- Joined
- Apr 26, 2016
- Messages
- 17,433
- Nebulae
- 25,023
A Preface
So right now, the onboarding of the server is not great, in my opinion. The server is incredibly difficult to get into for new players, even for people who are regulars of Nebulous but are new to the GTA RP server.
The map is full of brand-new icons and symbols for these players, but many of them are far too far away to expect one to spend 20-30 minutes (or more) on foot, running across the length of Los Santos just to reach the mall at the south end, or the burger shot at the west end, knowing that all new players spawn at the east end of Los Santos, at the motel.
The insistence on OOC obfuscation and reliance on many things being found out IC leads to new players, who are often anxious to speak to well-established players, sitting in the motel idly, unsure of what to do, because they have no idea how to lead-in to a conversation about how one would steal cars, or where they can get lockpicks from, or even where regular hangout spots are within LS.
And of course, these new players don't want to potentially waste upwards of an hour running to a store they have no knowledge about in hopes that it may give them a means to actually getting around the map (and thus meeting people) quickly.
The issue
So, a car is needed. But right now, the only way one can afford a car is by renting one, which is a several thousand dollar investment for a car that lasts for, at most, about 12 hours, and since many jobs in the server require you to be in a different vehicle (deliveries, chop shops, etc), the car might just despawn randomly at some point.
Lockpicking and stealing cars being the best, cheapest, and most efficient way to get around (even though one can easily get arrested for it) is a surefire sign that there is an issue with the other means of acquiring vehicles, that being the PDM, and car rentals.
The PDM is vastly too expensive for pretty much anyone but hardcore grinders or people who are happy to own a decent car after a month of casual play. A decent car goes for $30,000, and it takes about 19 hours of nonstop chop shopping to get 30 grand, assuming $800 payouts and 30 minute work cycles.
The car rental store is, in terms of economic efficiency, somehow worse than the PDM. While you might pay 30 grand for a half-decent car, at least you get to keep that car indefinitely. Almost every item in the server that you can buy or pay for, you do get to keep. Food, drinks, guns, armor, weed, etc, once purchased or acquired, never despawns or leaves your inventory outside of bugs.
As far as I'm aware, the car rental store is the sole exception to this, since you're effectively paying $1,500 for an NPC car to spawn in, that you have keys to. This car will despawn when the server restarts, and it may even despawn before then, because GTA loves to make cars disappear. I've had an incident where I went into the clothing store, bought some clothes, and came out to find my car had mysteriously vanished without a trace. If I had rented that car, I would've been furious.
You are paying several grand for a car that will disappear into the ether, as a certainty. It is money being pissed into the wind.
Car thefts, on the other hand, are fine. I think they're in an okay position, made to look overpowered by the fact that the alternatives are far worse. I think if car thefts were nerfed any substantial amount, the server would tank from sheer lack of means to get around.
The Solution
People need a car near-immediately.
People need a car that they can own and reliably use with the money they start with.
The car rental place should facilitate that.
Instead of renting a car spawning in an NPC vehicle, it should effectively be buying a player-owned vehicle that stays in your garage, and can be retrieved as though it were bought from the PDM. The main difference should be that, unlike PDM vehicles, you pay regularly for the right to use a rented vehicle. You can make it so that every day, some money is taken out of their bank account for the right to maintain ownership of the vehicle, but beyond that, it's as if they own that vehicle.
Some Pre-Emptive Counterpoints
"People don't need a car in this game."
Yes they do. This is GTA, the map is huge, and people need a reliable means to get around. The argument that requiring a third party for transport is a healthy thing for roleplay is debunked by the knowledge that in order for there to be a third party, you must have met said third party, and in order to meet people consistently, you need the means to get around. It's not reasonable to expect brand-new players to walk everywhere, or rely on the good samaritanship of strangers for getting to the mall, burgershot, or the hospital. Many new players spawn in, walk out into the motel's garage, and are immediately too confused to want to venture outside of it.
"If car rentals become good, no one would use the PDM."
Nah. They're two different means of acquiring a car. One is for players that don't mind a permanent, but manageable tax on their income for the foreseeable future, and the other is for people who don't mind saving up after hours of arduous work in order to pay the large up-front cost, and then never have to deal with the recurring payments.
"Why rent a car if car thefts are so good?"
Police are actually getting pretty competent now. In the early weeks of the server, you could pretty brazenly steal cars, get caught by the police and then just straight-up outrun them. Now, with the car adjustments, changes to police vehicles, rarity of sports cars, and ease of which police can spot a stolen car, there is slowly, but surely, beginning to be actual, tangible risk to stealing cars.
"How would you make PDM worthwhile in future?"
Easy. You can't modify rented cars. You don't actually own them, so you can't take them into LS customs (when it's added) to modify them. If you want a kitted-out car, you need to buy it upfront.
Conclusion
In summary, changing car rentals to be more akin to car ownership (but with, say $500 deducted from your bank account every day) will both allow for new players to travel, well-established players to have a means to a car, and will actually increase the value of having money in your bank account, since presently, storing money in your apartment is a pretty viable idea to avoid fines.
