Musician Archive

OK, follow me on this one (i think someone else came up with this idea, so maybe i'm stealing it lol)

Based on the following idea, I think we could provide TH with a potential way of alleviating the tendency of folks to "just pay the money and get an alt so i can have an entertainer when i need them."

I think the predominant reasoning for having a buffbot/AFK'er for a player cantina is "i can't ever find one, so i just started another account and made it an entertainer." Or, the reasoning for the buffbot/AFK'er is that it's "convenient."

This tells me one thing, and one thing only - ENTERTAINERS NEED TO BE MORE EASILY FOUND/ACCESSED.

What they should have done AGES ago, when player cantinas were put in the game, is make a system - accessible from from every cantina, NPC or player - where player cantina owners can solicit entertainers to come play in their cities. In fact, anyone could put up a notice that they need some entertainment, and an entertainer could see that request, send a /tell that they're on their way, and provide our service for them. We need a GIG MANAGER in the cantina. Let's say you're in a random player city - and stop in a cantina. Your mission terminal is across the street. No one is in that cantina. This is where current players would:

A) do without entertainment

B) log on their alt AFK/buffbot character

C) stop what they're doing, leave where they are, and find an entertainer in the closest and most convenient big NPC city cantina.

The inherent problem of "not being able to find an entertainer" needs to be looked at and corrected, not allowed to fester. Then people in Theed and Coronet could get out of that mess, make some good money from another player, and play a gig somewhere. It would be like a player initiated mission. Upon playing for the set amount of time requested in the "mission" you get the payout and you are free to leave. Player cantina events would have a convenient way of hiring entertainers. Players could "hire" an entertainer to come to a certain cantina and heal them if no one's around. It would vastly improve this game for both entertainers and their customers.

If it worked well enough, it might get players out of Theed and Coronet and into player cities more often, there wouldn't be this feeling of "i can never find an entertainer," and it would *drum roll* POTENTIALLY PROVIDE US WITH SOME REAL INCOME.

Player city cantinas could also put posts out for an event, let's say they need 10 dancers and8 musicians. In a custom text box, they could specify "Entertainers who can play Ceremonial preferred but not required." The "gig" would have a set time limit - and upon being at that location for that timeframe, you get your payment.

Eh, just thinking of how we can alleviate our current AFK/buffbot problems by making us more accessible to the player base.

My question for our profession would be:

"There is a growing problem with AFK and buffbot Entertainers, so much so that an AFK Buffbot Entertainer received a badge for being "a tribute to their profession" recently (which makes our communities quite upset). A common reason for people having Entertainer alt characters who AFK and buffbot is that people "can never find an entertainer when they need one and it's more convenient." Player cantinas are often empty, necessitating a visit to a big city to find someone to heal you - which is inconvenient. Can the Dev team please look into creating a "Gig Manager" NPC for NPC city cantinas AND player cantinas. This "manager" would allow anyone in a cantina to put up an ad requesting that an entertainer visit the cantina they're in and entertain them. We have more details, but that's the basic idea. Can we get this looked into soon, please? When an AFK buffbot becomes "a tribute to their profession" then something is seriously wrong with SWG, and it's time get our professions back on track and more accessible to the player base."

Now - I know the answer will be "After JTL, we'll think about it, talk to NewJedi, blah blah blah." BUT i think this might kill 2 birds with one stone - we'll give 'em the jab for the AFK buffbot getting a badge, while providing them with an idea to help the problem itself (rather than just crabbing about the badge).

Thoughts?