The decision to not allow "Looking for work: ads.

[Alexandra_Forge]

While, the issue may seem small.... I do not see the reasoning behind allowing people to offer work in /ads, but not allowing those looking for work to do the same.. Forcing them to use a forum system or a in game system that a solid majority of us never even look at.

 

Not only does it make the people, who need such help; lives harder. It also makes it harder on the potentially new player who is theoretically posting their resume, and work experience.

 

"24 year old with skills in the automotive industry looking for work" is a reason to be kicked from the server, yet someone who is already established is free to solicit as they please? It's contradictive... And it caters to the communities "founded" members who do not rely on such ads.. I assume it is because someone, with plenty of money and RP, is tired of seeing it... 

 

When I see ad's for someone looking for work, I try to at least get them to the office to have an interview, and potentially gauge their RP.. This contributes to their overall interaction, and as a new player, it means something..

 

Not allowing someone to post sexually related offerings is one thing, but an all out ban is a broad approach to someone RPing listing their resume, as you can find within the classifieds section of many niche news papers all over the US.

 

You do not hear "Looking to hire a bartender" - OR selling a used car... On the radio during your morning commute to work do you? So, essentially, /ads would be symbolic of you reading a news paper and looking in the paid classified....  

 

 

My solution... Ad a /wad (LFW ad, call it what you want) that is available for people to post LFW advertisements (resumes) as well as job opporunties.. Going further, make all add types toggleable to end the argument about people not wanting to see it. Frankly, I don't like seeing my screen filled with realestate and car ads... But I know its essential, as is looking for a RP Job!

 

In my opinion, we are making (potentially new) people jump through hoops to appeal to those who may not like seeing someone needing a job every 20 minutes... But at the end of the day, I don't like seeing club advertisements every 3 minutes either, and I am sure a lot of people feel the same way. I deal with it because It is a staple part of a roleplay server, and it breaths life.. It let's you know that their is something going on, or someone hiring, and ALSO someone is looking to contribute to RP via offering their skills/labor.

 

Overlooking the jobs section of the forums shows a wealth of posts that have little to no reaction... While I know that if I was to post an appealing "resume" ad IN GAME, I would surely get at least one call. And the /I job system.. Hell, I've played here over a year, consistently looked for help during my projects and just found out about it after overlooking a discussion in the forums that mentioned it. And now that I know, I'd still much rather be caught off guard and read it in the chat.. That's the point of an ad..

 

The only thing it is doing is unrealistically handicapping players from succeeding in game. 90% of a lot of peoples (As I cant speak for anyone else really) time is spent in game... So why make someone go to the forums and risk potential exposure by those who may miss it?

 

And the last thing is... If anything, can we get an explanation of why we are targeting these ads but not others? Why is someone looking for work an issue?

Edited January 20, 2020 by Zane_Field

[35mm]

You’re absolutely right.

[Engelbert]

Seconding this.

[BadassBaboon]

As long as I don't see "18yo girl looking for another 18yo girl roommate" ads I'm fine.

[Paddy]

I think that there are a number of issues surrounding this in terms of realism and practicality.

 

Adverts cost money. From a realistic perspective, somebody who requires employment equally requires money. It's there for arguable that the person posting such an ad probably shouldn't be able to afford it.

 

There's also a degree of redundancy to such an act. Typically, people who have jobs advertise them until the roll is covered. I can't say for certain, but I imagine that people don't gravitate towards somebody offering their services unless it's something sleazy.

 

Which brings me to my final point. It's often difficult to outright know what is legal or illegal when somebody is offering themselves. Especially when it's somebody telling you their age, gender and appearance, which makes most players assume it's a prostitute offering their services.

 

In summary then, while I understand that this can cause new member issues, this is a decision for the benefit of realism. In addition, new players can find alternatives, by calling adsfor work, or even going to bars and asking subtly.

[thot]

Honestly, looking-for-work ads are a yes from me, they just need to be simpler and not so full of unnecessary information - like f.e. what race you are - nobody cares as long as you do your job right.

I don't think there should be any rules on what kinda format these ads should have, if you post a bad ad then it's your fault at the end of the day.

So seriously, please stop crying about the ads. Just let them be. Even the illegal ads - let them be, the cops will have things to do. It just brings more roleplay, as it should, because ads are actually an IC thing and a part of our virtual world. The only ads that should be punished in my opinion are obvious OOC troll/angry ads, such as calling people names and such.

And yeah, unless we are roleplaying the ad agency having some kinda ad filter that blocks the illegal ads automatically, this whole thing makes zero sense.

On a side note (ignore if you want, I don't mean to off-top) I agree with OP about club ads. It's annoying that clubbing is (oftenly) the only kinda roleplay that connects people and I hate seeing club ads every minute or two. I've spent months on this server and I'm tired of this still being a thing.

Also the forum system - the forum keeps everything nice and clean, and in order - it would work better if more people got involved.

[Copyright]

3 hours ago, thot said:

Honestly, looking-for-work ads are a yes from me, they just need to be simpler and not so full of unnecessary information - like f.e. what race you are - nobody cares as long as you do your job right.

I don't think there should be any rules on what kinda format these ads should have, if you post a bad ad then it's your fault at the end of the day.

