I'm sorry but that is completely blown out of proportion. The server has been operating like this for I can't count on my fingers how many years, and now suddenly it's unethical and promoting inequality?

By that logic, how is it equal or fair that I play with a 10 dollar office mouse, but someone else is using a 2000 dollar simulator setup with clear advantage on LFS? How is it equal that rich people who can afford S3 get to enjoy it and benefit from all the cool things it gets, but poor people who are stuck in S2 cannot?

At the end of the day, the TC cruise server is a relaxing server with a compact community (excluding the people abusing the rental system)who enjoy the multitude of mechanics and progression systems available thanks to Chuck. And are we really comparing real inequality and actually serious real world issues to a video game server where maybe the biggest inequality difference is around 100 dollars at most?

Quote from Scawen :

So simple, you can't even explain it?

Just like PVL you can only say "of course" or "simply" but you don't give a single example of why it's necessary.

I apologize, I assumed it was understood why it was such an important part of the economy but I'll explain it then.

The TC Economy is circular. It promotes player interactions and roleplaying opportunities which most of the time involve an exchange of money or items or vehicles. For example, one of the biggest "jobs" a player can act as is a Tow or Medical car, which is a job that helps players who are flipped or stuck in certain places and cannot move. The Tow and Med job can use certain tools to save and unflip the vehicle, and usually this interaction is finished with a generous donation from the person who has been saved to the rescuer.

TC also has a complete marketplace economy, where players can sell, buy and trade second-hand vehicles that have been put up on the market. Money-transfers promotes bargaining and clever trading and negotiation between players that wish to exchange vehicles or items (items being a winch for example for a tow vehicle, or a garage space so you can purchase more cars).

Players can also send each other money if they are friends or in a dedicated team (usually to help out someone buy a new vehicle) or if someone happens to crash into you, they can use a command that reimburses the person with some money depending on the severity of the crash. The list of examples that show money-transfers between players is crucial goes on and on, but I think these examples illustrate it well enough.

Removing this feature would mean that certain jobs like Tow or Med which I've mentioned would become obsolete, as there would be no compensation opportunities available. There would be no trading between players so that people can experience different cars or items. There would be no reimbursement system if you accidentally crash into someone. There are many more examples of why it's a poor decision to remove this feature, and if this hasn't convinced you then please talk to the TC staff about it.

Stopping money transfers between players would simply crash the TC economy which has been working (pretty well) for all the years the server has been operating. From how I see it, a group of people who join the TC servers are taking advantage of this system by having multiple people contribute to the virtual income of a single account. This virtual income is then sold to other players who don't wish to grind the virtual money themselves (so they can buy vehicles or accessories for example), in exchange for actual real-life currencies.

In all honesty, it seems a little unfair to suggest to potentially destroy the entire server economy simply because of this specific issue. The TC staff are already working on alleviating the issue, perhaps the fastest way to solve this would be to have some conversation between the hosts of the TC servers and the LFS devs as there is surely a workaround solution that can clear up this issue without sabotaging a server that many players actively cherish.

+1, good idea

I think the power is actually is perfect before you changed it, finally a high power stable tyre shredder. And I agree, you can always just put a restriction on it.

Also, the original engine sound was much much better in my opinion. Yes, it was loud but that deep, and powerful growl was so much more satisfying to rev out than the current sound.

I see. I did not know that it was developed by a single person, which explains a bit about the development speed. However, I disagree with the statement that "it's being developed to make the best simulator possible." Wouldn't you agree that by adding things like weather conditions and minor details like concrete cracks would make it a better simulator? As you said I'm not a complete expert on LFS, but from a casual players perspective this is my opinion.

I'm going to try and explain from my perspective what LFS is missing, and how it could significantly increase its player base and quality of the game.

1. Problems with LFS:

a. It is clear that currently, LFS has two fundamental problems. First, the lack of updates. I understand that the game is old, and it probably doesn't receive a lot of attention from developers. The latest news we had of any update is the day/night cycle which should've been implemented in my opinion way earlier. The last update we've heard of this was 4 months ago. This means that the devs have either given up, or this update will come out when there's no one left playing the game anymore.

b. Secondly. LFS, considering its age and current state, has surprisingly a decent player base. However, this player base is slowly drifting away and will not return due to the previous issue I highlighted. Many friends of mine agree that the game has become dull and boring over time due to the lack of updates and purpose in playing anymore. There's no real 'objective' or 'purpose' left in playing the game. There are better, newer racing simulators out there with bigger communities as well. Players need a reason to keep playing the game.

2. A likely solution:

I'm a strong believer in the idea that LFS could release their game to the modding community. Taking Skyrim as an example (thanks Daklan), the vanilla game itself is not great, however since the game allowed mods to be made by the community the game has exponentially become better. Better graphics, better physics, better content, environments, etc, you name it. Whatever you can think of, it's probably been done by someone already.

If LFS were to follow in the tracks of Skyrim, I'm positive that the game would once again become a popular choice of entertainment for an average player and even returning veterans of the game. Instead of developers who clearly aren't prioritizing the game (because they probably have better things to do, or are just not getting paid enough, if at all) why not let the community do most of the work? They're willing to do it. The 'day and night' cycle could've easily been implemented already by modders instead of having to wait for 4months+ for it and counting as of right now. Here are just 2 ideas that I can name off the top of my head:

1. Environments and Graphics --> Just like with Skyrim, graphics mods could be created to improve the look of the game or perhaps by improving the environment of tracks. Weather effects like rain, fog, snow and ice could be added for a more unique driving experience. Distant mountains or buildings to fill the edges of the maps instead of badly textured leaves or trees. Road conditions like cracks in the concrete, potholes etc. The list goes on.

2. Custom maps/tracks --> Cruise servers could download or create maps that are specifically designed for the 'cruise' gamemode. Tight cities (like some Italian village) or big open roads (somewhere in America). Race servers could also do this, modding in popular tracks like Spa, or perhaps just making completely new race tracks. Drift servers can design new exciting routes and lines from wherever they want and so forth.

It sounds like this would be an incredible amount of work but the reason it's not is because it is up to the community what happens. Enthusiastic players such as myself are willing to put in the work for free to make the game better. Players are constantly trying to improve the game by modding car models, interiors, textures etc. with the little wiggle room they have to work with. Opening the game completely to allow people to work with whatever they feel is missing from the game could be life changing for LFS. However I do realize that perhaps the game engine will need to be improved for this to be able to happen, however I think that if this idea is acknowledged by the devs it can happen.

Perhaps people would worry that the game wouldn't be "LFS" anymore, however the game would still have its fundamentals that make it feel like its still LFS and not some completely different game, but now, the popular requests from the playerbase can be actualized and implemented instead of waiting months or even years for updates to come out that change something minor.

This is my perspective on helping this game strive once again, and not to just let it rot away in silence. I am open to any feedback or criticism of this idea and will gladly discuss it further with those who want to. Thank you for reading, I hope this will reach the developers and leaders of Live for Speed.

Vilix