The Mechanic Issue and the OOC Implications

[Asbo]

2 hours ago, Tom Solar said:

Also why is weazel the only company with comissions?  thats just ridiculous. I found that out IC recently and was very surprized

im just as surprised as you are to learn this.

[Puzzling]

2 hours ago, Tom Solar said:

Also why is weazel the only company with comissions?  thats just ridiculous.

Weazel used to get bonuses for doing bulk ads which was available for everyone when it was in place. Fairly certain this was a manual payout nothing scripted
MD gets $200(?) per body dropped off at the hospital. This one is scripted

I am sure all the other companies could do commission if they really wanted to give extra incentives, have something they fill out or something to keep track of calls completed, fill out a form if you do a mechanic request, and get a little bonus for taking them. 

I feel like a lot of this could be done IC, though I guess it's all up to the head admins to allow it, however, that should also be handled IC if there are budget checks and such.

[Tom Solar]

6 minutes ago, Asbo said:

im just as surprised as you are to learn this.

its not true? those damn liars  dont hate me asbo, they tricked me!!!

I'l remove that part then

[Kellie]

6 hours ago, Tom Solar said:

for real though, i feel like most of them are still copy pasting stuff, most of the time when I come in with the mechanics I will tell them what is wrong with the car but they always default back to the radiator/sparkplug rp, I think macros should be alowed, you could maybe even have a couple depending on the situation and when more specific rp presents itself you are still able to /me whatever you like.

I can, for a fact, say that LSC and also Bayview are super strict about copy pasting. Copy pasting leads to ooc punishments and close to nobody does it and if its being found out theyre done. The reason not many people react to your rp ir default to spark plug and radiator is that these are the roleplays that are in our guide. 

 

Also weazel does get boni based on comission. 

[Bala]

Consider for a moment, how our server uses their vehicles in a roleplay sense when they are not at a mechanic garage.  Driving as fast as the vehicle can go, scraping it on things, bashing it into things etc.. and it doesn't really make much difference. So, consider how little your average player will regard mechanic roleplay at Bayview or Los Santos Customs. 

If most customers simply want to get their vehicle repaired and leave to go do what they need to, who is all the roleplay for?

I would rather be stood there actually talking to a mechanic in an animation fixing my car, than reading all the /me's they are rattling off, whether it's copy-pasted or not. Whether it is copy-pasted is actually irrelevant because what is being said, is somewhat irrelevant. It's not person to person roleplay, it's basically person to environment roleplay at that point. PTE Roleplay doesn't really happen anywhere else on Eclipse, so why would the mechanics be any different?

If you set the roleplay bar for mechanics at a more basic amount, then it's up to the individual how much extra effort they put in or don't. You aren't lessening standards, you're just readjusting them to the server you play on.

I remember when I would be around MD on scenes a while back. You'd get some medics that just did the basic treatment for a person, then you'd get someone like Stan Abbadon that would play sound effects down his microphone and go that extra mile to try and make the RP something extra.

Make it make sense.

[Ash]

1 hour ago, Bala said:

I would rather be stood there actually talking to a mechanic in an animation fixing my car

Been lurking this thread but need to reply to this, 100% agree. There's more to RP than just /me and /do. If you are talking to the person, explaining what issues you found maybe a bit of voice roleplay grunting removing something there's probably a very low chance that anyone will ever complain or take an issue with you for not actually just spamming a bunch of /me's and /do's.

Hell, for a good chunk of my DOC career, I didn't RP frisking, I instead talked them through "I'm gonna pat you down now is that okay" Maybe sprinkle in some animations or soundboard if I'm feeling spicy whilst talking through the whole thing and I never got pulled up about powergaming or any complaints from people. Even for my time in MD, I'd do a super basic low effort /me and /do but put a LOT more effort into voice roleplay and back-and-forth with people and again, never got a complaint about doing the /cpr or /stabilize after. Basically never roleplayed with commands to get people onto stretchers, instead verbalised it and soundboarded stretcher noises and that's RP (very much inspired by Stab Abbadon's RP)! I definitely feel like the above applies to mechanics and is where a lot of people miss out on opportunities.

