The Criminal Update III [Rules/DEV]

[Bala]

You can check out my two previous criminal update suggestion threads below.

• https://forum.eclipse-rp.net/topic/58198-criminal-overhaul-20/
• https://forum.eclipse-rp.net/topic/55570-cayo-perico-crim-eclipse-update/

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The Criminal Update III
RULES AND COMMUNITY APPROACH
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No song?

Given the importance of the thread, I didn't really want to trivialise the topic with an accompanying song, sorry.

Why is a significant criminal update needed and a priority?

I took the liberty of speaking with a number of the influential criminal role-players to get their take on the current criminal scene with Eclipse, as I had felt  that over the past six months, the server had become very stale. It's something that we've noticed as cops and so I figured, if we've noticed it, then criminals definitely have. Sure enough the feedback that I got back confirmed my suspicions, that things were not great in a number of areas on the criminal side of things but importantly, people still remained optimistic that things could change.

I didn't just want to make another suggestion thread, with my own ideas and thoughts but really get a feel for what the criminal player-base need. My angle here is that as a cop, it is in my interest for criminals to be more active and enjoying themselves. If they are more active, there is more for me and the rest of my faction to do. If they are enjoying themselves, they are less likely to be fucking around and baiting. 

The Importance of Criminals to Eclipse

I cannot stress how fucking important the criminals are to our server and some of the attitudes are worrisome when they pretend they are not.

• Criminals need other criminals for competition. If criminals are reliant on Police to be the antagonist then the balance is off.
• LSPD/LSSD are reliant on criminals to commit crime, to base our role-play around.
• DOC are completely reliant on criminals, to give them something to do.
• MD, like the PD and SD benefit when people are getting injured through means other than hitting a barrier with their vehicle.

Criminals are incredibly important to the server.

The Current Direction

From the point where the WCA/Council war ended to now, we've been drifting into a direction that doesn't feel like it matches Eclipse. We're never going to be a heavy role-play server. That was decided the minute we decided to use VOIP, but we've introduced all these new limitations for criminals in the server and for what exactly?

The standard of role-play has not increased but in my view, the amount of frustration and apathy towards logging in has. This is increasingly become less like a GTA Roleplay Server and more like Sims Roleplay. If I'm a criminal, I'd feel that my options of things to do are very, very limited. Not even just in terms of the script but the restrictive nature of the rules.

Cops feel it, Criminals definitely feel it. There is always going to be a certain amount of repetition and spinning of the wheel, but the bigger the wheel, the less you'll notice it.

The Introduction and Prominence of Rule-play Stems from Excessive Restrictions

We're mollycoddling our criminals and when a situation gets out of control, like with the faction wars or the joint frequencies or the robberies, we introduce these restrictions that one by one suck the life out of being a criminal in Eclipse. You wouldn't use a sledge-hammer to put a drawing pin into the wall. 

If factions are hitting each other too hard in game for example, call an OOC truce for a temporary period, let things simmer down, take the heat out of it.
Either we come down too hard on something or we're too slow to react and it blows up.

The consequences of a player's actions currently don't have an important enough place in what happens next. It's either, a situation and the role-play must end or a rule has been broken.
Going all the way back to WCA, it was ridiculously easy to get yourself into trouble when you're roleplaying in a street gang in Eclipse. Staying true to the role-play doesn't count for as much as it should.

Encouraging Factions to be Better.

We also have to be pragmatic about our approach to factions doing a good job. We'll come down hard on factions that are not cutting it, but at the same time when you have factions like Daichead Gadai (not saying they were perfect though) who were I feel as close to the ideal criminal faction as you can get, staff or faction management or whoever should be doing everything possible to help them flourish and grow their role-play.

If other factions see there is real positive benefits to doing things like running in-character events, fleshing out their character stories and that of the faction, participating in good roleplay with other factions and characters, having good relationships with other groups OOC, sticking to the rules and all the other things we'd want from our criminal factions then they will get on board with that. To be completely honest, it's a hard ask for people to put themselves out if they are not going to see a positive return on it.

That's just how it be.

Let a criminal be a criminal.

You have to give criminals enough breathing room to allow them to do what criminals do. We've created an environment where there are always certain conditions to be met but you are leaving a shit load of role-play on the table if you do that. Some of the most exciting moments in the server happen in the heat of the moment. 

If two factions are constantly at war, is there really anything wrong with them going after one another full tilt? If the role-play these factions have done to get to a point where they want to murder one another, then who are we to stand in the way of that? There doesn't need to be a form filled out, there doesn't need to be some sort of action cutscene before you blast someone.

