The Labyrinth: how to improve it?

[Flaming Ocotillo]

So you make a 'rinth character and play in the 'rinth for a while. You meet a shady guy who you decide to team up with, but you can't find a private spot to discuss your plans. You look for a private place, only to get attacked in an abandoned building by someone who backstabs you for 60 damage. You flee with your buddy and try to find a place to recover, but there's nowhere to go. No dingy apartment, no private location to hide from your attacker, so you run out of the labyrinth and take shelter in the soldier-patrolled streets, and rent a cheap apartment. You hang out in the cheap apartment and make your rinth plans in there, and get bandaged up from your wounds. Soon, you make your way back to the 'rinth, but when you need to talk plans with your bud, or need a place to hide or recover, you always go back to your cheap apartment in the south side of the city. You've got a system going on, and it works.

How many people have played characters that live like this in the 'rinth? I know I have. And I don't think it's because I'm not "hardcore" enough to RP solely in the 'rinth. There are buildings and buildings and buildings everywhere in the descriptions of the 'rinth alleys, yet there are only so many places you can go in the 'rinth, to the point that you can scope out every one of them in very little time when hunting someone. So what is the first thing I think would contribute immensely to the 'rinth? APARTMENTS.

Incorporating cheap apartments for people to live out of, if only to have a place that is "somewhat" private, would encourage people to stay in the 'rinth and hang out in that lawless zone. Of course, there are dangers to having apartments in a place like the labyrinth, but that's perfectly suited to the theme of the zone.

Until I see apartments show up in the 'rinth, I can't believe that the 'rinth acts as anything more than a stage that people run onto when they're in the mood for some gritty RP, but a stage that people always run off at some point, when the 'rinth fails to adequately provide what's needed for their character to stay living there.

What does everyone else think? I'm really excited about the idea that the 'rinth could be so much more livable with apartments for rent. Such a small change could dramatically change how PCs interact with the 'rinth.

[spawnloser]

I don't think there will ever be 'apartments' as you're thinking of them in the 'Rinth.  There are plenty of places, however, that you can make your plans in, rest when you need it and hide from the other denizens of the 'Rinth.  Find them, I say.

[ThirdEye]

I agree with spawnloser...I would like to see something added to the 'rinth though. Not sure what, but I find it lacking something even though it is very awesome.

[Yang]

I believe apartments would add a dynamic to the rinth which would be positive to play in that area of the world. The rinth deserves attention of some sort, and I think that rather than the CONSTANT nay saying of interesting, creative ideas, spawnloser should go hide forever in a hole and starve to death and rot.

[Kalden]

It should be easy to slap a lock and a door on a small apartment!

How about more towering buildings with more than 1 or 2 rooms? How about showing that these buildings were actually USED for something ages ago? How about more secret rooms that aren't common knowledge? How about a hangout that isn't super-cramped, when there's plenty of unused space to be claimed by the person with the biggest stick?

How about a few gang-occupied buildings? How about adding some different unique flavors to each building and alley?

I'd love to see all these things. Fighting pits, tenements, commerce, ect. The Labyrinth is an area where any intelligent person can thrive away from the taxes and pressure of the common streets. There's not a ton of coin, but there's certainly a fair amount of 'high-class rinthers' to provide a damn good market.

[ThirdEye]

Wasn't Halaster going to finish off his sim-rinth project? I wonder how that would turn out....Could be he has, I have been away for too long.

[Grey Area]

Most of the taverns have back rooms that would work admirably for this purpose. I don't know if the 'rinth taverns have them or not, but possibly they should.

[LauraMars]

Even if they're not rentable apartments (I don't know why they wouldn't be...fat corrupt criminal landlords ftw) there should be more buildings.  Like seriously a ton of buildings.  Seedy joints.  Crumbling back staircases.  I want to get behind the cardboard scenery and false fronts of all the room descriptions.  I am willing to write some more buildings and secret rooms up if someone wants to put them in.  Any staff member want to work with me?  Anybody?  Halaster?  You guys?

