PoliceRP is dying, Here are a few ways to fix it - Denied

[1st GA Cletus Jackson]

IMPORTANT READER CONTEXT:

To abide by forum rules, I will attempt to condense this information as much as possible. if the Staff team is interested, I will write an informative extended version of this suggestion. If you have questions, please comment below and I can elaborate.

Again, these suggestions can be combined and altered to the staff's liking. If you do not like one part, please do not - support the entire post, rather comment what you like and don't like. 

I've been playing Gaminglight for over 8 years, starting in 2015. Since then I've seen the PoliceRP server go on a downward spiral and it's at a very low point at the moment with an average of 32 players this month and a maximum amount of players at a single time of 58 players. There needs to be a change or else the server will fizzle out and die. The highest player count AT A SINGLE TIME for the server this year is 85 players in March 2023. Since then the highest player amount at a single time has dropped significantly over the following months. Does anybody remember the last time the server had 100 ACTIVE players on it?

These suggestions are built upon players' most common problems/issues with the server. Here are some issues I've witnessed and heard from players over the years.

- Low player count / Majority of players on the server are AFK.

- extremely unbalanced combat

- Militarized Police

- ingame economy suffering from inflation.

- Many unused free-to-play jobs

- long download time for content

- Bureaucracy and politics plaguing departments

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What you want to see? - Here are some suggestions that could bring more players back to the server and address the issues above

- Remove the inventory system and replace it with a pocket.

            - Currently the Gun Dealer. Heavy Gun Dealer and Black Market dealer jobs are not played very much, if at all. Removing this inventory system creates a need for individuals who want weapons to go and purchase them. This will get players to become dealer jobs again,  open their own stores, and create RP within the server. The pocket system will also prevent Self-supply when the player dies or switches jobs. They lose what is in their pocket. This will also prevent players from storing their weapons during a firefight to prevent losing them. 

- Wipe the current ban list

        - A little self-explanatory, but allow individuals a second chance to come and try out the server. By keeping players banned, they will never contribute to growing the player count.

- Condense departments back to how the server originally started (PD, Swat, FBI)

        - There are many complaints about the departments. These range from the "Militarization" of the police, I.E., Overpowered officers in tactical vehicles are responding to minor crimes and there is a lack of accountability and punishment in separate departments with different SOP's and much more. 

      By merging the 9 departments into 3 departments, we can solve many issues that plague the server.

• Removing the extra departments will decrease the download/load time and lag massively. This means new players can join much faster and have a smoother playing experience
• By having just a police, FBI, Swat, and EMS building. We can allow for businesses and bases to be near the central part of the map. Currently, government buildings take up all of the "downtown" buildings. On the current map, there are just 2 shops allowed for player use at the end of the road near the bank. This forces players to spread further on an already big map and makes it difficult for new players to find a place to put their gun store or base.
• By condensing the departments, we can have more accountability and control over officers' actions. Many times, Tac Units in different departments are not punished appropriately or at all as opposed to their counterparts in PD. This is because there are no "checks & balances" amongst the departments since they all operate to their own "SOP".
• Militarization Issue: Many citizens complain about the unrealism within the server. Yes, it's not a "serious RP server" but it's getting out of hand that the SWAT, SRT, and other tac units are conducting traffic stops on citizens. Almost every time there is a shootout, the tac units are on the scene within seconds. It's almost impossible for criminals to win unless they are a custom class. If we condense the departments, there will be enough officers on regular PD to give the "realism" back to the server.
• Fixing the /911 bug: Currently if you call /911 and there are less than 5 PD officers on. The user will get a message back that says "There are no Police Officers Online!" and not send in your call for help. The script doesn't take into account the other Tac Units online. Implementing this will provide more officers online, thus enabling users to call /911 and get help.
• Merging will make the law enforcement in the server uniform again, with everyone adhering to the same policies.

        - Another way to add realism and to reduce militarization is to have players only switch to SWAT when a situation calls for it, such as a Bank robbery, Hostage situation etc. This way, all the SWAT spawn together, group up and arrive together. Giving the PD ample time to set up a perimeter and RP in the scenario. (Since in real life, SWAT just doesn't appear immediately; they take a little bit to get to a scene.) Once the situation ends, they switch back to regular PD, FBI, etc. This fixes the militarization issue and the /911 bug.