It comes down to the fact that this "boilerplate" rp of /me and /do is basically the bare minimum, if you go to the effort of doing something different and maybe unique you'll find you get better reactions from people and also end up having more fun yourself. The 'mandatory' RP is there to stop people just doing the animation and that's it, but spicing it up yourself will foster more engagement and interaction.

It's give and take, mechanics in general need to do more if they want to not have people doing nothing to make the rp interesting, but also people going to mechanics need to realize they're people wanting to roleplay and play the game themselves and if they want them to be more available, then make it fun for them.

Edited October 11, 2023 by Ash

[Kellie]

I fully agree with the things that @Ash has said. When you play as a mechanic at LSC you sometimes just felt like a typewriter (which is, kind of, why I decided to do bayview instead because with less cars to repair there is just more roleplay). The /me and /do are not enhancing the roleplay, but hindering it from actually happening. 

The big plus LSC has is just the sheer amount of people needing repairs and the possibility to talk to everyone, have smalltalk and good interactions. This is just not possible right now when you are alone on shift. I have had a lot of customers that DID want to talk and interact with me but I just wasn't able to while being the only one on shift and having to type the "at least 4 lines of roleplay" that mechanics are required to do. 

How little new players like this shows in the amount of people that quit the place within the first two weeks to join another faction that just offers way more interaction. LSC has had trouble with getting trainers into the faction for as long as I've been there due to the fact that nobody stays long enough to be eligible and I do not think that there is a big IC reason behind that seeing that the place itself has been really harmonious. 

People come to a roleplay server to interact with others. As long as mechanics are shunned from being able to do so, the decline in people in that faction will continue to happen. 

[Puzzling]

5 hours ago, Bala said:

I would rather be stood there actually talking to a mechanic in an animation fixing my car, than reading all the /me's they are rattling off, whether it's copy-pasted or not.

I can't lie, depending on who I am repairing the vehicle for and if they actually want to hold a conversation, I just type basic things and build LORE and RP with the characters rather than type an essay out. Other times if they have specific things they are like /do x would be broken with a scratched y, I would do more in-depth RP. Depends on the person for how I go about the RP

 

Edit: I didn't read the rest of the replies before sending this, but when I was in MD I definitely used soundboards all of the time with little /me's and /do's whether it be bandage duct tape, or velcro etc. Soundboards done correctly >

Edited October 11, 2023 by Puzzling

[PurplePlant]

As a long time mechanic in the city I have seen some good suggestions in this thread but also some that have already been attempted. For example, the commission per car was a thing back in the day and I think the main problem with doing commission was the animosity it created between co-workers. Another would be the repair while no mechanics are on duty, this also already exists but is currently de-activated for some unknown reason. I do agree that there are changes that need to be made to make mechanic a little more interesting and less typing. I saw a good suggestion that ECRP added a lot of animations that could be used in the mechanic shop, like the lifts actually working to give that one less /me raises the car on the lift and instead just doing the animation (after all, /me is just there to supplement not having actual animations of your character doing that action). The phone app was also mentioned when we first got the phone upgrade but no updates sense.   For me the biggest issues are: having enough employees to hire because of the strict no-crime policy, waiting for weekly paychecks(freelance jobs pays instant & more per hour), the amount of /me /do is horrible, no ability to interact while RP'ing, traffic flow to LSC is much higher due to location, and internal paperwork that slows down the faction, such as waiting on select employees who can conduct interviews or do paperwork(which also feels like a REAL JOB) or even training the new employees.

Edited October 11, 2023 by PurplePlant

[XeV]

easy solution, remove mandatory RP for mechanics, I rather sit and chat with one working on my car then we stand there for 0 interaction because if you do not get your 4 lines of RP you risk your job and a punishment/faction ban. your RPing for no one, BRING BACK THE LEDGE SYSTEM and add commission, IDK why the ledge based system was removed, Everyone just stands in a line and you go from right to left no favorites no "yo i want Jim to do my car" just go down the line. Also solved a lot of salary farming issues because if you were next in line to do a car and just were not responding you got a stern talking to, cause I've seen my fair share of on duty mechanics just sitting on a couch or dancing to music with ((Tabbed Out)) while one mechanic is busting his ass. Commission is an incentive to be like "oh its busy hell yah ima make bank and get my work in today' rather then "oh its busy good thing I still make 5k an hour flat" - proceeds to clock off and only clock on when its slow morning shift or graveyard.