How do you feel about a drug price agreement?

[aldo]

Similar to LSRP, how would you feel about a higher base price for drugs?

By base price I mean a minimum price to sell at, the reason for this is because you only make around 300-400 per gram of cocaine, and 150-200 for a gram of weed. This makes no sense as a fisher or garbage man can easily make more money than a drug dealer. 

You also have to consider the price you buy the coke at, then the price you sell it at - these current prices make it so if you are buying from a distributor, you will make around 100-200 maximum.

Edited March 25, 2019 by aldo

[Derek Mercer]

One thing I will say is that when it comes to risk, it normally should be followed by high reward. Specially when you're talking about obtaining and possibly distributing illegal substances. Like you've mentions before about fishing and other legal money making methods seem to be more profitable with little to no risk. I would be interested in seeing a change happen, and no I don't mean simply lowering the reward you get from the legal methods currently available to everyone.

 

On a some what similar subject about super cars not being added mainly because no player realistically can afford them. I'll be quoting Keane from a separate post found here.

On 3/19/2019 at 6:49 AM, Keane said:

We already have enough problems with players owning expensive cars where it does not make sense for their characters to own them. It is one of the most frequent issues I deal with as a member of Player Management. There are currently no characters on the server that would realistically be able to own and maintain a super car. I'd even go as far as saying that there are no characters that would realistically be able to afford some of the higher end cars that are available. 

I feel this would help alleviate some of the headache and allow some players to become substantially wealthy from the illegal drug trade which could justify them owning these super cars. Now I'm not saying every player that gets into the drug trade is justified to own a super car or two. I just think there should be a few one offs of the big shots that may get taken down if they don't play their cards right.

 

I'm interested in hearing what other people think about the matter because I think you're onto something Aldo even if I'm not.

[Perky]

I've never been a fan of this. I've always found them to draw away from the competition between drug dealers and thus limit the roleplay.

If everyone has to sell at a max/minimum price, then why would people go to specific gangs? Why would any new gang attempt to sell drugs when another gang out there already has the monopoly. They would have no IC way of competing because they would have to sell it at the same price.

 

For example: 

Let's say there are two distributors of cocaine in the city. Distributor A who we will hereby refer to as DA and distributor B who we will hereby refer to as DB. 

Now, if DA is selling his ounces of cocaine to gang A (henceforth known as GA) for $10,000.

Whereas, DB is selling his ounces of coaine to gang B (henceforth known as GB) for $12,000. 

 

Now, already GA is getting a better deal than GB because their supplier, DA, is able to sell it for less. 

From then, GA begins to push out an ounce of coke for $13,000 whilst GB is pushing it out for $15,000 to make the same profit. 

More people will flock to GA and thus GB would look to try and get a better deal from DB or ultimately move to DA. 

 

This adds so much realistic complexity and roleplay around the drugs trade and doesn't force everyone to use the same person for the same thing, as you found on LSRP, as it adds a fluctuating market that will always change. 

 

I don't think we should limit IC roleplay or development through OOC rulings. 

 

As soon as one gang has the monopoly at the minimum price, there is no way for any newer distributors to edge in.

[Chef]

Only speaking for myself personally, I feel like with the right supplier there's lots of money to be made. A lot of "one time" suppliers as I call them will promise you the world ICly and charge you out the ass while one that wishes to do so for the RP and the enjoyment of it and not to capitalize on the market will sell to you at a price that allows a street dealer to profit exponentially. I don't necessarily see it as something that needs to be fixed OOCly, but people IC need to be more picky about who they choose to be their suppliers and the prices they are made to pay.

[Perky]

3 minutes ago, Chef said:

Only speaking for myself personally, I feel like with the right supplier there's lots of money to be made. A lot of "one time" suppliers as I call them will promise you the world ICly and charge you out the ass while one that wishes to do so for the RP and the enjoyment of it and not to capitalize on the market will sell to you at a price that allows a street dealer to profit exponentially. I don't necessarily see it as something that needs to be fixed OOCly, but people IC need to be more picky about who they choose to be their suppliers and the prices they are made to pay.

Exactly. This is my point one hundred percent.

 

This is something that needs to be governed through IC means and only then will it become a system that actually benefits the role-play.

 

Rather than forcing OOC limitations on deals and such. 

[la tweaker]

Drug dealing isn't supposed to be all that lucrative from an IC standpoint. A drug price agreement would simply be an agreement on realistic prices for our economy so that people aren't selling ounces of coke for ridiculous prices like people were doing on LSRP. 350 to 450 for cocaine and 150 for weed is more than acceptable and if you actually sell it right ICly, you can actually make a decent amount of money. It's all about how you go about your sales ICly that depends on how much money you're gonna be making.

