The Economy of Food.

I have only been on SL for about a week and have ventured around and read some of these forums. I do not know all the history of SL and what things have changed or been discussed in the past. This post is just a idea that I came up with and seems intriguing to me. I am hoping for input on this concept.

The Economy Of Food:

Imagine if in SL you had a "energy" level that drained to zero in cumulative 24hrs of online play. This "energy" had to be brought back up by consuming food and drink. This would open up many different new opportunities and ideas to the game. First off now you would need for developers to make active food and beverages. You could then market these items in Stores, Vending machines, and actual restaurant type establishments. At the stores and restaurants you now could have staff work (hired or camping) to do REAL jobs that need to be done (Example Further Down) The amount of "energy" gained back would depend on the type and size of what is consumed. Another thing this would accomplish would be limiting "camper zombies" by forcing them to leave a camp site to re-energize every 24hrs. I know this is a bit confusing at first but in my example I will try to break it down.

A Bigger Bite (Example of the Food Chain):

The first thing that happens is someone develops some type of food inventory. Lets say a small farm with chickens. On this farm he could Hire, or allow campers to work at a lower pay to feed and maintain the chicks. Now after the chicks are developed lets say Nathan of Nate's Fried Chicken buys 100 chicks for his restaurant. Now Nathan is going to need some staff also. We will start with 3 workers; A Cook, Waiter, and Busboy. When starting his business Nathan decided all 3 position would be "Hired" help. So they have a schedule and get a decent pay. He could have risked letting it be set up as "camping" sites, however if no one was working jobs would not be completed. I think the cook and waiter job are obvious what they do. the bus boy, well thats another added concept... To serve food you need dishes. A restaurant only has so many available that they own. (also made and sold by new developers) So you need someone to bus table and wash the dishes so they are clean and ready for more customers. This is just a brief example and I could go much more in depth. In just this One restaurant example lets see what the economic picture is like. You have the food developer, then the farmer that raises the chickens and his workers. Next up you have Nate's Chicken Place. There you have Nathan and his workers. I can see L$ going to and from at least 8 people and that just a small example of one place, with one item.

I'm Starving (Energy, and Getting Drained):

I mentioned the "energy" earlier. The way this would work is that you have enough energy to "survive" for 24hrs of online time. This time would be cumulative So if you only get on for 1 hour a day you have 24 days. If your energy reaches zero you basically die. You would be able to restart but would lose any assets that you had that were free or not purchased with US$. You would still keep anything that you personally created and also you land holdings. I know many people will not like the idea of losing everything, but its what would keep the game in check and constantly progressing. Its not that going to eat or drink will take much time. There are a few ways a player could choose to maintain there "energy" level. They could eat a little bit every hour or so and keep there level up near maximum. You could wait until your almost completely drained then go get as much as needed to refuel. Or you could just eat a little staying on the verge of death. The way I foresee "energy" is basically 3 meals a day or so. This would break down to a meal each 8 hours. Imagine if you start at 24 being full and then drain down to zero. In this way you would be able to know how much nourishment you need. say you are now at 14, you need to eat 10pts of food/drink. This may equal out to Fried Chicken (5pts) a Drink (2pts) piece of cake (3pts) thus bringing you back to full "energy". again this is just one example and various items would all have different values.

A Lot to Swallow:

There are endless possibilities as to types of foods and drinks. Ways to sale and market them. Jobs that could be developed. I see this as a way to stimulate new opportunities. To make "work" actually mean something in SL not just camping. From content developers, shops, eating establishments, bars, to vending machines. there could be many new ventures in SL. It would eliminate some of the current issues with zombies and crowding of just camping site. It could increase socialization at new places. It could be used to help bring customers to a sim, shop, or events. All in all I see many benefits and directions this would and could take. I look forward to reading your thoughts, questions and comments.

I find SL to be draining enough already. But very clever thought...

Zelda? I loved that game. But SL isn't the same.............not even close.

Definitely well thought. But I have enough trouble finding time to eat in RL. What you propose would make SL more of a game....I kinda like it the way it is. Plus with Voice Chat we'd be subjected to the sound of grumbling stomachs.