If Faction A and Faction B have bad enough issues with one another, then take the reins off and let them fucking go at each other and only stop it if it gets out of control. If you see a rival gang member and catch him slipping, you should be able to light him up like a Christmas tree if the prior RP supports it. If he don't want to get down like that, he's not going to run with that group anymore.

Nothing is more exciting to a lot of players in the server that a fire-fight, I'm sorry but that's the way it is. I'm not advocating for deathmatching here but this is a role-play server and you live and die by the consequences of your actions. It's the same with PD. There are cops that love the passive side of policing and I do on occasion but it's no secret that as soon as there is a pursuit or a gunfight, you will get the most units responding. You feel that electricity.

Which brings us to..

Boredom.

The main issue I think we have to address is boredom. It either leads to people developing apathy towards playing here or not wanting to engage in anything meaningful or long term because it doesn't entertain them to do so. As a cop, it feels like the server is now task off your mask simulator and we have too many bored criminals just fucking about because they're not focused on anything specific once there is no banks left to rob. Boredom leads to people not giving a fuck or doing stupid shit.

This is no longer something that can be shrugged off or dismissed. If it's not addressed in the short term, we're going to have real problems in the long term. I'm sorry if that offends anyone but it needs to be said, because what we have currently is not working.

Static Labs and Chop Shops before had their own problems but they were a lightning rod for criminal activity. Think of them like the Pier for Criminals. If you wanted to instigate role-play or network with criminals those areas would be a great location. 

Criminals choose to role-play as characters that have little to no IC rules. They'll do what they want, but we're boxing them in too much OOC.

Play To Win Mentality 

The mentality of doing anything to win is present in all areas of the server, not just criminal but nowhere else is the effect of that mentality felt more than crim. When advancing as a player/faction relies on succeeding on doing an action in the server, you increase the importance of getting the win. Ask yourself, what is the reason criminals are robbing banks so frequently in-game? Is it their character advancement, is it to line their own pockets or is it to maintain their turfs so they can use the import system? 

The consequence of not robbing a bank is likely a loss of influence. The consequence of getting caught robbing a bank is a loss of time and funds. Actions should have consequences but such a system fosters a win-at-all costs mentality because losing isn't an acceptable option. That's an example of the hamster wheel criminals are currently on. No-one is willing to look weak. Every faction wants to be number one, but only one faction can be. What is being number one? Is it having the most people? Winning the most shootouts? Staying official the longest?

The definition of a faction's worth should be about the positive influence they have on the role-play in the server. 
In reality though, people will not act on this unless they believe it is in the own self-interest to do so and they will not keep acting this way if it doesn't in some way benefit them.

The way to address the play to win mentality is remove the funnelling of the criminals into specific areas but also, to encourage/reward the behaviours that you want from your factions.
This might be in the form of a perk system or simply handing out rewards or giving turfs or whatever for overall being the sort of faction that you want people to be.

We sanction those that do not live up to the standard but we do not encourage / incentivise factions that are going to keep doing the right things to continue to do them so inevitably when it gets to the point they don't feel it's worth it any longer, standards either dip or they close the faction. I feel like The Irish were an example of this. Roleplay outside of the box, the win wasn't the only consideration and yet they were swallowed and grinded down by the system.

• Reduce the over-emphasis on the influence grind to progress as a faction.
  It should be about what you do, not how much you do it.
  Repetition is fine, but you need plenty of options to repeat or it becomes monotonous.
   
• Implement an OOC system of determining a faction's contribution to the server in all areas and rewarding that faction on that basis.
  - Things like creating internal role-play within their faction, attending in-character events or role-play bringing groups together, good OOC relations with other factions, regularly updating their faction thread with meaningful content, staying true to their faction story, the quality of their RP, the faction members being positive community members.
  - Rewards could be support for the faction in terms of special imports, accommodating property requests, allowing them to conduct special roleplay events, all that kind of stuff.
  - At this point, if you want better factions, you're going to have to give them a reason to be better and stay better. Yes, they should be responsible for their own RP quality but being pragmatic, you are going to have to encourage people to show that.

Introduce Expiry Period for Rule Break Punishments.

As it currently stands, a player's account record has no fixed date and if you fall foul of the rules enough times, eventually you will find yourself being banned. Nowhere on the server is it more likely that you will find yourself on the wrong end of a game-play punishment than by playing as a criminal. More conflicts, more means to cause damage and increasingly high stakes and a win-at-all costs mentality that is very much a part of the criminal DNA mean that punishments for a lot of people are inevitable. 

With no expiry date on those punishments, the likelihood of a severe punishment such as a ban is higher. Pretty soon, playing as a criminal becomes a stressful OOC experience. If I get you into trouble, you're going to take that personally. Your friends are going to back you, my friends are going to back me. They will report each other and so on and so on. We've all seen this in the report sections.

