Though probably meant as a joke, the citing of a soda jerk causes some concern in me because it reminds me of the McDonald's house that Cal used to show as an example of UO Players' creativity. There were many, many, more appropriate, more thematic, more interesting examples of housing creativity he could have cited. The use of the McDonald's house example showed to me a central disregard of RP and immersion, which are key to UO's longevity and continued (we presume) profitability. (It's staggering to me that folks will use immersion as an excuse to argue against things like a vendor search but not use it to argue against McDonald's houses or soda jerks!)
Any ability we as players will have to make major changes to a city should be subject to strict limits and should be appropriate to the city and to the environment. Appropriateness already gives you a very, very wide range of activity, without pushing immersion-breaking boundaries. (Live) theatres, artists' studios, re-coloured buildings (tasteful and muted), additional NPC guards, etc....Many things can be done without breaking immersion. But I could easily see some seriously proposing soda jerks or movie theatres or television studios, or McDonald's locations....Other things that would pretty much kill the in-game experience for the rest of us.
The most-outrageous changes, if history is any guide, will be proposed by those who will lose interest sooner rather than later, and then the rest of us will be stuck with results we did not want. "Roleplaying with a twist," depending on what that twist is, is probably the way to go. That will maintain the interest of those whose interest is most-likely to be maintained.
So, yes, Kyronix, I recognize that the soda jerk reference was probably a joke....But, please, please proceed on this stuff with some care.
-Galen's player
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