I've got a question for all you smart gridhopping readers out there; has anyone come across a private sim yet that's funded through a work/pay system, by which part of the bills are individually covered by residents and part of it generated through group labor? I had this intriguing idea the other day for such a community, and am curious now if a group out there is already trying such a thing; read on for the admittedly nerdy details...
For convenience I'll call my sim concept "Walden Three," based on it being partly inspired by psychologist BF Skinner's 1948 utopian novel Walden Two. (And before you get your panties in a bunch, let me mention that I don't buy many of Skinner's theories about behaviorism and the like; I am, however, a fan of that particular book.) Basically, you start by zoning the sim into two equally sized areas:
--Private land: Ten estates, 3,276 square meters apiece, each belonging to one of the ten residents of Walden Three who exist at any given time. Residents are allowed to do anything with their private estate they want, given that it meets with Walden Three's aesthetic covenant. Since only half the costs of the sim are covered individually by residents, this makes each person's monthly "tier fee" (or virtual property tax) half the usual cost -- US$12, that is (or 6 pounds, or 9 euros), versus the $25 per month elsewhere for that amount of land. (The initial $1,675 cost of the land, by the way, would be split equally among the ten founding residents; that is, it'll cost a person $167 in advance to "buy in" to Walden, $12 a month thereafter, with of course a chance to sell that land for a profit later.)
--Community land: The other half of the sim's total area, then, or 32,768 square meters, would be public land to support the Walden Three community; a mall, a central gathering space, a live-event venue and more, along with lots and lots of undeveloped terrain for such things as parks and nature walks. The monthly tier fee for this half comes to $125; this would be generated (hopefully) through the group commercial activities of the sim, such as the goods sold in the mall, tips at live events, etc. If less than $125 is generated in a given month, residents have to equally make up the difference; if more, then residents get an equally-distributed break on their own tier fee that month.
In return for the reduced rates, then, residents of Walden Three are required to perform three types of work for the sim each month, all of which help maintain the public half of the island and generate a profit:
1) Creative work -- a certain amount of time each month working on individual creative projects, that once finished are donated to Walden for group profit. This would include goods made for the sim's stores, the producing and hosting of live events, marketing and publicity work, and the re-landscaping periodically of small areas of public land, in order to keep the environment a constantly evolving one that people will want to visit repeatedly.
2) Labor -- a certain amount of time each month helping with the day-to-day chores of the sim. This would include working the mall, manning the information center, doing technical work at live events, contributing to the sim's group blog, etc.
3) Civic duties -- a certain amount of time each month maintaining the sim's administration. This would include regular "Planner" meetings (to use a term borrowed from Skinner), where the ten residents of Walden decide parliamentary-style on the overall vision and strategy of the sim; and also time spent each week as a "Manager," someone with a detailed knowledge over one specific area of operations, and who assigns the specific duties that other members perform in that area as part of their labor.
It occurred to me the other day that this might be a really great way to run a sim; so that not only is one's personal bills cut in half, but an air of cooperation and collaboration permanently established as well, so as to make the public half of the sim as profitable as possible. So, know of anyone who's actually doing this already in the grid? If so, make sure to mention it in the comments along with their location, or you can email me directly at inthegrid [at] gmail.com. Your tips are greatly appreciated!