State of County RP - Public Barometer

[Irrtadum]

20 minutes ago, LilManiac said:

The county representatives are like those people who we see every once in a while at family functions and we don' know what the fuck they do. So yeah we need people who can actually put in the effort to doing stuff for the county and surely under the GOV faction.

I have mixed feelings about the whole park rangers shit but imo, they could take a page out of the lifeguard's book. The lifeguard's have been making a buzz with the whole beach RP stuff that they do, it makes the beaches more crowded and a hub for RP. Rangers (Parks Bureau.. w/e) could host something like that... Like for example the Senora national park near Sandy airfield, just put a blip there and watch people come over. This will also bring people who RP food trucks and such... street performers and whatnot (there are a few who RPs that). They could also do this with the trails, like Cassidy creek biking trip (mountain bikes/ dirt bikes/ ATVs), trekking up Mt Chiliad, Mt Josiah, Mt Gordo... Camping trips every once in a while... there are a lot of avenues here just need people to put in the effort for it and as legal faction I think the Parks bureau has more advantage on that. 

[Soraya]

11 hours ago, mj2002 said:

As far as I am aware, this purely done because of the limited supply of residential properties in the county. If there were enough nice places to let city characters live a little further away, then this would most likely be possible. However, as it stands, communities in Paleto Bay, Grapeseed, Harmony, and Sandy Shores have always been challenged by the lack of available residential properties for their factions, business or (friend) groups. They should have priority, its that simple. The current policy is designed to ensure those that wish to roleplay in the county also have a chance at having their characters live nearby. There's nothing more to it. More low-cost housing? Sure. Everyone's been wanting this for years, but there's probably a reason why this hasn't materialized yet.

If you go to here: https://ucp.gta.world/property-requests/request-a-trailer

 

You'll see there are plenty of open places for people to purchase. It's not really limited at the moment because there's simply just not enough people out there. That's kind of what this thread is for, to discuss ideas to get people to go out there and interact. According to PM quotes in here by @colorlessrainbow, it doesn't require but a small application with a few short sentences to provide good reasoning. Not only property requests, but @Wuhtah stated there are a lot of apartments in the area. Something I agree on with others, more "middle-class" housing/apartment type properties is needed. It seems people tend to gravitate away from what's considered "low-class" and obviously a lot of the county has that aesthetic. However if you look up the real life influences of Sandy Shores and Paleto Bay, a lot of it has gentrified over the years and parts are no longer some in the middle of nowhere low-class trailer type that people have become to portray the county.

 

6 hours ago, Wuhtah said:

 

There's over +100 apartments/trailers in the county that are available right now. A bit lacking on houses, but we've been on top of it.

 

As for scripted job support - another garbage depot being added in Paleto? Can I get more opinions on this?

 

Would having a scripted restaurant job (sort of like the 24/7, but more food-oriented) work as well? 

 

 

Might be something to clarify through announcements/discord that requests are not just trailers as the name suggests. I didn't know until I went looking that there were apartments on there as well. From the outside looking in, I wouldn't have really known that unless I went looking for it. Sure everyone can go look at this list, but people might just assume nothing is available if they don't see it on the map.gta.world and further more, assume only trailers come up on there. Sucks that people assume that, I'm guilty of it. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Is there any way to separate or clarify Paleto properties versus Sandy Shores properties? That's another thing. I don't know street names very well and it's kind of a pain to type in the address in GPS to see where it's located. Little quality of life things that might make searching for a property in those two areas a bit smoother.

 

I also believe there needs to be more business office options out in in the county. Paleto has a small office building, but there's definitely room for more. I don't see a lot of viable buildings in Sandy for a realistic office building, but I still thought I'd bring up the point.

 

7 hours ago, Martyn said:

Perhaps increase the amount of money your business makes from people entering if the business is located in a less active spot like Paleto and the county in general. These businesses generally see less traffic, I don't think they reach the maximum amount of bonus money you get from entrances due to the fact they just don't have that many people show up. Maybe make it so these businesses receive 2k per entrance, maybe increase the cap of what they can earn every 2days.

 

Would also be nice if PM if an LFM would start putting up OOC "job applications" to for example, roleplay the priest of an abandoned church and run it actively for a nice reward, be that IG money, panda points, anything really to reward these people doing tasks that normally wouldn't be done but certainly enhances the general vibe of the server. 

