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- Jul 9, 2019
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- #1
Now before I start, I know what you are thinking about this posts name:
The Stores of Willard Networks... a long-running series of depression, anger, the rise and fall of a Faction, insanity of the economy and even the amount of people who can't give a shit about stores anymore because they don't want to be driven insane.
So without further ado, welcome to Part 3 of my Extension series and now we talk about the hell which is stores. This is going to be fun.
Problem Statement
Stores in Willard suffice to say without much effort is entirely balls to the wall broken.
Some may blame DOB for this, others the CWU, some the MOC, but where did this issue of stores begin for those who weren't around for the whole 3 years of Willard.
So you want to hear a story huh? Well let me tell you of a time we had an active city, oppressive atmosphere and cops, lack of restriction but most importantly a large chunk of activity stores all going by interesting names, some even ran by background rebel groups right under the Combine's nose. A time when stores thrived and each day you hopped online, at least 3 or even 4 stores were open each and every day with many employees enjoying their daily income.
Everything went well for a time. Til, well let's just say all good things must certainly come to an end. The long-standing MOC & CWU launched a joint operation against the underground stores, quickly finding and erasing many storefronts in a single swing. Dutchman... raided and shut down. Sunrise Cafe... shut down. That tailor shop on the corner of Triumph street? Shutdown. The infamous suit makers who owned that 3 story shop on Victory? Reduced to atoms on 7 separate occasions.
All our stores were raided. Everything was lost, and very quickly business died down. Many assumed, "oh, they will be back again"... but then the CWU lead of the time decided to conspire with the MOC lead to get a set of rules & restrictions for stores to follow. Both OOCly and ICly and ooooh boy did this go down so well... not.
You see, the problem with restrictions is that all your doing is limiting RP if you go too far. And yes, CWU and MOC certainly went out of control with their restrictions. Sure, stores did open, but the epidemic of what they had just done was only in its baby phase. And cutting the story here... you know where this goes with DOB, more restrictions, death of the stores, blah blah blah.
Let's get into it.
Cause #1: Restrictions
I am going to have a field day with this one. I will start by saying that if you are the type of player or faction leader to believe in restrictions, you are quite frankly a sole killer of Roleplay. Roleplay cannot and does not run on restriction; it runs and operates on Freedom.
You can have rules for general Roleplay standards, but not go as far as to restrict players into what they CAN, and CANNOT do without a VERY GOOD reason. I am sorry if you feel you need to put a leash on the player base, but it simply doesn't work, and stores are a prime example of bad restrictions going into something they weren't needed in.
Before the rules and restrictions of Stores even appeared, it ran smoothly... so what on Earth made these factions think they needed them? Well, I can answer that in one word, Spite. It is no lie that the factions of the time hated and despised Rebel Stores even back then, thinking it was too easy for rebels to get set up with no consequences and no barricades in their way; they wanted to try to cut the flow. And cut the flow they most certainly did by making rules so strict that it was almost quite literally saying that if you want to run a store, you should not perform ANY rebellious activity whatsoever as if it was a bad thing.
You may assume I am exaggerating, but I am really not, and even when stores did pop up doing some rebel activity... the rules would only become tighter and tighter. Why on earth are you strangling your own stores and player base? Because you want rebels out of the City? I am sorry for my harsh tone here, but if you were doing this back then, I have some choice words for you "Fuck right off this community"
No filters for this post. Because stores are one of those things which truly piss me off with how the Community handled it. It was poor through and through. Leaves a shitty taste in my mouth.
Anyway, excuse my personal outburst there, but wanted to make it clear how utterly idiotic it was and because of that, anyone involved deserves 0 respect.
The solution for this is at the bottom of the page.
Cause #2: The Setup
Let's look at what goes into making a store
First of all, you need to have a character and said character needs to have 100 social credits and no lower. You also then need 2 other employees to start with who also have 100 social credits each. You of course need to be alive for some time, not marked as BOL or under investigation, no criminal record, enough credits already to pay 1 week rent, must be in the discord and yeah.
Then you need to make an application when you meet the requirements and check if there is any businesses open for taking. But before you do that, read the handbook, the roster and what each store front offers. Already a bit of a convoluted and bloated process.
Once you done all that and filled out the long application... the waiting game BEGINS. And when I say waiting game... I mean a long waiting game. It can take anywhere from a week to a few months for a SINGULAR application to be processed. And I know this because when I was dev, I abused my powers a bit to see anything and everything private and saw how many apps were just sitting around waiting for responses with none given. That was 4 months ago now, but I am sure the same process applies today as now that the DOB has been disbanded, we have met a new problem... the now Overworked CWU taking on the role of businesses adding more to their bloated workload... just what they needed indeed.
