[CHANGE] Jail Timers

[Crank]

Yes, I have another suggestion to share, this time regarding the current jail timers. I want to give credit to @blizzard for inspiring this idea. 

Let's be honest. Spending 300 seconds inside the jail for 42 stars seems outdated, especially in today's server environment where player count is crucial for server activity. Our server has evolved into a pure cops and robbers setting, which calls for fast-paced and enjoyable gameplay to remain sustainable. What I've noticed is that players who are sent to jail either go AFK or quit the game after being released. I believe that implementing a change to reduce jail timers and allowing criminals to pay off their jail time will enhance the gameplay experience for both criminals and cops. Allow me to explain further:

Here's the suggestion:

1. Reduce the maximum jail time to 150 seconds. This adjustment will ensure a steady supply of criminals participating in activities even after being jailed. Cops will be more engaged as criminals actively pursue criminal activities and criminals will find it far more enjoyable attending said activities.

2. Enable criminals to pay off their jail time, with a slight addition for balance: Criminals who choose to pay off their jail time will not be able to shoot or punch during that duration, to ensure fairness for cops clearing banks, SRs, VIPs, and other criminal activities. Criminals would still be able to participate in BRs, but without the ability to crack and actively defend themselves during that time. 

I firmly believe that criminals should have the freedom to roam the server if they choose to, without being restricted for 300 seconds due to a jail sentence. Allowing the option to pay off jail timers and enjoy gameplay regardless of being arrested will help achieve this goal.

 

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If you have any feedback, suggestions, or criticisms regarding my suggestion, please feel free to share them below.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Crank

[DROT]

The current timer is already short. Nobody ever guards the jail, the only thing that criminals need to do is have one person come and jailbreak them. However they already rarely ever jailbreak because it's already a short period. 

If the timer is even further reduced to something as ridiculous as 150sec which is two and a half minutes, nobody will bother to jailbreak anyone ever again. Nobody minds waiting two minutes to finish the whole sentence, in fact they would waste more time if they tried to run away, there's no point in escaping anymore.

So first off, no more jailbreaking. That's one less activity on the server, I wouldn't say that's what it needs right now.

Then, reducing the time also means affecting the balance of other activities such as those of BRs, where robbers would be able to return twice as fast. Same goes for any other location that a cop may be trying to clear out. The time frame in which they can arrest a group of people will effectively be halved since the first people arrested will come back before the other part of the group ever gets arrested too. 

So let's add a significant increase to difficulty for cops to the list of downsides too.

And finally we've the fact that this will make criminal gameplay significantly easier. Where's the thrill if getting arrested doesn't mean anything? If you'll still have plenty of time to make it back for an activity, if you'll be out in two minutes, then why even bother trying to escape cops? It's no longer a matter of "should I try to run away, or should I take the risk and try to kill these cops" since there's literally no risk to be taken. Everyone can just be a rambo, even if they fail fuck it... You'll be out of the prison and back at that same place before you even realize that you were jailed.

So that's a significant decrease in difficulty for criminals.

Overall as a consequence of reducing the jail timer we've:

1) A completely killed-off jailbreaking activity.
2) Changed balance of every cop vs crim activity, double the challenge for cops.
3) Piss easy gameplay for criminals who are out of jail in two minutes.

No, I don't think that this is a good idea.

If anything the timer should stay the same.
I'd ever dare say that increase in jail time should be considered to reintroduce a reason for criminals to jailbreak again.

[blizzard]

1 hour ago, DROT said:

The current timer is already short. Nobody ever guards the jail, the only thing that criminals need to do is have one person come and jailbreak them. However they already rarely ever jailbreak because it's already a short period. 

If the timer is even further reduced to something as ridiculous as 150sec which is two and a half minutes, nobody will bother to jailbreak anyone ever again. Nobody minds waiting two minutes to finish the whole sentence, in fact they would waste more time if they tried to run away, there's no point in escaping anymore.

So first off, no more jailbreaking. That's one less activity on the server, I wouldn't say that's what it needs right now.
 

Perhaps, but you could speed up opening the doors by 50% for both cops and crims and the jail door by 25% to speed up the gameplay.

