All of that being said I do believe that this shoud be a IC matter and something that should be descussed as such. 

This would be the best way to go about it for sure two of the best businesses in the city right now are ran by one person, she only gets into town to restock with little to no desire to RP businesses are such huge assets the fact that some people can not play for months on end and still retain their business is crazy.

[Shurples]

Big +1, don't care too much about the requirements, that's something the admins can decide on but this is defo needed since it seems there's many inactive stores.

[Jbacon]

On 5/10/2022 at 12:21 PM, Willowick said:

+1 even as a business owner. Always been one of my biggest annoyances seeing the limited scripted businesses with inactive owners that only log on to refill the shop and head back out. Many other players are very active on the server and don't get an opportunity because of it.

 

I personally think a another way to 'fix' the issue, without having a minimum OOC hour amount would be to drastically reduce the max stock of stores items, gas and vehicles which would require more IC ordering, which in turn  requires the owner to be in town a bit more and also provides more RP to truck drivers.

They already massively reduced the stock of stores, my store cant even run 24 hours without needing refilled now. 150 bottles of water, and sandwiches barely last a week day, let alone a weekend day.

I would like to see it so that Stores, Gas Stations ETC. can have employees working the counters. Example -
Player goes to Chumash 24/7
similarly to burgershot, goes to a spot inside the store and clocks on duty. -This would be hard for stores to pay for, as it would be a fluctuating number for when someone is actually working vs when the npc is working thus i think it should pay similarly to burgershot, a base salary + a commission on product sales. Also employees would require to be hired by the store to work for them, thus interviews and so on.

Just a thought to increase player interactions around stores.

[Harley]

+1. I know of too many players who login just to restock their business and then logout. What's the point in these players owning businesses when they don't even play the game

[SkyeFuryy]

+1 I agree, it's unfair for active players wanting to run a business catering to inactive players who log in simply to restock. Due to limited amount of spots available for scripted property ownership, we should proactively be setting up guidelines for scripted business owners, including a fixed minimum gameplay requirement (on that character) to continue to keep that business. IMO.