So right now, the onboarding of the server is not great, in my opinion. The server is incredibly difficult to get into for new players, even for people who are regulars of Nebulous but are new to the GTA RP server.
The map is full of brand-new icons and symbols for these players, but many of them are far too far away to expect one to spend 20-30 minutes (or more) on foot, running across the length of Los Santos just to reach the mall at the south end, or the burger shot at the west end, knowing that all new players spawn at the east end of Los Santos, at the motel.
The insistence on OOC obfuscation and reliance on many things being found out IC leads to new players, who are often anxious to speak to well-established players, sitting in the motel idly, unsure of what to do, because they have no idea how to lead-in to a conversation about how one would steal cars, or where they can get lockpicks from, or even where regular hangout spots are within LS.
And of course, these new players don't want to potentially waste upwards of an hour running to a store they have no knowledge about in hopes that it may give them a means to actually getting around the map (and thus meeting people) quickly.
The issue
So, a car is needed. But right now, the only way one can afford a car is by renting one, which is a several thousand dollar investment for a car that lasts for, at most, about 12 hours, and since many jobs in the server require you to be in a different vehicle (deliveries, chop shops, etc), the car might just despawn randomly at some point.
Lockpicking and stealing cars being the best, cheapest, and most efficient way to get around (even though one can easily get arrested for it) is a surefire sign that there is an issue with the other means of acquiring vehicles, that being the PDM, and car rentals.
The PDM is vastly too expensive for pretty much anyone but hardcore grinders or people who are happy to own a decent car after a month of casual play. A decent car goes for $30,000, and it takes about 19 hours of nonstop chop shopping to get 30 grand, assuming $800 payouts and 30 minute work cycles.
The car rental store is, in terms of economic efficiency, somehow worse than the PDM. While you might pay 30 grand for a half-decent car, at least you get to keep that car indefinitely. Almost every item in the server that you can buy or pay for, you do get to keep. Food, drinks, guns, armor, weed, etc, once purchased or acquired, never despawns or leaves your inventory outside of bugs.
As far as I'm aware, the car rental store is the sole exception to this, since you're effectively paying $1,500 for an NPC car to spawn in, that you have keys to. This car will despawn when the server restarts, and it may even despawn before then, because GTA loves to make cars disappear. I've had an incident where I went into the clothing store, bought some clothes, and came out to find my car had mysteriously vanished without a trace. If I had rented that car, I would've been furious.
You are paying several grand for a car that will disappear into the ether, as a certainty. It is money being pissed into the wind.
Car thefts, on the other hand, are fine. I think they're in an okay position, made to look overpowered by the fact that the alternatives are far worse. I think if car thefts were nerfed any substantial amount, the server would tank from sheer lack of means to get around.
The Solution
People need a car near-immediately.
People need a car that they can own and reliably use with the money they start with.
The car rental place should facilitate that.
Instead of renting a car spawning in an NPC vehicle, it should effectively be buying a player-owned vehicle that stays in your garage, and can be retrieved as though it were bought from the PDM. The main difference should be that, unlike PDM vehicles, you pay regularly for the right to use a rented vehicle. You can make it so that every day, some money is taken out of their bank account for the right to maintain ownership of the vehicle, but beyond that, it's as if they own that vehicle.
Some Pre-Emptive Counterpoints
"People don't need a car in this game."
Yes they do. This is GTA, the map is huge, and people need a reliable means to get around. The argument that requiring a third party for transport is a healthy thing for roleplay is debunked by the knowledge that in order for there to be a third party, you must have met said third party, and in order to meet people consistently, you need the means to get around. It's not reasonable to expect brand-new players to walk everywhere, or rely on the good samaritanship of strangers for getting to the mall, burgershot, or the hospital. Many new players spawn in, walk out into the motel's garage, and are immediately too confused to want to venture outside of it.
"If car rentals become good, no one would use the PDM."
Nah. They're two different means of acquiring a car. One is for players that don't mind a permanent, but manageable tax on their income for the foreseeable future, and the other is for people who don't mind saving up after hours of arduous work in order to pay the large up-front cost, and then never have to deal with the recurring payments.
"Why rent a car if car thefts are so good?"
Police are actually getting pretty competent now. In the early weeks of the server, you could pretty brazenly steal cars, get caught by the police and then just straight-up outrun them. Now, with the car adjustments, changes to police vehicles, rarity of sports cars, and ease of which police can spot a stolen car, there is slowly, but surely, beginning to be actual, tangible risk to stealing cars.
"How would you make PDM worthwhile in future?"
Easy. You can't modify rented cars. You don't actually own them, so you can't take them into LS customs (when it's added) to modify them. If you want a kitted-out car, you need to buy it upfront.
Conclusion
In summary, changing car rentals to be more akin to car ownership (but with, say $500 deducted from your bank account every day) will both allow for new players to travel, well-established players to have a means to a car, and will actually increase the value of having money in your bank account, since presently, storing money in your apartment is a pretty viable idea to avoid fines.
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