[POLL] Would you pay "utilities"?

[Shaderz]

1 hour ago, Zexar said:

I can see the concern for forcing the roleplay as well as where it come be a big mistake, used and abused. It can work in the way of the Construction/Furniture system, where only certain businesses are whitelisted to access the hookup and disconnect commands. It would rely heavily on a technical backend that myself, or other utility services, would have access to in order to monitor the hookups and disconnects. This would avoid players powergaming that they'd be hooked back up. They could RPly pull hillbilly and RP Stealing their neighbours power. A math algorithm could be put into the script as well, that adds kWh (kilowatt hours) x the amount of time spent in the interior, or the amount of time the interior has /lightson or /lightsoff. An average household consumed 27kWh a day, so they'd base the math off of that number or similar, especially when it comes to payments.

This would be a good solution. I suggested something similar in the same thread that was posted above, but instead of working with commands, it would automatically calculate the amount of time you spend in an interior which technically would be when the lights are on. So the more you roleplayed in your house or business and the more people used it, the higher would be the pay. On the other side, this can discourage people from using them, so I'm not sure to what extent the pros outweigh the cons here.

 

1 hour ago, Zexar said:

You are right to say it comes down to the player and their interaction of it. It may seem forced. Where, this may seem true, it is always the option of the player whether or not they want to pay and do the RP, they simply would not have access to power/water RPly. The payment can also work like /rent. If you dont confirm to pay utilities, you dont get charged. You confirm your utilities, you get charged, easy right?

In MTA, a Multiplayer Mod for San Andreas, on a server I played there was a Insurance script. Certain Faction IDs were added to the script and given permission to sell insurance. They'd get select people with insurance. Note: It was not a requirement to have insurance like it is here, but it worked the concept that if they didn't have insurance, they had to pay their own repairs. If they had insurance, repairs were paid.

That system worked fine on OwlGaming when it was used but as someone who played a good large amount of time there I can tell you for sure that not many people adhered to the insurance script, mainly because it wasn't properly advertised enough though and many factions gave up on it because it was boring as there wasn't much roleplay involved. However, I'm sure that won't be an issue here, as GTA World has the triple or quadruple of the playerbase OwlGaming had and there will certainly be more time and room for such a thing to be properly done here.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Shaderz

[arrdef]

Forcing people to pay any significant amount of money for "utilities roleplay" would essentially take that money away from more fun and productive scenarios (like hiring 1 more bartender, or being extorted).

 

Utilities roleplay, even private utilities, can be a thing without having to bill IG characters for services. I've never met the owner of a housing complex in Chamberlain, but he sure is the one paying for his sewer lateral.

It's something I happen to have actually logged in game and done, and it can be a lot of fun. It simply has to be non-intrusive and low-key. Not every aspect of legal roleplay on the server has to be executed via huge companies that present themselves as multi-nationals.

The business owners won't enjoy it if you actually make it into a thing they have to worry about. Have respect for people's time and realize that dealing with the intricacies of a water contract isn't what a business owner has in mind when he logs in.

 

Making a legal faction (not a business) based on the concept however can be a good idea, especially since it enables weekly paychecks, and those motivate some people to go and roleplay, up to a point.

Edited May 28, 2020 by arrdef

[my_g]

As long as it's nothing above like 1k a week I'd be alright with this. (IRL week)

Edited May 28, 2020 by my_g

[Bycarbon]

6 minutes ago, my_g said:

As long as it's nothing above like 1k a week I'd be alright with this. (IRL week)

The average US Home uses an average of 30kWh a day,  30 divided by 24 hours = 1.25 kWh per hour 1.25 = Hourly Rate
Weekend Prorate at 0.75 per hour
24 x 5 x 1.25 = $150 (Weekday) Usage
24 x 2 x 0.75 = $36 (Weekend Usage)
$150 + $36 = $186 Weekly Premium
186 x 4 weeks = $744 Monthly Premium


The average bar/restaurant  with 2x the size, but same usage time, would be charged a Commericial Surcharge of 0.25c per hour with no weekend prorate.
1.50 x 24 x 7 = $252 / Week
$252 x 4 weeks = $1,008 / Month

Of course, real life, in most places, is less than a dollar per kWh, and this is based off of averages as currently there is no way to calculate ingame usage, or a set power consumption per fixture of Furniture, but can easily be done with a math of ( 0.05kWh x # of furniture). So you have 50 furniture pieces. 50 x 0.05 = 2.5kWh per hour, times that by 24 hours = $60 a day times that by 7 days = $420 a week, times that by 4 weeks a month = $1,680 a month in utilities.

