County roleplay & county community

[GOBLIN]

54 minutes ago, _ELL1E_ said:

As I see it, the county isn't a place to be littered with sports cars and gold chains. It's a low-income area for the most part, more blue collar.

Sports cars, hell no. Gold chains? Why not? There's plenty of business opportunities (though no one wants to take them). You could be anyone and live your life however you like in the county as long as it makes sense. Hell, I started my character off poor and after a good year of playing and now she's properly earned her wealth due to her artistic ways.

 

57 minutes ago, _ELL1E_ said:

who cares if the mass majority of county RPers are a hick?

Because it's the county and not the country, most of those stereotypical "Fuck my cousin" characters really ruin the whole scene. The only reason why you and other people seem to think that is because of how GTA5 portrayed it. Sandy Shores is based off of California's "Desert Shores", which is really just a normal community full of normal people trying to live their normal life. You're gonna have your crack smokers, your meth tokers, your nerds, your bikers and all of the above. The basis of Sandy Shores being full of mainly ONLY illegal rpers being bikers and "mafiosos" that think they fully "run" the county instead of welcoming more legal rpers (that would brighten and liven up the scene) with open arms is a genuine problem as well.

[Dom.]

The hick characters usually tend to portray a lackluster roleplay standard and makes the entire area look bad as a result. If the entire server is meant to portray a realistic replacement for California, Sandy Shores should be no different. The SoCal desert is not Alabama.

[Koko]

26 minutes ago, GOBLIN said:

1 hour ago, _ELL1E_ said:

As I see it, the county isn't a place to be littered with sports cars and gold chains. It's a low-income area for the most part, more blue collar.

Sports cars, hell no. Gold chains? Why not? There's plenty of business opportunities (though no one wants to take them). You could be anyone and live your life however you like in the county as long as it makes sense. Hell, I started my character off poor and after a good year of playing and now she's properly earned her wealth due to her artistic ways.

 

This tbh, I don't understand why people seem to think that the whole Hip Hop west coast aesthetic should be limited to the city. Exiting the city limits doesn't make you instantly grow a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat, Hip Hop culture would also be pretty huge in particularly poor county areas and you'd easily have groups of youth trying to play up the Cali gang life even if it's in a weird, not self-aware LARP sense.

[RedRover]

To be fair, if you look up the demographics for Desert Shores, California. It's a very low income area with a rough population of slightly less than 600 people, which has gone down by almost 50% since the last census in 2010.

 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/desert-shores-ca-population

 

I wouldn't expect anyone in the affluent / moderately rich income bracket to want to live here. It's not the city. It shouldn't be portrayed as such either. Now I'm not advocating for the Alabama in-the-family type characters, but it should be understood that your average every day city-based character would not necessarily strive to move out there. I do however support things to organically progress because Sandy Shores =/= Desert Shores, just as Los Santos =/= Los Angeles. If the demographics in-game change organically over time and differs from the real life Desert Shores, there's nothing wrong with that. There should be some sort of stability out there, but at least be welcoming of newcomers rather than walling off the county likes its a personal conquest. The county has a lot of potential, but stereotypical characters tend to ruin that experience for newcomers. First impressions are everything. You want more people in the county? Stop being so closed off to the rest of the world.

 

Business need major support and lack the system to encourage longevity. Trucking and keeping businesses supplied in the county is a hassle, at best. Some supply points are only in the city, making it a farther drive for the same pay as delivering 1 mile down the road from the port. Naturally truckers are going to avoid these county routes unless they have no choice. Offering extra pay just because that's the only way someone will deliver simply punishes people who are trying to make ends meet in the county. A simple $50 extra in crate price could mean the difference between breaking even and going negative for a business, so depending on the business, some can't offer extra pay and thus don't ever get any deliveries. The other fault is on business owners who do not put any thought into their drop off points. Some of them are outright inaccessible unless you're in a Speedo and even then, some are in such weird spots that truckers don't even bother after going there once. There are many areas through which this could be helped by players through initiative, but the county needs support from GTAW management in many different aspects. No way around that.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Brofessor

[Koko]

10 minutes ago, Brofessor said:

I wouldn't expect anyone in the affluent / moderately rich income bracket to want to live here. It's not the city. It shouldn't be portrayed as such either. Now I'm not advocating for the Alabama in-the-family type characters, but it should be understood that your average every day city-based character would not necessarily strive to move out there.

 

I would actually see the county as a really attractive place for a particular subset of city characters. My own character has gone from seeing bodies laid out on the street around his neighborhood daily along with the shallow life of nightclub culture which he led as a DJ, and he's unironically talked with his girlfriend about dreams about a little house in the county to just move away from all that and he's the server's definition of a mallrat.

 

There's also a lot to say in terms of possibilities for "gentrification" storylines where city hipsters come in and try and open some business or something, and it makes for interesting propositions and interactions between old-times and newcomers.

[LG]

On 4/4/2022 at 8:45 PM, Rhelli said:

This is true. People need to realize that sometimes people need a change of pace. City characters might want a simpler life, and settle down to work in the county, but some people gatekeep it as their own territory. People should be more accepting towards the city people who move out to Paleto, Grapeseed, Sandy with an RV. They're trying to establish themselves there, but if the locals are hostile, it's going to end up as a toxic circlejerk where you'll end up hating your own neighbors. You don't think they fit all that well into the county? Offer them a helping hand instead of telling them to go back to the city.

This... my characters wanted to semi-retire upto Paleto for a while now, he's always ran major trucking companies such as IMEX, Bluewater & Coastal at CEO/Owner Level, but would like to run a tiny logistics company with just 3-4 vehicles up in Paleto, but because I've not yet RP'ed with him in Paleto, and because he's never been Paleto involved, it seems impossible.

[Wuhtah]

What exactly would you guys appreciate from Property Management to help with the issues in the county?

 

Bare in mind, if you're having crate issues, you can always apply for a LFM budget or start a small trucking company solely in the county. 

[Rhelli]

8 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

What exactly would you guys appreciate from Property Management to help with the issues in the county?

 

Bare in mind, if you're having crate issues, you can always apply for a LFM budget or start a small trucking company solely in the county. 

More housing options!

Jokes aside, I think one of the big problems is that there're very few businesses active. This is just an idea, but maybe some sort of initiative and/or incentive to run county businesses? Perhaps a list of inactive county businesses that could be posted in the various county discords to see if any of the locals want to pick it up?

[Zytum]

10 minutes ago, Rhelli said:

More housing options!

Jokes aside, I think one of the big problems is that there're very few businesses active. This is just an idea, but maybe some sort of initiative and/or incentive to run county businesses? Perhaps a list of inactive county businesses that could be posted in the various county discords to see if any of the locals want to pick it up?

That was done for Paleto a while back, I believe.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nKXv6TWFfgfWwfL-crdfZBDRT1rLGRkUAfnNBDV4Q5E/edit#gid=2123163048

 

Would need the same on Grapeseed and Sandy.

[Wuhtah]

2 hours ago, Rhelli said:

More housing options!

Jokes aside, I think one of the big problems is that there're very few businesses active. This is just an idea, but maybe some sort of initiative and/or incentive to run county businesses? Perhaps a list of inactive county businesses that could be posted in the various county discords to see if any of the locals want to pick it up?

 

More housing options is in the works.

 

I will put together a property list for businesses and other places within the county that are requestable (probably not through house requests unless it is an actual house). 

 

There are a few within Sandy that are 'duplicates' of each other - as in you guys don't need two tobacco stores - one can be concept changed to something else. 

 

What incentives were you thinking?