I think this would be a good temporary measure that PM could look into, to entice business owners to open more often even with the lower amount of people showing up. However once traffic picks up, I think it would be good to return to the normal bonuses. @Wuhtah @Jacooob could maybe weigh in here. I don't have the hard data to see how low the traffic is to prior county businesses like bars/restaurants.

 

1 hour ago, Ralof45 said:

Hey so this might be a small thing but I believe it can help and everyone else already raised some pretty good points and presented very good solutions but I haven't seen this suggested.

Basically? Having fast-travel from LS to Sandy and Paleto via the railroad that already exists. I feel like this would combat the feeling of isolation up in the county. I got a character from Paleto myself and I always feel like it's such a chore when I have to drive down to the city for something and then drive all the way back up. 
Maybe some small passenger stations could be mapped in and it could work like the LS metro.

How would this help though? Let's say a business opens in Sandy. All the city character has to do is drive to the nearest station. Leave their car there and "catch a train" to Sandy. Then when they wanna head back they just catch the train to the station where they parked at in the city. Sandy and Paleto are small enough that you can traverse on foot without it being much of a drag.

 

Yep, that was one of my main points. 99% of people portray having their own cars in the server, but the traffic out to Sandy and Paleto is ridiculously low compared to the city. Even though it only takes 5-10 minutes to reach Paleto, it's not enough to entice a majority of people to travel out that far. I'm a HUGE believer in some sort of travel option involving the trains. I'm also in support of changing the lore to where Paleto is not 2 hours away. I used to live in South Carolina in a bustling city and I could drive 20-25 minutes in any direction and hit mountains and small towns like that. I don't see any reason why we should be making the distance further from an IC standpoint when we're trying to bring people out here to RP. I think that just stands in the way of progress.

 

Anyone who argues the tracks are meant for industrial trains only, I can provide a real life example for passenger trains using industrial tracks. I live in St. Augustine and we have industrial train tracks that get used on a daily basis. The city has passed a measure to bring commuter trains that will travel from St. Augustine through to Jacksonville and they will share & utilize the industrial train track infrastructure that already exists. They've been working for months to shore up the tracks to be able to handle passenger trains. So it is realistic to consider this option, if the server can code in something similar to the subway station. @Lomadias might be something to bring up to the proper channels. This would be HUGE for easing the issue of traveling to Sandy and Paleto.

Edited June 25 by LatencyLord

[Valmont]

We should stop using "county" as a synonym for "countryside" or "suburbs". What you call "county" is just the northern part of Los Santos County, which is akin to North Los Angeles County IRL (https://www.mmasc.org/164/North-Los-Angeles-County-Region). The City of Los Angeles is the county seat of the County of Los Angeles, it's not independant like the City of Baltimore is from Baltimore County. It seems trivial, but I believe this misnomer is one of the reasons for the hillbilly/poor portrayal. It's time to define what the region north to Los Santos is supposed to be. Paleto Bay and Chumash can be portrayed as the City of Malibu, considering that Malibu stretches over 21 miles. Sandy Shores and Grapeseed can be portrayed as Palmdale and Lancaster (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49320536552_cd0b0aec53_b.jpg). Palmdale has a lake (Lake Palmdale) as does Sandy Shores and Grapeseed, both Palmdale and Lancaster have had skinhead gangs, the current sheriff's station in Sandy Shores is based on the LASD Lancaster Station, and the prison is based on the Lancaster State Prison (CSP-LAC). Of course, this will require further urbanization of both Sandy Shores and Grapeseed. I see that LSFD is interested in portraying the Los Angeles County Fire Department, why not? They already have the county lifeguards after all.

Edited June 25 by Valmont

[WatchingEye]

Too long didn't read 


As someone who's previously been involved in county RP its disheartening to see the state in which it is nowadays, ill leave it at that.

[Soraya]

9 minutes ago, WatchingEye said:

Too long didn't read 


As someone who's previously been involved in county RP its disheartening to see the state in which it is nowadays, ill leave it at that.

Your frustration is completely warranted and understandable, but I think it'd be better to continue the open dialog and air out your frustrations and help contribute towards a positive discussion. We've had PM and management already in here, it helps to open a dialog. So, please by all means, vent your frustrations. Just be courteous about it so we can keep the dialog open and not get the thread shut down for getting out of hand.