        - As per the Merge, switching ranks will be easier said than done. However, the fairest way for everyone would be to put non-low or high-command tac unit members into the SGT role. This way, they are put into a supervisor position and can spread their knowledge and wisdom to the enlisted ranks of the PD. 

Low command tac units will be merged into the Lieutenant and high command will be merged into a Captain or Colonel.

again, this is just a suggestion; do as you see fit

          

- Economy Reset and or/ Remove 750K starting cash, instead make starting cash 25K.

  - By starting every player at 750K, the dollar's value in the game drops dramatically. Significant disparities exist between those with hundreds of millions of dollars on the server and those just starting out. Changing the starting cash to a much lower sum will reduce inflation instantly within the economy and make people value their money more. 

- An economy reset combined with the new starting cash will put every player on an even playing field. Thus enticing players new and old to spend more time on the server running a shop, selling drugs, printing money etc. It will boost actual engagement in the server instead of the "AFK job" populating the server.

- Simply health of characters:

    - All non-government classes are 100 Health and 0 Armor with the exception of specific VIP jobs. For example, Pro-Thief or Hitman could spawn with a maximum armor level of 20 or 25 since they are the "Professional version" of their class, and the fact that VIP jobs always get little extra goodies over the regular job.

   - PD and FBI regardless of rank are 100 health and 50 armor. SWAT is 100 health and 100 armor.

              - This will help to balance combat by giving everyone almost an even playing field without making one class OP over the other. In real life, the majority of police officers wear flexible body armor that stops small-arms fire (9mm, .40, .357), while SWAT wears hard body armor that stops higher caliber rounds (5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm M16 and AK-47 rounds)

              - This will now drive combat into the weapon you are using, which will purposely push players to seek out the different types of gun dealers, giving life to the class once again.

 

Why should we add it? - by implementing these features, we can balance the server and get new and old players to play on the server again. 

What are the advantages of having this? - Better performance, less download time, overall better quality of life for players

Who is it mainly for? - The entire community and those who are new to joining the server.

Links to any content - Statistics and data on the server were found here. 

https://gmod-servers.com/server/235279/stats/

https://www.battlemetrics.com/servers/gmod/14633137?playerCount=30D&serverRank=1M&timePlayed=1M

Authors Note:

I couldn't add the graphs to show the data of the declining player count. I will attempt to add it or you can click the links above and see the data I'm referencing.

Although some of these suggestions may rub some feathers considering they are server changing, you have to realize that if nothing is changed, there will be NO server for anyone to play on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please leave your comments down below, I want to see this community and server prosper.

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by 1st GA Cletus Jackson

[Jbane56]

Changed to -support

 

At first it seemed like a great idea, but then after I put a little more thought into it I realized I didn't like many of them. I do like the concept of resetting the economy somehow.

 

What I don't like is the reduction in tac branches. Granted there's a lot of them on the server currently, but they don't make that much of a difference that you need to just get rid of them entirely to fix the server. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Jbane56
Changed my mind

[[GL] Locus]

-/+ Support More leaning towards -Support 

While yes you have a point in the server population being a bit lower than normal I do think that trying to reset the money will only lead to the veteran players quiting which will hurt the server way more in the long run.

Now tell me what do you plan to do with DF, SRT, SWAT trying to combind them all into one tac team is a horriable idea as you won't have enough room for all of the command. 

Health on most classes have been paided for in which I see it as a stupid idea to start messing with Health and armor of classes like that. I also don't think you understand just how fast some guns shread the current armor of Tac teams and other high ranking government officals. 

Once again removing the inv system affects donators and other players who have stored different types of rare guns over the life time of the server. 

Wipping the ban list is a horriable idea as in order to get a ban that is more than a few weeks or so would require you to get 40+ warns which mean they already got 40+ chances if we include the times that they most likely only got a verbal warn. 

TLDR: You want to combind departments with out even given a plan on how to do what you request and you wanta basically reset alot of the server back down to what it was a few years ago which I feel like would go against your suggestion of how to fix it. 