Introduce a system where different rule breaks i.e. deathmatching, non-roleplay, metagaming have different expiry dates. Basically, that they would no longer be considered active punishments after a certain period. Currently, if you receive two deathmatch punishments, that leads to a ban and it's permanent, unless appealed. There is currently no fixed period where that first ban doesn't count towards two bans. So, for example, if I got a DM punishment in November 2020 and I got a DM punishment today, I'd be banned.

In normal circumstances, that's a deterrent for not re-offending but that's failing to take into consideration a number of factors which can increase the likelihood of that second punishment. These can be things like getting into a new faction war, getting into an argument with someone, reporting someone first etc. The sad reality is that, from the criminal factions I've spoken to, they find themselves watering down what they do because they don't want to get banned and as a result, the server become less entertaining to play.

Less impactful punishments would have a shorter expiry period than the more serious ones, but they would be fixed. 
For example, If deathmatch punishment lasted for say six months, non-roleplay punishments might last for four months.

It's still taking punishments serious enough that they retain their value but it's also easing that feeling of a piano hovering over your head. 
The current system is too rigid and it is a genuine concern for players on the server, especially criminals.

Faction Management and the Staff Team

I was critical of faction management in my last thread and I apologise for that because it was unfair. I know that those of you that are involved in FM try really hard to keep all the plates spinning. But at the same time, the feedback that I got was that criminal faction concerns aren't taken as seriously or represented well enough by the decision makers as they could be and it's incredibly frustrating for them. 

I have nothing but respect for anyone that contributes their time on a volunteer basis to help the server run. Nothing but respect. At the same time, you've got to listen to these faction leaders and what they need from you, because it's not even just about the development stuff, it's about the rules they're supposed to live by. I think we've gone a little too far with the most recent criminal rules. Street gangs cannot act like street gangs or they catch punishments. Eclipse works best when you let people figure it out of for themselves and only step in when it's absolutely necessary.

When two fighters are in a clinch, you break them up so they can continue to fight. You don't simply stop the fight.

Approach the leaders of these factions, ask them what they need to thrive, like I did. The only way any of this works is by serving the player-base first. Admitting you've made mistakes and showing a willingness is how things grow. You cannot expect that from players if you are not willing or able to do it yourselves.

I know that this kind of thing is frowned upon in certain circles but to be frank, like a lot of you I've put way too much time and effort into this community, I've lost good friends and seen good role-players give up because they were frustrated or felt the server wasn't fun anymore and I won't lie, I'm kind of sick of seeing it and I'd gladly explain any of this to anyone at the top that wants to change things.

I'll keep it 100% with this final part. I don't blame any individual or group for the downturn of things. I don't say any of this to be disruptive or any of that nonsense, I just think someone has to say or do something to improve things while it's still very much a possibility to improve them.

Forza Eclipse.

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The Criminal Update III
DEVELOPMENT SUGGESTIONS
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ADD Hotwiring Minigame

• In order to start a vehicle when you do not have the keys, add in a sequential minigame which if solved correctly, will start the vehicle.
  - We could either do this with having to complete a mathematical problem within a certain amount of time (similar to AFK math but slightly harder i.e. XXX + XXX) or by sequencing a number of words or letters that you have to input in the right order (i.e. 1-2-2-4-5-2-1-5-6-8-9-4-6-7)
  - The more expensive the vehicle, the harder it would be to steal.
   
• Alternatively, just simply add a progress bar to the hotwiring, similar to breaking into a vehicle.
  An example of this is here, on a FiveM script.
  https://streamable.com/q9l1r

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ADD Robbery Zones

• I personally find that our currently robbery rules perhaps confuse what is possible and what is not and I'd like to make things a little more straight-forward.
• Each neighbourhood i.e. Davis, Strawberry, Vinewood etc.. would be either a green, yellow or red zone depending on how popular the area is and how close they are to police stations.
• Inevitably, people will attempt to flee from robberies and as long as the robbery was started in a zone that permits it, you could still rob that person. 
• Your ability to rob someone in that area would depend on different factors.
  Green - Robberies would not be OOC permitted at any time in these areas. They are either too populated or too close to police stations, where the risk would become too great.
  Examples would be Paleto Bay, Legion Square and Hawick.
  Yellow - Robberies would be permitted OOC in these zones at night. The idea being that in real-life, crime is more likely to happen than in day-time and RPly your character would be more aware of that.
  Examples would be Mirror Park, Vespucci Beach and Paleto Forest.
  Red - These are isolated areas or very poor neighbourhoods where police response would be difficult or crime would be really bad IRL.
  Examples would be Davis, Mount Chiliad and Humane Labs.
  [YOU CAN SEE THE FULL MAP BY CLICKING HERE]
• Criminals robbing people isn't inherently wrong, it should just be done where it makes sense.
  This system has a realistic view behind it and it's something that both robber and victim can make more sense of.