[Eternal]

It should be easy to slap a lock and a door on a small apartment!

Right, now how easy is it to defend said small building with a lock?  Remember that pretty much everyone would like what you have, so you'd better be pretty powerful/supported by 'rinthers to do something like this without having the lock destroyed/picked/door bashed in every ic day.

The labyrinth doesn't have apartments proper... why would they?  Most people there can barely afford to eat and as every good southsider knows, drinks the piss of their own to survive.  Criminal landlords would have to charge exorbitant fees to make it worth the constant safeguarding of their properties (even if allied with various powerful 'rinth groups, I can't think of any that wouldn't have enemies somewhere...)  Exorbitant fees for poor rinthers... is rat-crafting overpowered?

Lord Templar Hard Nose thinks:
"In the 'rinth it's squatters-only, if you squat somewhere nice, expect to be squatted."

[LauraMars]

It should be easy to slap a lock and a door on a small apartment!

Right, now how easy is it to defend said small building with a lock?  Remember that pretty much everyone would like what you have, so you'd better be pretty powerful/supported by 'rinthers to do something like this without having the lock destroyed/picked/door bashed in every ic day.

The point, though, is not to have a secure place to keep your belongings.  We can pretty much rule that out.  The point is to have a place that is SOMEWHAT private to sleep and plan and requires a -little- more effort to get to than most of the open buildings in the rinth.

[Ghost]

Cheap rentable rooms in Folley.

[LoD]

The only problem I have with the 'rinth is that it's often felt like a ghost town setup for Armageddon: DeathMatch rather than a living and breathing environment of people living in squalor like you see on the news in third world countries.  Whenever I am there, I feel like I'm participating in som cheesy Van Damme movie where I'm an old war vet being hunted on the streets by an elite team of crack addicts.  Should that feeling exist?  Sure.  Should it exist almost everywhere?  No.

Sand brick hovels, malnourished kids running around, local warlords holding sway over the will of the people, confusing alleys and streets controlled by regional gangs, I don't get this feel from the 'rinth, though I feel like I should.

What would -I- like to see?  A lot more people.

I'd like to the 'rinth (both sides) cut into portions and given a theme to be fleshed out with both new NPC additions as well as some cosmetic changes to the rooms to build a more interesting environment.  Roaming kid gangs, brothels, couple gang areas fleshed out with interesting characters and different environments.

Example : Let's take a common "Dead End" with an "abandoned building".

Currently, it might look something like this:

Code Select Expand

Wide Alley [NS]

>south

Wide Alley [NS]

>south

Wide Alley [NS]

>south

Dead End [NW]

>west

Abandoned Building [E]

I'd much rather see this space used to represent some IC "section" of the 'rinth that provides some RP atmosphere, interesting characters, and populated feel of an area supposedly crawling with the poor.  

Let's pretend that this section of town is home to one of the local gang leaders who is known to have a hand in fencing stolen goods in the city.  Quick finger Jak is known to run this section of the alley, willing to purchase a small amount of non-rinthi gear that he can sell or return to prospects in the city.  He also can be used for IC plots as a source of potential information or to further quests.

Code Select Expand

Wide Alley [NS]
Partially blocking the alley is an old wagon, its wheels removed.
A burly, heavily scarred man stands here, watching over the alley.
A willowy, sunken eyed man stands here, gaze flitting about nervously.

>south

Wide Alley [NS]
A small pack of malnourished children is here, playing in the dirty street.

>south

Wide Alley [NS]


>south

Dead End [NW]
Packed into the corner is a rockety push cart, old and weathered.
The pallid, black-haired man stands here, leaning against a doorway.
A dirty, broken nosed teen is here, crouched against the wall.

>west
A dirty, broken nosed teen's eyes move over you as you enter.

