Make "giving to beggars" ARable

I've just been chatting with a new user who told me, triumphantly, that she had earned L$6000 in free money by begging, over the course of 3 days.

Of course, as long as someone is managing to do this, the other 19,999 newbies who joined that day will be encouraged to beg too..

Do we need to go the route that many RL big cities have gone and make giving money to beggars a crime, for that reason?

(Edit: better yet: add a term to the CS that specifies that any behaviour that encourages or rewards behaviour that breaks the CS is also barred.)

I myself don't like being asked for money -- mainly because I've earned everything I have on my own. That being said, I don't see anything wrong with begging -- provided it is genuinely new players doing it, I just don't like it personally. Over 3 days, 6000L is 2000L a day I would imagine, barring the fact that maybe it took some time to acquire 'skill' at begging? So we're talking about 7-8usd a day... Not exactly a get rich quick scheme there. Mind you, I think we would be better off educating the new player on first land, moneymaking opportunities, etc rather than just giving them money. If it's their first day, then yes maybe I'll throw 50-100L their way -- but when people have been in the game a few weeks (or months), I personally think it's pathetic that they're still begging. They're not begging out of need, rather they're begging because as you said, they know people will fork out considerable amounts of cash (200usd over a month ).

I myself try and help new players by encouraging them to find other routes other than begging. For example, I'll reward a new player a few hundred linden if they find me a good deal on a property -- no, I do not encourage them to sell their first land to me, rather, I encourage them to search through the search listings and IM me if they see a good deal. Sure, they may have begged me initially, but I made them do something for me to get the linden. Am I trying to profit of their inexperience? No, I'm just offering them the same ability to make money I would to others. I could just have easily have put up a listing in the classifieds and probably gotten more capable assistants for comparable rates. However, I'm teaching them something valuable -- that it feels a heck of alot better to earn than to beg.

Just my personal opinion, of course, but I would agree if some kind of timeline were present. Anyone who's been in SL for a month or more likely knows of more ways to make money than begging and sitting in camping chairs -- perhaps they're not willing to reveal their methods, but that's another matter. If they don't, I think we should give them ideas rather than giving them money.

Given the described rate of return one might expect to see bot use shift from campbots to begbots.

I wouldn't doubt it. It would really be a sad day if you couldn't tell the difference between a genuine new player and a scammer who's intending to profit on people's generosity...

Even if they're genuine new players, it shouldn't be tolerated to work that way.

SL can't support every new player with US$200 a month, and making the majority who don't get it feel discriminated against isn't a good welcome for them. Moreover, it means they'll "try harder" at begging, which means they'll harass more.

I sometimes give newbies money, but never ever if they ask for it.

I often encounter newbies as I'm working on my land (There is a money tree on it and it's rarely out of $$, so they visit often), I will often stop what I am doing and chat with them.

I had one recently, we chatted for a while, I gave him some $L and when I checked out my money tree later he'd "donated" back the original $L he'd picked from the tree, now that brought a smile to my face.

These days, I advise beggars, regardles of gender, to try their hand at escorting. It is genuinely the easiest way to make money if you ahve no other saleable skills. Just like RL.

"You could whore yourself out to 1000 fat chicks for $50 each."

Choosing to beg and choosing to give to beggars are personal choices. I don't think it's something that requires legislation.

Can you imagine? Hordes of pitiful strung-out looking avatar-bots holding bottles of booze dispatched to the most popular places, begging for cash until they are given enough money to get their unsightly resource-hogging butts off the property?

I prefer to give the newbies landmarks to newcomer friendly places where they can pick up free stuff and learn how the SL world works. They don't need money for that!