Quite reasonable given that the current economy is $1 US is $10 GTAW money

[Kuma]

I personally love this idea. It would add more dimensions to the RP in general, and give my character a reason to go out and make sure he has money. Only thing is to figure out what would happen if didn't pay them. 

[my_g]

11 minutes ago, Zexar said:

The average US Home uses an average of 30kWh a day,  30 divided by 24 hours = 1.25 kWh per hour 1.25 = Hourly Rate
Weekend Prorate at 0.75 per hour
24 x 5 x 1.25 = $150 (Weekday) Usage
24 x 2 x 0.75 = $36 (Weekend Usage)
$150 + $36 = $186 Weekly Premium
186 x 4 weeks = $744 Monthly Premium


The average bar/restaurant  with 2x the size, but same usage time, would be charged a Commericial Surcharge of 0.25c per hour with no weekend prorate.
1.50 x 24 x 7 = $252 / Week
$252 x 4 weeks = $1,008 / Month

Of course, real life, in most places, is less than a dollar per kWh, and this is based off of averages as currently there is no way to calculate ingame usage, or a set power consumption per fixture of Furniture, but can easily be done with a math of ( 0.05kWh x # of furniture). So you have 50 furniture pieces. 50 x 0.05 = 2.5kWh per hour, times that by 24 hours = $60 a day times that by 7 days = $420 a week, times that by 4 weeks a month = $1,680 a month in utilities.

Quite reasonable given that the current economy is $1 US is $10 GTAW money

I don't think we should base it off irl pricing imo as like you said there is no real way to calculate the usage of such things ig and as a result there would be no way to save on these things by simply not using them as much. It should depend on property size and such but an average house shouldn't cost more than 1k a week imo. And this is only if the money was being sent oocly like /charity or whatever, utility companies shouldn't be the ones collecting the money from it obviously.

 

I can't really see that furniture idea working either, you'd have to only set it to electronic items that connect to the main power and even then it wouldn't include water and gas usage etc.

[Bycarbon]

Just now, my_g said:

I don't think we should base it off irl pricing imo as like you said there is no real way to calculate the usage of such things ig and as a result there would be no way to save on these things by simply not using them as much. It should depend on property size and such but an average house shouldn't cost more than 1k a week imo. And this is only if the money was being sent oocly like /charity or whatever, utility companies shouldn't be the ones collecting the money from it obviously.

 

I can't really see that furniture idea working either, you'd have to only set it to electronic items that connect to the main power and even then it wouldn't include water and gas usage etc.

So like an array?

 

So powered =  { "lamp1", "lightingbalastceiling", "ceiling fanlight" }

sewer = { "toilet", "shower4", "bathtubGold"}

gas = { "kitchenstove", "pizzaoven", "basement furnace"}?

 

[Flow]

A terrific money sink while creating a lot of fun roleplay on the side. With the right regulations and some brainstorming, would love to see this place.

[Bycarbon]

5 minutes ago, Kuma said:

I personally love this idea. It would add more dimensions to the RP in general, and give my character a reason to go out and make sure he has money. Only thing is to figure out what would happen if didn't pay them. 

If it makes a script, disconnection could possibly happen where your interior becomes dark, your /outfit in interiors could stop working "You can't change your outfit because you haven't taken a shower! (Water Disconnect)". It's still a very rough idea, and is far from mastered.

[Bycarbon]

Just now, Flow said:

A terrific money sink while creating a lot of fun roleplay on the side. With the right regulations and some brainstorming, would love to see this place.

Working on the business thread, graphics and everything else here in a bit. You can add me on Discord (Bycarbon#6545) for sneakypeekys