You are also missing the point that people don't jailbreak to get their friends out. When a jailbreak happens, it's used as a DM place between cops and criminals so no, I wouldn't say Jailbreaks would die off ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Lincoln]

 If jail time would be reduced to 150 seconds, the actuall chase would take longer than the jail time. 300 seconds is not that long imo, remember it used to be 420. 

Let's say there is a store robbery, cops raid it and finally arrest all criminals. By the time they have managed to stop the SR said criminals are near release & ready to start the next acitivity. If jail time were to be only 150 seconds, criminals would swarm back to the activity like insects and cops wouldn't have a chance and I couldn't imagine what it'd look like in bankrobs. It just wouldn't be practical, we'd have 10 topics of cops complaining if this was to be implemented.

Your second suggestion seems reasonable, but I don't like how you said criminals who paid off their jail time can still participate in bankrobs. I know you said they would not be able to shoot or whatsoever but I'm more concerned about the crackers. One critical part of cops side's tactic in stopping bankrobs is going directly for the crackers so we then have time to clear out the other defenders before all safes are cracked. If criminals would not be able to crack either, than I'd say yes why not.

[niceez]

The argument DROT used concerning jailbreaks is enough not to implement it. 
These days there are not as many JBs as it used to be in the past what badly affects the server in my opinion. 
Jail is a place where both sides can have fun for an amount of time. Besides that is the most common place where special groups show up. 
You can not see DE, HLS and CLO showing anywhere more often than on JBs. If you take that aspect away, at least DE and HLS will lose a significant chance to spawn. 
And I do believe that people would like getting the membership of such groups not just to show off but to use the abilities of it. 
Instead I’d suggest such groups as OB (main role is JBing) to get more active as we miss big unstoppable jailbreaks. 

Edited June 20, 2023 by niceez

[Brophy]

Thanks for your suggestion, it is certainly something we can look at changing.

Mind adding a poll to your suggestion so we can gauge it?

[Crank]

Poll has been added.

[Crank]

1 hour ago, Lincoln said:

 If jail time would be reduced to 150 seconds, the actuall chase would take longer than the jail time. 300 seconds is not that long imo, remember it used to be 420. 

Let's say there is a store robbery, cops raid it and finally arrest all criminals. By the time they have managed to stop the SR said criminals are near release & ready to start the next acitivity. If jail time were to be only 150 seconds, criminals would swarm back to the activity like insects and cops wouldn't have a chance and I couldn't imagine what it'd look like in bankrobs. It just wouldn't be practical, we'd have 10 topics of cops complaining if this was to be implemented.

Your second suggestion seems reasonable, but I don't like how you said criminals who paid off their jail time can still participate in bankrobs. I know you said they would not be able to shoot or whatsoever but I'm more concerned about the crackers. One critical part of cops side's tactic in stopping bankrobs is going directly for the crackers so we then have time to clear out the other defenders before all safes are cracked. If criminals would not be able to crack either, than I'd say yes why not.

Yes, it was already reduced, but that does not change the fact that the jail time remains too long.

In a perfect world, yes, criminals would be swarming back to SRs and other criminal activities. However, we do not live in a perfect world. SRs are sparcely populated, that is a first. Secondly, criminals get bored quite quickly, especially after a combined effort of cops to stop an SR. In a perfect world, we would have consistent efforts of cops attempting to raid SRs, and criminals actively attending SRs. That is not the case. Criminals lack the endurance to continuously attend normal criminal activities after multiple jail sentences. The more frequently cops attend criminal activities, the higher the chance criminals will get bored. Remember: Criminals are NOT rewarded for attending SRs. They are rewarded for ending the SR and delivering the package. Cops, meanwhile, get rewarded for arresting. Stopping an SR is just the topping on the cake. The same applies to VIP and even unsuccessful BRs. The more you look at it, the more you will realize how criminals waste more of their time and money on unsuccessful criminal activities. This should not be the case. I want to encourage new and old players alike to attend more or less outdated activities so you as cops may also get your fun back stopping said activities.

I agree with your second paragraph. Criminals that pay off their jail time should NOT be able to crack. I have added it to my suggestion.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Crank