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ADD Hostage Situation Animation

Essentially, it would be similiar to a duo-anim or frisk where it would require OOC consent from the other player.
That being said, once you are a hostage, you are a hostage until you are let go, either by the player or by them getting injured.

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REMOVE Apartment Drug Labs

• I think in practice, being able to set up your own labs in properties is a good idea. But, installing a drug lab inside an expensive apartment makes no role-play sense to do so.
• Suspending disbelief that Karen your next door neighbour isn't going to smell the fumes because there is an extractor, there is the very real possibility that your drug lab is going to blow up not just your $500k apartment but Karen's apartment and potentially other apartments as well.
• In addition, once the fire department has done their thing, the apartment is magically back to normal again!
• We tell our players that they cannot ram with their sports vehicles because they have to show a concern for the value that it would cost to get it repaired if they total it, same thing should apply for apartments, it makes no sense.

ADD Abandoned Properties (Warehouses/Apartments)

• These properties would be located in industrial or low quality neighbourhoods in both Los Santos and Blaine County.
  For example, a warehouse in Paleto or a motel room in Los Santos.
• These properties would be empty interiors inside which you could install drug lab equipment.
• You would be responsible for the operation, maintenance and security of these abandoned properties to do your drug making, so it wouldn't be advisable to use one of these alone.
  It would be better to use them as a faction.
• This encourages a faction to work together in different roles, in a way that makes more sense.
• We could acquire these abandoned properties when players go inactive and their houses are repossessed by the server.
  If it is a property in the right area, then it would be fit for this purpose.
  

TWEAK Static Drug Labs

• Allow the static drug lab to be bought/installed by a player at the location for x amount of money.
  When it is destroyed, it will need to be installed again before anyone can use it.
• Add the supplies for making the drugs back to the drug lab, but as a finite resource. 
  Once the supplies are all used up, they will need to be restocked.
• Restocking the drug lab resources would be a freelance activity. 
  You would need a vehicle that is classed as a van and head to the suppliers.
  Purchase the resources you want from the supplier and fill up your van with them.
  Take the van back to the Static Drug Lab and refill it. You would make $x amount based on what you refilled.
  If you can't sell it all, keep it in your van for later.
• This again encourages criminal enterprise.
  Factions building, maintaining and operating something for their benefit.

ADD Faction Specific Substances

• Allow participants of a certain faction to manufacture certain drugs/substances, if it matches their story/lore.
  Russians for example could make Krokodil (desomorphine), Asian factions could make Fetanyl, Distilling bottles of Poitin for the Irish etc.
   
• Allow factions to benefit more from selling their specific drug of choice to the NPC.
  For example, Russians would be able to make desomorphine and Cocaine but they would get more back from the NPC for selling their specific drug.

ADD Stackable Drug Ingredients

• Allow the drug ingredients to be stackable in the inventory, factoring in the weight.
  This is a pretty simple quality of life change but it would make organising your labs and drug making more straight-forward.
  It also helps law enforcement when we're clearing a house too, as it's never the weight that limits but the inventory space.
  
  Sorry i ballsed the amount of plants up in the first image.
   
• Stack Drug Ingredients in the Shipments also.
  Same thing applies really. Crates of Lysergic, would you rather remove one stack of 24 Lysergic or 24 stacks of one Lysergic?

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TWEAK Bank Robberies

• Banks should not be getting robbed as often as they do, it makes little to no role-play sense. 
• Because robbing a bank is the best way to take or maintain a turf currently, criminals are bring rail-roaded into regularly robbing banks even if maybe they do not want to particularly do it at that time, in order to keep turfs, which in term affect their shipping power.
• From a LSPD point of view, there is a particularly negative view of the bank robberies. This is not because the PD does not want to roleplay, it's just that the volume of these situations becomes a bit of a drag after a while, especially when inevitably a hostage gets taken.
• The bank robbery alarm should sound as soon as the last vault gate is opened.
• The bank robbery cooldown timer should not be initiated unless the vault is breached.
• CCTV cameras should be added to the front desk and vault of the banks, but they should only be watchable by a player when the alarm of that bank is going off.
  The argument being here that the bank's security is significantly higher than the stores.
• The amount of effect the packed money from banks should have should be reduced to even out more of the activities.

