Freecycling, SL style?

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with freecycling... the practise of literally 'giving away stuff' that has value, but not to you at the moment. Though someone else's stuff you might want.

A rough intro, here: http://www.freecycle.org/about/missionstatement

Okay, it's kinda recyclish, has a "green" sensibility and smells a bit like a garage-sale... but isn't quite so high class. Fortunately, however, the metaverse has no dirt or contagion, so stay with me...

* * * * *

Imagine... (dream sequence begins)

- Fred has a sim but he's going to New Guinea for three months. 5000 prims free.

- Barney has thirty virtual bagpipes from an SL wedding gone horribly wrong.

- Wilma has a few pieces of transferable clothing. Wait, no. More than a few.

- Betty has 9820m of unused tier but she's just left for a spa in the Hamptons, and refuses to even turn on her Blackberry until just prior to the democratic convention.

* * * * *

So I'm thinking: there has to be at least hundreds of millions of $L worth of 'stuff' in SL just lying around. Stuff that the owner would say: "borrow it... or TAKE it... FREE!"

Ok, maybe I'm nuts, I'm in the land business, right? In cahoots with content designers, right? Won't this be a negative influence on Commerce with a capital C?

Well, technically. But I doubt this would even scratch the SLeconomy, which is humongous. What I do imagine is that there are tons of starving artists out there.

And what would the 'haves' get? Well, the satisfaction of having done a random act of kindness. Surprisingly, not a bad deal.

Imagine the aforementioned Betty feeling *good* about that unused SL region sitting there, while she is neck-deep in designer mud with cucumber slices over her eyes.

I really don't have much time or understanding of how to set up freecycling in SL. But hey, maybe a simple forum thread would do it? I don't know.



So I'm wondering what other people think. Good idea? Bad? Just a waste of time?

the idea is good but like everything, for every 10 honest people, there is a rotten apple

free space = junkyard filled to the point that no one else can use, sandbox
items you can use = some one will use it all just so others won`t be able to
free tier = some one will use alot if not all of it and resell it for easy free money

this could work in a community to limit abuse as people are neighbours (could heat some flaming back and forth tho) but in a open world like sl... it`s a nobel idea

RL, I do this via Craigslist. I try to pick people who are actually going to use the stuff, not resell it. I either use the "free" category or I set a very low price.

Maybe Craigslist would be willing to add a column for "Virtual" and SL could be a place there

.

I just dug a hole in my parcel... free dirt.. you haul.

I Freecycle IRL, it does work. You would need the same type of forum and rules that a rl freecycle uses. It would be a full time job maintaining it.

Where I come from, every July 1st is moving day for the majority of those moving from one apartment or house, to another. It's a crazy tradition that was started in the 70's (I think) by the mayor at the time. It effects many things in our city - from the price of moving trucks and labour, to traffic and even the availability of free cardboard boxes you can normally get at the grocery store.

During the week before, and the one after, you will notice many people scouring back alleys and curbs for all the rejects no one wanted to bring along to their new abode. It's super fun - no embarrassment at all. We think of it as a sort of Big Swap Meet. The items are left in a very clean and orderly way, (Help yourself!). You can find just about anything, from furniture to skis, art to clothes, and of course books-books-books!

The thing is, what makes it fun - almost an event - is that it only happens once a year. Maybe such a day could be picked for SL, but seeing as SL time is counted differently, we could have a Swap Meet say, once every three months? Make it a huge event. I would love to see this happen. Get to learn about all the creators I know nothing about. I think newbies would like this, too.