Let's give a round of applause for whichever genius did that without a full-on rework of stores.
Sure, CWU ran stores before the MOC and DOB but that was when the store system was easy enough that CWU could handle the entire process without feeling overworked. Hell, they didn't need to do anything even, the system ran itself until they made it manual. A bit of a shot in the foot to themselves for a time when the CWU lead thought it necessary.
Also, even once your store is up and running, good luck actually trying to operate in the current economy where no one actually wants or needs you unless they desire materials or clothing. Or just some decor for an event like the time I spent over 2000 credits on food, water and other items in a singular store for the sake of event setup. I am sure that shopkeep had a field day with many CT-supplied credits.
Cause #3: Bureaucracy
Oh boy, I won't go too much into detail but given the slow app process, the tons of info on the handbook and so on... you can already guess it is one hell of a system, one filled with tons of barriers and people ready to slow the whole thing down and overwork the people on the other end of the stick.
Let's agree on one thing: The system needs a change; you can read above to know why this doesn't work.
Short-Term Solutions:
Now, what can we do in the short term to fix this? (Rushing because I have to go as I write this)
Long-Term Solution:
Ah, the pain and suffering of devs. I hear their screams every night, staring at the codebase wondering why they have to work so hard for so little daily bread. Aka, yes devs will need to do some work for this to work much like all my other suggestions; odd how that is a common theme and apologies to the devs for putting you through hell.
The First, which I know is to be included in the upcoming Gear of Industry Update is the Faction Budget system; this is required. Second is the potential addition of a worker ID in extension to the existing CID. It may be able to be avoided, but we will see. Third is the ability to change the stores from rented out buildings into permanent stores without rent and existing even with 0 tenants assigned.
With that developer stuff out of our way, let's get into the nitty-gritty of the setup in mind.
With this new update, we will implement CWU/DOB-controlled storefronts which are permanent and have no assigned ownership or employees. How will this work? Well, this is where the Worker ID card comes into play which grants the holder access to the store's locks, allowing holders to enter and open up stores for business. They do this by walking over to a terminal in a store's backroom which will ask for their card to be inserted, registering them to the store. This will then grant the user 1 hour of store runtime and show which permits the store has that the worker can now utilize. This function will then allow them to buy and sell items based on said auth'd permits of the store itself.
(Note: The Worker ID is not exclusive to CWU/DOB members to avoid confusion, it is for Anyone to use)
After the set timeslot is up, the user can extend the runtime of the store or quit their duty. Quitting ends the store cycle while extending gives another hour. Of course, if they fail to select an option or leave the store, the cycle will automatically end and a 15-minute cooldown will be placed on the worker's card. This means you cannot leave the store without quitting your job and ensures you can only run 1 store at any 1 time.
When you sell items, the user will only receive 40% of the profits while the remaining 60% goes to the CWU/DOB budget granting them a steady rate of income and acting as a form of payment/tax to replace the now-removed rent system. This in turn contributes to the CWU/DOB's ability to run work cycles, ability to buy and sell new stock and give workers their pay and further extends the Economic suggestion I had. (These 2 suggestions go hand in hand)
To fit the oppressive nature of hl2rp, there should be room for consideration of how oppression connects to the store system. Well, we already got a 60% tax, but another method to add in addition that also bolsters store activity and thus the economy is running store-focused work shifts which are similar to standard work cycles but for running stores and turning a profit.
Like standard work shifts, store ones will force locals into running and helping out stores with each place getting assigned a group of people. This will be a random selection of 6-10 citizens playing these roles while other members of the populace are free to do whatever they want and use these stores. Only the assigned group is forced to work for an hour. (You can leave if you wish to since we can't stop you from leaving)
At the end of a forced work shift, you can keep 50% of what they earned and receive an additional ration and some points towards loyalty. So they get an additional 10% profit bonus + rations + loyalty from succeeding in forced store shifts. Whether you are forced or volunteer to run stores, you get benefits either way, and both sides are balanced fairly.
Additional suggestion by: @FungletheBungle - Specified timeslots should be assigned via code using stormfox that automatically assigns 10% of the active citizen player base to a store work shift ensuring stores maintain activity even when CWU/DOB are inactive. For example, every time it hits 18:00 in SF2, a force work shift begins.
So without further ado, welcome to Part 3 of my Extension series and now we talk about the hell which is stores. This is going to be fun.
Problem Statement
Stores in Willard suffice to say without much effort is entirely balls to the wall broken.
