Dancer Archive
Thread: Red Light Districts in Player Cities
OK, honestly, I don't usually nitpick on silly little details... but this one... well, you all decide.
Politicians will be able to zone an area of a city as a "red light district". Entertainers/Dancers/Musicians will recieve a 20% bonus to their healing etc when performing in said district.
Let's clear one thing up off the bat. I am not offended by a red light district in general -- meaning I am not thinking "Oh dear god, they've made a reference to whores! Protest!" This is not the complaint of a total prude. 
The reason I'm presenting this to you is it appears that they are trying to perpetuate the idea that dancers are whores. Or... at least the good ones are.. the ones that dance in seedy areas and so forth can heal you better.
Please don't flame on this thread, though. I feel it's a valid concern, and screaming at the top of your lungs will just make the devs NOT want to read the thoughts that get presented here, OK? Try to keep the tone level as you either agree or disagree.
- Akamo
are you serious? They can actually create a red light district??
if this is true I would have to voice a complaint about this as well. We have a bad enough overall rep without the devs pitching in.
Goldy_Lhim wrote:
if this is true I would have to voice a complaint about this as well. We have a bad enough overall rep without the devs pitching in.
Just to play devil's advocate here, but wouldn't entertainers not in the red light district (rld) enjoy a little more respect for not dancing there?
If other players want 'that' kind of entertainment they go to the rld. It might make the 'regular' cantina/tavern in the city a little cleaner and more mature. Let all the 12 year old's head over to therld and leave the more mature players in the cantina.
The game is color coded if you will go around cities in the game at night. You will find areas that are already red light districts on Tatooine (Bestine) and Talus (Nashal) has 2 such areas. You will also find that in most of these areas are spawns of red agro mobs.
There are some cantinas with red lights outside the doors. Tho most of the cantinas have green colored lights outside the doors, with a few having blue-white lights.
Myself not sure that I will like having to perform in red light areas to get healing bonus.
*groans*
I'm not a prude, but dancing in a "red light district" just totally gives me the creeps.
It's bad enough we are titled a "whore's profession" by players when many of us playing a dancer do it for the love of dance, not the love of cyber.
Now to have it reinforced by SOE with "the ones that dance in seedy areas and so forth can heal you better." (Quoted from Akamo's post) just irks me.
I'm all for role play but.... I dunno... I'll have to think about this. I can't compete with people who go there, so I almost say why bother to dance at all. *sigh*
I wonder though... can you rename the "red light district" to something else?? If so then I'd rename it to "Bourbon Street" or "New Orleans Square" We all know that fun and good times happen in New Orleans.
On a plus side, it is possible that as a title of a 'zone', the term "red light district" will only really be visible to the politician that placed it, and the only people that would KNOW it is one are people the politician tells (IE cantina owners).
I haven't had the chance to find anyone on Test Center that has set up an actual Player City yet to know all the details of how it works. I just don't relish the idea of some kid walking into a cantina and asking "Is this one in a red light district?" Because if the answer is 'yes'... imagine the nice little slew of comments that could happen afterward.
I meant to include something like renaming the district in my original post, but I seem to be absent minded today. Kudos for bringing that up, Brianna, and thanks! Something lame like "culteral epicenter" would even be preferable... or the ability to have both types of zones for the RP side of things.
You need to go back and re-read that article.
The idea was that you could designate theENTIRE CITYto have a specialty. Unfortunately, the developer who wrote the article just wrote out the first idea he had for "entertainment town" and came up with "red light district" as a generic moniker for it. I replied at the time that he'd better come up with a better name or he'd have no dancers in such a town.
It's not about zoning certain parts of town to be brothels. It's just about giving entertainers a bonus when the town is "zoned" as having a specialization in entertainment.
Slick, this isn't about an article, this is what is currently on Test Center for politicians. In one of the trees (TC is "Loading..." right now so I can't get the specifics) it has a +red light district as a granted ability.
[paraphrase, as I can't recall the exact wording] "This skill allows the polotician to set up a red light district within the city. Entertainers who perform in this district will gain a 20% bonus to healing and effects"
Perhaps its still undecided and the "red light district" wording is intended to be changed. But just in case it's not, people should have the ability to influence that decision.
As the owner of 2 player run cantinas on the tempest servor, and the administrator of the largest entertainer guild on our servor, i'd have to agree that the semantics are a little off here. I have dealings with a significant number of dancers, and i think i can safely say that the majority would agree that terming these areas "red light districts" is a mistake.
Having been to the Red Light District in Amsterdam, i can honestly say that our guild's dancers generally are not trying to portray that image. I am certainly no prude, and many of our dancers are not as well. But, i find this somewhat hypocritical, considering i was repremanded for calling a guy who was harassing one of our dancers an a-hole (thought thats what filter was for?) and challenging him to a duel.
Red light district is just simply a bad idea because it will insult or otherwise upset a large number of dancers, but of course not all of them.
Simply put..the idea of a zone or district is good, and i certainly would support it considering my profession..but call it a Burlesque district, or Entertainment district, or Nightclub district....something with a little less stigma attached.
for what its worth...
loi
novice smuggler/doctor/pistoleer
Owner, The Bird Cage Theater
Here's some names I'd love to see it called (pardon the misspellngs, my 2 year old is trying to help me type and I'm trying to keep him from my keyboard. lol)
Cultural Arts District
Arts & Entertainment District
Fine Arts District
__
Red light district insinuates sex and immoral acts. We fight that enough already in the game, and to have it endorsed by SOE and using "red light district" as a title only endorses people to expect lewd acts from dancers/musicians.
I for one will refuse to dance in a red light district, and will petition my other guild leaders to not place this district in our town.
Brianna_Folliot wrote:
Cultural Arts District
Arts & Entertainment District
Fine Arts District
__
Red light district insinuates sex and immoral acts. We fight that enough already in the game, and to have it endorsed by SOE and using "red light district" as a title only endorses people to expect lewd acts from dancers/musicians.
I for one will refuse to dance in a red light district, and will petition my other guild leaders to not place this district in our town.
Morality of red-light districts aside, it does imply certain expectations. My character would never engage in such behavior. In fact, she never shows any leg (except for when she wears her long shorts with no boots). So, those characters who are simply Dancers and Musicians would be penalized for refusing to go near these zones.
In coming up with a name, we need something that covers all the types of Dance and Music. We need a name that cover:
Popular dance
Rock music
Poplock dance
Folk music
Formal dance
Jazz music
Etc.
So, I wouldn't go with something like Nightclub, as that is a strange place for Formal dance. I am hesitant to say Culture simply because I refuse to acknowledge Poplock and Footloose as legitimate forms of culture *grin*
But I can go with Arts or Entertainment. In fact, Entertainment District really conveys exactly what it is supposed to have. True, punk little teenagers will construe this to mean a red-light district. But these are the same little snots who ask us to cyber while we're dancing anyway, so it's not like that's changing.
And frankly, after the big deal of changing Infiltrator Suits so people can no longer look naked, I'm amazed that the language of red-light districts slipped in. I'm sensing a left-hand/right-hand issue here.
If this red-light district goes live, we have to petition for an entertainment district where nonprostitutes can go to receive a bonus on healing.