I'm not sure of mechanically how to achieve it, but if someone can find a way to monetize businesses in a way to reward roleplay, it would be excellent. 

A select few putting in a lot of effort for not a lot of reward, and often very little engagement, when they're arguably the foundations of this place (I'm as guilty as anyone else btw, this isn't intended as a criticism of other players). 

Im not against this idea as such..but i will say, you have presented this "idea" very poorly. You have given izzy no foundation to even work with. You cant just say the game needs this and that and offer no real suggestions on how to achieve it. You will never get anywhere with such a piss poor effort of a "suggestion" im afraid.

The issue with passive income, as i see it, is well just that. Are we trying to encourage a wider engagement. So anything passive, Can suggestion little to no work to gain benefit. 

What are the thresholds of your idea business idea for example to be able to gain "passive income" Do you just set something up, do the bare minimum and then sit back and do nothing? Seems counter productive. These are things, that when offering a suggestion, you really need to think about, plane out and offer as much insight into how your idea integrates into the game. The wider effect more money has being entered into the game And how that would balance. We cant just flood the game with money and have no counter to this.

Na this was fine. Izzy does not need a foundation for every single suggestion posted. At some point we have to step back , we are users. If I need to come up with a power point to make a suggestion on a text based browser game I just wont. Imagine any other gaming company ask this of you.

Passive income bit was fine I thought. Gauging anything on this game by effort is ludicrous. Especially money, most players just swipe anyway. For credits and hustle. The whole low effort argument went out the window when izzy started adding hustle and other broken gifts into the sale pool. 100x quads etc etc.

Suggestion was fine OP. You are correct the game needs more things to do. We have a foundation here and it does not get built on. Mayor, CA bribe affecting a number of things. Rep per city. The list goes on and on and many people have made suggestions about it in the past. It's not in the users hands. 

What are the thresholds of your idea business idea for example to be able to gain "passive income" Do you just set something up, do the bare minimum and then sit back and do nothing? Seems counter productive. These are things, that when offering a suggestion, you really need to think about, plane out and offer as much insight into how your idea integrates into the game. The wider effect more money has being entered into the game And how that would balance. We cant just flood the game with money and have no counter to this.

 Its like any tycoon game - the more effort you and others put into the business the more NPCs are willing to line up and pay absurd prices. 

If a thread is active in a positive way surely some RNG code can be created to roll the dice on nightly "Generous tips" from NPCs or Mayors or even the NPC GFC is there is one. 

You don't need a novel - you just need the pros, cons and then then let other people chime in with their own imaginations. I'm not against this. I love the BD, its my favorite forum outside of the Forum where I picked up ur mum. 

We've got a text based roleplaying game where you get very heavily rewards for Lounge Chat which is entirely out of character / outside, but relatively low rewards for the Business District and Streets.

The lucky 'tip' function is a good one. Offer up invisible MIA/RIAs (similar to RATs, but with less of a realtime need to be there). Spin the wheel for things like a free fully loaded bodyguard. Incorporate user feedback so low quality stuff doesn't get rewarded. Have rewards for people who have high quality replies too, so disincentivize a whole bunch of business owners talking to themselves with no customers. 

I actually agree with the idea that we need more to do. Usually I play this game while at work(don't tell my boss) so in that case, when I do my petty, my felony, and then flip a pack, there is nothing else to do until the timer runs out. That's not a problem at work, but at home on the weekends, it get's a little...slow. 

I know there's gambling now, but maybe we could add something like bootlegging runs or something since this whole thing should be taking place during prohibition era. 
 

I know balance of the economy is important and passive income may be detrimental to that, but I'm sure if we add a risk factor like having to keep your numbers up or your business gets shutdown(like in real life) thus inspiring owners to stay engaged and get innovative. Am I sounding crazy?

I believe this is a good idea. The way Catherine presented it makes the most sense.

There have been businesses that were quite active for a while with over 50 replies but they kinda died because people just stopped roleplaying.

The current way of handling the business district does work, but only for a limited time. While some may think passive income may "kill" the RP aspect, I think it will work quite the opposite way. It will encourage more businesses to open up. Sure, some may not be top notch but it will be a good motivator and it is going to open up new windows for interesting scenarios.

Personally, I think we don't get enough roleplaying these days. It feels like people just can't be bothered to think something up to write.

I would love to see this idea come to fruition. I used to do a lot of writing and had fun, earned some VIP credits/lotto tickets, but for the amount of effort, it would be nice to make a decent living of BD income. 

Tbh I thought about doing a "Chamber of Commerce" where we would gather some of the most prominent business leaders in each city but, like Lucy mentioned, things just kinda die. Usually one of our big contributor's dies, a major massacre happens, or some act of nature, and momentum dies down. Nothing wrong with the events that occur, but for the sake of RPing, that does take a dip.

I usually feel apprehensive to write a big project because recognition and credits to not transfer to my next character and all is lost. The income idea Fredo_Trapani presented gives a great incentive for writers, new and established, to work together.

IF Izzy does consider this idea, I would love to help establish a framework, etc, and I know a few other big writers that would love to help.