My thoughts on the new economy

[UnknownRNGS]

Ok, I’m going to go out on a limb and say something that’s pretty controversial and is prolly gonna step on a lot of people’s toes, so take everything I say with a pinch of salt and read all of it before you comment. With that being said: new economy...is trash. 

I understand that it’s supposed to be more realistic and more unforgiving and all of that and promote a higher sense of RP but all it does is restrict RP. 

If you aren’t EMS or PD you log on grind windmills or drugs forever, get your little slice of money and then what do you do with it? If you go out and do something risky or illegal you risk losing everything that you just spent hours grinding for so you won’t. The beauty of the old economy was that you could grind for an hour or two and you would have enough money to go fuck around with it. You would have enough money to the point that you wouldn’t care about it and would get into social interactions where you could lose it because you could simply turn around and get more. Robberies weren’t just about getting away they were about the negotiations. Granted I am not PD but from what I’ve seen from streams its basically the same thing. Free passage no spike strips then get away on a bike, rinse and repeat. Before, you could have fun with the robbery because if you got caught it wouldn’t really matter. With this new economy with less pay and stricter fines, you won't do that because you wouldn’t want to lose everything you’ve worked for. If you rob a store or do something illegal you’re going to go with your “must get away” attitude and not enjoy the chase or pursuit. This might, of course, be fun for the criminals robbing the store but the officers chasing them it isnt. Where’s the fun of a minute-long chase against a motorcycle that takes the first alleyway?  You won’t be doing something illegal for the fun of it or the social interactions you’re doing it just for the money. Maybe that’s more realistic but in the end this is a videogame that we go to to have fun. If you’re too busy worrying about losing your hard-earned money you aren't going into the city for the interactions and that’s not a good thing.

This is also boosted by the fact that money isn’t shared between characters anymore. Realistically this made little to no sense but it was still a good thing as it encouraged the idea of grinding with one character and having fun on another. On the old economy, I would grind out EMS for an hour or two on John then switch to Jackson or Mateo (my crims) and have fun and not worry about anything except the interaction. I haven’t put any hours into both of those characters because i simply don’t want to grind for two hours for money is most likely going to lose within 30 minutes of fun social interaction. I know a lot of other people did this as well, grinding on a PD or EMS character then switching to a crim to have some real fun and some real interactions and storylines and that was fantastic. And now that simply doesn’t exist anymore.

Grinding is a good thing to a certain extent but at the state it’s in on Badlands its simply too much. Money simply has too much value (ironic right?) If there’s too much grinding the server isn’t fun anymore and people won’t enjoy their time on it. Why join a server where you lose what you make in one interaction? The RP is few and far between as everyone is simply out just grinding and grinding. Most EMS calls are shootouts or people falling off the windmills while making money which isn’t fun for either parties. The old economy had a charming sense of simplicity to it where you could get decently loaded fairly quickly and honestly i would think that most of us loved it, right? Well, that’s just my two cents about the new economy. Didn’t proofread any of this so if something doesn’t make sense comment it and also reply with your own thoughts or arguments. 

(note: i would bring this up during the community meeting on the 7th but i won’t be able to make it so…:P)

[Kevin Ross]

+1

Seems a lot wont be able to make it to the 7th meeting i feel.

[Rizz]

I agree with the sharing. With the current system I am not going to bother doing other chars. If they share money/license I will make other chars but as it is now... I don't want to spend 10 hours on a new char just prepping it to do one thing. I get that a lot of effort should be put I personally don't have that kind of extra time. 

[Diesel]

14 hours ago, rizz said:

I agree with the sharing. With the current system I am not going to bother doing other chars. If they share money/license I will make other chars but as it is now... I don't want to spend 10 hours on a new char just prepping it to do one thing. I get that a lot of effort should be put I personally don't have that kind of extra time. 

I disagree this is definitely a mindset issue i think i have 5 characters at this point all with there own storyline and ways of making money along with there separate groups of people they hangout with, not all characters have to be money lords.