Old Building [E]
Old crates litter the southwestern corner of the room.
An old irrig lamp hands from the ceiling, providing a dim yellow glow.
The hulking, one eyed mul stands here, arms folded over her chest.
The sinewy, beady-eyed man is here, near a stack of old crates.

This would make the 'rinth a lot more interesting to me, and much less like a void gaming environment designed for like a PK arena.

-LoD

[Slink]

Rentable apparentments isn't a good idea in my opinion.  The rinth, as it is now, is a dangerous place to live and an even more dangerous place to visit.  If all of the sudden anyone with twenty sid can have a safe place to stay, whats the point?  Why not put in some flowers and call it new-new Tuluk?  Instead of scrounging and surviving we can all hold hands and plan someone to death.  After that, we can write some songs about it and hold a contest!

WTFBBQ?  The master plan of an 'average' rinther is this:
1) Find someone who doesn't belong there - someone with some stuff worth taking.
2) Find someone who does belong there - someone who will help you take the stuff.
3) Take the stuff with your new best friend.
4) Obtain food, obtain drink, obtain spice, obtain whores.
5) goto 1.

This needs discussion in a safe and secret spot away from the prying eyes of.... other people who want to do the same thing?  Why not instead take a risk and include as many people as possible?  Form your own gang!  Take the alleys by the hojos and squeeze them for all your worth!  Its much more fun, in my opinion, to take risks and deal with IC consequences than it is to play it completely safe.

If you are planning something more grand - like whacking a noble or planting explosives in the pants of a Templar, then odds are you already have a safe spot and some evil henchmen to discuss these things with.

If you're a super sekrit magicker and are looking for a safe spot - tough beans.  Get a gem and go play in your temple if you want safety.

Someone trying to kill you?  Why not beg for your life?  Swear your loyalties and convince them your worth more to them alive than dead.  Some of the best players and most powerful PC's I've interacted with have started off just like that - as someone else's bitch.

As far as the alleys being "Armageddon: DeathMatch", I don't think anyone who believes that played long in the alleys.   The vast majority of players who live and thrive there (and there are many more than implied in previous posts), aren't idiots running around with "backstab figure" aliased.  Thats not to say there isn't PKing going on in the alleys, because there is - but the players who come there solely for that reason usually have a lifespan of about 2 hours.

My experience has been that if your willing to RP in the alleys and don't pretend that with 45 minutes of your character's existence that your the boss and call all the shots, you survive and do well.  If you want to roll a character, point labyrinth and suddenly proclaim you rule the streets then guess what: Enjoy your next character.  Along the same lines, if you make a rinther and are too skured to even interact with another PC, then why bother?

Just like any other part of the game, the Rinth has a learning curve involved with it and requires certain types of RP.  If your unwilling to put trust in other players that aren't "hard coded allies", then you probably would have more fun somewhere else in the game.  If your willing to risk your character by trusting other people who have had the exact same life you've had, then come on in, keep your mouth shut and be thankful for your cut of the profit.

[LoD]

As far as the alleys being "Armageddon: DeathMatch", I don't think anyone who believes that played long in the alleys.   The vast majority of players who live and thrive there (and there are many more than implied in previous posts), aren't idiots running around with "backstab figure" aliased.  Thats not to say there isn't PKing going on in the alleys, because there is - but the players who come there solely for that reason usually have a lifespan of about 2 hours.

My comment wasn't said because it was a Deathmatch PK fest, but because the environment caters to that atmosphere.  It felt like an outline of a world mostly devoid of content save a few stock NPC's and a handful of signs of civilization (taverns, shops, etc...)  It's my understanding that a great many people live in the 'rinth.  Entire families; fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, friends, children.  Not just 20 and 30-something professional thieves in a shoving contest for street power.

I would like to see the 'rinth more developed as a community, with the same dangers inherent to the people who don't belong.  More echoes specific to the area, known people around the community.  The cloaked figures and extreme lack of diversity in the room descriptions/content encourages people to lump it all together.  

