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Evolution of the Permanent Pad

2019/2104

Evolution of the Permanent Pad

Summary

Over the past couple of years, it was proven that the constant request for the 200 dollar membership due reward for six room permanent pads was an unsustainable endeavour no matter how many Builders the game possessed. They require a high degree of creativity, available in-game locations, often require new custom code and were used as a platform to launch new consumer products into the economy on a temporarily exclusive basis. This process involved Johnny, me, and other builders and often took weeks and sometimes multiple months to hash out prospective locations and builds for a player.

Since our removal of this option, we've had a far greater amount of time to dedicate to improving the quality of code across the MOO in countless ways thanks to the coders. The MOO gets better, and better, myself and other builders are a lot less stressed, and most importantly, have more time to dedicate to build projects that benefit the greater Sindome community through RP options and opportunity, rather than paid members only, and the best part we're still able to keep the lights on, and comfortably so, despite the suspension of the 200 dollar due option. This leads us to discuss the future of the currently existing locations, and how do we turn this into an even playing field for future generations of full club members.

Plan

A vast majority of permanent membership pads are in locations that are common public knowledge, so I will be revealing general apartment, housing and condo block names, without getting into specifics.

These common knowledge permanent pads are what I consider a solid opportunity to expand their use and exposure to the greater Sindome community at a reduced membership due cost, and on a more temporary basis than 'permanent'.

I would like to transform these six room publicly known locations and modify our membership due reward options as such;

Tier 1: 6/mo 3 room Pad - $25.00

Tier 2: 12/mo 3 room Pad - $40.00

Tier 3: 18/mo 6 room Pad - $125.00

This plan would exclude vehicle permanent pads, as I have a strong desire and understanding based on community feedback that vehicle permanent pads are too much of a social and functional leap to give to someone in exchange for membership due collection. I agree with this sentiment and it is also shared among some other senior staff. I have a different proposal for the existing vehicle permanent pads and a plan for future large multi-room vehicles that I will detail below.

Publically Visible/Known Locations

***** All locations are while supplies last. We cannot assign out units that don't exist. A donation for a 182/mo 6 room pad when none are available would entitle you to the next available pad in the order of membership dues received. Your benefit starting from the point you can access the pad.

***** In order to respect the creativity and work of those who contributed to the construction, design and description of the six-room pads, customization options will be limited, and must respect the existing theme and layout.

***** As usual, if you lose a pad due to RP circumstances such as a Corporate fall from grace or a Mixer rise to Corporate status, you retain entitlement of your 18 month six room pad. We'll just need to find you an available unit to move into as normal.

***** If you want to upgrade from a Tier 2 to a Tier 3 option, which is three room to six room, it would be on renewal or replace basis. I don't want to put a burden of accounting on Johnny/Slither/myself for people who want to pay 35 dollars to upgrade 2 months left on their Tier 2 option, and have to be moved into a new apartment for the remaining two months, this would complicate our automated membership due/application of membership time process and likely require tons more manual work.

Blue -

A full member who opts for an 18/mo six room pad option and desires to live on Blue would be required to meet several In character RP criteria that would be exposed to the player through In-Character means via certain Corporate career paths.

Celestia Terrace - A high-rise featuring six luxury Blue condominiums.

Unique Houses - Three unique standalone homes.

Green -

18/mo six room pad options available on Green Sector to citizens with a Corporate flagged job include;

Nakatomi Plaza - 7 upscale suburban condominiums located in a high-rise on Central Green.

Belgrave Penthouse - Located at the top of the Belgrave Apartment complex.

Plessis Village - 9 Standalone homes on a quiet suburban street.

Gold -

There are no options for permanent pads on Gold due to the desire to create a reasonable distance from all services central to surviving in Withmore, as well as a reasonable distance from Corporate workplaces.

Red -

Red sector by far features the most 'unique' and 'hidden' locations for permanent pads and this would likely need to be adjusted with the addition of a few more small, and medium complexes featuring six room options, there is available room in Central Red to make this work. Ideally, we would want a minimum of five options each sector for Blue, Green and Red.

Kommunalka North/South - Two Gulag themed warehouse/factory lofts in Central Red.

Cash & Carrion - A single loft unit.

Xpress Heights - A single penthouse atop the cargo container themed complex.

