I've been thinking about RPGs for a while, and the problems with them. The two problems I see in general with RPG mods for various games are the economy and the police or guild system.
Then there are a few problems I see specifically in Aloshi's mod.
First of all, there is the inventory system. It would be more reasonable if you can carry as many items as you like, and the item slots are just quick slots. A simple GUI or inventory system could be coded that lists what items you have, the quantity, and a way to sort them into your standard inventory.
As for item spawns... When I join a server in Aloshi's mod, I usually find 20,000 rocket launcher and sniper spawns right at the main spawn. I think that building bricks should be free. But creating a spawn shouldn't be free. Creating item spawns should cost you some money.
I find it strange that anyone can spawn any weapon they like. Standard players shouldn't be able to create missile launchers and sniper rifles, its very rare that you find civilians possessing these weapons. They should be hard to get, if not impossible.
Second of all, I find it strange that people have to create their own item spawns. You should be able to purchase items from any other civilian's bricks. Obviously, it would be strange for a civilian to walk into a police station and purchase a sniper rifle.
In addition, when you drop an item, people should be able to pick it up for free. I shouldn't drop something I paid for on the ground, and then someone else has to pay for it again to pick it up. At least change it so that if they purchase it, the money goes to the person who dropped it.
These are all specific to Aloshi's RPG mod. A problem I see in almost all RPG mods is money being generated from nothing. Player shop owners are allowed to create weapon spawns, and then sell the spawning weapons. In effect, they are generating money from nothing. Shop owners should have to purchase their goods from a central location, perhaps controlled by the server, that randomly generates the stock and quantity. Prices should have a fixed value, and randomly increase or decrease. On a good day, a shop owner might be able to buy 10 guns for 200 dollars and then sell them for the standard $50, and make a huge profit. In some cases, the quantity generated could be extremely low or completely empty, in this case, shops could raise their prices to reflect the increase.
Vending would work similar to the inventory system. A player would own a 'vending brick'. By using it, they could drop items from their inventory into the brick, and set the price. Any player who used the brick besides the shop owner would be presented a different screen, they could withdraw the items from the brick if they pay the set amount. The pay then goes to the owner of the brick.
Another huge problem is the cop/fighting/guild system. RPG mods have a problem with cop-abuse, and Aloshi's mod isn't an exception. But with the addition of the Rogue and Ninja groups, which also have abilities that can be abused.
The system isn't terrible, but it turns the game into a huge, glorified, team death match mod, that ruins the RPG elements. Well, abuse of these groups come from another problem, the lack of a common goal. People get bored of building, cutting down trees, and resort to killing everyone. There should be a common objective players attempt to achieve, rather then randomly doing whatever you want, with money and powers that can be abused. This is why I believe that Zombie Mod has the potential to become a much better RPG mod then Aloshi's mod (and previous RPG mods on RTB). Rather then fighting amognst themselves, the players are unified under a single objective. This sort of game play supports much better player interaction. Objectives for a non-zombie based RPG could be: defend a location, have all players earn x amount of money, survive a flood, or climb to the top of a career ladder. Reaching these objectives should provide some benefit. For example, people reaching their goals could receive some sort of distinguishing aesthetic objective, be allowed to build in a restricted area, or gain the right to drive vehicles.
Back to balancing the guild system. The cops/rogues/ninja system seems to be focused abusing players who don't want to join them. The police system is for the most part, ok. The bounty hunters seem pointless, they just do the same thing as cops. Rogues should just be done away with. People should be able to form their own groups, with their own group spawns. If the group is a criminal organization, thats ok. But they shouldn't be granted a paint can that shoots out a million bullets per second. Ninjas are just dumb. The fly around and kill everyone and then disappear. It doesn't even take skill to use them, its just another facade for a near god-like criminal organization.
The mod focuses too much on crime. You are supposed to encourage people not to commit crimes, not for them to join the ninjas or the rogues because they feel like killing people.
Oh, and did I mention that I've had rogues randomly take my items. I could understand them stealing my guns, but its just dumb and annoying when they steal my hammer, printer, wrench, and the weird remote thing that lets you magically resurrect people from the dead and earn $5, and despite it being called 'heal,' you can't actually recover the health of people who are still alive.
