Radio range

[Symka]

Short description: Add a range for radio usage.

Detailed description: People sometimes forget what a radio is in this server, it's a hardcore RP server after all. I see people use them on a daily basis from ranges that not logical at all, sometimes even from Vespucci to Sandy Shores just walking around. If you are in a trucking vehicle or something like that with a big antenna then sure but if you are just simply walking around with a walkie talkie the range isn't that good. If you are in a crowded city (Los Santos compared to RL should be pretty crowded) you would get a maximum range of 500meters with a walkie-talkie. Maybe up to 2-3 miles if you are in the middle of nowhere like in Sandy Shores or somewhere around the hills.

Commands to add: None.

Items to add: Just a range on current radios or revamp the whole radio system with new types of radios for longer distances.

How would your suggestion improve the server? Stop the unrealistic roleplay scenarios where people just pass information around from miles away with a simple /r command without any RP following it.

Additional information:  Add an item that you can buy from a store or no matter where like there is with /cameras, it would take inventory space and cut people off from using them without any RP or IC money spent on it.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Symka

[mencurry]

I don't like radios in general because it's stupid especially when people run around with one and suddenly speaks on radio, I've been trying to avoid using one but some IC events requires my char to use it so I would love for this addition to be added if possible.

[Flickin'TheWristo]

To be honest I've used the radio like this on a few occasions but this is a good suggestion. +1 on my end.

[CopBaiter]

+1 aswell.

[Y3]

+1 i hate seeing bitches using that shit like a fucking discord call

[Ink]

17 minutes ago, Symka said:

Stop the unrealistic roleplay scenarios where people just pass information around from miles away with a simple /r command without any RP following it.

 

Yeah it's so unrealistic when people in 2021 pass information around from miles away with a simple digital interaction of some sort. It's so ridiculous that people RP being able to communicate instantly with people from across the city, absolutely crazy. We should get a telegraph faction with people riding horses to ICly deliver messages to people for 15 cents.

 

Fun fact, even shortwave radio has an effective range of about 40 miles (64 KM for you people who don't use freedom units). That is larger than five Los Santoses stacked top to bottom. And before you say "well, Los Santos would realistically be bigger" -- real life Los Angeles is 44 miles north to south and 29 miles east to west, and that includes all 88 cities in Los Angeles County and the TEN MILLION PEOPLE living in it. So in real life, using a shortwave radio that you can pick up from the store as a nobody gets you a range of 90% of the entirety of Los Angeles County (all the way up to Lancaster) and it would work from Oxnard to Rancho Cucamonga (which is almost twice as wide as Los Angeles is across).

 

So how is it unrealistic people are communicating with each other from 3 miles away? 🤣

 

Look, I'm with you that it looks stupid as hell when your average person is in the middle of a conversation with you and, suddenly, without any emotes or RP otherwise, just suddenly responds to something said over a radio. The radio command can definitely use work, and the community can definitely hold itself to a higher standard.

 

That being said, currently our radio system is the ONLY WAY on the ENTIRE SERVER to remotely communicate with a group of people at once. The only other way is using a FB group chat, which is buggy and requires players to have a browser open and preferably a second monitor. For some players, this is more strain than their computer can reasonably handle while running this game, and also further forces engaging in social media on characters who otherwise have no good reason.

 

In real life, I have Discord on my cellphone, Skype on my cellphone, Zoom on my cellphone, Jitsi on my cellphone. I'm a member of group chats for a variety of real life things even outside of my gaming and I get messages on those group chats on a daily basis. People from "miles away" pass information to me with a "simple command" without "any RP following it." It's just that easy. It's almost like we're in the Information Age.

 

Something I appreciate about the /radio system is that it's been left vague. No one said anywhere in the rules, in any place that /radio is a walkie talkie. No one said that. The system doesn't even force you to buy anything special--it's fair to roleplay that this radio is an app on our cellphones. Some people RP their radio as being your standard sort of shortwave radio and RP it as their trucker radio. The police department obviously roleplays it as it would be in real life. But for civilians? I've seen people RP it anywhere from being walkie talkies to being conversations over an app.

 

To me, in a heavy roleplay setting, it's not important what people RP /radio as so long as people RP it as something and are consistent with it. But I am not interested in seeing nerfs to the /radio system until we have alternatives in-game for group chats. Yes, I agree that your Archetypical Mallrat walking around with galaxy brain mode on listening to 10 radio streams at once while they go about their day is dumb. That's the real problem here, not that they got a message from 2.5 miles away. 

 

Let's focus the solutions on the problem, not be distracted by nitpicking about ridiculous things which have a better fit in a 1970's roleplay than 2021 roleplay.

 

[Tiddy]

yes +1

[barks]

+1 yes yes

 

[Trupiano]

+1. Definitely needed.

[mggy]

+1 i agree 100%. most people rp having it as a walkie talkie and not a proper radio so i think improving the system as a whole will improve rp around it too