So seriously, please stop crying about the ads. Just let them be. Even the illegal ads - let them be, the cops will have things to do. It just brings more roleplay, as it should, because ads are actually an IC thing and a part of our virtual world. The only ads that should be punished in my opinion are obvious OOC troll/angry ads, such as calling people names and such.

And yeah, unless we are roleplaying the ad agency having some kinda ad filter that blocks the illegal ads automatically, this whole thing makes zero sense.

On a side note (ignore if you want, I don't mean to off-top) I agree with OP about club ads. It's annoying that clubbing is (oftenly) the only kinda roleplay that connects people and I hate seeing club ads every minute or two. I've spent months on this server and I'm tired of this still being a thing.

Also the forum system - the forum keeps everything nice and clean, and in order - it would work better if more people got involved.

you literally are a hero and took the words right out of my mouth. +1

[Mitch]

3 hours ago, thot said:

Honestly, looking-for-work ads are a yes from me, they just need to be simpler and not so full of unnecessary information - like f.e. what race you are - nobody cares as long as you do your job right.

The only thing that should matter is age and what job you're looking for, don't put "Looking for work", try and specify it, at least, bartender, mechanic, etc.

[Anselmi]

4 hours ago, Paddy said:

I think that there are a number of issues surrounding this in terms of realism and practicality.

 

Adverts cost money. From a realistic perspective, somebody who requires employment equally requires money. It's there for arguable that the person posting such an ad probably shouldn't be able to afford it.

 

There's also a degree of redundancy to such an act. Typically, people who have jobs advertise them until the roll is covered. I can't say for certain, but I imagine that people don't gravitate towards somebody offering their services unless it's something sleazy.

 

Which brings me to my final point. It's often difficult to outright know what is legal or illegal when somebody is offering themselves. Especially when it's somebody telling you their age, gender and appearance, which makes most players assume it's a prostitute offering their services.

 

In summary then, while I understand that this can cause new member issues, this is a decision for the benefit of realism. In addition, new players can find alternatives, by calling adsfor work, or even going to bars and asking subtly.

This sums it up pretty well.

 

4 hours ago, thot said:

Honestly, looking-for-work ads are a yes from me, they just need to be simpler and not so full of unnecessary information - like f.e. what race you are - nobody cares as long as you do your job right.

I don't think there should be any rules on what kinda format these ads should have, if you post a bad ad then it's your fault at the end of the day.

So seriously, please stop crying about the ads. Just let them be. Even the illegal ads - let them be, the cops will have things to do. It just brings more roleplay, as it should, because ads are actually an IC thing and a part of our virtual world. The only ads that should be punished in my opinion are obvious OOC troll/angry ads, such as calling people names and such.

And yeah, unless we are roleplaying the ad agency having some kinda ad filter that blocks the illegal ads automatically, this whole thing makes zero sense.

All advertisements from reputable sources that you see in real life, be it the television, newspaper or the radio, are held to a strict standard. Someone, for example, trying to sell/buy weapons - absolutely would not be able to make an advert about it. It's immersion breaking and it shouldn't fall on the server's law enforcement to deal with it.

 

I'd argue that not allowing such ads promotes more roleplay than it does to allow them. For example, if you're looking for a job - as Paddy outlined - the odds are you probably don't have the money to splash out on an city-wide advertisement. There's more roleplay to be had by hitting the road and handing out resumes, inquiring about work in open businesses, stores, etc. Hell, there's even a social media website you could use - people use it all the time to express that they're looking for work. You just need to get creative about it.

[thot]

1 hour ago, Anselmi said:

All advertisements from reputable sources that you see in real life, be it the television, newspaper or the radio, are held to a strict standard. Someone, for example, trying to sell/buy weapons - absolutely would not be able to make an advert about it. It's immersion breaking and it shouldn't fall on the server's law enforcement to deal with it.

They should just specify (in the rules) that there's a NPC in the ad agency that verifies your ad before it's posted - that would fix it and make it so this rule has an IC backing. For now it's just like "hurr durr breaching the ad don't do this and stfu".
Then it would actually be breaching a rule because you're powergaming your way over the system.

Then again - going back to the work ads - this is just roleplay and not the real world. People are incredibly lazy sometimes and I agree that there should be a balance between pushing out city-wide ads and just going around handing out resumes. This is a great idea but I guess it will be hard to spread this idea around and make it so more people start doing this, especially when pasting an /ad is 50 times easier and faster.

I encourage everyone to get jobs through people on the server though, it makes for more fun in my opinion. When I think of roleplay I think of interaction between people in game, so the ad system and the forum should just be a bonus to show off your character or your business. I know some servers that didn't have an ad system like this and so you'd actually have to drive to your local radio station and ask them to put out an ad for you.

To summerize, I think the automation we have on the server now is great and efficient, but in my opinion it muffles down the roleplay aspect by replacing player-to-player interaction with this not-so-fun /ad system. The city feels empty, almost dead sometimes, and I think it wouldn't hurt to implement an actual IC way to get advertisements that involves roleplaying with someone rather than using a scripted feature. I am not completely against having such features on the server, but we're definitely lacking something magical.