Badlands & Space -

Currently, there are no well known or public-knowledge locations for permanent pads in the Badlands or Space, they are home to unique 6 room pads that are tucked or hidden away from prying eyes.

Existing Obscure Locations

I have no interest in forcibly evicting people who are actively residing in a 200 dollar membership pad on a permanent basis, all community members who have paid a 200 dollar membership due for a permanent pad would retain their permanency entitlement going forward. They can occupy a six-room pad without having to pay an additional one hundred and twenty-five dollar dues every 18 months.

If a character dies or a player who occupies an obscure/unique location, that location may be repurposed to support 'micro-factions' to be used in regular plotting and providing of GM managed jobs for players of various archetypes and persuasions. If the player returns, they would retain their entitlement to a six-room pad.

A wider variety of micro-factions allows more players to work for a larger population of unique NPCs each with their own goals, agendas, and interests, to accomplish their own goals and further their own agendas through multiple new angles, and often angles that would less commonly be known by the general population, allowing more players to feel like they're apart of the unknown and shadowy workings of the city across multiple sectors.

Delivering premade micro-factions of NPCs of a wider variety not only benefits the roleplay for the players but provides a much wider range of tools for GMs to create new plots and opportunities for players without having to do an often huge amount of preparation work and creation/customization of locations and NPCs for a plot.

Vehicle Pads

Vehicle pads, often seen as too empowering for too little effort. These vehicles, I would have to say, unfortunately, need to be phased out from availability as a membership option once a character who has one dies permanently or opts to transition to a normal six room pad voluntarily.

That being said, large multiroom vehicles would still have a home in Sindome, with availability to players. We would transition these vehicles and the core designs of these vehicles into being representative of certain NPC factions. This would enable more players to have increased access to these types of vehicles through temporary work, GM plottery, and career paths in all facets of Sindome life.

It would also expose these types of vehicles to more permanent theft attempts. Currently, if you steal a permanent vehicle pad, we're obligated to 'return it' to the player-owner via IC means within a matter of 2-4 weeks. This requirement would vanish, and with extreme efforts and great risk to your own personal safety, you could find yourself with access to a rather nice vehicle for an extended period of time, and if your efforts to maintain and secure that vehicle were to see continued success, perhaps the life of your character.

We would see more variety born from this change as well, the assignment of existing designs to micro-factions and large factions would drive the desire to add new uniquely designed large multiroom vehicles to other factions and large organizations, which should only broaden the gameplay experience to more and more player characters.

Conclusion

What does this do for you?

It enables you to have renewed access to more luxurious living options at a reduced real-life cost, opens more IC opportunity and roleplay in a considerable volume across all sectors of the MOO, as well as continue to contribute to keeping Sindome's lights on and the doors open.

What does this do for us?

It further secures our funding for operating costs and allows us to expand available locations and options in a more carefully designed, deliberate fashion without rushed time constraints for delivery, as well as encourages staff to add more variety and options across the game's organizations for builds, and empowers our GMs to utilize a wider selection of NPCs, micro-factions, and other organizations in the RP they deliver.

Is there a time table for when these new membership apartments will be available?

Are they available now?

Once the underlying code/website changes are prepared and ready for deployment we'll make an announcement.

So far the polling is showing broad acceptance and there has been no negative feedback or suggestions on how to improve the plan.

There has been little expressed disappointed about retiring the concept of a vehicle pad but we expected that and want to remind everyone that these types of vehicles will be used with mega-corps and micro-factions and be able to be used as part of your career path, borrowed for a plot, stolen per your own efforts, or otherwise present in the game world still.

We'll likely move forward on this as coder resources become available.

Just wanted to say it definitely shows a lot of thought went into how to handle this going forward while trying to respect the money / time / other various kinds of investments folks have with how it was done in the past and how some IC repercussions might feel, but it really does feel like the best way to handle it, not only in a 'fairness' aspect, but just in a way that is best for the health of the MOO. I think having these assets available for plotting is a really exciting idea, I think the idea of 'microfactions' coming more into play is REALLY cool, both topside and mixside -- it could fill in the interstitial vacuum between the mega-corps / bigger gangs and factions, add in some spice -- it feels like it's giving more tools to both builders and GMs alike.

These larger pads / vehicles are inherently just cool and unique, and spreading out their access to more players even just in passing will make for really cool experiences, IMO.