IGN: IssuesIncluded
DATE: January 22nd
WHAT YOU WANT TO SUGGEST OR MENTION: In an interpretative environment where traders struggle to announce their properties or products In Character, a way of ICly announce/advertise an item deems extremely necessary. In fact, it's hard to believe that this idea has not been proposed yet, or if it has, then I don't know why it was denied.
There should be a system, place or area that could be used to advertise services (businesses such as tailoring, holdings and furniture companies), products (items, customs), properties (vehicles, houses, apartments), community-driven events & announcements, and much more. Of course, since the point of the idea is for the community of Karakura to have a way to advertise things, any kind of illegal advertisement (such as weapons, etc.) would not be allowed since, ICly, those kinds of marketplaces are heavily moderated. Advertising a katana, for example, would be like advertising 120g of cocaine on Craigslist. Alcohol is also included, since there is no way to stop 18 years old from selling it through the platform.
1. Best ways to implement a system like this into the game:
No, a Discord server made exclusively for advertising things would not work, since, at the end of the day, people would simply DM the posters of an article, ending up on OOC deals. The ideal way is to introduce this system code-wise; inserting it into the server itself is the best option. Like an application on everyone's cellphone, where you could post an article. If you want to advertise a house or an apartment, simply include the address and specify the details of your sale, like you would do in an actual marketplace community/website. Or if you're selling an item, describe it in your post, so whoever may be interested in it can read. In this same app, people would be able to both post and view selling articles. (Including this addition to the Phones Update #2, if this is accepted, might be a good idea.)
Or, if adding this tool to the phone is too work-ey, there could be an area in the map, maybe the own Auction House (since it would be transferred to a player-owned store read article 2.), to post articles, which could be viewed in chat, visible to everyone on the server (can be toggled through a command, and a list can be shown of all the most recent advertisements with another command). However, instead of those advertisements being long like the shop announcements are, advertisements could be limited to a reduced characters limit.
Messages like these would show up in the chat of any player who had advertisements toggled on. Every player would have a certain amount of cooldown before they could announce again. If one doesn't want their chat spammed by those messages, simply toggle them off, since there would be a way to check the recent advertisements through a command, in case they somehow start to seek to buy something.
Every post/article would cost a certain amount of yen from the user.
2. The replacement & IC-lization of the Auction House
The nature of this system would make the Auction House useless, or at least, partially useless. Although some people may still have interest in the Auction House, I also suggest that, instead of being a business controlled by a NPC, it becomes a new shop modality. Players could apply for a shop; an auction house/pawn shop, where the community would sell their items directly to the pawn shop/auction house in a deal with the shop keeper or the shop's employees, this way, making trades and businesses way more realistic and authentic.
3. "-1. Marketplace will get me scammed!"
Although scam is real, it would be extra-complicated for it to occur in a marketplace deal. Realistically, for you to post an article, you would need to post a picture of it, along with the description. Of course, ICly, you won't need to do that because you can't index photos in-game. However, it's obvious that, ICly, if you've posted an article, you've realistically indexed a photo of the product or property you want to sell. It's important to remind that, since it is a, IC-wise, heavily moderated marketplace online-community, the website has your information; it's impossible to register with a fake name and a fake providence code (US-ly speaking, it'd be called your SSN, or in other countries, a personal code), because that's simply not how it works, unless you have someone's name and their providence code. And, most of all, the advertisements recquire your phone's number; a valid phone number since, without a phone number, you cannot be contacted by someone who might be interested by your product. The victim of a scam can use the information that's public to her to report you to the Police. It's obvious that your seller wearing a mask is a +1 reason not to trust them.
To prevent scams, Police Officers could have permission to go through the marketplace app's users' information to investigate cases of scam. Scam is possible, but only truly possible if your head is not really in place. ICly, this is common knowledge. Only savages will scam someone with their identity exposed. This is asking to be arrested, or yet, it's asking to be pulled into a later-on fight.
"Well, I was the seller and got scammed either way!"... simply not handing the item before the payment is a great way to prevent this (works everytime). This is common sense, and is how every transaction is done in real life.
HOW WILL THIS BENEFIT THE SERVER/COMMUNITY?: It would bring a new dynamic to the trading aspect of SchoolRP. Constantly, players depend on a way to advertise what they want to sell. This would, once and for all, end OOC deals and the countless messages in the OOC chat of people asking who sells X item, or even advertising their own items.