One of my greatest pleasures in life is designing systems like that to make a game world more realistic. But as has been said before -- SL isn't a game. At least one of the RPG stats systems in world has a hunger component, and I'm hoping to design food for it when I get a little more scripting knowledge under my belt. But those are systems specifically for RPG sims, that you turn on when you go to those sims and turn off when you leave. Making a hunger system mandatory Sl-wide would make SL as a whole far too tedious and require that we spend even more time trying to make lindens and less enjoying ourselves.

It would also require a lot more good-quality animators and scripters working in SL than we currently have. I have a hard enough time finding food now that actually lets me eat it instead of bonking myself in the forehead with it.

I wonder if the american avatars would be fatter than the european ones.

Ouch!
However it would give use to the bathroom fixtures I've seen for sale in stores.

Numerous plans have been proposed over the years to create an artifical scarcity and resources. Generally by new players who see no mobility in the Second Life system - And dont want to start forking over RL money.

Theres actually controlled resources already in place.

Land and prims are a related resource you basically buy use rights and lease them from Linden labs (direct or indirect)

Avatar maximum in a sim. This is a resource you can hog with camp chairs. It makes sims without popular venues more attractive.

finally the intangible - Lag. The result of abusing your environment either by over construction in prims, textures and scripts, or by over population.

I think the current limited resources already are sufficent.

No. Bad idea. If you wish to play The Sims go play... don't try to make SL into The Sims MMORPG. Every time I hear someone say "Let's add X game-like feature into SL" I ask: why don't YOU add it yourself?

Using LSL, you can develop a food system if you wish. It may even get popular if you make it fun or set it up like a complex casino game, similarly to the fishing holes.

So much work and no flavour! This is a very interesting concept indeed, but, man, I already spend a lot of time shopping, chopping, cooking and cleaning in RL, I don't want to have to log on after already doing the dishes and have to start all over!

Oh boy.................let's lag the platform more. LOL

Heh... then you might make a need for toilets and baths. You know how many prims you're adding to a basic house build?!

So at some level a developer has to make a food item, who is, presumably, a player in teh game with his own avatar.

Other players then buy the food items he makes.

Why can't the other players also make food items and consume those, instead of buying them?

I guess for the same reasons we all don't make our own clothes or houses.

Now im hungry

I like the idea too. Food is one of the biggest things I miss in SL. Building houses and hot tubs hasn't held my attention for long, but designing the perfect plate of nachos...there's a challenge! Also, a reason for tweaking those goblets I made as a newb.

I do think it should be an option and not tied into losing land or inventory. Do you know how hard it is to find quality latex?

Also, wiill there be random avs passing out because of low blood sugar? Imagine the possibilities at the strip club!

those animations already exist - try "Bits and bobs" or "Risque"

I just reread the idea, especially the losing asset part. No way. I don't want that. there is too many instances of losing assets already

It's amazing how people, when given freedom, build their own jail. Sort of masochism. I suppose next thing will be selling them gas and electricity?

1) If you want consumption goods you can make them, you can make one-use things, services that cost X / time, even rent land and get money over time, its not like there isnt a way to do such things. What about a game that costs X each time you play?
2) If the motivation for getting such things IS NOT THE FUN that you can have for doing so, then its sinless.
3) We have that already. If you want something that you have to do or you loose everything or a part of it, that isnt even fun and does not make really sense, try getting premium and not paying the monthly fee for a while.

Edit: oh forgot, a part of the "code" for your idea is already implemented, we actually loose already items from inventory and dont even need to do something for that.

They're not building their own jail, they're (usually) trying to find a way they can be valuable to others.

This person is trying to be valuable to everyone else by first having LL take something away from us all. In short, the Op wants to be our jailor.

This won't fly at all.

If this ever happened I'd script myself a super-energizing food and an attachment that feeds myself intravenously. Actually the whole concept would require a massive amount of effort on the part of Linden Lab and would generate a huge backlash if pushed upon the residents. All this to remove campers and generate jobs? I do appreciate the fact that the OP is trying to suggest some kind of fix.

Worst idea ever. Even worse than New Coke and Microsoft Bob.