A few overall suggestions...

[trumdog]

Hello!

I'd like to start this out by saying I really do enjoy playing on this server and will continue to play on it, these are only critiques of certain parts of it. I think everything should be bale to be criticized, even things we really enjoy! I have multiple topics to cover, so I did not want to put this in any of the specific categories for suggestions.

I guess I'll start by mentioning the system for releasing impounded cars. This is probably the part of the server that frustrates me the most, and I have heard that I'm not the only one that has had this experience: Every time my car gets impounded by the police and I go to the lot to get it back, I have had to wait over 30-40 minutes just for an officer to show up. And I want to make it clear that I don't find this to be the officer's fault; they have other, much more important, things to do instead of getting some people's cars out of the impound lot. I think the system itself should be changed to benefit both parties. If people were able to get their own cars out of the lot through some automated system, it would save everybody time. It seems unrealistic to me that nobody would be able to help when groups of people are trying to get their cars released.

Another thing that I have read rules about and had a problem with, are kidnapping rules. In order to take someone hostage for, say, a bank heist, you would have to take someone that you have "deathmatch reasons" against, and if you do find someone that fits that description, you have to wait another full week to take someone hostage after police involvement. My main problem here is needing DM reason in order to take someone hostage. Let's say that you wanted to rob a bank (as criminals want to do). You have to wait for someone to do something so hateful to you that you would want to kill them in order to take them hostage. In my opinion, that seems unrealistic, but I assume there were reasons for this rule being made. I can acknowledge that, if this rule were not in effect, there is a possibility of people being held hostage at an alarming rate which would be annoying. But, I think there could be a solid middle ground to prevent this, like: needing a reason to hold somebody hostage, like robbing a bank or maybe even being chased by the police?

A much smaller problem I have had, that I have even seen others mention, has to do with the poker tables. At the tables in Tequila- La, the system takes kickers into account, even for five-card hands. I have been beaten for having the exact same full house as an opponent, and lost money because he "had a higher kicker," which is simply not a thing in Texas Hold 'Em. This should be fixed to match hold em rules.

Before I end this suggestion list, I want to say that I acknowledge that my opinions could definitely be wrong here, and not a right fit for the server. The people who run the server have much more experience than me with these kinds of things and could have very valid reasons for why these systems are in place (except for the poker suggestion, that just needs to be fixed LMAO). Thank you!

[Victor Einhart]

4 hours ago, trumdog said:

needing a reason to hold somebody hostage

Current rules already support this via the kidnapping rules:

Quote

If you attempt to commit robbery of a property, you are allowed to hold the players within that property until you have finished the robbery. An NPC is not a valid hostage.

"A property" also includes a bank, many people wait for someone to walk in and then hold them there while they rob it.  In my opinion this is already very generous because these types of hostage situations happen daily and it's getting to be too much speaking from a law enforcement perspective even with the 1 OOC week restriction.

 

As for the impound lot, unfortunately this goes back to situations like the hostage situation. When we're drawn into a massive situation that requires a lot of officers we simply can't spare someone to get a car out when a situation like this holds our attention. We need people there to keep outsiders from interfering with the scene whether that's bystanders, fellow gang members trying to attack us to give their guys an opening, or just an idiot going 200 down the street and crashing into the scene. We'll usually have a few completely unrelated arrests during large scenes because people try to breach the scene or otherwise cause trouble. That also means we have to assign an officer to take care of that person to make sure they're charged correctly and not forgotten about.

When we allow an officer to leave a scene to do something else, they usually end up having critical information we needed to bring the scene to a hasty conclusion like for example they saw a man shooting or they took a gun off someone. A lot of the time we can't just clear people because we end up having to track them down again, which drags things out even longer than necessary. It takes a lot of work to organize things and a lot of people really do not understand the level of effort and focus it takes to keep situations sensible. You see people all the time screaming at us to hurry up, but then they get angry when we hurry through things and mistakes get made.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Victor Einhart

[trumdog]

2 hours ago, Victor Einhart said:

Current rules already support this via the kidnapping rules:

"A property" also includes a bank, many people wait for someone to walk in and then hold them there while they rob it.  In my opinion this is already very generous because these types of hostage situations happen daily and it's getting to be too much speaking from a law enforcement perspective even with the 1 OOC week restriction.

 

As for the impound lot, unfortunately this goes back to situations like the hostage situation. When we're drawn into a massive situation that requires a lot of officers we simply can't spare someone to get a car out when a situation like this holds our attention. We need people there to keep outsiders from interfering with the scene whether that's bystanders, fellow gang members trying to attack us to give their guys an opening, or just an idiot going 200 down the street and crashing into the scene. We'll usually have a few completely unrelated arrests during large scenes because people try to breach the scene or otherwise cause trouble. That also means we have to assign an officer to take care of that person to make sure they're charged correctly and not forgotten about.

When we allow an officer to leave a scene to do something else, they usually end up having critical information we needed to bring the scene to a hasty conclusion like for example they saw a man shooting or they took a gun off someone. A lot of the time we can't just clear people because we end up having to track them down again, which drags things out even longer than necessary. It takes a lot of work to organize things and a lot of people really do not understand the level of effort and focus it takes to keep situations sensible. You see people all the time screaming at us to hurry up, but then they get angry when we hurry through things and mistakes get made.

I totally understand the cop perspective in these situations which is why I said:

 

7 hours ago, trumdog said:

And I want to make it clear that I don't find this to be the officer's fault; they have other, much more important, things to do instead of getting some people's cars out of the impound lot. I think the system itself should be changed to benefit both parties.

 

Police have much better things to do. But these people are waiting for over 30 minutes to pay someone to release their car. The system itself does not seem ideal for anyone.

 

2 hours ago, Victor Einhart said:

If you attempt to commit robbery of a property, you are allowed to hold the players within that property until you have finished the robbery. An NPC is not a valid hostage.

^^ Now this, I was not aware of. This definitely clears things up, thank you very much!