Reworking the Alarm System and Burglaries

[lux]

Quote

we should incorporate security entities into this script, and it has a chance to create a new line of roleplay for in-game companies like Gruppe 6 or other private security firms.

Giving players monopolies on alarm systems is not the way forward especially with the current security firms we actually have on the server not exactly providing consistent quality. This alone would be a major turn-off for people if they're forced to deal with these companies that quite frankly seem to get away with murder (literally) because of some LFM protection agreement or something. My character would rather have an alarm-less property than deal with the current batch of security firms and I'm sure others out there feel the same way. 

RP opportunity already exists for those that want to incorporate actual alarm installation, same things goes for things like CCTV - they exist in the world if people want to use them. (And a lot don't because of reasons mentioned above). Perhaps if they stopped doing stupid shit they'd get more people interested in their services. (My character installs CCTV systems and does computer repair, trust me - there's a lot of people out there that happily accommodate that RP - I don't need to be spoon-fed by the script). 

 

Giving players pure control over these alarm systems is just going to lead to more civilian's carrying CCW's to protect their businesses which already is a massive issue. Hell, I'm sure players would be happier paying off Illegal Factions to do their protection for them - it would be a heck of a lot cheaper than what's suggested here. 

Pricing alarms at 100k to 2 million just seems ridiculous to me when you can buy an alarm that'll do the job for a few hundred bucks. Even with our inflated economy, anything North of $20,000 is going too far for an alarm that may never be triggered. I've played here for nearly 4 years and never once had an alarm go off in my properties, now I have to decide whether a little peace of mind protecting a few assets is worth upwards of 2 million dollars? 

 

 

Just slow down the time it takes to notify the police, it seems pretty simple. You can have the alarm trigger, flash, sound off and anyone in the area will be able to see it and call 911. Give it a 1-2 minute delay to actually trigger a police response, which due to the size of the map, is probably fair to accurately represent a realistic police response to an alarm. Hell, you could even up that to 5-10 minutes before police are notified. This is just over-complicating things for the sake of over-complicating things. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by lux

[joshua]

the main complaint of this entire suggestion is that cops arrive too soon.

 

HERES THE THING

alarms shouldn't just have a chance to "not work", otherwise the whole concept of an alarm crumbles, that's now how they operate irl lol

HOW ABOUT, instead, we add a HUGE delay to the "automatic PD response" part of alarms. i'm talking delays of like 5-10 minutes. this gives burglars the chance to get a good haul without half the department pulling up within 1 minute. HOWEVER, this allows people to rely on neighbours/people nearby to see/hear the alarm, and call it in before PD are automatically notified.

 

this means that burglaries in remote areas look a whole lot prettier as there's gonna be less people/neighbours around to call in when they hear the alarm, whereas burglaries in highly populated areas (apartment complexes, mirror park, vespucci etc) are gonna garner a WHOLE lot more attention as it's much more likely that someone will be there to hear it go off.

 

think of this kinda timeline

burglars break into house -> small window before alarm even triggers, perhaps they haven't hit a motion sensor yet, admin discretion for this really -> they trigger the alarm. light flash & audio cue -> owner notification after X minutes (or no notification at all. different alarm types have different timers, maybe around the 4-6 minute range?) -> police notification after X minutes (or no notification at all, again dependant on alarm type - i'm thinking something like 10-15 minute range for this one)

 

the whole idea of this is to kinda emulate the IRL police response, it'd take them a little bit longer to respond. BUT this also means that there's always the risk of someone seeing/hearing the alarm and calling it in early. choose your location wisely!

[99]

8 hours ago, joshua said:

the main complaint of this entire suggestion is that cops arrive too soon.

 

HERES THE THING

alarms shouldn't just have a chance to "not work", otherwise the whole concept of an alarm crumbles, that's now how they operate irl lol

HOW ABOUT, instead, we add a HUGE delay to the "automatic PD response" part of alarms. i'm talking delays of like 5-10 minutes. this gives burglars the chance to get a good haul without half the department pulling up within 1 minute. HOWEVER, this allows people to rely on neighbours/people nearby to see/hear the alarm, and call it in before PD are automatically notified.

 

this means that burglaries in remote areas look a whole lot prettier as there's gonna be less people/neighbours around to call in when they hear the alarm, whereas burglaries in highly populated areas (apartment complexes, mirror park, vespucci etc) are gonna garner a WHOLE lot more attention as it's much more likely that someone will be there to hear it go off.

 

think of this kinda timeline

burglars break into house -> small window before alarm even triggers, perhaps they haven't hit a motion sensor yet, admin discretion for this really -> they trigger the alarm. light flash & audio cue -> owner notification after X minutes (or no notification at all. different alarm types have different timers, maybe around the 4-6 minute range?) -> police notification after X minutes (or no notification at all, again dependant on alarm type - i'm thinking something like 10-15 minute range for this one)

 

the whole idea of this is to kinda emulate the IRL police response, it'd take them a little bit longer to respond. BUT this also means that there's always the risk of someone seeing/hearing the alarm and calling it in early. choose your location wisely!