[Calamity]

27 minutes ago, [GL] Locus said:

-/+ Support More leaning towards -Support 

While yes you have a point in the server population being a bit lower than normal I do think that trying to reset the money will only lead to the veteran players quiting which will hurt the server way more in the long run.

Now tell me what do you plan to do with DF, SRT, SWAT trying to combind them all into one tac team is a horriable idea as you won't have enough room for all of the command. 

Health on most classes have been paided for in which I see it as a stupid idea to start messing with Health and armor of classes like that. I also don't think you understand just how fast some guns shread the current armor of Tac teams and other high ranking government officals. 

Once again removing the inv system affects donators and other players who have stored different types of rare guns over the life time of the server. 

Wipping the ban list is a horriable idea as in order to get a ban that is more than a few weeks or so would require you to get 40+ warns which mean they already got 40+ chances if we include the times that they most likely only got a verbal warn. 

TLDR: You want to combind departments with out even given a plan on how to do what you request and you wanta basically reset alot of the server back down to what it was a few years ago which I feel like would go against your suggestion of how to fix it. 

-Support

 

I would give a lot of reasoning and explanation for my opinion here but i’m just not feeling it. I just wanted to make a point when it comes to economy resets. I mean we can debate on that however people forget to mention that people paid real life money for in game money (Yes that exist). Doing an economy reset will cause many issues. Despite there might be ways around the whole buying in game money ordeal, it’s extremely stressful to deal with and in my opinion is the least of the servers concerns right now. 

 

Theres always people who grind 5+ years in money. It keeps them coming back to grind money. What’s wrong with the economy? How does it affect ***YOU*** personally. Is money an advantage over roleplay? Is it hurting your experience, explain why because you need a really good reason to reset economy. The server always had people with huge amount of money, especially when the server was reaching 100+ everyday and SMT was forced to raise the player cap up. So the logic here is that most people didn’t care and still don’t care about the money, economy reset won’t magically fix everything, I argue it fixes nothing.

 

Just a little guidance, there is other things (Like the bank system) that you should probably be talking about instead. Suggest new ways for people to spend and waste their money. I will waste all of my money on gun skins if they came back out.

 

Moral of my message: Please be more creative than “plz nerf everything”, people will gain respect for you and listen to you if you go into deep detail about things. Start with my guidance, in my opinion it is the more proper way to go about things.

[Mr. Rob]

2 hours ago, Calamity said:

-Support

 

I would give a lot of reasoning and explanation for my opinion here but i’m just not feeling it. I just wanted to make a point when it comes to economy resets. I mean we can debate on that however people forget to mention that people paid real life money for in game money (Yes that exist). Doing an economy reset will cause many issues. Despite there might be ways around the whole buying in game money ordeal, it’s extremely stressful to deal with and in my opinion is the least of the servers concerns right now. 

 

Theres always people who grind 5+ years in money. It keeps them coming back to grind money. What’s wrong with the economy? How does it affect ***YOU*** personally. Is money an advantage over roleplay? Is it hurting your experience, explain why because you need a really good reason to reset economy. The server always had people with huge amount of money, especially when the server was reaching 100+ everyday and SMT was forced to raise the player cap up. So the logic here is that most people didn’t care and still don’t care about the money, economy reset won’t magically fix everything, I argue it fixes nothing.

 

Just a little guidance, there is other things (Like the bank system) that you should probably be talking about instead. Suggest new ways for people to spend and waste their money. I will waste all of my money on gun skins if they came back out.

 

Moral of my message: Please be more creative than “plz nerf everything”, people will gain respect for you and listen to you if you go into deep detail about things. Start with my guidance, in my opinion it is the more proper way to go about things.

-support

Calamity you couldn't have said it better, this is simple just not the right way to go about things 

[Bailey Zappe]

+support on an overall reset on some aspects of the game that have become bloated, such as the economy and tac. not sure resetting bans would be wise since that would create a ton of work for staff to re-ban those that never intended to RP in the first place.

but overall it's sad to see how relatively dead the server is and i think some sort of hail mary needs to be done

[David]

+ Support

I agree with the health, department merge, and de-militarization of government suggestions.