TWEAK Store Robberies

• Remove the live CCTV feed access for law enforcement, unless the alarm has been triggered but keep the retroactive CCTV use.
  I don't see the logic in a convenience store having 24/7 camera monitoring for law enforcement.
  While it's perhaps helpful for attending robberies in progress, it doesn't make any sense.
  Checking CCTV for evidence afterwards is perfectly fine though.
• Add in an option to check the till for forensics, for law enforcement.
  Most people will wear gloves when robbing a store, possibly gloves that they bought at said store but not everyone, it's another interesting thing for cops to do at store robberies.
• Add in a small chance for the silent alarm to be activated when the robbery is started to add jeopardy to the robberies.
  There is a very easy meta to follow with store robberies that make it really easy to not be caught. 
  Playing the meta is something these suggestions are going against.
• Add in a small chance for the silent alarm never to be activated at all.
  Criminals do sometimes get away with things and that's ok.
• Stores that are robbed would be unavailable for 30 minutes following the robbery.
  It seems a little silly that there can be an armed robbery, then five minutes later, someone walks in and buys a burger. 

ADD Robbable Ammunations, Barber and Clothing Stores.

• Take the concept of the general store robberies and apply them to other enterable business interiors, that have tills to rob from.
• General Store Robberies are pretty straight-forward but adding other locations will add some much needed variety to the robberies.
• With stores, there are the same two interior setups for stores and while that might be similar for ammunations, barbers and clothing stores, it adds a slightly different dynamic without having to rely on too much extra script support.

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ADD Non-Government Funded Mechanic Faction Ability for Car Related Factions

• Introduce the option for a faction to have access to limited mechanic faction commands if it fits their roleplay i.e. LS Drift, Burnout Nation
  There would have to be some differences between LSC/Bayview and the NGF Mechanic enabled faction.
  They wouldn't have access to flatbeds or be able to fix vehicles outside a radius of their mechanic shop.
  They would however be able to apply mods in /modview, but they would have to pay for the parts themselves to avoid any abuse where as the LSC/Bayview do not.
  The price would go to the mechanic directly.
  It would work out more expensive to use an NGF Mechanic to keep Bayview/LSC viable but it would allow criminals to work for them as mechanics as well as provide an outlet for criminals to get their cars worked on without prying eyes.
• They can use the same shop as a front to chop vehicles.

ADD Blank Number Plates

• Introduce the option for people to remove the license plate off their vehicle.
  For balance purposes, there would need to be a sufficient consequence to doing this and getting caught like your vehicle getting impounded for x amount of days.
  In essence though, this is like masks for vehicles.
  This wouldn't effect the registration of the vehicle, however, scanning the vehicle's plate will come back with no result.

ADD Vehicle Export Orders

• Similar to Simeon's Export Requests in GTA V, you would text a number and they'd give you a vehicle type you had to steal and deliver it to the Docks at Los Santos.
  - The first time you use a chop-shop in-game, you will receive a text from a NPC down at the Docks. Their number will be added to your contacts in your phone.
  - You can text them with the word order and they will message you back with a class of vehicle that you have to steal i.e. Compact or Sports.
  - You steal the vehicle and take it down to the NPC at the Docks and instead of chopping it, you will be waiting while the vehicle is loaded onto a shipping container.
  - Once the vehicle is loaded, you will be paid slightly more than a chop shop would pay for a vehicle.

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ADD Filing off a Weapon Serial Number

• Introduce the option for remove a serial number from a weapon.
  This helps the weapon be untraceable when being used, but obviously comes with it's own punishment if you are caught with it.

ADD Roleplay Prompt when Shooting inside a Building

• Add an automatic /do outside a building if someone fires a unsilenced weapon inside an interior.
  Basically if you were standing outside or in the nearby area to Club Corruption and someone starts shooting inside, there would be a prompt.
  * Shots would be heard coming from inside the building. (( Passer by ))

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ADD Phone Group Chats/Voice Calls

• Criminals all running around with radios makes no sense and looks memey, but it's currently the only really method of communication between groups of people.
• Add a phone application that works on the same premise as the radio currently does.
  While running, the phone would be slightly raised to allow for the top couple messages in the chat to come through.
  People would be able to join a 'channel' on the app and talk to people on the same channel.
  They would also be able to use /g or the phone text input to send messages to the phone for all others to see.
  You would be able to use the phone group chat by using the phone key (currently P)
• You could switch between a phone call and the group chat by using CTRL + P.
• There would be a phone object in the inventory. You could view the channel the phone is logged into, you would be able to take the battery etc..
• This would be in addition to the radios.

