It Takes A Village

First I want to thank the High Council for all their hard work, and all the OOC stuff they have to deal with, and for sacrificing a lot of their time, both in world and even outside of SL time to make Laura successful and enjoyable for all it's citizens and slaves.

Having said that, I think there is a lot that we, as citizens and slaves and others not on council can do to help our home as well. I'm not implying it needs help, or that we aren't all already doing our fair share, but I'm just tossing out some ideas and suggestions here how we can all help make our home even better, in fact, let's aim high and be the best! If you have suggestions for things you do, or would like others to do, please share them here.

Here are the ones I thought of so far...

-Be there. I know it sounds ridiculously easy, but being there not only helps traffic (although it's not just about traffic) but the more people we have, the more and better RP we can generate. I do see some come in and ask me, or IM me and ask, if anything is going on. If it's a slow-ish night they leave, which kinda guarantees not much is going to happen. Besides.... what am I? chop liver? LOL LOL

-Shop the Laura Market first. Many vendors keep stats of where they are getting sales from. If they see they are getting sales from their stall in Laura they are likely to renew which helps pay tier in Laura. If you can't find what you need there, try to support one of the vendors who do support us.

-Invite friends to come RP with you, or even better to join. We don't need an official recruiter to do this. We all know people. Who is a better sales person for our home than us?

-If you have suggestions to make Laura or the Meadowlands Sim better, please make use of the suggestion box near the Library. The council members review these and discuss at their weekly meetings. It's our home, they want to hear from us, they really do.

-If you ideas for events you'd like to see, again use the suggestion box.

-Several events will be coming over the next few weeks. We'll need volunteers to coordinate different portions and all of you to come and participate to make them succesful. Stay tuned to notices and the official website for more details.

Any other ideas or suggestions? Put them out here, it will give others some ideas too maybe.

There is also of course the *cough* donation box *cough.
I know, I'm shameless, what can I say, blame the collar.

/me walks over to the topic and with an exagerated sway of her hip gives the topic a bump.

Make sure to go to the Laura Market and subscribe to the Gorean Chronicle. A new edition is set to hit the stands around the 1st of the month.

It's too late to submit articles for this month's issue, but start working on your articles, stories, advice, gossip, educational pieces for next month. Would love to see Laura and it's citizens well represented in the Chronicle and it's a great way to support the work our Sim owner is doing with this.

It's quite difficult with everyone's schedules but I think it can be done. Sometimes, I think we, yes I said we (myself included), need to be reminded that while going out finding rp is good, bring some of that back home. Creates traffic and fun for two places rather than one.

I also suggest not to wait for rp to happen but to make it happen. Remain open to possibilities. Create stories with each other. Share the rp. Don't forget slaves can be good rp partners too and not just there to serve drinks. Get them in on some dirty rp....well the OTHER dirty rp lol.

I think you said it best Linn. Just be there. If we aren't there, people aren't going to show up. I know myself I haven't been around as much but my schedule isn't permitting it right now but I will be around again alot more soon. To those who are taking the initiative, I commend you for doing so and keep up the good work for supporting the city.

Now time for me to go think about what I can do to help!

It takes a village.. Yes it sure does. And i am worried about the village. I see so few people around over the last weeks and the numbers decline rapidly. What's going on? Where is everyone?

I haven't been around much this past 2 weeks as rl has kept me away, but I'm half back again now, umm, I spend sometimes 8-10 hours in Laura without seeing a single soul during the EU time of day. I've had a couple of strange and convoluted kidnap attempts this past week, which whilst I am fairly sure were invalid by Laura's rules and laws, I went along with in any case, just for the chance to rp. Both of these took me away from Laura tho', so they're not really the answer.
I have seen a couple of other cities really take off by providing free stuff - like Port Haifa docks, which always has decent traffic flow from folk coming by to pick up the weeks latest freebies, but not sure really if that fits well with Laura. Plus it would mean a lot of ooc or casual visitors rather than actual rp.
It's hard to recruit new folk to the EU time zone as we have about 2 people in Laura at a time, it doesn't encourage folk to stay, however desperately you try. That said, is it worth a recruitment drive, and if so, is the Gor hub a good or bad place to do it ? And, well, how do I go about it ? I'm not sure who to tell people to ask for / look out when applying for citizenship. I have been trying to find someone to talk to about this for the past few days.
Tis a good idea, getting Laura into the gorean chronicle, and also we need to reeducate folk that Laura isn't a high lag place anymore, I've heard that mentioned a few times. Anything I can do ? Let me know !!

Ystar,

It's always been a problem in Laura to get folks in during Euro times, I never really understood that.

I have noticed several kidnap attempts on various folks lately, all of them kind of pathetic and weak.

We have had a "recruitment drive" going for a bit now, and I believe we had a couple in last night who applied to the city. The best thing anyone can do to help is talk the place up, bring in your friends, and get anyone interested to at least stop by. People attract people.

The Gor Hub is a mixed blessing at best. Certainly some decent folks come through there, both new and experienced, but a large number of folks who spend any time there have no clue what they are doing, what they want, or even what gor is. I have no objection to bringing in completely new, wet behind the ears folks and helping them get a start, but quite a few people pulled from the Hub, especially slaves, want a collar, a furring, then are never seen again. I don't want to say give up on anyone from the Hub, there are good folks who pass through, but talk to them a bit first, see what they are interested in.

On a related note, I want to personally thank all of the fine Laurans who spend their time in the city, even when things are slow. Having even one person in the city, ready to RP, might mean the difference between someone walking in, RPing, and staying, or them heading off to another city.

There are plans underway to revitalize Laura. I hope everyone will have a bit of patience as things go forward, and our events get started.

one idea on the EU times, maybe we could ask each caste member to try and find a double for themselves to fill in the roles played during all times of day. They could be related even which would add to the rp, so instead of having a seamstress in the night and a physician during the day for example, each person would try and recruit more of the same to gradually fill in the time slots. Caste business I know is very much family related, so it would make sense to have other members working in the same role. What do people think about this ?
I have tried pulling several slaves in, a winemaker, couple of warriors, and a FW so far, all of whom were quite int'rested initially, then slowly lost interest as there literally isn't anyone to actually play with.
Recruiting slaves is always tricky, I've lost count of the hundreds of hours I've spent with new girls training and advising them, only for them to go get furred and run off to pastures new. Maybe easier to recruit free and let the slaves follow. That said, there are 3 new girls this week I'm trying to tempt along.
There has to be a way round this, other cities have folk during EU times, Laura used to a year ago, I remember there was always at least one warrior on watch at all times of day, which meant there were always at least a couple of girls, and usually a FW or 2 around, enough to bring in more people and rp around a bit.
Well, let me know if there's anything else I can do, I usually have a couple hours most days, sadly tho' it doesn't seem to coincide with anyone elses !

I'm still a little shy to come in and RP on my own without my Master. I got bold for a bit there... but shyness returned with so many new folks and my alt can get very bizzy with her other SL stuff.