 

Keep in mind that the price agreement is more than likely only based around street prices and what's acceptable.

[Ostin]

If the problem is that the access to drugs is cheap, then you should raise the cost of the production system of drugs (I'm not familiar on the drug system, so I don't know a specific way on how to raise the cost of the manufacturing process). If the problem is that the drug dealers are not making enough money, as in a IRL way, then that's a little bit more complex.

Thing is, there has to be an incentive for the customer to pay those extra bucks. Maybe a quality system? Where the strongest drugs are more expensive? But then the cost of those drugs should be higher aswell. And the economic benefit for the dealer won't be bigger than before. If there's no incentive to pay those extra bucks, I, as a drug user, wouldn't mind paying for the cheapest drug. Unless there is some RPish reason, such as I'm friend of the dealer or whatever.

I've always thought that buying drugs aren't that important or crucial, when you always can RP consuming it. So if the price is expensive and threatens my economy in some way, I won't buy them, I would RP them. At the end, what matters is how you RP the effect, rather than script-wise consuming it. I'm not spending time to get money just to get my screen doing crazy stuff for a couple of seconds. But that's a personal opinion.

Or you could raise the risk of selling drugs, so there's a reason to raise the prices. As an example, you could have a specific team in LSPD tracking the drug market, some detective/low profile stuff; or you could just raise jail time aswell.

 

Lastly, if you sell grams then you probably won't be making enough money to live a luxury life. You get that kind of life by selling kilos. If your character is selling drugs for less than a garbage job salary, then he or she has to have a proper reason why he can't even be a garbage man. If the market is way to small to actually sell that amount of drugs, then we have the perfect scenario to develop some system that promotes gangs to fight for the drug territory. So drugs would get you a Pablo Escobar lifestyle only when you own the majority of the market.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Ostin

[Triple-J]

1 hour ago, perkydon said:

 

More people will flock to GA and thus GB would look to try and get a better deal from DB or ultimately move to DA. 

 

I don't think there's a need for OOC agreements on prices indeed. However.. "Or ultimately move to DA" isn't how it works right now. I've been doing illegal RP for 5 months now and did not ICly meet even one supplier, wether guns or drugs or seeds.

Cause right now it feels like it goes like this: Supplier sells 100-200 gram to a faction, who sells it to another faction, who sells it to another faction, who sells it to either their own members or eventually to that 1 person interested in buying drugs. Instead of dividing the drugs between like 3 local drug dealers and collecting the money afterwards.

I think it's safe to say that gangs have been growing, so suppliers should too. And more variety in drugs. Right now everyone is competing on cocaïne and weed. Heroin sells like shit. It would be nice to see people thinking "Okay for weed you gotta go to Rancho, but grove got the xanax, chamberlain got the best cocaine, and sandy shores heroin"

It is profitable right now, but slow. And becoming a fisher is still the better choice.

[Triple-J]

17 minutes ago, Ostin said:

 

I've always thought that buying drugs aren't that important or crucial, when you always can RP consuming it. So if the price is expensive and threatens my economy in some way, I won't buy them, I would RP them. At the end, what matters is how you RP the effect, rather than script-wise consuming it. I'm not spending time to get money just to get my screen doing crazy stuff for a couple of seconds. But that's a personal opinion.

Or you could raise the risk of selling drugs, so there's a reason to raise the prices. As an example, you could have a specific team in LSPD tracking the drug market, some detective/low profile stuff; or you could just raise jail time aswell.

No offense, but this ruins the system. RPing drugs without actually taking them should be punishable by admins. If you would actually come down to the hood and buy drugs it would create so much more RP and interactions for illegal factions.

[Guest]

Just now, Triple-J said:

No offense, but this ruins the system. RPing drugs without actually taking them should be punishable by admins. If you would actually come down to the hood and buy drugs it would create so much more RP and interactions for illegal factions.

I would love this but people will say its RPG. Its restricting them.  But where do we actually stand on this? Two staff members have assured me that I am allowed to get drunk from un scripted alcohol aka buying that said alcohol from a NPC liquor store BUT I am not allowed to rob said store when there is a NPC in it. At the same time, I get pulled over by a cop and a script breathalyzer is used - my character is script sober, they let me go, all tho I have RP'd to be drunk. With this logic, same applies to drugs? Or does it? I don't really know.

 

We need more clearer rules on this.