Quit Gatekeeping County Properties

[forty4]

Brief:

At the moment, getting any form of county property is nothing short of a nightmare, when in reality all you're paying for is the four walls of a shitty trailer. Somehow, I've seen auctions for these places hit nearly three hundred thousand, which is absolutely bizarre.

 

Detail:

At this moment in time, the entire county, this including Grapeseed, Paleto as well as Sandy, is extremely void of any rp whatsoever. The main epicentre of rp at this very minute on the server is the city, and rightfully so, however we have another fifty-percent of the map that is gatekept beyond belief for properties and is hardly ever touched. Paleto is one of the most beautiful places in the map and with the extra additions to foliage, fauna and the likes it could open up for some amazing rp opportunities and it would be great to see /more/ properties be listed out there in Paleto for people to own. Now i'm not saying Paleto is the biggest culprit for being empty, as I've seen plentiful people out there on the occasion, however the properties themselves are the issue at hand here.

 

This ties in also to both Grapeseed and Sandy who are the hardest hit of the bunch. Getting properties in this area is a nightmare, a total trainwreck of writing PM's and the likes for what is essentially a starter home. I've seen the argument that you're 'paying for the luxury of being far away' or 'there's only a handful of properties allowed' and that's great, but there is also a handful in the city, too. If people are buying in the county and not using them, the same activity modifier that we have in the city would eventually knock them out of ownership. If lack of properties is such an issue, perhaps even decrease the activity time from 15 days to 7 days for properties that are registered as being in the county.

 

All of this suggestion is in favour of harboring more roleplay and entertainment into the county. At this time, I see just one place open in Sandy, the same being for Paleto. These are two consistent businesses i'm talking, excluding the pop-ups that come on once a week if you're lucky. Having less gatekeeping on properties and opening it up to the general playerbase entertains the idea of more businesses, more groups and ultimately a more entertaining county.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by forty4

[Yoak]

This is more of a discussion, rather than a gameplay suggestion 

[forty4]

Discussions literally get you nowhere, plus if it's changing something its a suggestion regardless of what's changed.

[Kyra]

I would love to see the county RP revived again because at some point it was very alive, especially in Sandy. But nowadays it seems people are just open their business to avoid losing it and residential properties mostly go to LEO characters because "my character is a park rangah and needs a home" and you never see them actually being at the property most times. It would seem they just needed a home as a spawn point or a place to afk in peace.

I appreciate Property Management only giving out properties to county residence but as far as I'm aware it just needs a quick character backstory, that's about it.

Does it make sense for a SD or Park Ranger (and other groups & factions) to have a house in the area they work at? Yes.
But is it fair towards players who would want to actively use the property to make the county feel alive again? No.

And lets not forget the players who purchase a trailer or Paleto Bay Houses (aka Holiday Homes), keep it for several months just to sell them for massive profit as they are so rare that players that would want to roleplay in said areas would pay anything to do so- Just to face the fact that the area is dead and their efforts bringing rp to the place is pretty much pointless as most homes are seemingly "empty" most of the time.

Needless to say that Property Management already takes effort to give players properties who seek to RP in the county- But I understand that they can not keep an eye every player on a long term to see if they're actually using the property or not.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Raven.

[socrates]

County roleplay exists, but it's not what you expected. Sandy, and the proximities, are active and there is roleplay, we even have two or three factions - this is not Los Santos, you rarely will see places crowded or full of people roleplaying. Don't come to the county and expect that. Businesses are open from time to time, and there is an on going remapping of the Sandy area to replace the useless trailers with some useful stuff. Property Management also takes good care of property properties and gives it only to people that can provide they are in the area roleplaying.

 

We also have a suggestion regarding properties, where is a discussion going on, about PM being more entitled to stop any sales that's clearly going into the wrong direction in terms of character portrayal. 

 

Not sure how is this a game suggestion, but more of a discussion. 

 

Again, county roleplay is not your usual roleplay. People do roleplay in their own little bubble and won't be as visible as other places. There are players in Sandy every day and they do roleplay. 