Some may blame DOB for this, others the CWU, some the MOC, but where did this issue of stores begin for those who weren't around for the whole 3 years of Willard.
So you want to hear a story huh? Well let me tell you of a time we had an active city, oppressive atmosphere and cops, lack of restriction but most importantly a large chunk of activity stores all going by interesting names, some even ran by background rebel groups right under the Combine's nose. A time when stores thrived and each day you hopped online, at least 3 or even 4 stores were open each and every day with many employees enjoying their daily income.
Everything went well for a time. Til, well let's just say all good things must certainly come to an end. The long-standing MOC & CWU launched a joint operation against the underground stores, quickly finding and erasing many storefronts in a single swing. Dutchman... raided and shut down. Sunrise Cafe... shut down. That tailor shop on the corner of Triumph street? Shutdown. The infamous suit makers who owned that 3 story shop on Victory? Reduced to atoms on 7 separate occasions.
All our stores were raided. Everything was lost, and very quickly business died down. Many assumed, "oh, they will be back again"... but then the CWU lead of the time decided to conspire with the MOC lead to get a set of rules & restrictions for stores to follow. Both OOCly and ICly and ooooh boy did this go down so well... not.
You see, the problem with restrictions is that all your doing is limiting RP if you go too far. And yes, CWU and MOC certainly went out of control with their restrictions. Sure, stores did open, but the epidemic of what they had just done was only in its baby phase. And cutting the story here... you know where this goes with DOB, more restrictions, death of the stores, blah blah blah.
Let's get into it.
Cause #1: Restrictions
I am going to have a field day with this one. I will start by saying that if you are the type of player or faction leader to believe in restrictions, you are quite frankly a sole killer of Roleplay. Roleplay cannot and does not run on restriction; it runs and operates on Freedom.
You can have rules for general Roleplay standards, but not go as far as to restrict players into what they CAN, and CANNOT do without a VERY GOOD reason. I am sorry if you feel you need to put a leash on the player base, but it simply doesn't work, and stores are a prime example of bad restrictions going into something they weren't needed in.
Before the rules and restrictions of Stores even appeared, it ran smoothly... so what on Earth made these factions think they needed them? Well, I can answer that in one word, Spite. It is no lie that the factions of the time hated and despised Rebel Stores even back then, thinking it was too easy for rebels to get set up with no consequences and no barricades in their way; they wanted to try to cut the flow. And cut the flow they most certainly did by making rules so strict that it was almost quite literally saying that if you want to run a store, you should not perform ANY rebellious activity whatsoever as if it was a bad thing.
You may assume I am exaggerating, but I am really not, and even when stores did pop up doing some rebel activity... the rules would only become tighter and tighter. Why on earth are you strangling your own stores and player base? Because you want rebels out of the City? I am sorry for my harsh tone here, but if you were doing this back then, I have some choice words for you "Fuck right off this community"
No filters for this post. Because stores are one of those things which truly piss me off with how the Community handled it. It was poor through and through. Leaves a shitty taste in my mouth.
Anyway, excuse my personal outburst there, but wanted to make it clear how utterly idiotic it was and because of that, anyone involved deserves 0 respect.
The solution for this is at the bottom of the page.
Cause #2: The Setup
Let's look at what goes into making a store
First of all, you need to have a character and said character needs to have 100 social credits and no lower. You also then need 2 other employees to start with who also have 100 social credits each. You of course need to be alive for some time, not marked as BOL or under investigation, no criminal record, enough credits already to pay 1 week rent, must be in the discord and yeah.
Then you need to make an application when you meet the requirements and check if there is any businesses open for taking. But before you do that, read the handbook, the roster and what each store front offers. Already a bit of a convoluted and bloated process.
Once you done all that and filled out the long application... the waiting game BEGINS. And when I say waiting game... I mean a long waiting game. It can take anywhere from a week to a few months for a SINGULAR application to be processed. And I know this because when I was dev, I abused my powers a bit to see anything and everything private and saw how many apps were just sitting around waiting for responses with none given. That was 4 months ago now, but I am sure the same process applies today as now that the DOB has been disbanded, we have met a new problem... the now Overworked CWU taking on the role of businesses adding more to their bloated workload... just what they needed indeed.
Let's give a round of applause for whichever genius did that without a full-on rework of stores.
Sure, CWU ran stores before the MOC and DOB but that was when the store system was easy enough that CWU could handle the entire process without feeling overworked. Hell, they didn't need to do anything even, the system ran itself until they made it manual. A bit of a shot in the foot to themselves for a time when the CWU lead thought it necessary.
