Labor for moneyless newbies

Hi,

I have had a great idea. The kind of idea that'd solve several problems (or perceived problems).

Why not create a coal mine where newbie could go and mine coal in exchange for Lindens?

This way, the grumpy capitalists couldn't complain that people get money for free (like with money trees), newbies couldn't complain there is no job they are qualified for with their no-skills.

Mining for coal doesn't have to be boring too. With the introduction of a "mining skill", via the use of an attachment a la Darklife, mining could become an addictive threadmill (numbers that go up are addictives). Add to that various kind of pick and shovels only accessible at certains levels that reflect their status ("hey baby, look, I can use the gold pick! - Ohhhh, you'r coool!" and people will fight to work in the mine !

The money extracted would have to come from somewhere though. I think donations from wealthier player could be used, just like with the money trees. A small marketplace near the mine could be built too, the guaranteed amount of client provided by the presence of newbies would make it attractive to seller and the rental price could be higher than other malls in order to fund the mine. (the seller would know part of the money he pays for rental will land in his clients pocket, so it's not really a loss)

With all those newbies around, a broth.. a "club" could be built nearby, with escort offering much needed "relaxation" to sore newbies after a hard day work.


What do you think ?

That's so crazy I feel like building it already

can i whip them muhahahahaah , i will sort the newbie out if they dont work hard enough Muhahahaah *Does Evil Face*

Yeah, it's really only fun if you get to oppress the proletariat.

I'm not a newbie, but the whipping sounds fun!!! can I work there?!

Wow! I think we'll get people to pay to work there !

Virtual Black Lung Disease - I can see it now.

This is way too tempting, though. I'd like to see someone convert the money tree into this.

Brill! That's one of the coolest tongue-in-cheek SL ideas I've heard of -- ever. If someone's (or someones are) serious about this idea, I will personally front 1000L for the construction of said mine, or to the pool of money that will be used to pay miners.

PS. Can I make a suggestion for the name of the broth-- erm, after-hours "club"?
...
(wait for it)
...
The "Miner Sixty-Niner".

Oh yes!

Make it a prim mine with specially coded (for positive ID) plywood cubes, "All those prims people are rezzing gotta come from somewhere!"

-Ghoti

.... and the prim can llGiveNotecard with www.gamingopenmarket.com printed in it.
/sarcasm

I thought that was called "Tringo"

Good idea, but I see one problem: the players that will become 'better' in mining will drain the limited amount of fundings in no time. And personally I would donate to a 'newbie' mine but I don't feel like putting money in a system where somebody can make tons of money easily because they mined so much and are weilding the 'gold pickaxe of vanquising'

If the coal mine idea doesn't work we can have them build robots, or work in restaurants. Then we can call the place Alphaville, or Blazing Falls, or Calvin's Creek. Can you tell what cities in TSO I lived in?

I think a gold rush (as in, panning for gold) fits the theme you're looking for better than a coal mine. I'd kick in a few $L for that.

Though perhaps that doesn't have the image of abject servitude some seem to be looking for...

neko

Addendum: My RL husband (who doesn't play SL) suggests that you stream in Devo's "Workin' in a Coal Mine".

Sorry to be ressurecting such an old post, but consider this.

How about instead of money trees and coal mines, you pay Noobs to learn skills. Sort of like Financial Aide for each lesson completed at the Ivory Tower of Primitives. And/or is there a similar school for scripts?

Noobs could make some money while learning skills that will enable them to be productive contributing citizens. Once certain basic skills are acquired you could put them to work building roads or other public works or private projects, if funded by the private party/group.

Well, I'm glad you resurrected it. Who knew there were people complaining about money trees?

As a new player - of about two weeks, not counting all the times my cable is out, like tonight - I have been flying around collecting a pittance off money trees everywhere. Let me tell you, if you want demeaning - that is it! Not that I don't APPRECIATE them, mind you! But it is one heck of a job to fly your pants off to get to the area, look EVERYWHERE for a tree (which sometimes just isn't there; you can even sometimes confirm that by the picture showing it, where it isn't), get your camera working, click on them from every angle sometimes (I don't know why, but some trees are harder to get the money out of than others), to collect probably $2-4 bucks, maybe $20 if you are really lucky.

This takes a long time, and you feel kind of like an idiot while you are doing it. But doing it I am, while the gettin is good, because what else is there? I have been offered to work at a club. Yep, yep, that's why I want to play this game, to be a bar girl at best, or a prostitute at worst, right?

Because of the difficulty of earning money, I have become somewhat obsessed with getting it and hoarding it. I have won it at Bingo, trivia, and Captions (and enjoyed those a lot more than flying around looking for trees, for which, however, let me stress again, I am VERY GRATEFUL). I don't have any land, because I'm just a $10 member.

Now, what am I going to spend this money on anyway? I don't know. In the first place, so much stuff is free, it's amazing. More than I could ever have prims enough in a place I rent to put it in. I have WON stuff I can't put in my two apartments. And what's not out there, I can build for myself and have done so. The only thing I can think of that I might need money for is uploading textures maybe, eventually.

Even so, precisely because there is no way for me to make money, I regard it as a challenge and I've made it a point to make money anyway. As for anybody who is complaining about the money trees for newbies, I suggest they try it one night and see just how much work and frustration it actually is.

coco

I could get behind that.

Not nearly as picaresque as the coal mine idea, but probably more practical.

neko

^As cheerfully as I say this, it's not a joke. This is an actual attraction in SL.

hehe why in the world would you pay someone to learn how to play a game they can make money at? like learning these skills isn't fun by itself or like you have to pay bills and feed yourself while you do it. i wish somebody had paid me to go to college and learn how to make alot of money.

attention new players. if you aren't having fun in sl with no money you won't have fun in sl with money. sad but true. quit now and save the time and effort.

eehm.. u have been playing Ultima Online way too long...

why not .. teach newbies how to work prims or scripts or photoshop ...

so they can worrk wtih the recources we already have??

Paying people to learn? No, that would be too intelligent a thing to do.

I'd rather have they spend time in the mine, doing an amazingly stupid task. Maybe some will be suddenly enlightened and think "wait, do I need this money anyway?".

Am I missing this sub-lime message ?

Go to Darklife,
Go to IvoryTower
Alt backing up thread

ok, but if you pay us to learn, where does the whipping enter into it? That's the draw for me, not the $L. I have all the stuff I need on my av, hell, even a lot I don't. My land is done & good enough for me. Now, i spend my time socializing, soaking in the sights. (Juro's Castle Blackmoor is truly a sight to behold) I landed there, and immediately thought to myself, "WHY NOT ME?!" But then realized, my land won't hold that darn thing. We could use the Orc av I've seen in another forum to run the mines, crackin' the whips, yelling belligerent phrases, c'mon, it'll be fun, somebody build this damn thing.

some of us were discussing yesterday how pimushe south might very well be a lumber mill for producing brand new plywood prims.

Yes. A Coal Mine.. I'm gonna buy up the Coal Mines, Pay the Workers pennies, and reap the rewards for my Empire.. '