[RussTime]

On 8/24/2023 at 1:01 PM, Calamity said:

-Support

 

I would give a lot of reasoning and explanation for my opinion here but i’m just not feeling it. I just wanted to make a point when it comes to economy resets. I mean we can debate on that however people forget to mention that people paid real life money for in game money (Yes that exist). Doing an economy reset will cause many issues. Despite there might be ways around the whole buying in game money ordeal, it’s extremely stressful to deal with and in my opinion is the least of the servers concerns right now. 

 

Theres always people who grind 5+ years in money. It keeps them coming back to grind money. What’s wrong with the economy? How does it affect ***YOU*** personally. Is money an advantage over roleplay? Is it hurting your experience, explain why because you need a really good reason to reset economy. The server always had people with huge amount of money, especially when the server was reaching 100+ everyday and SMT was forced to raise the player cap up. So the logic here is that most people didn’t care and still don’t care about the money, economy reset won’t magically fix everything, I argue it fixes nothing.

 

Just a little guidance, there is other things (Like the bank system) that you should probably be talking about instead. Suggest new ways for people to spend and waste their money. I will waste all of my money on gun skins if they came back out.

 

Moral of my message: Please be more creative than “plz nerf everything”, people will gain respect for you and listen to you if you go into deep detail about things. Start with my guidance, in my opinion it is the more proper way to go about things.

PLS FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING DO NOT UNBAN EVERYONE! Also another thing, so if you think taking away around over 100 people from their ranks they worked hard for just to put into other department is good and will fix the server, that just ain’t it.

Edited August 25, 2023 by RussTime

[1st GA Cletus Jackson]

On 8/24/2023 at 11:01 AM, Calamity said:

-Support

 

I would give a lot of reasoning and explanation for my opinion here but i’m just not feeling it. I just wanted to make a point when it comes to economy resets. I mean we can debate on that however people forget to mention that people paid real life money for in game money (Yes that exist). Doing an economy reset will cause many issues. Despite there might be ways around the whole buying in game money ordeal, it’s extremely stressful to deal with and in my opinion is the least of the servers concerns right now. 

 

Theres always people who grind 5+ years in money. It keeps them coming back to grind money. What’s wrong with the economy? How does it affect ***YOU*** personally. Is money an advantage over roleplay? Is it hurting your experience, explain why because you need a really good reason to reset economy. The server always had people with huge amount of money, especially when the server was reaching 100+ everyday and SMT was forced to raise the player cap up. So the logic here is that most people didn’t care and still don’t care about the money, economy reset won’t magically fix everything, I argue it fixes nothing.

 

Just a little guidance, there is other things (Like the bank system) that you should probably be talking about instead. Suggest new ways for people to spend and waste their money. I will waste all of my money on gun skins if they came back out.

 

Moral of my message: Please be more creative than “plz nerf everything”, people will gain respect for you and listen to you if you go into deep detail about things. Start with my guidance, in my opinion it is the more proper way to go about things.

Calamity, As stated at the very beginning of this post. This is a condensed version because suggestion rules state that it should not be long.

The "plz nerf everything" comment is unnecessary. I'm not asking for Nerfs, I'm asking for BALANCE.

My belief that the server is dying is due to the extreme unbalance in many areas.

Some of these recomendations are more extreme than others like wiping bans but it's a method to get the server population back.

The maximum server population was at 85 in March. It's been declining since then. 

Please look at this suggestion objectively

Thank you

Edited August 26, 2023 by 1st GA Cletus Jackson

[1st GA Cletus Jackson]

On 8/24/2023 at 10:19 AM, [GL] Locus said:

-/+ Support More leaning towards -Support 

While yes you have a point in the server population being a bit lower than normal I do think that trying to reset the money will only lead to the veteran players quiting which will hurt the server way more in the long run.

Now tell me what do you plan to do with DF, SRT, SWAT trying to combind them all into one tac team is a horriable idea as you won't have enough room for all of the command. 

Health on most classes have been paided for in which I see it as a stupid idea to start messing with Health and armor of classes like that. I also don't think you understand just how fast some guns shread the current armor of Tac teams and other high ranking government officals. 