Edited June 25 by LatencyLord

[Wolfess]

County's biggest issue is lacking support when compared to the city and this bizarre, outdated perceptive people living out there should be both dirt poor and inside some illegal faction. Passive RP characters don't recieve much in the grand scheme of things and there isn't any incentive to do so with backward opinions.

However..

 

I think it's this lacking support and rumourmill behaviour that is heavy on the server which allows county to have the best quality of RP. For example, when comparing my own roleplay experiences with county/city. Former wins every single time. MC's? Outstanding. Nazis? Brillaint. Park Rangers? More please. Each interaction felt right, natural and most importantly, fun.

 

Also the attitude held by players actively in the areas seeming to know what rural living is truly like and don't stir up much trouble on their doorsteps in comparison to the city where it's ganglang turf battles everyday. There is a real sense of community at times when differences are overlooked to combat 'outsiders'. A unique and very, very fitting with the scenario overall.

But, again, always comes down to support. Now, finally, you're allowed as long as your reasoning is good, to live in the county and commute to the city for work purposes as the county is pretty dry in this area. Always a nonsensical ruling this given Sheriffs are allowed to live in housing but never once bother to RP in the region they're supposed to be in most.

County wept when the Park Rangers were disbanded. These guys were out there, exploring and always inside the county itself. Ran into them constantly, sometimes annoying with their tickets but that's a minor gripe when getting caught, right? The only law enforcement out here in the truest sense. Since their switch over to #insertLEOsomethingsomething, I haven't spotted a single one on the dirt roads. No patrols through Sandy Shores. None at any local hubs in the area for RP.

And this is what I mean by lacking support from management overall. There is no incentive to being out here other than to avoid fast-paced RP which is ripe in the city. We don't need a new gov that'll not be here, we plenty of those already. County Lifeguard opening up down on the beach in LS. - We don't need this. What we need is encouragement and support with a favour towards people wanting to rp this type of lifestyle rather than hindrance.

I'm pretty torn over what can be done and how to safeguard against people wanting to abuse it.

[Soraya]

17 minutes ago, Wolfess said:

County's biggest issue is lacking support when compared to the city and this bizarre, outdated perceptive people living out there should be both dirt poor and inside some illegal faction. Passive RP characters don't recieve much in the grand scheme of things and there isn't any incentive to do so with backward opinions.

However..

 

I think it's this lacking support and rumourmill behaviour that is heavy on the server which allows county to have the best quality of RP. For example, when comparing my own roleplay experiences with county/city. Former wins every single time. MC's? Outstanding. Nazis? Brillaint. Park Rangers? More please. Each interaction felt right, natural and most importantly, fun.

 

Also the attitude held by players actively in the areas seeming to know what rural living is truly like and don't stir up much trouble on their doorsteps in comparison to the city where it's ganglang turf battles everyday. There is a real sense of community at times when differences are overlooked to combat 'outsiders'. A unique and very, very fitting with the scenario overall.

But, again, always comes down to support. Now, finally, you're allowed as long as your reasoning is good, to live in the county and commute to the city for work purposes as the county is pretty dry in this area. Always a nonsensical ruling this given Sheriffs are allowed to live in housing but never once bother to RP in the region they're supposed to be in most.

County wept when the Park Rangers were disbanded. These guys were out there, exploring and always inside the county itself. Ran into them constantly, sometimes annoying with their tickets but that's a minor gripe when getting caught, right? The only law enforcement out here in the truest sense. Since their switch over to #insertLEOsomethingsomething, I haven't spotted a single one on the dirt roads. No patrols through Sandy Shores. None at any local hubs in the area for RP.

And this is what I mean by lacking support from management overall. There is no incentive to being out here other than to avoid fast-paced RP which is ripe in the city. We don't need a new gov that'll not be here, we plenty of those already. County Lifeguard opening up down on the beach in LS. - We don't need this. What we need is encouragement and support with a favour towards people wanting to rp this type of lifestyle rather than hindrance.

I'm pretty torn over what can be done and how to safeguard against people wanting to abuse it.

 

To get this out of the way, I am in no way advocating to turn Sandy Shores / Paleto Bay into the current landscape that's going on within the city. That wasn't the point of the dialogue. I don't wish to completely gentrify an area because it's a nice change of RP scenery when you go from the city into Sandy and Paleto. I love Paleto Bay, but its so quiet unless you're into the illegal factions that are up there,  and there's literally nothing else to do. As I said, maybe county RP'ers like it that way. I'd love to see a balance where legal RP'ers can run something like a bar or a diner and not have to be completely overtaken by illegal RP, which is what seems to happen and why the businesses don't last. I've tried on several occasions in other servers to live out in the county and this stigma is not just local to GTAW. Legal county RP'ers generally get chased out eventually by the illegal factions in the area and thus only leaves those RP groups left.

