Suggestion Title: Volunteer Firefighter Pager (w/ Anti-Abuse Mechanisms)
Suggestion Description: This would add a pager for people who enjoy playing firefighter but get bored sitting in the station, allowing them to leave their passive, noncriminal roleplay to respond to a fire or a restricted set of medical calls, either in their own personal vehicle, or by responding to the station. Specific details:
- Firefighter pager would be a craftable item.
- If a player has a firefighter pager in their inventory, all automatic fire alerts get sent to the pager, and a pop-up similar to the mayor vote appears on their screen allowing them to agree to respond to the fire or reject the particular call.
- Dispatchers could also, at their discretion, assign manual fire alerts or appropriate medical calls to be dispatched to volunteers, but it should be dispatcher discretion in order to circumvent abuse or safety risks.
- When a player accepts a call, they temporarily get access to text radio (but not voice radio) for the duration of the call. Access ends when the call is closed.
- The volunteer is unassigned from the call after 10-15 minutes regardless of whether it was closed or they unassigned themselves.
- F3 computer upgrade for valid personal vehicles which only works when on a call.
- Emergency lighting upgrade that adds alternating headlamp patterns to valid personal vehicles which only work when on call.
- Valid vehicles would include (at least) Dodge RAM, Land Rover Range Rover, and Land Rover Defender (i.e. the three fast response vehicles already used by PLFD).
- Purchasable PLFD baseball cap that is only equippable during calls (to help identify firefighters from civilians).
- Craftable firehose item that when in inventory can be used in proximity to fire hydrants or fire trucks and only equippable during calls.
- The pager would have a binary, switchable ON/OFF state.
- The pager cannot be turned on if you have a planter or chemical table down, if you have interacted with a planter or chemical table recently, if you have any illegal items in your inventory or have recently, or if you have recently planted or foraged mushrooms.
- When the pager is on, you cannot place or interact with planter or chemical tables, place illegal items in your inventory, or plant or forage mushrooms.
- The criminal restrictions stay in effect for 10-15 minutes after turning the pager off.
- A responding volunteer is paid for extinguishing fires and all non-salary firefighter payments, perhaps at a reduced rate.
- I'm sure there probably some other anti-abuse measures needed.
Why should this be added?:
- This is a popular idea that has been suggested before on the forums but rejected due to concerns about criminals abusing it or people acting as government employees when they had drugs growing on their property.
- Many of us really love firefighting myself included but don't want to sit around at the fire department doing nothing given how infrequent fires really are.
- Ensures that in low population hours when the fire department is often completely empty, fires are still being managed.
- It could encourage people to make more passive oriented organizations (and a possible expansion would be org XP for volunteer activities).
What negatives could this have?:
- It could dissuade people from playing firefighter even further.
- There could be abuseable aspects I did not consider.
What problem would this suggestion solve?: This would enhance firefighter roleplay without too many drawbacks in my opinion and fulfill an idea that was suggested as long ago as 2014 and got a high level of support even then.
Suggestion Description: This would add a pager for people who enjoy playing firefighter but get bored sitting in the station, allowing them to leave their passive, noncriminal roleplay to respond to a fire or a restricted set of medical calls, either in their own personal vehicle, or by responding to the station. Specific details:
- Firefighter pager would be a craftable item.
- If a player has a firefighter pager in their inventory, all automatic fire alerts get sent to the pager, and a pop-up similar to the mayor vote appears on their screen allowing them to agree to respond to the fire or reject the particular call.
- Dispatchers could also, at their discretion, assign manual fire alerts or appropriate medical calls to be dispatched to volunteers, but it should be dispatcher discretion in order to circumvent abuse or safety risks.
- When a player accepts a call, they temporarily get access to text radio (but not voice radio) for the duration of the call. Access ends when the call is closed.
- The volunteer is unassigned from the call after 10-15 minutes regardless of whether it was closed or they unassigned themselves.
- F3 computer upgrade for valid personal vehicles which only works when on a call.
- Emergency lighting upgrade that adds alternating headlamp patterns to valid personal vehicles which only work when on call.
- Valid vehicles would include (at least) Dodge RAM, Land Rover Range Rover, and Land Rover Defender (i.e. the three fast response vehicles already used by PLFD).
- Purchasable PLFD baseball cap that is only equippable during calls (to help identify firefighters from civilians).
- Craftable firehose item that when in inventory can be used in proximity to fire hydrants or fire trucks and only equippable during calls.
- The pager would have a binary, switchable ON/OFF state.
- The pager cannot be turned on if you have a planter or chemical table down, if you have interacted with a planter or chemical table recently, if you have any illegal items in your inventory or have recently, or if you have recently planted or foraged mushrooms.
- When the pager is on, you cannot place or interact with planter or chemical tables, place illegal items in your inventory, or plant or forage mushrooms.
- The criminal restrictions stay in effect for 10-15 minutes after turning the pager off.
- A responding volunteer is paid for extinguishing fires and all non-salary firefighter payments, perhaps at a reduced rate.
- I'm sure there probably some other anti-abuse measures needed.
Why should this be added?:
- This is a popular idea that has been suggested before on the forums but rejected due to concerns about criminals abusing it or people acting as government employees when they had drugs growing on their property.
- Many of us really love firefighting myself included but don't want to sit around at the fire department doing nothing given how infrequent fires really are.
- Ensures that in low population hours when the fire department is often completely empty, fires are still being managed.
- It could encourage people to make more passive oriented organizations (and a possible expansion would be org XP for volunteer activities).
What negatives could this have?:
- It could dissuade people from playing firefighter even further.
- There could be abuseable aspects I did not consider.
What problem would this suggestion solve?: This would enhance firefighter roleplay without too many drawbacks in my opinion and fulfill an idea that was suggested as long ago as 2014 and got a high level of support even then.