Also, even once your store is up and running, good luck actually trying to operate in the current economy where no one actually wants or needs you unless they desire materials or clothing. Or just some decor for an event like the time I spent over 2000 credits on food, water and other items in a singular store for the sake of event setup. I am sure that shopkeep had a field day with many CT-supplied credits.
Cause #3: Bureaucracy
Oh boy, I won't go too much into detail but given the slow app process, the tons of info on the handbook and so on... you can already guess it is one hell of a system, one filled with tons of barriers and people ready to slow the whole thing down and overwork the people on the other end of the stick.
Let's agree on one thing: The system needs a change; you can read above to know why this doesn't work.
Short-Term Solutions:
Now, what can we do in the short term to fix this? (Rushing because I have to go as I write this)
- Nuke everything so far and make a quick and simple setup for stores to be run by whoever and whenever. Sounds difficult but I am sure you can get a few people to trust with permits to act as store peeps who can run and operate varying types of stores.
- Alternatively, don't do that if you fear abuse and simply get a basic store setup and application with the bare minimum rules and restrictions to be followed. Don't go overboard. Clean and simple works best for now
- Restrictions should be heavily relaxed to allow more and more folk to run stores as they so wish
- Calm down any IC rivalry which is failing stores in terms of aggressive competition
- I say this because I know one store was being run by a CWU or DOB member which could easily fuck over actual competitors just cus.
- Make items a bit cheaper for the time being until the economy is fixed.
Long-Term Solution:
Ah, the pain and suffering of devs. I hear their screams every night, staring at the codebase wondering why they have to work so hard for so little daily bread. Aka, yes devs will need to do some work for this to work much like all my other suggestions; odd how that is a common theme and apologies to the devs for putting you through hell.
The First, which I know is to be included in the upcoming Gear of Industry Update is the Faction Budget system; this is required. Second is the potential addition of a worker ID in extension to the existing CID. It may be able to be avoided, but we will see. Third is the ability to change the stores from rented out buildings into permanent stores without rent and existing even with 0 tenants assigned.
With that developer stuff out of our way, let's get into the nitty-gritty of the setup in mind.
With this new update, we will implement CWU/DOB-controlled storefronts which are permanent and have no assigned ownership or employees. How will this work? Well, this is where the Worker ID card comes into play which grants the holder access to the store's locks, allowing holders to enter and open up stores for business. They do this by walking over to a terminal in a store's backroom which will ask for their card to be inserted, registering them to the store. This will then grant the user 1 hour of store runtime and show which permits the store has that the worker can now utilize. This function will then allow them to buy and sell items based on said auth'd permits of the store itself.
(Note: The Worker ID is not exclusive to CWU/DOB members to avoid confusion, it is for Anyone to use)
After the set timeslot is up, the user can extend the runtime of the store or quit their duty. Quitting ends the store cycle while extending gives another hour. Of course, if they fail to select an option or leave the store, the cycle will automatically end and a 15-minute cooldown will be placed on the worker's card. This means you cannot leave the store without quitting your job and ensures you can only run 1 store at any 1 time.
When you sell items, the user will only receive 40% of the profits while the remaining 60% goes to the CWU/DOB budget granting them a steady rate of income and acting as a form of payment/tax to replace the now-removed rent system. This in turn contributes to the CWU/DOB's ability to run work cycles, ability to buy and sell new stock and give workers their pay and further extends the Economic suggestion I had. (These 2 suggestions go hand in hand)
To fit the oppressive nature of hl2rp, there should be room for consideration of how oppression connects to the store system. Well, we already got a 60% tax, but another method to add in addition that also bolsters store activity and thus the economy is running store-focused work shifts which are similar to standard work cycles but for running stores and turning a profit.
Like standard work shifts, store ones will force locals into running and helping out stores with each place getting assigned a group of people. This will be a random selection of 6-10 citizens playing these roles while other members of the populace are free to do whatever they want and use these stores. Only the assigned group is forced to work for an hour. (You can leave if you wish to since we can't stop you from leaving)
At the end of a forced work shift, you can keep 50% of what they earned and receive an additional ration and some points towards loyalty. So they get an additional 10% profit bonus + rations + loyalty from succeeding in forced store shifts. Whether you are forced or volunteer to run stores, you get benefits either way, and both sides are balanced fairly.
Additional suggestion by: @FungletheBungle - Specified timeslots should be assigned via code using stormfox that automatically assigns 10% of the active citizen player base to a store work shift ensuring stores maintain activity even when CWU/DOB are inactive. For example, every time it hits 18:00 in SF2, a force work shift begins.
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