[UnknownRNGS]

3 hours ago, gmoney said:

I disagree this is definitely a mindset issue i think i have 5 characters at this point all with there own storyline and ways of making money along with there separate groups of people they hangout with, not all characters have to be money lords.

yes yes, but all characters don't start with nothing in the bank. The shared pools allowed you to be creative with your characters or at least have a starting point. Maybe some sort of system that allows new characters to start with more money if you have one character that has a certain point of wealth or whatever. 

[RobertDole]

I agree with most of this.

Honestly the thought of having to grind has kept me from getting back into the city. The current system feels too punitive.

It also seems to be at odds with the new mechanic system. Mechanics have to put their own money into a car, and people are so broke they're less likely to pay anything over the cost of parts. I feel like the new mechanic system is overall good, but it would've been a better fit with the old economy and not the new one.

[ImmortalGO]

Quote

 You won’t be doing something illegal for the fun of it or the social interactions you’re doing it just for the money.

While I do agree with the general sentiment that the economy could use some balancing.  I will have to disagree that you won't want to do anything illegal.  My friend and I hijacked a tanker truck, then parked it in front of a store and robbed it.  When the police came we told them they had to back up or we would blow the tanker.  We tried to escape but failed eventually.  I think we did 6 months in jail and like $1000 fine?  Maybe not even a fine, I honestly don't remember exactly.  It was probably a good 45 minutes to 1hr of RP between the heist, chase, custody, transport to jail, etc.  I didn't regret losing that $1000 at all.  You can still RP, I know that the ultimate goal of the city is to have a player driven economy, which would be light years better than "go here and press this button",  I think as it stands today, there is too much emphasis on where the city wants to be and less on where it needs to be right now.

[paska]

1 hour ago, ImmortalGO said:

While I do agree with the general sentiment that the economy could use some balancing.  I will have to disagree that you won't want to do anything illegal.  My friend and I hijacked a tanker truck, then parked it in front of a store and robbed it.  When the police came we told them they had to back up or we would blow the tanker.  We tried to escape but failed eventually.  I think we did 6 months in jail and like $1000 fine?  Maybe not even a fine, I honestly don't remember exactly.  It was probably a good 45 minutes to 1hr of RP between the heist, chase, custody, transport to jail, etc.  I didn't regret losing that $1000 at all.  You can still RP, I know that the ultimate goal of the city is to have a player driven economy, which would be light years better than "go here and press this button",  I think as it stands today, there is too much emphasis on where the city wants to be and less on where it needs to be right now.

 

I'm right there with you. We have done quite a lot of illegal things for the RP. I feel like a big issue is everyone seems to have the mindset that they need to be millionaires. There are people and groups who are grinding the engineering job. Just today we saw a group of 4 cars, all the same color and group, all going around together doing that job. Why? Why do people feel the need to be rich.  Having a ton of money and nice cars does not equal good RP. Hell, a lot of the people I see and talk to do engineering and sit at the mechanic shop on Elgin. Too many times have there been 6+ people and none of them are mechanics and are just hanging out. Why? Go RP. Do something. This isn't GTA: Social Club and Money Farm. I've heard about and seen people grind the money for the Business so they can get leaves to make coke. Why? So you're an engineer thief carjacking drug lord? Just doesn't make sense to me.

Edited March 7, 2020 by paska

[Saja Kain]

11 hours ago, paska said:

Why? Go RP. Do something. This isn't GTA: Social Club and Money Farm. I've heard about and seen people grind the money for the Business so they can get leaves to make coke. Why? So you're an engineer thief carjacking drug lord? Just doesn't make sense to me.

While this is good, in theory, it'll almost never come to fruit in practice in an entire community. You will always have those individuals that - for their enjoyment - want to grind out the money so they can spend it on the most expensive buildings, cars, upgrades, etc. My suggestion is to let them have their fun just the same way as we have our fun by focusing on the RP.