Tailoring, furniture, any kind of service or company that doesn't go beyond the IC limits (such as modelling or writing, for example, since you're obviously not allowed to announce something such as "I will model a custom item for you!!!", or "I will write your company's lore!") could also be advertised. Advertisements are not necessarily limited to the announcement of physical material. It could be used to announce IC events or business (no, this will not replace the Shopkeepers' own system of advertisement).
The IC-lization and community-control of the Auction House would give players the freedom of choice, since there wouldn't be a "better and worse". Selling items directly to a pawn shop would not be guarantee, but at least give the seller a chance of getting a higher profit than they would have if they sold their product in the marketplace; the "deal or no deal", while, in the marketplace, sellers would be guaranteed to sell their items, products or properties, gaining money for it. The pawn shop wouldn't always be available, since it would become a player-driven shop, while the marketplace, on the other hand, is available 24/7. Economy would be balanced and unpredictable. Prices wouldn't be the same for the same item, like it is in real life. More points are going to be considered before a deal is made, and the interaction between seller and buyer would increase realism and dynamic and give end to the "one click = deal!" that is the current NPC-controllable Auction House, completely absent from any kind of authenticity.
"The developers/staff have better things to prioritize!!" is a point that is not worth of being brought up. Players struggle daily to advertise their business, product, service or property, and this is a solution that would solve this issue that's been existing basically forever.
Of course, at the end of the day, this is an idea that, if accepted, will be best-driven in the hands of the Staff. All the ideas presented here are simply suggestions that will be severely changed at the development team and SRP management's will if this feedback is accepted. Maybe the Auction House as we know it doesn't need to be sacrificed. Players don't really want the end of the AH, but a way to announce other kinds of products, items and properties that simply wouldn't receive the same attention if they were thrown directly into the AH. Abolishing the Auction House is a way that I found to make things more IC and less robotic, but it doesn't necessarily need to happen, although, in my opinion, it would bring a large variety of changes to the interpretative universe of SRP.
DATE: January 22nd
WHAT YOU WANT TO SUGGEST OR MENTION: In an interpretative environment where traders struggle to announce their properties or products In Character, a way of ICly announce/advertise an item deems extremely necessary. In fact, it's hard to believe that this idea has not been proposed yet, or if it has, then I don't know why it was denied.
There should be a system, place or area that could be used to advertise services (businesses such as tailoring, holdings and furniture companies), products (items, customs), properties (vehicles, houses, apartments), community-driven events & announcements, and much more. Of course, since the point of the idea is for the community of Karakura to have a way to advertise things, any kind of illegal advertisement (such as weapons, etc.) would not be allowed since, ICly, those kinds of marketplaces are heavily moderated. Advertising a katana, for example, would be like advertising 120g of cocaine on Craigslist. Alcohol is also included, since there is no way to stop 18 years old from selling it through the platform.
1. Best ways to implement a system like this into the game:
No, a Discord server made exclusively for advertising things would not work, since, at the end of the day, people would simply DM the posters of an article, ending up on OOC deals. The ideal way is to introduce this system code-wise; inserting it into the server itself is the best option. Like an application on everyone's cellphone, where you could post an article. If you want to advertise a house or an apartment, simply include the address and specify the details of your sale, like you would do in an actual marketplace community/website. Or if you're selling an item, describe it in your post, so whoever may be interested in it can read. In this same app, people would be able to both post and view selling articles. (Including this addition to the Phones Update #2, if this is accepted, might be a good idea.)
Or, if adding this tool to the phone is too work-ey, there could be an area in the map, maybe the own Auction House (since it would be transferred to a player-owned store read article 2.), to post articles, which could be viewed in chat, visible to everyone on the server (can be toggled through a command, and a list can be shown of all the most recent advertisements with another command). However, instead of those advertisements being long like the shop announcements are, advertisements could be limited to a reduced characters limit.
Example:
[Advertisement] Selling a furnished apartment in the Shopping District, with a great view of the forest hills. — PH: (030) 284-137-183
[Advertisement] Diamond ring box (and a diamond ring) for the mere price of 300.000 yen. Get in contact — PH: (030) 531-918-911
[Advertisement] In need of some new clothes? Hire the George Tailoring services to acquire some fine-quality clothing. Access our website: [link to a Discord server which, ICly, is a real website, or the link to some thread on the forums] — PH: (030) 472-651-193
In bold: automatically filled;
In green: Player-written advert.