Once again removing the inv system affects donators and other players who have stored different types of rare guns over the life time of the server. 

Wipping the ban list is a horriable idea as in order to get a ban that is more than a few weeks or so would require you to get 40+ warns which mean they already got 40+ chances if we include the times that they most likely only got a verbal warn. 

TLDR: You want to combind departments with out even given a plan on how to do what you request and you wanta basically reset alot of the server back down to what it was a few years ago which I feel like would go against your suggestion of how to fix it. 

Locus,

I appreciate your input and want to point some things out.

"server population being a bit lower than normal" - The server has dropped 25% overall in maximum population compared to March. I do not have data for 2023 that shows a full 100 players connected. This should be concerning.

Here are my suggestions for the merge.

 "- As per the Merge, switching ranks will be easier said than done. However, the fairest way for everyone would be to put non-low or high-command tac unit members into the SGT role. This way, they are put into a supervisor position and can spread their knowledge and wisdom to the enlisted ranks of the PD. 

Low command tac units will be merged into the Lieutenant and high command will be merged into a Captain or Colonel."

I am unfamilar with the number people that hold command ranks in Tac Units. However, I do not think that having multiple Lietenants, Captains or Colonels are a bad thing. Those ranks in Real life departments are held by multiple individuals at the same time.

With this being said, please provide what you think should be changed to bring people back to the server.

Thank you

 

[indicud]

On 8/24/2023 at 4:18 AM, 1st GA Cletus Jackson said:

IMPORTANT READER CONTEXT:

To abide by forum rules, I will attempt to condense this information as much as possible. if the Staff team is interested, I will write an informative extended version of this suggestion. If you have questions, please comment below and I can elaborate.

Again, these suggestions can be combined and altered to the staff's liking. If you do not like one part, please do not - support the entire post, rather comment what you like and don't like. 

I've been playing Gaminglight for over 8 years, starting in 2015. Since then I've seen the PoliceRP server go on a downward spiral and it's at a very low point at the moment with an average of 32 players this month and a maximum amount of players at a single time of 58 players. There needs to be a change or else the server will fizzle out and die. The highest player count AT A SINGLE TIME for the server this year is 85 players in March 2023. Since then the highest player amount at a single time has dropped significantly over the following months. Does anybody remember the last time the server had 100 ACTIVE players on it?

These suggestions are built upon players' most common problems/issues with the server. Here are some issues I've witnessed and heard from players over the years.

- Low player count / Majority of players on the server are AFK.

- extremely unbalanced combat

- Militarized Police

- ingame economy suffering from inflation.

- Many unused free-to-play jobs

- long download time for content

- Bureaucracy and politics plaguing departments

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What you want to see? - Here are some suggestions that could bring more players back to the server and address the issues above

- Remove the inventory system and replace it with a pocket.

            - Currently the Gun Dealer. Heavy Gun Dealer and Black Market dealer jobs are not played very much, if at all. Removing this inventory system creates a need for individuals who want weapons to go and purchase them. This will get players to become dealer jobs again,  open their own stores, and create RP within the server. The pocket system will also prevent Self-supply when the player dies or switches jobs. They lose what is in their pocket. This will also prevent players from storing their weapons during a firefight to prevent losing them. 

- Wipe the current ban list

        - A little self-explanatory, but allow individuals a second chance to come and try out the server. By keeping players banned, they will never contribute to growing the player count.

- Condense departments back to how the server originally started (PD, Swat, FBI)

        - There are many complaints about the departments. These range from the "Militarization" of the police, I.E., Overpowered officers in tactical vehicles are responding to minor crimes and there is a lack of accountability and punishment in separate departments with different SOP's and much more. 

      By merging the 9 departments into 3 departments, we can solve many issues that plague the server.

