Here on Bootleggers we have characters which can travel across America in less then a second, survive being shot with thousands of bullets and have a person in the street who must have died ten thousand times yet he still lives (PietroGrazia). We all carry thousands, if not millions, of dollars everywhere we go. So this isn't the most realistic of games. However, one real world element which could have useful implications would be incorporating a food and drink system.
Think about this for a minute. Your character starts out as a Thug and sometimes lives for over one hundred days without eating or drinking anything in their entire lives! What if a place where you could eat, had to eat, in order for your character to survive became a feature? What if there were fast food shops and grocery stores owned by other players that you bought food from? Then if you didn't have enough food to feed your character he will fall ill. Eventually he will die. This could be represented by losing health. The same could apply to drinking.
Expanding upon this further there could even be restaurants in the game where players can meet (possibly with their own private mini forums) and make money by owning. You could even add in Alcohol and random affects happening after the player has been drinking. A shoot out gone wrong, an Organized crime where you pass out and end up in jail or even leave money in the safe instead of robbing it! This could bring another level of randomness into the game and give a way of taking money out due to state taxes applied to the businesses. Those businesses could even be robbed on occasion.
Of course the problem comes when you are unable to sign in for a few days. Would you come back to find your character had died due to starvation? Well you could have a place where you store food. You stockpile it in your fridge at home so that you can be away for a week or two and be fine. If you are away for longer then that say hello to the vacation feature.
Of course one final thing to consider is that they could even bring into this game a weight factor. People who always eat healthily are more likely to escape from the police and bust people out of jail than someone who eats fast food all the time. A steak could give you reduced crime timers for a short period and a greasy burger could increase them. The possibilities become almost endless when you consider every interaction there can be if food and drink are added to this game. Just some food for thought! As always, good luck and happy ranking.
