As many of you know by now, I came back to Argo SA:MP at the end of February. I was happy to see old and new friends, but also sad to see the state of the economy and players' growing obsession with money.
One of the first things I noticed was shitloads of properties owned by a few players and many cars held in /groups that are barely around. I talked to some fellow veterans, both IG and out-of-game, and they agreed with my findings, in addition to all telling me that players' money obsession has gotten even worse since I was last here in 2016. Some of them were even literally told by other players that the more money you have on Argo SA:MP, the more respectable you are — which I find to be misguided and wrong.
I will point out a few other examples, too:
Example #1: A few players have been buying out entire apartment complexes, with most of the units in an apartment complex owned by 1-3 players. I was online when
@MrTrane added a new apartment complex in LS, only for a few players to swoop in and buy up most of the units when Trane was barely out the door.
Example #2: 9 out of 13 units in the Low-Cost Housing behind Market Ammu are owned by the same guy. Buying everything only to profit off selling them to poor players is already ridiculous, even more so when it's
Low-Cost Housing that only costs around ARD7,000. To my understanding, the point of Low-Cost Housing units is for players who are saving up for a proper house, both poor players and new players.
It's one thing to profit from real estate, it's another to deliberately profit off players you know do not have a lot of money; a plain dick move, IMO. Thankfully, there is now a restriction against future instances of #1 and #2, since the
latest update against Apartment hoarding implemented by
@Chase, and the instruction for players with present monopolies to await further instructions from HQ.
(Added in Edit) From now on you are able to only buy ONE property inside an apartment complex, they are meant to be used for people who are either too poor to purchase a "proper" house or just prefer to have an apartment instead to live near their job or group location for example, they were never meant to be bought massively by one person just to show-off or annoy others.
Example #3: Many cars are held in /groups that are barely present. While groups like Corleone, Gvardia, Sforza, WS, and the like (too many active groups for me to list) deserve their vehicles because of their continuing presence and contributions, some others are barely around (based on a week of regular play and observation during peak hours, hours with lowest playercount, and in between.) If there is no system for this already (correct me if I'm wrong) then IMO, HQ should better regulate group vehicles vis-a-vis activity so we can avoid players running around in frustration from locked cars owned by groups they barely see at all.
Example #4: The purpose of property taxes is making sure that properties are owned by active players. (Not so much government revenue, since there are many ways to raise state funds) But we have a few dickheads (yes, I am using this term) who only login for an hour or less when it's time to pay taxes to avoid losing their (fancy) houses and properties, then log off for the next few months. This kind of hoarding literally comes at the expense of all active players who contribute to the server in many different ways.
All of this hoarding and excess greed is only a symptom of the root cause: players' obsession with money. It poisons the server environment and makes money the single most important aspect of gameplay, rather than fun and quality interaction with others.
Wanting to earn and overcome challenges is a good thing, and challenges — having something to strive for — is what keeps players motivated to moving forward on the server. But sometimes, the outcome is less optimal than what we want, such as the examples I pointed out above. For instance, it's okay to work your way to the top, to want some beautiful houses and fancy cars. But do players who already have plenty really have to be so bent on doing things like buying everything to profit
at the expense of poorer players, basically the economic equivalent of telling everyone "my dick is much bigger than yours," if not worse?
Argonath is home for me, as it is for many of you, especially to those who are still here after many years even as your priorities changed from school to work and more. It's not just a game; it's a community. This is why even if our current playercount is lower than what it used to be, we work towards solving this problem and climbing back up. And I don't think we deserve to have it all poisoned by everything being about the money, which should be a support to our interaction and not the center stage.
To preclude any possible misinterpretation, I am not criticizing the developers' work. I have noticed the new (current) HQ's work in continuing progress, and I appreciate their efforts. I am also well aware of the increasing amount of work and detail that went into economic planning for the server over the years, and previously helped test developing scripts as I watched the server's progress with hope through RS3, RS4, and now RS5. But given human unpredictability, I don't think anyone back then (maybe few, at the most) could have forecast that the economy would end up in such an inflated, runaway state despite meticulous planning designed meant precisely to solve previous inflated, runaway economies and prevent future ones.
I am also not saying all / most rich players are like this. We have many players and groups who have been rich over the years, and have become rich for different reasons, but not so that they can exploit other players. Many of them still contribute(d) to quality interaction. Yet the symptoms of excess greed are clear if you go around on the server, and we have to do something about it.
Solving this will take more than a script-side Economic Reform, and no single group can fix this problem — we will all have to do this together.HQ will have to make script adjustments, player groups will have to change the inter-group dynamics, among others. What these changes are, I do not know (besides further regulation on low-cost properties and stricter activity checks.) I am in the unfortunate position where I can only pose more questions than answers, so the best I can do (re)start the discussion and gather inputs from fellow Argonathians of all groups.
What do you think should be done?
P.S: Please keep the discussion civil, so we don't end up with a locked topic.
P.S: I am aware that I do not have access to most data and precise stats, and can only base my observations on player behaviors and aspects of the server that are clear for everyone to see. If you know something that I don't, I welcome more answers and information.
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