Hello! We're in a very different situation with regards to the community than the last newsletter, and overall that's a good thing! New groups are cropping up, events seem to be picking up, and the general vibe is a lot better. We've been working on polishing up what we've already planned for as well as looking to the future and what new things we can work on.
We have been working on the source of both the regional/mass timeouts and the issues with the phones/MDT loading related to Kuzzle (a backend service that handles a lot of the live server data). We've implemented a few fixes that seem to be helping for the most part, however our work is still unfinished and we appreciate everyone's patience with this. We'll also be looking into reducing load on the database via various methods to increase server stability.
We've made some major changes to the server recently both with mapping and with mechanics. We'll be looking over the new few months to see how the server culture adapts. We realize some people dislike some changes such as shooting from cars, but from all the feedback from our perspective, overall it has been a well tolerated change.
We are all here to have fun and make stories. Some times those stories put us in uncomfortable places - the losing side of a RICO case, the sadness of a friend group falling apart, getting picked up as a hostage, or getting targeted for something you did. The Admin team wants to remind everyone that everyone will be put in tough situations sometimes that aren't as fun for us as we want them to be. You are the main character in your own story, but that does not make you immune from things you don't enjoy. We do not want anyone to feel extremely uncomfortable out of character, but uncomfortable roleplay scenarios are still just that - roleplay. Let it grow your character and see where it takes them!
We have a tool available in order to ID players for legitimate uses: Hold U to see IDs for player reports, giving items over if you aren't sure, verifying player IDs before processing them in the cells, etc. We've seen an uptick in players abusing this feature to look for players hiding, checking cars to see locals vs. players, ID who is talking in a masked group etc. We want to remind everyone that these tools are given to the community to assist with roleplay and support purposes, not to take shortcuts.
This will be a short update from the dev team - we love to see everyone engaging with the new mapping, content, and mechanics that have been introduced over the last two months. We're going to continue to work on new things, but take a period for breaks, QoL improvements on existing systems, and polishing out bugs / issues related to the fall update. We're also looking at continuing our work to get things more in-game and IC rather than on Discord and the forums.
From Matt Jacobs, State Public Defender, PDO
The Public Defender's Office is currently undergoing a Leadership Change, Letters of Interest for the position of State Public Defender can be submitted to the Executive Branch, more information can be found in the Press Release from the Office of the Governor from September 14th. PDO is still welcoming applicants for Paralegal and Public Defender positions at all levels of knowledge, no previous experience is required to apply, just a can do attitude and a willingness to learn.Whether you are facing criminal charges, are seeking an expungement, or just have legal questions, the Public Defender's Office is always willing to help, feel free to reach out to any of our staff on the Directory.
From Helena Cassidy-Wren, Department of Health
Department of Health is still organising it's spooky event, this year will be vampire gothic-esque vibes! We are happy that we now have a handful of social workers again and are looking for different avenues of roleplay that make sense for them as they continue to grow.
We are still hiring for all roles (hospital, admin assistant & social workers), although hospital staff only get onboarded in waves. We are always happy to introduce people to medical roleplay if they are new. We have a lot of resources made by wonderful people over the years to explain how to roleplay from the otherside of the fence!
Alternatively we are always happy to help people who might be struggling with medical roleplay as a patient. You can use /ooc to ask hospital staff for advice/help on how to proceed or you can open a support ticket for more in depth advice. Prosthetics are currently on hold as we work on better procedures both OOC and IC, so you may only have access to a "skin sleeve" for the mean time. Your character can still roleplay out the injury in its entirety, just doesn't get the fancy robo-arm for now.
From Vivian Chopper, San Andreas Parks Department
Not too much to update from us in the San Andreas Parks Department this time! Things have been ticking along nicely behind the scenes, but as we head into October, we do have a few things coming up.
We’re looking to review Parks Employee applications sometime this month, so if you’ve been considering joining us, now is a good time to get an application in! If you haven't already, speak to Amanda at the Ranger Station in Paleto to get yourself added to the pile for consideration.
Otherwise, happy spooky month! We’ve got a few things planned throughout October, so keep an eye on IC Events to see what we’re getting up to. There may or may not be a pumpkin patch involved...
It’s also worth remembering that we’re still very much in fire season, especially with all the drying and dying vegetation this time of year. Please be mindful of where you’re setting fireworks off and the environment around you; the last thing anybody wants is for a bit of fun to turn into a wildfire!
Both of these can make for some fun little bits of environmental RP too! If fireworks are going off nearby, think about how your pets might react and feel free to make use of /mes or create little scenes around them hiding, getting spooked, refusing to go outside or needing some extra reassurance. Likewise, fire season can always open the door for some interesting scenes and interactions with Parks (and our friends in SAFR!).
