Homeless shelter?

In response to this thread (/327/fa/192534/1.html) I came up with this idea....

I've often wondered what to do with the ground level of the parcel I own. Right now I have a small "Buddhist" shrine with a very nature-loving theme on the ground and my skybox above, but I know nothing about real Buddhism so I've thought about changing the ground level so as not to offend true followers of that faith.

If I open a "homeless shelter" with changing rooms for non-property owners, a few learning resources for new players, a place to rez items temporarily, and a landmark-giver, would any of you be interested in it?

I'm afraid I don't have the resources to put camping chairs or other money-making devices, but I can at least offer a nice place to change and play around. However there are many great suggestions already in this thread, and I don't want to make something would go unused.

I think that would be pretty cool...it would work if you got a good following going, too!

Maybe advertise it with a homeless guy in a sandwich board at the welcome area? I bet people would get a kick out of that!

If you got it going I might even be willing to offer some assistance in the endeavor!

I do like this idea. I haven't been homeless for a while, but I remember what it was like.

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Things to do:
Changing areas
Notecard givers for all the basics including "what they don't tell you on orientation island" (e.g. how to deal with griefers, the economics of camping vs. just buying lindens) in multiple languages. I'm sure some of the multilingual residents would be glad to help out with the translations.

Can landmarks be boxed up? If so you could offer crates of places that are related to each other--Building, Entertainment, Scripting, etc.

Welcome liaisons from various SL groups and communities into your project and maybe even form a group to give them certain permissions--what, I'm not sure at the mo. They could drop in occasionally or even on something of a regualr basis to interact with your visitors.

Things to maybe not do:
Depending on the size of your place you might want to shy away from or limit the number of or--I like this best--rotate the stock of freebies. There are lots of other places that have them and they tend to be a little zoolike sometimes.

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Reading what I've just written it seems to be aimed more at new residents and not necessarily just homeless ones. I know one can be in SL for years and remain officially homeless. Regardless, I think you can come up with something pretty cool!

My ex-RL roommate Putinha Poppinjay had this same thing going for Brazilians (she's lived most her life in Brazil) at the beginning of the Brazilian Boom before they had thier own sims. She had some fun stuff, some notecards about how to do certain things and some lm's for places of interest. It worked out great!

Your group is probably going to have to be the ones that slip through the cracks that "the L Word" and other corporate welcome areas don't cover. You'll have to do some heavy advertising in the main welcome area to get it going!

I appreciate your responses so far. Please understand, this is NOT SPECIFICALLY a newbie welcome area, but a place for established avatars. While I'm not mean to newbies, I don't always have a lot of patience for them.

That having been said, is there really that much call for this kind of service amongst regular established avatars?

Honestly, most people that choose to stay seem to get some sort of land or otherwise a premium account.

Some people might be attracted to the idea for the whole "hobo chic" of the idea, but I think most non-newbies are already taken care of.

so you can't just go to an empty sim and change?

the odds of anyone seeing your avatar change clothes is pretty slim if you pick a random spot away from malls and clubs, and besides, why not switch to a 'changing skin' ie the newbie skins ruth or red riding hood that way theres nothing that anyone in their right mind would want to see, hehe.

You could put on a ruth skin strip naked in the middle of the mall and no one would look at you change!

If I hadn't just been talked into renting (on the other thread) I would have really appreciated this, yes. I'm not sure how you can keep it from turning into a newbie camp, though. Maybe a donation box? I have seen a "free" rental area -- can't remember where -- and it looked more like just an alternate form of camping associated with a casino.

I too would be willing to do volunteer work for whatever you come up with, if you could use an unskilled person. Actually I like your idea of a quiet shrine, myself. -- KC

ok rose Cookie says that all you poor homeless avatars can come to Lost Inhibitions and use the house there...