[Advertisement] Selling a furnished apartment in the Shopping District, with a great view of the forest hills. — PH: (030) 284-137-183
[Advertisement] Diamond ring box (and a diamond ring) for the mere price of 300.000 yen. Get in contact — PH: (030) 531-918-911
[Advertisement] In need of some new clothes? Hire the George Tailoring services to acquire some fine-quality clothing. Access our website: [link to a Discord server which, ICly, is a real website, or the link to some thread on the forums] — PH: (030) 472-651-193
In bold: automatically filled;
In green: Player-written advert.
Every post/article would cost a certain amount of yen from the user.
2. The replacement & IC-lization of the Auction House
The nature of this system would make the Auction House useless, or at least, partially useless. Although some people may still have interest in the Auction House, I also suggest that, instead of being a business controlled by a NPC, it becomes a new shop modality. Players could apply for a shop; an auction house/pawn shop, where the community would sell their items directly to the pawn shop/auction house in a deal with the shop keeper or the shop's employees, this way, making trades and businesses way more realistic and authentic.
3. "-1. Marketplace will get me scammed!"
Although scam is real, it would be extra-complicated for it to occur in a marketplace deal. Realistically, for you to post an article, you would need to post a picture of it, along with the description. Of course, ICly, you won't need to do that because you can't index photos in-game. However, it's obvious that, ICly, if you've posted an article, you've realistically indexed a photo of the product or property you want to sell. It's important to remind that, since it is a, IC-wise, heavily moderated marketplace online-community, the website has your information; it's impossible to register with a fake name and a fake providence code (US-ly speaking, it'd be called your SSN, or in other countries, a personal code), because that's simply not how it works, unless you have someone's name and their providence code. And, most of all, the advertisements recquire your phone's number; a valid phone number since, without a phone number, you cannot be contacted by someone who might be interested by your product. The victim of a scam can use the information that's public to her to report you to the Police. It's obvious that your seller wearing a mask is a +1 reason not to trust them.
To prevent scams, Police Officers could have permission to go through the marketplace app's users' information to investigate cases of scam. Scam is possible, but only truly possible if your head is not really in place. ICly, this is common knowledge. Only savages will scam someone with their identity exposed. This is asking to be arrested, or yet, it's asking to be pulled into a later-on fight.
"Well, I was the seller and got scammed either way!"... simply not handing the item before the payment is a great way to prevent this (works everytime). This is common sense, and is how every transaction is done in real life.
HOW WILL THIS BENEFIT THE SERVER/COMMUNITY?: It would bring a new dynamic to the trading aspect of SchoolRP. Constantly, players depend on a way to advertise what they want to sell. This would, once and for all, end OOC deals and the countless messages in the OOC chat of people asking who sells X item, or even advertising their own items.
Tailoring, furniture, any kind of service or company that doesn't go beyond the IC limits (such as modelling or writing, for example, since you're obviously not allowed to announce something such as "I will model a custom item for you!!!", or "I will write your company's lore!") could also be advertised. Advertisements are not necessarily limited to the announcement of physical material. It could be used to announce IC events or business (no, this will not replace the Shopkeepers' own system of advertisement).
The IC-lization and community-control of the Auction House would give players the freedom of choice, since there wouldn't be a "better and worse". Selling items directly to a pawn shop would not be guarantee, but at least give the seller a chance of getting a higher profit than they would have if they sold their product in the marketplace; the "deal or no deal", while, in the marketplace, sellers would be guaranteed to sell their items, products or properties, gaining money for it. The pawn shop wouldn't always be available, since it would become a player-driven shop, while the marketplace, on the other hand, is available 24/7. Economy would be balanced and unpredictable. Prices wouldn't be the same for the same item, like it is in real life. More points are going to be considered before a deal is made, and the interaction between seller and buyer would increase realism and dynamic and give end to the "one click = deal!" that is the current NPC-controllable Auction House, completely absent from any kind of authenticity.
"The developers/staff have better things to prioritize!!" is a point that is not worth of being brought up. Players struggle daily to advertise their business, product, service or property, and this is a solution that would solve this issue that's been existing basically forever.
Of course, at the end of the day, this is an idea that, if accepted, will be best-driven in the hands of the Staff. All the ideas presented here are simply suggestions that will be severely changed at the development team and SRP management's will if this feedback is accepted. Maybe the Auction House as we know it doesn't need to be sacrificed. Players don't really want the end of the AH, but a way to announce other kinds of products, items and properties that simply wouldn't receive the same attention if they were thrown directly into the AH. Abolishing the Auction House is a way that I found to make things more IC and less robotic, but it doesn't necessarily need to happen, although, in my opinion, it would bring a large variety of changes to the interpretative universe of SRP.