As always, thank you to everyone who continues to interact with and support the San Andreas Parks Department. We’re looking forward to seeing what October brings!
From Claire Halsey, San Andreas Flight Authority
As we come into the final part of the year, just a few things from my desk.
Aviation RP in the state is in a pretty rough spot, and we are aware of it. We've been pushing a bunch of new ideas to try to find ways for us to be supporting the aviators of the state. That doesn't just mean the legal ones as well.
I understand that there is a perception that there's no benefit in working with or playing ball with us as we are just skycops, but that's simply not the case, and we are trying to make that more apparent across the board. We aren't and will never be law enforcement, nor should we be acting like it. But we're also not going to just be bullied into not doing our jobs.
We are trying to make it easier for people to get licensed, and get in the skies legally. New laws are going into effect as soon as we can get them out. We finished the rewrite of some of our tests, and are working on our maps and charts to bring them up to speed. (Boring administrative stuff.)
It's my pleasure to be navigating SAFA as we try a bunch of new stuff as we can iron it out. New job opportunities, new laws, new shirts, new everything here at SAFA. Breathing fresh air into the skies is my objective as your new chief pilot, and here's hoping it goes well.
From LEO High Command, San Andreas State Police
The San Andreas State Police has overhauled our Training Program. Our goal is to have new PD Applications reviewed every weekend, with interviews happening every other weekend, and accepted applicants should begin their training shortly after interviews. We hope that this change, as well as a few others, increases retention and solves the issue of police applications sitting for multiple months.
Since the last newsletter we wrote for, Deputy Commissioner Seth Kennedy, Captain Jensen Cash, Lieutenant Cassandra Mitchell and Lieutenant Kodi Phoenix have departed from their positions in command. Seth Kennedy and Jensen Cash remain with the State Police as Senior Officers, while Cassandra Mitchell and Kodi Phoenix have transferred to the Federal Marshal Service. Command is essentially a part time job, and these individuals and many others have put years into this police department, and we want to make sure they know they are appreciated for all they did for us and the community.
Lastly, we wish to remind the community that while we are here to have fun, Law Enforcement are here to roleplay Law Enforcement. Committing crime in front of a police officer will warrant a police officer responding accordingly, and for those that wish to make conversation idly, make sure you are aware most officers are expected to take advantage of that. If you make the decision to chat up the cops after you break into that ATM in front of them, expect some volts coming your way eventually.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support and interact with our department on a day-to-day basis!
From NewDay Management:
We have been working on the source of both the regional/mass timeouts and the issues with the phones/MDT loading related to Kuzzle (a backend service that handles a lot of the live server data). We've implemented a few fixes that seem to be helping for the most part, however our work is still unfinished and we appreciate everyone's patience with this. We'll also be looking into reducing load on the database via various methods to increase server stability.
We've made some major changes to the server recently both with mapping and with mechanics. We'll be looking over the new few months to see how the server culture adapts. We realize some people dislike some changes such as shooting from cars, but from all the feedback from our perspective, overall it has been a well tolerated change.
Recent Administrative Changes:
We are all here to have fun and make stories. Some times those stories put us in uncomfortable places - the losing side of a RICO case, the sadness of a friend group falling apart, getting picked up as a hostage, or getting targeted for something you did. The Admin team wants to remind everyone that everyone will be put in tough situations sometimes that aren't as fun for us as we want them to be. You are the main character in your own story, but that does not make you immune from things you don't enjoy. We do not want anyone to feel extremely uncomfortable out of character, but uncomfortable roleplay scenarios are still just that - roleplay. Let it grow your character and see where it takes them!
We have a tool available in order to ID players for legitimate uses: Hold U to see IDs for player reports, giving items over if you aren't sure, verifying player IDs before processing them in the cells, etc. We've seen an uptick in players abusing this feature to look for players hiding, checking cars to see locals vs. players, ID who is talking in a masked group etc. We want to remind everyone that these tools are given to the community to assist with roleplay and support purposes, not to take shortcuts.
From the Development Team:
This will be a short update from the dev team - we love to see everyone engaging with the new mapping, content, and mechanics that have been introduced over the last two months. We're going to continue to work on new things, but take a period for breaks, QoL improvements on existing systems, and polishing out bugs / issues related to the fall update. We're also looking at continuing our work to get things more in-game and IC rather than on Discord and the forums.
NDRP Government Faction Updates:
From Matt Jacobs, State Public Defender, PDO
The Public Defender's Office is currently undergoing a Leadership Change, Letters of Interest for the position of State Public Defender can be submitted to the Executive Branch, more information can be found in the Press Release from the Office of the Governor from September 14th. PDO is still welcoming applicants for Paralegal and Public Defender positions at all levels of knowledge, no previous experience is required to apply, just a can do attitude and a willingness to learn.Whether you are facing criminal charges, are seeking an expungement, or just have legal questions, the Public Defender's Office is always willing to help, feel free to reach out to any of our staff on the Directory.