Yeah I've been leaning into a similar idea in that this system doesn't need to be overly complicated. The issue is the lack of time to RP around a break-in, which leads to people rushing, people spamming admins to answer their /me's, etc. My idea is to tier the alarms to trigger based on timing, not reliability or anything else. Increase the timers and increase the time to alert the owner, giving a chance for neighbors or people in the area to react IC'ly (people who are actually in-game). Something like this:

 

Tier 1: (Basic noise-based deterrent, no alerting to owner or police. Could be attached to any surface that opens such as door or window.)

• Delay: Could be discretionary on Admin spectating or just a longer time limit like 15 minutes.
• Alerts the owner over SMS: No
• Delay before alerting the owner: N/A
• Alarm radius for exterior sound: 10 meters (Short distance. This is meant to simulate a cheap deterrent you can buy at any store that just emits a loud noise that can be heard to people in the close, immediate area).
• Flashing red light at the entrance: No
• Alerts the LSPD with a message: No
• Displays blip to the LSPD: No
• Delay before alerting the LSPD: N/A

Tier 2: (12 minute timer before exterior alarm sound triggers for others to hear, potentially 17 minutes total with delays to owner and police).

• Delay: 12 minutes
• Alerts the owner over SMS: Yes
• Delay before alerting the owner: 3 minutes after the initial alarm goes off
• Alarm radius for exterior sound: 50 meters
• Flashing red light at the entrance: Yes
• Alerts the LSPD with a message: Yes
• Displays blip to the LSPD: Yes
• Delay before alerting the LSPD: 5 minutes after the initial alarm goes off

Tier 3: (10 minute timer before exterior alarm sound triggers for others to hear, potentially 14 minutes total with delays to owner and police).

• Delay: 10 minutes
• Alerts the owner over SMS: Yes
• Delay before alerting the owner: 2 minutes after initial alarm goes off
• Alarm radius for exterior sound: 60 meters
• Flashing red light at the entrance: Yes
• Alerts the LSPD with a message: Yes
• Displays blip to the LSPD: Yes
• Delay before alerting the LSPD: 4 minutes after initial alarm goes off

Tier 4: (8 minute timer before exterior alarm sound triggers for others to hear, potentially 11 minutes total with delays to owner and police).

• Delay: 8 minutes
• Alerts the owner over SMS: Yes
• Delay before alerting the owner: 1 minute after initial alarm goes off
• Alarm radius for exterior sound: 70 meters
• Flashing red light at the entrance: Yes
• Alerts the LSPD with a message: Yes
• Displays blip to the LSPD: Yes
• Delay before alerting the LSPD: 3 minutes after initial alarm goes off

I feel something like this would be the easiest to address the issue of lack of time, rushing Admins with /me's because of the lack of time. It also adds in an exterior element, if possible, with a sound that can be heard by people in the main dimension who are within the radius of the house as detailed above. I don't think there needs to be some elaborate system, just something that improves on what's already there.

[pateuvasiliu]

10 hours ago, joshua said:

the main complaint of this entire suggestion is that cops arrive too soon.

 

HERES THE THING

alarms shouldn't just have a chance to "not work", otherwise the whole concept of an alarm crumbles, that's now how they operate irl lol

HOW ABOUT, instead, we add a HUGE delay to the "automatic PD response" part of alarms. i'm talking delays of like 5-10 minutes. this gives burglars the chance to get a good haul without half the department pulling up within 1 minute. HOWEVER, this allows people to rely on neighbours/people nearby to see/hear the alarm, and call it in before PD are automatically notified.

 

this means that burglaries in remote areas look a whole lot prettier as there's gonna be less people/neighbours around to call in when they hear the alarm, whereas burglaries in highly populated areas (apartment complexes, mirror park, vespucci etc) are gonna garner a WHOLE lot more attention as it's much more likely that someone will be there to hear it go off.

 

think of this kinda timeline

burglars break into house -> small window before alarm even triggers, perhaps they haven't hit a motion sensor yet, admin discretion for this really -> they trigger the alarm. light flash & audio cue -> owner notification after X minutes (or no notification at all. different alarm types have different timers, maybe around the 4-6 minute range?) -> police notification after X minutes (or no notification at all, again dependant on alarm type - i'm thinking something like 10-15 minute range for this one)

 

the whole idea of this is to kinda emulate the IRL police response, it'd take them a little bit longer to respond. BUT this also means that there's always the risk of someone seeing/hearing the alarm and calling it in early. choose your location wisely!

 

5 minutes is way too long and makes it unfair for someone entering a house to kill someone else. In 5 minutes you can murder them, T-bag them 10 times and leave with time to spare.