• Removing the extra departments will decrease the download/load time and lag massively. This means new players can join much faster and have a smoother playing experience
• By having just a police, FBI, Swat, and EMS building. We can allow for businesses and bases to be near the central part of the map. Currently, government buildings take up all of the "downtown" buildings. On the current map, there are just 2 shops allowed for player use at the end of the road near the bank. This forces players to spread further on an already big map and makes it difficult for new players to find a place to put their gun store or base.
• By condensing the departments, we can have more accountability and control over officers' actions. Many times, Tac Units in different departments are not punished appropriately or at all as opposed to their counterparts in PD. This is because there are no "checks & balances" amongst the departments since they all operate to their own "SOP".
• Militarization Issue: Many citizens complain about the unrealism within the server. Yes, it's not a "serious RP server" but it's getting out of hand that the SWAT, SRT, and other tac units are conducting traffic stops on citizens. Almost every time there is a shootout, the tac units are on the scene within seconds. It's almost impossible for criminals to win unless they are a custom class. If we condense the departments, there will be enough officers on regular PD to give the "realism" back to the server.
• Fixing the /911 bug: Currently if you call /911 and there are less than 5 PD officers on. The user will get a message back that says "There are no Police Officers Online!" and not send in your call for help. The script doesn't take into account the other Tac Units online. Implementing this will provide more officers online, thus enabling users to call /911 and get help.
• Merging will make the law enforcement in the server uniform again, with everyone adhering to the same policies.

        - Another way to add realism and to reduce militarization is to have players only switch to SWAT when a situation calls for it, such as a Bank robbery, Hostage situation etc. This way, all the SWAT spawn together, group up and arrive together. Giving the PD ample time to set up a perimeter and RP in the scenario. (Since in real life, SWAT just doesn't appear immediately; they take a little bit to get to a scene.) Once the situation ends, they switch back to regular PD, FBI, etc. This fixes the militarization issue and the /911 bug.

        - As per the Merge, switching ranks will be easier said than done. However, the fairest way for everyone would be to put non-low or high-command tac unit members into the SGT role. This way, they are put into a supervisor position and can spread their knowledge and wisdom to the enlisted ranks of the PD. 

Low command tac units will be merged into the Lieutenant and high command will be merged into a Captain or Colonel.

again, this is just a suggestion; do as you see fit

          

- Economy Reset and or/ Remove 750K starting cash, instead make starting cash 25K.

  - By starting every player at 750K, the dollar's value in the game drops dramatically. Significant disparities exist between those with hundreds of millions of dollars on the server and those just starting out. Changing the starting cash to a much lower sum will reduce inflation instantly within the economy and make people value their money more. 

- An economy reset combined with the new starting cash will put every player on an even playing field. Thus enticing players new and old to spend more time on the server running a shop, selling drugs, printing money etc. It will boost actual engagement in the server instead of the "AFK job" populating the server.

- Simply health of characters:

    - All non-government classes are 100 Health and 0 Armor with the exception of specific VIP jobs. For example, Pro-Thief or Hitman could spawn with a maximum armor level of 20 or 25 since they are the "Professional version" of their class, and the fact that VIP jobs always get little extra goodies over the regular job.

   - PD and FBI regardless of rank are 100 health and 50 armor. SWAT is 100 health and 100 armor.

              - This will help to balance combat by giving everyone almost an even playing field without making one class OP over the other. In real life, the majority of police officers wear flexible body armor that stops small-arms fire (9mm, .40, .357), while SWAT wears hard body armor that stops higher caliber rounds (5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm M16 and AK-47 rounds)

              - This will now drive combat into the weapon you are using, which will purposely push players to seek out the different types of gun dealers, giving life to the class once again.

 

Why should we add it? - by implementing these features, we can balance the server and get new and old players to play on the server again. 

What are the advantages of having this? - Better performance, less download time, overall better quality of life for players

Who is it mainly for? - The entire community and those who are new to joining the server.

Links to any content - Statistics and data on the server were found here. 

https://gmod-servers.com/server/235279/stats/

https://www.battlemetrics.com/servers/gmod/14633137?playerCount=30D&serverRank=1M&timePlayed=1M

Authors Note:

I couldn't add the graphs to show the data of the declining player count. I will attempt to add it or you can click the links above and see the data I'm referencing.

Although some of these suggestions may rub some feathers considering they are server changing, you have to realize that if nothing is changed, there will be NO server for anyone to play on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please leave your comments down below, I want to see this community and server prosper.