One of the major problems for people in the game is to consider their characters in a realistic fashion.  They start a character at 19, 25, or 36 and usually die within 1-2 game years.  How would they have possibly survived to 19, 25, or 36 acting that way?  Environments like the 'rinth encourage this behavior because one alley is the same as the next.  One cloaked thug is as good/bad as the next.  They don't have names, personalities, apparent jobs.  They can feel more like obstacles, mindless mobiles, expendable objects.  Does anyone know who that figure's brother is?  What is name is?  What gang he's with?  What he's doing tonight after getting off work from watching over a stretch of road?  And what IS he doing there?  If it's hard to tell, then perhaps some changes are in order.

For all intents and purposes, the 'rinth portrays a vastly different image and atmosphere than I've been led to believe by the documentation.  I'd simply like the environment to better convey the sense of community I believe would be present there.

The 'rinth is a dangerous place, but it's also a home.  There should be more elements describing and supporting the latter.

-LoD

[Slink]

Re: LoD

I think I see what your getting at now, but I think rather than the problem being an actual lack of diversity, which creates this "paper outline" it might be a lack of documentation in this area.

Take these questions for instance:
Can you name any of the major tribes that live on the eastside?  

If you can name more than three or four, any idea what niche they fill?

Any idea for folks on the westside?


There are a TON of detailed, well thought out and "three dimensional" little clicks in the alleys, but no one really knows that because there isn't any documentation describing what you would know as a rinther growing up in the alleys.  This elf is, in reality, very different from that elf - but without having the knowledge to tell them apart they appear totally the same - stationary obsticals all with the same goals.  The only reason I know the answers to the above questions, by the way, is because I had a character who lived there for like a RL year and a half.

In comparison, when you make a character in Luirs for instance, there is a ton of documentation on exactly what you'd know, who you'd know and "meat" that you can read up on to increase your game knowledge.

Is that kind of where your coming from?  Do you think a "street guide to life in the alleys" would make things better?  Maybe give players an idea of the places they can and can't go so that they aren't forced to travel southside to escape to "safety" and have legitimate IC options available.

Disclaimer: Its possible I'm just too stoopid to find the docs that answer the above questions.

[Beux]

I kind of think apartments in the 'rinth could be interesting. But only if they were *low* security. And could violent NPC burglars be coded in? :p

[marko]

What happened in the 'rinth and I suspect continues to happen is this:

People get into a fight, get hurt, and then immediately run out of the 'rinth to the Gaj or something to rest up.

A few hovels with really easy locks that you can rent would make sense to me.  The place has, apparently, a bunch of crumbling buildings - so why not add in a couple of places (or just one) where you can pay a nomimal fee and get some respite (albiet not a lot)?

A lot of people 'play' in the 'rinth and leave it to quit out in Allanak.  I think it could be improved and a few rentable rooms with cheap locks and no guards would go a long way to helping that out.

[LoD]

There are a TON of detailed, well thought out and "three dimensional" little clicks in the alleys, but no one really knows that because there isn't any documentation describing what you would know as a rinther growing up in the alleys.  This elf is, in reality, very different from that elf - but without having the knowledge to tell them apart they appear totally the same - stationary obsticals all with the same goals.  The only reason I know the answers to the above questions, by the way, is because I had a character who lived there for like a RL year and a half.

I think that there is room for improvement in two places: basic documentation and IC representation.  I'd like to see sections of the 'rinth looking more the a populated community and less like an empty maze punctuated by cloaked figures.

One of the ways you could accomplish both of these tasks are to integrate more NPC's into the 'rinth in "zones" like the example I gave in a previous post and write up small scripts for them to help better flesh out the personalities and allow the players to learn IC information -- ICly.

So, borrowing from the first example, it'd look something like this:

Code Select Expand

Dead End [NW]
Packed into the corner is a rockety push cart, old and weathered.
The pallid, black-haired man stands here, leaning against a doorway.
A dirty, broken nosed teen is here, crouched against the wall.

