A discussion regarding population

[varthshenon]

4 minutes ago, Late said:

Anyway back on track, I just found out that the UCP displays the current properties:



So 7,504 x 2.53 = 18,985

Again (2.53 being the average number of people per household in the US)

SO let's just settle that the population estimate for San Andreas is about 19,000 people.

That sounds and /feels/ about right for the size of our map and physical playing area. 

Even with that number, I know most players won't be satisfied since what they want to know is whether "they can shoot someone in the middle of a street or not if there are no players around". I'm just stating it harshly, but I know it's not that simple. I just want to make it clear. NPC or no NPC.

[Late]

1 minute ago, varthshenon said:

Even with that number, I know most players won't be satisfied since what they want to know is whether "they can shoot someone in the middle of a street or not if there are no players around". I'm just stating it harshly, but I know it's not that simple. I just want to make it clear. NPC or no NPC.

I'm a firm believer of no NPC. I grew up in a town of about 15,000 people, it wouldn't be uncommon to have the streets practically deserted in the middle of a Sunday afternoon when the stores in down are closed.

Add into the mix the level of crime, most people would stay home a lot. I don't like the whole idea of NPC's other than the airport and outside police station / bank ETC.

 

You're right though, no one will ever be satisfied what ever the number so i'm going to just do my own thing and RP it at about 19,000 people. If people don't like it they can see me on the forums! 😎

[varthshenon]

3 minutes ago, Late said:

I'm a firm believer of no NPC. I grew up in a town of about 15,000 people, it wouldn't be uncommon to have the streets practically deserted in the middle of a Sunday afternoon when the stores in down are closed.

Add into the mix the level of crime, most people would stay home a lot. I don't like the whole idea of NPC's other than the airport and outside police station / bank ETC.

 

You're right though, no one will ever be satisfied what ever the number so i'm going to just do my own thing and RP it at about 19,000 people. If people don't like it they can see me on the forums! 😎

You do you.

[Allantrist]

I roleplay and will continue to roleplay regardless of any LFM ruling that there is a large population on the server compared to the actual number of players. I just simply roleplay things like "This is a big city with a lot of people, you could have hit someone..." or "We live in a beautiful city with thousands of people, surely we can find someone!"

Roleplaying small things like that isn't ground-breaking, isn't going to break the game but it adds a little bit of immersion of what the city should realistically be like.

[SearAgenda]

Real-life Los Angeles has a population density of around 8300 people per sq mi. Los Santos (excluding Blaine County) is about 7.5 sq mi in size. This would give the city a population of 62,250 citizens. I'm fine with that number, to be quite honest, though that wouldn't even put Los Santos in the top 100 largest cities in the US. It's also worth pointing out that the population density is averaged across the whole city, so it isn't like illegal RPers in Davis would need to worry about 4,000 people being within earshot of their shakedown or deal. It would, however, guarantee that you would get seen and reported to the authorities if you tried to gun somebody down in the middle of the road on Vinewood Blvd. or Alta St., which I really don't have an issue with.

Edited September 15, 2022 by SearAgenda

[K0range4]

I think it just comes down to proper suspension of disbelief. I personally play it like this a populated city, like an LA, New York, or Chicago, with high crime and corruption. I play my character as if it’s reality, and that there are people around even if there aren’t (for the most part). Think of it like a TV show or movie – You’re sitting down for a conversation in a restaurant, and you have all those background characters, but they’re not part of your story until they actually approach and say something.

 

Involving NPCs can approach powergaming issues, like the aforementioned examples of having an “NPC” report things. But I figure unless an actual player is the one reporting your crimes, you can consider all of that “background population” that would “theoretically” report you as falling victim to fear, apathy, or the bystander effect.

[peasoup]

You have to suspend your disbelief in terms of geography. It doesn't make sense, it wasn't meant to make sense and you can't make it make sense. But it makes even less sense if you act like distances and pop are 1-to-1 or anywhere close to it. For a population that low, you have to throw away the pretense that we're portraying LA, tear down all the factions and institutions that are based on LA, and come up with original lore or pick a different town to portray.

[Chill]

-Snip-

Edited September 17, 2022 by Chill

[Perstephone]

If the population is really the player base and the roads are usually empty how is speeding through the streets when there's no cops around unrealistic? I don't mind if it's one way or the other but it seems that SOMETIMES we're supposed to rp a densely populated city and SOMETIMES it's okay to take the player base ic. Some consistency would be nice. 

 

That being said, a lot of things are unrealistic, so there isn't much point bringing up the realism argument at all. 

[Flatline]

Idm rping low pop for all of your likings, long as we can continuously mention that ls has the highest crime rate in the entire world