 

-support

[Proximo]

I agree partly, but mainly -support. The community is sort of fizzling right now cause school is starting up and stuff ain't that interesting. People hate playing PD cause they have to fight custom classes with miniguns and all kinds of crazy stuff, we need militerised things like Delta-Force to counter these individuals. I also like state, they just need command to fix some stuff

[1st GA Cletus Jackson]

On 8/26/2023 at 12:06 PM, Proximo said:

I agree partly, but mainly -support. The community is sort of fizzling right now cause school is starting up and stuff ain't that interesting. People hate playing PD cause they have to fight custom classes with miniguns and all kinds of crazy stuff, we need militerised things like Delta-Force to counter these individuals. I also like state, they just need command to fix some stuff

I really don't think School has as big as an effect. The player count during summer did not surpass March, when school is in session.

[David]

23 hours ago, 1st GA Cletus Jackson said:

I really don't think School has as big as an effect. The player count during summer did not surpass March, when school is in session.

+ Support

I go to a university and can get on most days. The server has been like this for over a year.

[indicud]

On 8/24/2023 at 4:18 AM, 1st GA Cletus Jackson said:

IMPORTANT READER CONTEXT:

To abide by forum rules, I will attempt to condense this information as much as possible. if the Staff team is interested, I will write an informative extended version of this suggestion. If you have questions, please comment below and I can elaborate.

Again, these suggestions can be combined and altered to the staff's liking. If you do not like one part, please do not - support the entire post, rather comment what you like and don't like. 

I've been playing Gaminglight for over 8 years, starting in 2015. Since then I've seen the PoliceRP server go on a downward spiral and it's at a very low point at the moment with an average of 32 players this month and a maximum amount of players at a single time of 58 players. There needs to be a change or else the server will fizzle out and die. The highest player count AT A SINGLE TIME for the server this year is 85 players in March 2023. Since then the highest player amount at a single time has dropped significantly over the following months. Does anybody remember the last time the server had 100 ACTIVE players on it?

These suggestions are built upon players' most common problems/issues with the server. Here are some issues I've witnessed and heard from players over the years.

- Low player count / Majority of players on the server are AFK.

- extremely unbalanced combat

- Militarized Police

- ingame economy suffering from inflation.

- Many unused free-to-play jobs

- long download time for content

- Bureaucracy and politics plaguing departments

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What you want to see? - Here are some suggestions that could bring more players back to the server and address the issues above

- Remove the inventory system and replace it with a pocket.

            - Currently the Gun Dealer. Heavy Gun Dealer and Black Market dealer jobs are not played very much, if at all. Removing this inventory system creates a need for individuals who want weapons to go and purchase them. This will get players to become dealer jobs again,  open their own stores, and create RP within the server. The pocket system will also prevent Self-supply when the player dies or switches jobs. They lose what is in their pocket. This will also prevent players from storing their weapons during a firefight to prevent losing them. 

- Wipe the current ban list

        - A little self-explanatory, but allow individuals a second chance to come and try out the server. By keeping players banned, they will never contribute to growing the player count.

- Condense departments back to how the server originally started (PD, Swat, FBI)

        - There are many complaints about the departments. These range from the "Militarization" of the police, I.E., Overpowered officers in tactical vehicles are responding to minor crimes and there is a lack of accountability and punishment in separate departments with different SOP's and much more. 

      By merging the 9 departments into 3 departments, we can solve many issues that plague the server.