TWEAK Radios

• Factor in Radio Distance for voice communication.
  While law enforcement radios would work on a much greater frequency, it has always been my understanding that RPly, the radios civilians use are based on walkie talkies.
  To that end, being able to talk to someone over that kind of radio seems a little irregular.
   
• Add Voice Resetting to one of the F1-F12 buttons.
  Pretty self explanatory.
   
• Add in a brief cooldown on changing the radio frequency, with the option to cancel.
  On occasion, the changing of a walkie talkie to protect a frequency leads to doing it in circumstances where it's makes little sense to do so.
  Don't wish to take the option away from people but at the same time, adding a 2-3 second cooldown to it would lower the chances of abuse.

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TWEAK Prison Times

• Reduce the threshold for Jail or Prison to 30 minutes from 45 minutes.
  The main reason behind this is player interaction and potential role-play, both for the criminals and the Corrections faction.
  This would only slightly increase the amount of players in prison.
  The Prison Interior is set-up for locked-up people to interact and to do different things, the experience of jail is they are left alone in a cell usually by themselves and ignored at Mission Row or Paleto. This doesn't really add to the experience for them, it's almost a double punishment.
  People will often yell or do strange /mes while in jail, which while you cannot hear it IC, can distract the RP elsewhere in those interiors.
  More prisoners in DOC is going to give Corrections more to do and given that activity is good with DOC/SD/PD, we can more than handle it.
   
• Reduce the Time of Non- Player v. Player Felonies by 10 percent.
  The idea here is that if you commit a felony that does not directly disadvantage a player, we reduce that jail time by 10%.
  It's important that both the outside and prison see foot traffic, without compromising the consequences too much of getting caught.
  It's also important that with the fines, the charges also don't punish too heavily.
  The charges this change would apply to would be such things as Felony Evading (60 > 50), Manufacturing Narcotics (60 > 50), Drug Trafficking (60 > 50), Possession of Ill. Firearms (60>50), Prison Break (60>50).
   
• Review the current penal code fines and times and look to either make a small reduction on the fines or on the time.
  Having both together feels a little bit like getting punished for something twice.
  Yes, it's a deterrent but at the same time, repeat offenders is good for the PDs and also DOC to an extent.
   
• Introduce Prison Time Modifier, based on Time Since Last Offence.
  In real life, sentencing can vary based on your circumstances and this suggestion is an attempt to mimic that.
  Charge Time + or - Prison Time Modifier = Prison Time.
  The variation would only be a small amount either adding or subtracting.
  If you have not been to jail/prison recently, you will get less than the standard charge time.
  If you have been to jail/prison recently, you will get more than the standard charge time.
  This rewards those that do not get caught and punishes those that repeatedly offend.
  Crime is healthy for the server, you just don't want people being dumb with it.

ADD Different Prison Uniforms

• Similiar to Prison Architect, there would be different coloured uniforms available to prisoners when being prisoned, based on DOC's prisoner classification system.
  Orange could be for violent offenders.
  Dark Blue could be for medium offenders.
  Light Blue could be for first time offenders.
  Green would be for trustees.
  
  
   
• Allow Criminals with > 15 minutes left on their sentence to suspend their release time.
  While most criminals cannot wait to get out of prison, there are occasions where criminals do want to role-play inside the prison.
  For those such times, criminals would be able to essentially freeze their own jail time so it would stop expiring until they unfroze it again.
  That would allow them the freedom to roleplay in prison at their leisure, as well as, not cut short any outstanding role-play.

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ADD Faction Spray Tags

• Official Criminal Factions would be able to go to specific locations in each turf and leave their 'tag' there with spray paint to increase their influence in the area of that turf.
  You would be able to purchase spray paint from a general store.
  You'd then head to one of these specific spots and press Y to begin tagging.
  There would be a dialog box to add a message to the tag, which will accompany the Faction Nickname.
  Once you have decided on a message, it will start spraying the message in that area, this will take 90 seconds to complete.
  The finished product would be text with a local draw distance (you could see from a short distance)
  An example would be something like.. "[SixSeven] Davis is Blue! Fuck the Ballas!".
  Every hour that that tag was active would be passive influence for that area, this is to offset a reduction in influence for the bank robberies.
   
• Other Criminal Factions would be able to spray over a tag with their own tag and leave a rival message.
  Obviously the server rules would apply to the tags. Nothing OOC, nothing meta-gamed etc..
  Ultimately this is another way for street gangs especially to be able to do things that street gangs do.
  They can use this feature to clash with other factions or get an message out there or just simply to big up their own faction.

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ADD Burglar Job

• You would be able to break into any scripted house in-game, using a crowbar.
  It would take a minute to force open a scripted house with a crowbar and would be initiated by using the house menu.
   
