Can those of you who are sponsoring this please explain to me how we determine what is quality vs just spamming to receive perks? I can sit in one city and post the very minimum in every single business, maybe some sort of neutral paragraph or so that I can just switch up a few words in to flow with each business. This is going to be really tough to determine and I feel like it will just award those not actually willing to put in the right kind of effort and maybe harm some of those that are but can't always meet maybe what is considered a minimum requirement. So I really want to know how this is going to work in terms of the requirements.

I'm not sure that I like this. As much as I'd like to see more participation in this forum, I don't think this is the way forward.

People already improve their vision for posting in the business district, and I'm not sure that giving people even more rewards for posting there would be a good idea, or if it would even encourage much more participation than there already is.

Can those of you who are sponsoring this please explain to me how we determine what is quality vs just spamming to receive perks? I can sit in one city and post the very minimum in every single business, maybe some sort of neutral paragraph or so that I can just switch up a few words in to flow with each business. This is going to be really tough to determine and I feel like it will just award those not actually willing to put in the right kind of effort and maybe harm some of those that are but can't always meet maybe what is considered a minimum requirement. So I really want to know how this is going to work in terms of the requirements.

Is it for us to determine what is quality and what isn't? Surely thats something the users would need to control themselves? Right now, if you were spamming a ton of junk in a business to increase your vision, I hardly think it would go un-noticed and un-punished. Would it?

I see this in the same vain. Although personally I dislike the idea of rewarding people for doing something that I consider should be part and parcel of the game already, I can't help but see there is some possible good in this in that it may actually help the business district. So far that reason I will be sponsoring it.

I'm not sure that I like this. As much as I'd like to see more participation in this forum, I don't think this is the way forward.

People already improve their vision for posting in the business district, and I'm not sure that giving people even more rewards for posting there would be a good idea, or if it would even encourage much more participation than there already is.

I'm a little perplexed at the reasoning here DeadlySin. You are concerned about giving rewards, but also doubt that people would use it? It would either give out rewards as people use it, or wont if they don't. It seems your two concerns contradict one another.

Thats not to say I don't agree with you, but I share your concern on the former rather than the latter. I think it would spur use of the BD, but i'm loathe to reward people for it. As I said earlier though, at this point I think we should try almost anything to boost the BD as its highly underused.

It's quite feasible to have multiple concerns about an idea, since we do not know for sure which way this will go. It could lead to people going ridiculously spam-happy to get more money, or it could make no difference at all.

Not to mention what enkindle said near the beginning of this:

I haven't read but the first post, my one concern is game cash inflation.

Reply by: enkindle at Nov 10, '12 22:46

As I stated in your own thread, DeadlySin, I believe the business district managers could play a vital role in keeping any spam-happy posters at bay, whether it be for the purposes of this idea or your own.

I see nothing wrong with bolstering the power they hold within their own BDs, encouraging them to decide which posts are worthy of reward and which aren't. I know I'm happy to put in that little bit extra, but then I always am.

Oh indeed its feasible, DeadlySin, I merely feel that those two particular concerns cancel one another out. So only one concern would become an issue as such.

As I said before, I share one of those concerns, along with enkindle I wouldn't like to see a vast inflation in the cash in game.

Having sponsored this idea I still stand by the fact that this should be implimented. However, having read DeadlySin's suggestion I would feel that his ideas for rewards would be a touch mor appropiate - seeing how we have already come to a dillema about the Rogue vision being introduced as a 'for pay' feature I think this would be an appropriate avenue for it's introduction. 

http://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/310802#3960974

as for cash inflation, this idea does away with that cash inflation issue. I would go with the second variation of this idea - durden mapping AND rogue possibility. Both of these are things that catch people's attention and are unavailable through other means. They are also both 'vision' or 'info' related so it will relate directly to what the business district gave you before.

{plus i think it could stop the spamming if it were run off the same code as the info boost system were run - assuming there is one? - would be good to know if we could link those stat failsafes with this new idea enkindle/izzy if you're reading}

Oh indeed its feasible, DeadlySin, I merely feel that those two particular concerns cancel one another out. So only one concern would become an issue as such. 

I think whta deadlysin is pointing out is that there is a distinct possibility it could go one of those two directions. Although I understand where he's coming from I am confident that users could embrace this new feature as a practical way to increase the roleplaying aspect of this game. 

Roleplaying is fun, I used to do it in that... far away land that many remember (some not so fondly). I got enjoyment out of that aspect. I have not once gone into a BD thread on MR and roleplayed my entire time here. Why? Not because I might not enjoy it, but the simple fact that from the start I noticed that it was a dead art, and it was even more discouraging that there were no hard-coded advantages to doing so. With the strong IRC community we have, there is not much reason to use the BD - almost all of the advantages bar/business districts held on other shores have been squashed here. If you want a revival you need to do something to get people abuzz about it. And it's hard to motivate people to do something or even LEARN that it CAN be a fun thing if there are no obvious gains to doing so. That's why we need this.

We all know that if people think they can get something for nothing, they can and will. If some people can benefit from it without putting in the effort, they're going to do it. Why open it up for that possibility. I definitely want to see role playing bolstered in this community, I just don't think this is the way to do it.

I wouldn't mind incorporating DeadlySin's idea into this if it's going to pass. I would much rather see something non-monetary as a reward than people just receiving cash for posting something. My whole point is... They shouldn't NEED that type of incentive to do it.

How many people spammed the streets with pointless nonsense when ranking requirements included 30 posts and 1 original street thread? Look at the most current example of a guy giving a speech in the streets for a contest and people telling him it's worthless because he didn't put time and effort into it. I feel like that is exactly what is going to go on here if we put this through as is. I would rather see DeadlySin's idea or even as Ralph brought up, the MRSE. Of course it's up to us to decide :/ Otherwise why are we sponsoring it and discussing it???

A way to combat that would be to set a specific word count, but don't make it known to the players. But not word count by post, overall word count before the 1 in 10 chance of getting the perk kicks in across posts inside the business district, not just limited to a post. Also have say a cool down on it so that people couldn't spam the hell out of the business district to get the perk.

As far as I am aware MR does use some form of plagerism checking software. If not I know there is software out there I'd say many here are aware of Turnitin, or at least if you've gone to uni in the UK in the past 4 years or so you've encountered it.

I don't know how hard it could code or if this would work, but the software would check your post against your other posts in the business district and if there is a certain percentage of repetition then this could delay the perk kicking in.