 

I would love to see more support for things like RV Parks, where people can come and rent space, camp, go fishing, go to the parks, etc. There's a nice open area by the water in Sandy Shores across from the gas station that goes virtually unused. Problem is that usually these kinds of RP'ers would get chased away by the "you're not from around here" kind of behavior that exists with illegal factions. I would love to see more support for legal businesses to exist without eventually being overtaken by illegal factions just because that's their claimed area. Obviously that's a touchy IC/OOC issue and that has to be handled delicately. I don't want to see the dull, rich grinders just come out and take over the county, I want the county life to thrive but that has to include support for the legal side as well. Things I highlighted in my original post with topics surrounding travel to the county via train, more support for legal businesses in terms of trucking and supply points, etc. I don't want to disturb the county-life type of atmosphere, I just want to see it evolve and be more balanced between the two atmospheres.

Edited June 25 by LatencyLord

[WatchingEye]

If anything I think you have worded my frustration with that last comment "YOU'RE NOT FROM HERE GO THE FUCK AWAY" or generally speaking the overtly hostile nature of most of the groups roleplaying in the area to just average Joe's going about their day its what draws people away from the county scene. See there is a difference from keeping people coming up to Sandy in sports cars away by slashing their tires or being aggressive to them (and its quite fun to roleplay that every single time, prove me wrong) than going up to everyone not in your little clique and saying GO THE FUCK AWAY ONLY WE ARE ALLOWED SUCKER 

[Soraya]

7 minutes ago, WatchingEye said:

If anything I think you have worded my frustration with that last comment "YOU'RE NOT FROM HERE GO THE FUCK AWAY" or generally speaking the overtly hostile nature of most of the groups roleplaying in the area to just average Joe's going about their day its what draws people away from the county scene. See there is a difference from keeping people coming up to Sandy in sports cars away by slashing their tires or being aggressive to them (and its quite fun to roleplay that every single time, prove me wrong) than going up to everyone not in your little clique and saying GO THE FUCK AWAY ONLY WE ARE ALLOWED SUCKER 

 

Yep, I totally agree. I'm not in support to turn Sandy or Paleto into the city, but there should be a line drawn to where you're not scaring away EVERYONE that's not in your small circle within the factions that exist. People should be allowed to feel comfortable out there and it's far from it. It's evident because of the current status out there. No one wants to go near it besides if you're heading towards a faction that's already there. This absolutely needs to be discussed.

[Wuhtah]

If there's any PROOF of factions chasing these people out - please send me that information (screens, or dates/times with character names of everyone involved), so I can get to the bottom of it. I have personally never experienced this each and every time I have RP'd in the county, so perhaps if you're going to roleplay an asshole character, you're going to get shit for it. Please prove me wrong by sending me proof. 

 

@NexusExodus - When the Sawmill gets up and running, send me a DM and I can push that forward (job wise or event wise) through the proper channels to let the county businesses know what's up. Can you also get an update to your faction of the county branches of the government? Would they be willing to do more events/gatherings? Is there any administrative help that they need? 

 

The issue with implementing railroading -- people look at the subway, and it didn't get very far in terms of roleplay. Some mindsets see this and go 'hm, why waste that time that I barely have?'.

 

I'll forward some spots and get with the PM team of getting a NPC-owned Burgershot or something alikes of that out in the county -- the mapping team has been doing well, so hopefully it won't sit in terms of 'getting mapped'. 

 

As for increasing the /openbusiness entry fee for county businesses - I'll check to see if they actually suffer on getting players up there and into the businesses itself prior to doing that. 

 

For adding more middle-class houses, if you FIND any mods that could work, please send them my way via a forum DM. Lomadias is converting a big list to send their way. 

 

We'll look into a ton of the suggestions here, but there's only so much we can do without the help of modding (who are currently fully booked through 2030 with ideas/suggestions you guys throw at them, which is totally okay!) and/or development. There's been a ton here that I haven't necessarily responded to with the above, but I am keeping track in a notepad to forward onto the respective subteams and PM's subteam as well.