• Removing the extra departments will decrease the download/load time and lag massively. This means new players can join much faster and have a smoother playing experience
• By having just a police, FBI, Swat, and EMS building. We can allow for businesses and bases to be near the central part of the map. Currently, government buildings take up all of the "downtown" buildings. On the current map, there are just 2 shops allowed for player use at the end of the road near the bank. This forces players to spread further on an already big map and makes it difficult for new players to find a place to put their gun store or base.
• By condensing the departments, we can have more accountability and control over officers' actions. Many times, Tac Units in different departments are not punished appropriately or at all as opposed to their counterparts in PD. This is because there are no "checks & balances" amongst the departments since they all operate to their own "SOP".
• Militarization Issue: Many citizens complain about the unrealism within the server. Yes, it's not a "serious RP server" but it's getting out of hand that the SWAT, SRT, and other tac units are conducting traffic stops on citizens. Almost every time there is a shootout, the tac units are on the scene within seconds. It's almost impossible for criminals to win unless they are a custom class. If we condense the departments, there will be enough officers on regular PD to give the "realism" back to the server.
• Fixing the /911 bug: Currently if you call /911 and there are less than 5 PD officers on. The user will get a message back that says "There are no Police Officers Online!" and not send in your call for help. The script doesn't take into account the other Tac Units online. Implementing this will provide more officers online, thus enabling users to call /911 and get help.
• Merging will make the law enforcement in the server uniform again, with everyone adhering to the same policies.

        - Another way to add realism and to reduce militarization is to have players only switch to SWAT when a situation calls for it, such as a Bank robbery, Hostage situation etc. This way, all the SWAT spawn together, group up and arrive together. Giving the PD ample time to set up a perimeter and RP in the scenario. (Since in real life, SWAT just doesn't appear immediately; they take a little bit to get to a scene.) Once the situation ends, they switch back to regular PD, FBI, etc. This fixes the militarization issue and the /911 bug.

        - As per the Merge, switching ranks will be easier said than done. However, the fairest way for everyone would be to put non-low or high-command tac unit members into the SGT role. This way, they are put into a supervisor position and can spread their knowledge and wisdom to the enlisted ranks of the PD. 

Low command tac units will be merged into the Lieutenant and high command will be merged into a Captain or Colonel.

again, this is just a suggestion; do as you see fit

          

- Economy Reset and or/ Remove 750K starting cash, instead make starting cash 25K.

  - By starting every player at 750K, the dollar's value in the game drops dramatically. Significant disparities exist between those with hundreds of millions of dollars on the server and those just starting out. Changing the starting cash to a much lower sum will reduce inflation instantly within the economy and make people value their money more. 

- An economy reset combined with the new starting cash will put every player on an even playing field. Thus enticing players new and old to spend more time on the server running a shop, selling drugs, printing money etc. It will boost actual engagement in the server instead of the "AFK job" populating the server.

- Simply health of characters:

    - All non-government classes are 100 Health and 0 Armor with the exception of specific VIP jobs. For example, Pro-Thief or Hitman could spawn with a maximum armor level of 20 or 25 since they are the "Professional version" of their class, and the fact that VIP jobs always get little extra goodies over the regular job.

   - PD and FBI regardless of rank are 100 health and 50 armor. SWAT is 100 health and 100 armor.

              - This will help to balance combat by giving everyone almost an even playing field without making one class OP over the other. In real life, the majority of police officers wear flexible body armor that stops small-arms fire (9mm, .40, .357), while SWAT wears hard body armor that stops higher caliber rounds (5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm M16 and AK-47 rounds)

              - This will now drive combat into the weapon you are using, which will purposely push players to seek out the different types of gun dealers, giving life to the class once again.

 

Why should we add it? - by implementing these features, we can balance the server and get new and old players to play on the server again. 

What are the advantages of having this? - Better performance, less download time, overall better quality of life for players

Who is it mainly for? - The entire community and those who are new to joining the server.

Links to any content - Statistics and data on the server were found here. 

https://gmod-servers.com/server/235279/stats/

https://www.battlemetrics.com/servers/gmod/14633137?playerCount=30D&serverRank=1M&timePlayed=1M

Authors Note:

I couldn't add the graphs to show the data of the declining player count. I will attempt to add it or you can click the links above and see the data I'm referencing.

Although some of these suggestions may rub some feathers considering they are server changing, you have to realize that if nothing is changed, there will be NO server for anyone to play on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please leave your comments down below, I want to see this community and server prosper.

 

as garrys mod is a dying game, policerp is a dying gamemode, the server will not live forever, nothing lasts forever. every single one of these recommendations/suggestions would essentially KILL pop. if you want the server to thrive the best you can do is play and make enjoyable situations for others.

[Zeeptin]

Denied. The SMT team for this server has decided against adding this suggestion for performance reasons, the benefit to the server, or another unstated reason.