A Critique on the Criminal Justice System

A few weeks ago, an average weekly crime rate was introduced. Before this, crime rate meant very little; criminals would commit crime and police would arrest them when they could to earn money. It was a much simpler time.

The way mayors are paid has also changed significantly: initially, mayors received only sales taxes. Then, with the introduction of the city bank, both sales taxes and property taxes (those collected when the mayor is online anyway) went to the city bank where mayors could withdraw some of it for themselves.

Now, mayors also receive a lump-sum for each new day they are on. At first, it was a flat fee that scaled per prestige, but now it depends on both player count and crime rate. As a second-term mayor, the exact formula is ($1000 * playercount) - ($500 * average crime rate), with a minimum of $500 regardless of how high crime is.

In an effort to maximize my payment without tapping into the city funds, I’ve noticed a number of problems with the way crime works on MOGL. For the most part, they stem from the ability to excessively manipulate and exploit the crime rate/wanted level system:

Players can raise the crime rate while in jail:

There are a couple of ways players can earn wanted levels in jail, such as by breaking the waiting room glass and when other players use the brewing stands they placed. This is fine in itself - jailed players will have to wait longer or mine more - but the problem is that it raises the crime rate regardless. When a player is already in jail, cops cannot do anything else to lower the crime rate.

Players can raise the crime rate without gaining wanted levels themselves:

When a player brews potions, wanted levels are added to the player who placed the brewing stands. This means that players can brew to their hearts’ content without gaining wanted levels, but the crime rate increases regardless and cops have no one to arrest.

Of course, the money does not come from brewing potions themselves; it comes from selling them. This adds wanted levels to the person who sells them and raises the crime rate accordingly. I believe this is much more balanced than potion brewing itself.

For the reasons mentioned above, brewing is a problem if the player who placed the stands is in jail, but it is an even bigger problem if they are not online. Which brings me to…

Players can raise the crime rate while offline:

Because all the wanted levels from brewing potions go to the player who placed the stands, this potentially insulates anyone using the brewing stands from gaining wanted levels. Someone with an alt can place tons of stands and never be seen again; all the wanted levels can accrue on an account that will never be arrested, but the crime rate can skyrocket regardless. (See also: Trash, Penguin) I don’t believe that the crime rate should be able to increase so drastically with no viable player to discipline for it.

In an effort to curtail these last three problems, I have a few suggestions:

• Breaking glass in the waiting room be disabled for jailed criminals OR enabled but not raise the crime rate.

• If a jailed player receives wanted levels for someone using their brewing stands, the crime rate does not increase OR the wanted levels go to the player brewing the potions instead.

• If an offline player receives wanted levels for someone using their brewing stands, the crime rate does not increase OR the wanted levels go to the player brewing the potions instead.

Aside from these issues I have seen with crime rate/wanted level, here are some other related problems I think also need to be addressed:

Police cannot arrest a criminal who has blocked their door

Cops can lockpick criminal doors to facilitate arrests, but if a criminal blocks off their door, police are helpless: they cannot break blocks on the property if they are not residents, and they cannot break glass to enter without losing their job. Insulated in this way, a player can in theory brew potions and cause the crime rate to spiral indefinitely, while police cannot do anything about it.

I am not advocating for police to have resident-bypass powers, but I think there needs to be a better way to ensure that this type of situation never happens again. Sadly, I don’t have any concrete suggestions right now, but I wanted to put this out there before I forget.

Speaking of happening again…

Players have little incentive *not* to return to crime

Crime is appealing for many players because of the financial rewards it can provide, but with high reward should also come with high risks. Although most players who go to jail aren’t looking to come back anytime soon, lately there have been some persistent offenders who, after being freed, immediately proceed to commit crime again… and again… and again. All in spite of how often they are caught.

But in real life, repeat offenders are punished with harsher, longer sentences, so why can’t the same be true in MOGL?

Instead of a longer sentence, I’d like to suggest that players who are arrested x amount of times within x days lose more of their money with each arrest. This will prevent criminals from thinking they can be so overt with their crimes, and it will also subdue some of the wild fluctuations in crime rate.

I want to stress that the crime rate is not the end-all-be-all; aside from daily mayor payment, it doesn’t really affect much, and there are a few other ways for mayors to make money. I just feel that the system is unbalanced, and I want to improve the experience for both cops and future mayors to come.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading this very, very long essay. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to read them below, or feel free send me a message!

Thank you!