• Change to the House Robbery Rules and how players use their House Storage.
  This would of course mean there would need to be a change in house robbery rules as well as a change from the players in terms of how they use their house storage.
  There should always be a level of jeopardy to your possessions in Eclipse, otherwise the properties become almost a little like no-crime zones and you cannot be robbed unless there is very specific circumstances. That is not interesting. Yes, it would suck to get house raided but it does happen.
   
• As a homeowner, you could buy and install various different devices in your house as anti-burglar deterrents.
  These would include;
  - Strong Front Door Lock, this increases the break-in time to 90 seconds.
  - Entry Alarm, if this is triggered, you will receive an alert on your phone and there would be an audible sound (similiar to the alarm ringing at a bank robbery)
  - CCTV. This would allow those with laptops the opportunity to check their house interior and immediate exterior. It would also allow law enforcement to review the footage. This could be disabled by robbers or law enforcement.
  - Guard Dog. Purchasable at the pet shop, the person that enters the house, if they 
  - Silent Alarm. This would be an expensive upgrade for the high-end players but this would send out an alert to the local police dispatch (PD for LS, SD for BC) that the house was being broken into, similiar to store robbery alerts.
   
• Stolen Item Theft Locations
  As each house has a specific interior, there would be specific locations within each house that has points where stolen items can be taken from, similar to interacting with the house menu.
  There would be an action timer for retrieving the stolen items from the spot inside the interior.
  Once you had the stolen items, you could either turn them into an NPC for influence (if you were a faction member) or you could opt to pawn them at a pawn shop for $$$.
  Each stolen item would have house id attached to them so they could identified by law enforcement during prosecution.

ADD Safety Deposit Box

• Allow the purchase of safety deposit boxes, to allow for more moderate storage of precious items.
  You could purchase a box at a Fleeca Bank, which would allow you a moderate amount of storage space.
  The reason why this wouldn't work at Vinewood or Paleto is that it's an NCZ. No jeopardy of your items being yoinked.
  The unit would come with an Access ID and PIN, which would be texted to you when you purchased it.
   
• Law Enforcement would be able to gain access to the self storage with warrant approval.

ADD Vinewood Self Storage Unit

• Allow the purchase of a self storage unit, to allow for a bigger size of storage.
  The unit would come with an Access ID and PIN, which would be texted to you when you purchased it.
  To access the storage unit, you would need to provide the access ID and pin number.
  If you have those things, you can take or store any item you like.
   
• Law Enforcement would be able to gain access to the self storage with warrant approval.

TWEAK Bolt Cutters

• Increase the chance for a successful break on regular doors, with NO break of the bolt cutters.
  The current system for breaking open doors, for everyone, is quite unrewarding. 
  With the regular doors, you could plausibly give them a few kicks and they'd open, so this idea of a unlucky dip seem a little unrewarding. 
  On these regular doors, I'd increase the likelihood for the bolt cutters to work.
   
• Add the chance for bolt cutters, but as a minor chance.
  On the flip-side of that, your average home safe will be hard to get into but not impossible.
  In the last suggestion, I talked about adding jeopardy to player possessions and that theme is continued here.

TWEAK Drills

• Add the chance for drills to get into safes, but with a slightly higher chance than bolt cutters.
  If drills can open bank vaults, they can open home-safes.
  They are a little heavier, but I think for balance that can be offset by allowing them a higher success rate of opening the safe.

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ADD Custom Modded Weapons

• Add in custom weapons with to the imports list.
  There are a number of different weapons available on GTA5Mods that can be introduced to the server, such as the Makarov Pistol.
  These weapons would only be available on the street, via imports.
  The weapons would have different looks, clip sizes and do different damage to those currently added.
  Example - The Makarov Pistol
  

TWEAK Weapon Shipments

• Allow the person placing the order to specify a specific drop location.
  This is going to allow criminal groups to order to areas that they are familiar with and also, often role-play in. 
  There is less value in a LS based street gang for example picking up an order from Paleto when they spend the vast amount of time in the city and vice versa.
   
• Add some additional drop locations.
  I know there is already quite a lot, but adding more adds variety in terms of those picking them up and law enforcement potentially intercepting them.
  These do not have to be restricted to the coastal areas but secluded locations and warehouses across the state.

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ADD Tuner Garage MLO For Car Meetings/Races 

• There would be a car meet every Friday night at a certain time, which is classed as legal, although the meeting itself would not be a no-crime zone.
• The garage would be locked by default and would have to be broken into using a crowbar, drill or bolt cutters.
• Law Enforcement could reset the lock on the garage.
• Criminals and civilians to use the area to have meetings or just race or to meet up.
• Having more organised, consistent events ties the server together quite nicely and with the Burnout Nation and LS Drift involved in the server, there is an emerging car scene which could use support.