>talk dirty topics
Narrowing his obsidian eyes, a dirty, broken nosed teen says, in sirihish:
   "So wha' ya need t'know, eh?  Mah name?  Jak?  Da fence?"

>talk dirty name
Rubbing a flithy hand across his mouth, a dirty, broken nosed teen says, in sirihish:
   "Mah name's Kyn - wha's that ta you, hrm?"

>talk dirty jak
With a nod of his matted black hair, the dirty, broken nosed teen says, in sirihish:
   "Quickfinger Jak?  Ya he's in right inside - but ya better not try nuthin' or Dogga will crush ya like -this-!
The dirty, broken nosed teen's face scrunches as he makes a fist, knuckles cracking as he tightens his grip with a fiendish grin.

>talk dirty fence
Holding out a filthy hand, fingers wiggling, the dirty, broken nosed teen says, in sirihish:
   "Ya got somehtin' fer Jak?  I can take it to him fer ya, eh?  Promise ta bring it right back!"
His jaw opening slightly, a laugh escaping as he holds out a filthy hand toward you.

>west
A dirty, broken nosed teen's eyes move over you as you enter.

Old Building [E]
Old crates litter the southwestern corner of the room.
An old irrig lamp hands from the ceiling, providing a dim yellow glow.
The hulking, one eyed mul stands here, arms folded over her chest.
The sinewy, beady-eyed man is here, near a stack of old crates.

>talk dogga topics
Lips drawing back in a snarl, the hulking, one eyed mul says, in sirihish:
   "Fek you want?  I'm busy.  Talk ta Jak ya wanna do bidness."
The hulking, one-eyed mul shifts her stance slightly, watching you carefully.

>talk jak topics
Glancing up from a pile of crates, the sinewy, beady-eyed man says, in sirihish:
   "Ahhh, what ya got now, hmm?  Ya know m'name, yes?  Ya need ta know about m'work, m'goods -- or mayhaps Dogga here bother ya?

>talk jak name
A light snort escaping his nostrils, the sinewy, beady-eyed man says, in sirihish:
   "Ya don't know Quickfinger Jak?  Best fence on the west side?  Ya ain't no fekkin' soldiers, are ya, eh eh?"
The hulking, one-eyed mul takes a heavy step forward, growling menacingly.

>talk jak work
With a quick gesture to a pile of crates, the sinewy, beady-eyed man says, in sirihish:
   "Ya give me shit, I sell shit, people buy shit.  Pretty simple, really.  Why?  Wha cha' got?
With a ratlike expression, the sinewy, beady-eyed man cranes his neck slightly to view your hands.

Alright, this is getting long - but you get the picture.  People can use these commands to get IC information on their own.  It also lends some characteristics to the characters, background, makes them seem like real people with a history, feelings, wants and needs.  I think more things like this would be helpful and fun for the atmosphere and anything I submit in the future will include these kinds of things for the NPC's.

-LoD

[LauraMars]

WTFBBQ?  The master plan of an 'average' rinther is this:
1) Find someone who doesn't belong there - someone with some stuff worth taking.
2) Find someone who does belong there - someone who will help you take the stuff.
3) Take the stuff with your new best friend.
4) Obtain food, obtain drink, obtain spice, obtain whores.
5) goto 1.

That's the master plan of the average rinther PC.  Why?  Because the place is MADE OUT OF CARDBOARD.  There is little potential roleplay beyond take shit, kill people, and leave.  The average rinther vnpc very likely has a far more varied day.

I'm throwing in my lot with Marko and the OP.  What's wrong with a few hovels?  A few keys?  A few doors?  A few hovels and doors will turn it into Tuluk?  That is some pretty drastic reasoning.  What's wrong with places to "live" and "sleep" in the rinth?  Since all the documentation and culture suggests that that is, indeed, what people DO.  It is, in fact, a place beyond roaming muggers.