From Helena Cassidy-Wren, Department of Health
Department of Health is still organising it's spooky event, this year will be vampire gothic-esque vibes! We are happy that we now have a handful of social workers again and are looking for different avenues of roleplay that make sense for them as they continue to grow.
We are still hiring for all roles (hospital, admin assistant & social workers), although hospital staff only get onboarded in waves. We are always happy to introduce people to medical roleplay if they are new. We have a lot of resources made by wonderful people over the years to explain how to roleplay from the otherside of the fence!
Alternatively we are always happy to help people who might be struggling with medical roleplay as a patient. You can use /ooc to ask hospital staff for advice/help on how to proceed or you can open a support ticket for more in depth advice. Prosthetics are currently on hold as we work on better procedures both OOC and IC, so you may only have access to a "skin sleeve" for the mean time. Your character can still roleplay out the injury in its entirety, just doesn't get the fancy robo-arm for now.
From Vivian Chopper, San Andreas Parks Department
Not too much to update from us in the San Andreas Parks Department this time! Things have been ticking along nicely behind the scenes, but as we head into October, we do have a few things coming up.
We’re looking to review Parks Employee applications sometime this month, so if you’ve been considering joining us, now is a good time to get an application in! If you haven't already, speak to Amanda at the Ranger Station in Paleto to get yourself added to the pile for consideration.
Otherwise, happy spooky month! We’ve got a few things planned throughout October, so keep an eye on IC Events to see what we’re getting up to. There may or may not be a pumpkin patch involved...
It’s also worth remembering that we’re still very much in fire season, especially with all the drying and dying vegetation this time of year. Please be mindful of where you’re setting fireworks off and the environment around you; the last thing anybody wants is for a bit of fun to turn into a wildfire!
Both of these can make for some fun little bits of environmental RP too! If fireworks are going off nearby, think about how your pets might react and feel free to make use of /mes or create little scenes around them hiding, getting spooked, refusing to go outside or needing some extra reassurance. Likewise, fire season can always open the door for some interesting scenes and interactions with Parks (and our friends in SAFR!).
As always, thank you to everyone who continues to interact with and support the San Andreas Parks Department. We’re looking forward to seeing what October brings!
From Claire Halsey, San Andreas Flight Authority
As we come into the final part of the year, just a few things from my desk.
Aviation RP in the state is in a pretty rough spot, and we are aware of it. We've been pushing a bunch of new ideas to try to find ways for us to be supporting the aviators of the state. That doesn't just mean the legal ones as well.
I understand that there is a perception that there's no benefit in working with or playing ball with us as we are just skycops, but that's simply not the case, and we are trying to make that more apparent across the board. We aren't and will never be law enforcement, nor should we be acting like it. But we're also not going to just be bullied into not doing our jobs.
We are trying to make it easier for people to get licensed, and get in the skies legally. New laws are going into effect as soon as we can get them out. We finished the rewrite of some of our tests, and are working on our maps and charts to bring them up to speed. (Boring administrative stuff.)
It's my pleasure to be navigating SAFA as we try a bunch of new stuff as we can iron it out. New job opportunities, new laws, new shirts, new everything here at SAFA. Breathing fresh air into the skies is my objective as your new chief pilot, and here's hoping it goes well.
From LEO High Command, San Andreas State Police
The San Andreas State Police has overhauled our Training Program. Our goal is to have new PD Applications reviewed every weekend, with interviews happening every other weekend, and accepted applicants should begin their training shortly after interviews. We hope that this change, as well as a few others, increases retention and solves the issue of police applications sitting for multiple months.
Since the last newsletter we wrote for, Deputy Commissioner Seth Kennedy, Captain Jensen Cash, Lieutenant Cassandra Mitchell and Lieutenant Kodi Phoenix have departed from their positions in command. Seth Kennedy and Jensen Cash remain with the State Police as Senior Officers, while Cassandra Mitchell and Kodi Phoenix have transferred to the Federal Marshal Service. Command is essentially a part time job, and these individuals and many others have put years into this police department, and we want to make sure they know they are appreciated for all they did for us and the community.
Lastly, we wish to remind the community that while we are here to have fun, Law Enforcement are here to roleplay Law Enforcement. Committing crime in front of a police officer will warrant a police officer responding accordingly, and for those that wish to make conversation idly, make sure you are aware most officers are expected to take advantage of that. If you make the decision to chat up the cops after you break into that ATM in front of them, expect some volts coming your way eventually.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support and interact with our department on a day-to-day basis!
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