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ADD Optional Tax Evasion for Criminals in Highest Tax Bracket.

• If someone had 35% tax, they would have the option to start withholding a certain amount of tax (like 10%) from being deducted as it normally would.
  They would keep more of their money, but the amount that they withhold would save so that when they were investigated, the information would be to hand.
• This could lead to the government implementing some sort of Internal Revenue Service to combat this, which would see penalties for tax evaders such as fines, asset forfeiture or jail-time.
• This would be an extra way for criminals to commit crime as well as offer another avenue of investigation for our government / law enforcement agencies.

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ADD Cayo Perico Turfs

• Separate Cayo Perico into East and West, with accompanying NPCs, allowing faction/s to claim the island as theirs.

ADD Cayo Perico Static Lab Locations

• Allow for secluded drug making locations aboard the island.

ADD Cayo Perico Hunting

• Add hunting locations for different animals over the island.

ADD Cayo Perico Island Vehicles

• Add a vehicle rental spot on the island, to rent a vehicle.
• Add a single vehicle slot extra, specifically for Cayo Perico.
• Allow a shipping option for one of your vehicles to go between either the Island or Paleto/LS Parking garages for a fee.

ADD Coca Plant Picking Freelance Job

• You would go to the big coca plant field on the island, with a bag.
• Coca Plants would grow in the field and you'd have to fill up your bag with the Coca Plants.
• You could sell the picked plants at an NPC for cash money.

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Edited August 23, 2021 by Bala

[gmtavares]

This is a very detailed and comprehensive suggestion on how to improve the state of criminal RP on ECRP. I hope that at least a part of this is implemented and if it is determined that crim RP is too buffed, some sort of counterweight is added at the time.

I believe there is a lot of potential here and look forward to following developments on this thread.

[Harley]

The lord has blessed us Criminals once again! Thank you so much for being a louder voice for us all.

[Krish Roshan]

+1 This update needs to happen as soon as possible it is as Bala said very stale to be a criminal

[Poppsii]

+1 this is both improving RP for criminals and Legals/PD. Adding more RP opportunities and experiences for everyone to mix up gameplay and not make it seem repetitive. This is very detailed and great!

[Umzzy]

+1 Literally took the words out of our mouths. 

[Jay Endo]

he's done it again +1

Edited August 23, 2021 by Jay Endo

[Chris_]

+1 anything added to crim is a W

[Chester213]

+1

[KocKo]

Huge +1. Just think its a needed rework.

[KimeyBear101]

Think this could really help the server. Especially the prison uniforms for different level of prisoners! 

+1

[Stew Walker]

+1

[NexonBG]

This needs to be implemented +1!

[Kazjii]

#CrimUpdate2021 -> +1 for any type of addition to criminal RP, would love for the other side of the aisle to have more fun and try new activities added to the server! Our crim players are quite literally the most important player base imo, without them, LEO has no function!

[Shining0103]

+1

Needless to say that you've done (again) a great job. Hopefully these ideas will be implemented and improve the RP experience for both sides.

[DaMasterSplinter]

Big +1 to the legend, it Has a lot of great ideas. 

But... I would like to see the abandoned houses/warehouses implemented at the same time as removing the appartement drug labs (if they will get removed). Cause the only place we can cook drugs with a reasonable profit is in apartments, as it has a big space and a big interior. For the 1gs to 4gs it's all small and there is a lot of furniture that blocks you from setting up a lab. And if we have a lab in those houses you will barely be able to set 5 tables, which will be very hard to keep turfs or make money (specially with the decimal count now). 

As said I am not sure about the whole thing as it might affect criminals a lot in keeping their turfs which will bring a huge imbalance into the RP. 

I would suggest to change the drug cooking RNG to something more realistic (lost 72 tables in 4 days). 

That's all I have to say other than that this Crim update is flawless. 

 

 

[reecer100]

+1 I'm sure every criminal in the city would agree with most of these points and that being a criminal is boring.

Edited August 23, 2021 by reecer100

[OGChyz]

A Big +1, We definitely need the changes. 
 

 

[LC16__]

+1, I hope at least some of these things are added

 

[Famingo]

this shit needed

[Salkica22]

Epic +1

[missundastood]

Well done Bala, this is something that has to happen. Change is needed drastically ♥

[Sam Onizuka]

You already know where I stand with this overall post. Huge +1 from me 

 

[UptoAntics]

+1

[bob karlsson]

Already know +1 on this one