This isn't a bandaid solution for a whiner who got killed by a backstabbing elf because there wasn't anywhere to sleep it off.  This is a plea for a little more realism.

Edited to add: While LoD's proposed solution is elegant and about as thorough as it gets, it's a very cosmetic and time consuming idea.  I'm totally Into It, but the apartment and hidaway idea would probably be something quicker that could be implemented to help the rinth's many little problems.

[Hymwen]

As a reply to most of Slink's first post, on page 1:
There's disagreeing with an idea, and then there's "quoting" things that were never said to make your argument seem more valid. Seems to me like you did the latter, throwing out a bunch of rubbish that noone ever suggested to make the original idea seem outrageous.


I really like the idea of cheap apartments in the 'rinth. I'm in favor of spicing up the 'rinth and have suggested it numerous times here, and I'm very sad to see that it's usually forgotten as soon as the thread dies away. It's a whole area of the game world, it's a starting point, one of the five places a new player can pick. But I feel that the 'rinth isn't alive, it's not a place where I can see a culture and a whole different "people" like the documentation suggests, because it basically is just a maze of mostly empty alleys. Sure there has been lots of great roleplay and awesome players in the 'rinth, but that's too rare for my liking. I've had several 'rinth PCs and I have never personally witnessed a 'rinth player who didn't spend a significant amount of time south-side, myself included, simply because there's so little to do up there and because some of the things that people need to live simply aren't there. You can't get water, you can't get proper food even if you have the money unless you belong to one of the sides or want to risk crossing the border daily when you belong to the other.

It makes perfect sense to me - some high-profile influential 'rinth boss has seized a block of passable apartments and is renting rooms out for an amount of money that makes it worth it for him, but that your average succesful 'rinther can afford. Think Guilders and other people like the NPCs who actually have in their mdescs "this person looks like one of the upper-class people of the 'rinth". Most PCs tend to be up there, having some money and some connections that make them more than just some starving skeletal figure eating moss off the walls. This landlord might even hire a handful of those people and have them watch over the place (or not, if a burglar bribes them) for a low pay, maybe even just food and water - enough for the landlord to make a profit, and enough for the goons to take the job. There should be plenty of people in the 'rinth who wouldn't mind standing around at a door if they get paid with precious food and water, right?

Both for realism and for playability's sake, I think apartments would be a great addition, even if only the first step of the major over-haul I'd like to see. Like the original poster said, there's really only a few places in the 'rinth where you can even be indoors and anyone looking for someone else can go through those places in a matter of minutes. How much sense does that make? You have a whole quarter of the city, completely packed with buildings to the point where only narrow alleys separate them, but you can only find maybe a handful of places to go into without squatting in someone else's shop or gang hideout.

Personally, I feel that the 'rinth is a forgotten and neglected place (from an OOC point of view) where it's completely up to the players to make anything of it. It's such a shame.

[bloodfromstone]

Anything that will flesh out the 'rinth is okay by me.

[Spud]

The rinth owns.

[Sokotra]

Quick and easy solution as a first step:

As I suggested as far as the rest of the areas in the city-states go, I think a few more buildings, hidden nooks, shacks etc would be a place to start to help improve the depth of the 'cardboard surface'.  I know we all want an intensely complicated, instant-fun place to romp and run and RP, but this stuff takes time.  Several extra enter-able ruined dwellings, alleyways, or open and close secret passages that might be halfway possible to find if you just study the room description a little bit would be nice without having to have mastered the search skill or know all the secrets.  I know we don't want massive amounts of these so it is impossible to find anything/anyone, but several more that your average joe and his possible connections could sneak in and out of would be nice for all areas of the cities and wastes as well.

[Slink]

As a reply to most of Slink's first post, on page 1:
There's disagreeing with an idea, and then there's "quoting" things that were never said to make your argument seem more valid. Seems to me like you did the latter, throwing out a bunch of rubbish that noone ever suggested to make the original idea seem outrageous.