[ERPQM]

We can't forget that PM has Property Reports as well. If you consistently drive by a house that always seems to be vacant, it doesn't hurt to /report to ask if it's player-owned and then pop a quick Property Report up on the forums. It's hidden from everyone but you and PM, so it's drama-free.

 

My character is based in Sandy and I'm online every day. There's about 10 properties that I've seen that consistently have vehicles parked out front. 

 

I've seen this on the forums a while back, can't find it to link, but there's a mod that replaces the broken down trailers and motel in Sandy with small houses that for the area. That could definitely help people looking to RP in the county.

[Triple Seven]

In part you're likely facing the issue of having no hook with the people that do roleplay in the county. I've been roleplaying in Paleto for a couple of months now and often it's quite dead so you'll have to resort to passive roleplay or try again later.

 

Something that I've noticed too is that the county roleplayers are pretty closed off to outsiders. People aren't welcomed and involved, instead treated as unwelcome outsiders that are trying to burst the ongoing bubble. There's businesses that work rather well as catalysts for welcoming people into the county, most notably in my experience: Pixel Pete's Arcade (shoutout). It offers interaction between characters of all walks of life and that seems to work really well.

 

Lastly, you don't need a property to RP in the county. Start with an RV and move to a stationary property once you're connected and your character has established itself as living in the county.

[ERPQM]

10 minutes ago, socrates said:

 

Again, county roleplay is not your usual roleplay. People do roleplay in their own little bubble and won't be as visible as other places. There are players in Sandy every day and they do roleplay. 

 

This is very true. I'm not usually bored when I'm online and I only go down to LS out of necessity which is maybe once a week. The key is to find the people your character jives with and keep that rolling. 

 

Just yesterday there was almost 30 people walking around Sandy, bunched up in a few different groups just having a chat. It was good to see!

Edited June 3, 2022 by Don't@Me

[Zoinks]

Tldr; county houses are gatekept to stop city hoarders from taking all of the properties away from the actual RPers in the area. If something is going to change then people need to start roleplaying in county and showing that the area is worth PMs time and potentially trying a different solution.

 

As a co-leader of a faction based in Grapeseed, I can say that I agree with your suggestion but unfortunately that this is unlikely to happen.

 

Housing has been one of the bigger issues with the sustainability of our faction, new members eventually get sick of not having somewhere to call home, store belongings etc, leading them to move on elsewhere. 
 

Since this was an issue, I reached out to PM regarding getting more properties in the area, either through modding in new trailers like in Sandy, or creating an apartment block in an unused building. This conversation, at least from my point of view, didn't really get anywhere. 

 

Also the people that are hoarding the properties and selling them for ridiculous prices don't have county RPs best interests at heart, they simply want a quick buck or a "summer home" for their character that they rarely use. This is exactly why county properties are the way they are - if anyone could purchase a house, a vast majority of them would be picked up by hoarders who can actually afford the 3 million buyout. Getting them through PM is a solution for this. Those that actually RP in the county happily pass around properties for low-end prices and try to help each other out so the key is to RP in the area first, deal with where you live second.

 

Imo people have to be the change they want to see and the lack of RP in county may be down to lack of properties but mostly its just a lack of people taking initiative. Live in an RV, make some buddies in the area and then move in with someone, wait for them to sell their place, stay in an RV permanently and make that part of the character. Could even make someone homeless like some people do in the city. Incorporate the limitations into the story and they dont seem like limitations anymore. 

 

Would love to see more life in the area, there is plenty of good RP around if you take the time to find it though - dont rely on houses and businesses. 

[Rhelli]

It's not the properties being gatekept. It's the county in general. You don't need a property in the county to establish yourself as a county character. Do you have a backstory that fits into the county? Ask someone from PM to check if there are any available county properties on PM hand to be sold to you. You see a county property sold for millions? Report it.

The bigger issue is that people gatekeep the county, then complain that it's inactive. What do you expect, when you alienate the people who want to roleplay in the county?