Got any specifics?  Normally when I quote someone to comment on individual points I put it in an actual quote like the one above.  The way I responded before, which contains no quotes at all, was a response to the general idea as well as a response to what I believe were LoD's points.  Did I take a jab at Tuluk lovers?  Sure, why not.  What are they gonna do?  Hug me to death?
I'd also like to say that I never said the original idea was outrageous.  I said it wasn't a good idea in my opinion and here's why etc etc...

...  I've had several 'rinth PCs and I have never personally witnessed a 'rinth player who didn't spend a significant amount of time south-side, myself included ...

My suggestion would be to try one that actually lives there and stays in the alleys.  There are a ton of relatively safe spots that you can go and live in, whether it be owned by one of the organizations that thrive in the alleys, just some random house that a couple PC's have taken over, or a hidden section that nearly no one knows about.

It makes perfect sense to me - some high-profile influential 'rinth boss has seized a block of passable apartments and is renting rooms out for an amount of money that makes it worth it for him, but that your average succesful 'rinther can afford. Think Guilders and other people like the NPCs who actually have in their mdescs "this person looks like one of the upper-class people of the 'rinth". Most PCs tend to be up there, having some money and some connections that make them more than just some starving skeletal figure eating moss off the walls.

PC's who have connections generally already have a place to live.  I don't think the assertation of the original poster was that well connected PC's need a place to live.  His point was that apartments would provide a means to make the Rinth more than just a stage that people always run off of after X amount of time, thus enabling NON-connected PC's a means to stay there and stay alive.  Here's the original section of the post:

Until I see apartments show up in the 'rinth, I can't believe that the 'rinth acts as anything more than a stage that people run onto when they're in the mood for some gritty RP, but a stage that people always run off at some point, when the 'rinth fails to adequately provide what's needed for their character to stay living there.

Like the original poster said, there's really only a few places in the 'rinth where you can even be indoors and anyone looking for someone else can go through those places in a matter of minutes. How much sense does that make?

There ARE spots that you can go to in the rinth that provide safety or that keep you away from another PC that is looking for you.  How can I say this and be relatively sure?  Because you apparently don't know where they are.  There aren't a "few places" in the rinth where you can go - there are a friggin ton (metric).  You are basically saying that you are aware of every single hiding spot in the entire rinth, with 100% certainty, and could track down any other player who was trying to hide from you in a matter of minutes.  How much sense does that make?  Do you really feel so confident in your rinth knowledge having only played characters who spent a large portion of thier time southside?
If you run across someone who thinks closing a door in an obvious location is going to keep them hidden, then you're right - you can find that person in fifteen minutes tops.  How is that different from anywhere else in the game?  If you run across someone who actually explores the alleys and really knows the non-obvious spots, then you could search for hours.

You have a whole quarter of the city, completely packed with buildings to the point where only narrow alleys separate them, but you can only find maybe a handful of places to go into without squatting in someone else's shop or gang hideout.

This portion of your post actually makes some sense and is a far better argument than "ZOMG! I don't know where to hide so just make it so someone has to look in 100 rooms instead of 10!".  I'd also like to point out its not a quarter of the city.  Unless all the other quarters get renamed, it remains a small portion of the city.  If you feel like telling the Templarate they now live in a fifth instead of a quarter, more power too you.  In fact, you may feel free to use that as an idea for your character.

In conclusion:
The original idea isn't outrageous at all.  In my opinion its just unnecessary for the reasons he stated.  
LoD brought up another point (which was good) about making the rinth less cookie-cutter.  My response to that was I think the issue is documentation rather than lack of depth.
Finally, your comments about me "quoting" things that were never said to make my argument seem more valid resulted in this post as well as my suggestion to have a beer and relax a bit.

Good day to you sir.

[Tlaloc]

Why don't the interested parties write up some NPCs, and submit them to the Labyrinth/Southlands staff for possible review/implimentation?

Never know...might actually go in.