Topic

Community Garden Parking Meters - protect your loot!

I would like to suggest implementing a parking-meter style garden bed rental for Community Gardens.  The idea is that if you paid the meter, nobody else can touch the crops.  If the meter runs out, it reverts back to free for all.

I know some will say that a rental garden is against the community spirit of such places, but I disagree.  To me, crop swipers are a much bigger threat to that positive vibe we all want in those spots.  Every single time I go to grow (I have a house but use the community gardens for growing herbs) people try to swipe crops right out from under my feet.  Today, two different people were successful.  Before you say it, I gather and bring guano and I babysit the plots, too.  Today, I was cooking and couldn't cancel out of the tool screen to rescue them... I could only watch my hard work get stolen right at the moment of harvest!  It's one of the only experiences in Glitch that has happened to me often and always makes me want to log out for a few weeks.  I'd love to find a solution to this that keeps the community spirit alive but doesn't reward people for sneaky behaviour.  (And for the record, I keep a pretty big real life garden in a community garden and it's very much against etiquette to take anything from another plot without asking first.  It's still a lovely community.)

Are there other things we could do instead, if this idea won't work?  I have my fingers crossed that herb gardens might be an add-on when we get to custom houses, but in the meantime...  How would you deal with this?

Posted 13 months ago by Wintera Woodswitch Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Great idea for temporary renting plots!

    I have a bog house and I am not doing the crop quests because I know I won't be able to stay long enough to protect my crops and they will be taken.

    I can't play for long periods of time, so by the time I get back - no crops!  If we could rent a limited number of plots for one or two days it would be fantastic.
    Posted 13 months ago by Jolycan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • jolycan, i often go to veg gardens to tend even though i neither plant nor harvest.

    i have never seen the kind of pilfering go on that i see in the herb gardens.

    those thieving no-manners gimmegimmees will take your crop from you if you've planted, guanoed, and stood there doing NOTHING but waiting for the bar to come across and then they'll race you to your own plot, crow about it, and tell you you didn't plant those crops because nobody does and that everybody steals.

    the parking meter protection takes away some user flexibility, but it wouuld help protect the investment of time on the part of players who just really want to grow their own little flower crop.

    when the thieves aren't in the garden, people are lovely and kind and generous.
    Posted 13 months ago by flask Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I enjoy stopping by the community gardens... planting, tending.... and leaving the results for some other
    Glitch to harvest. I would hate to have rental plots prevent this kind of behavior.
    Posted 13 months ago by Syruss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • maybe the parkign meters would only prevent harvest but not tending?
    Posted 13 months ago by flask Subscriber! | Permalink
  • In order for meters to really work they would need to last for longer than the longest growing time... assuming someone wanted to grow potatoes you would need the meter to support up to 12 hours of real time.  I shudder to think what could happen if a few players could lock up every community garden plot for 12 hours at a time with just a few currants...
    Posted 13 months ago by Syruss Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Syruss - I would imagine renting is optional, so you could still plot and tend for the benefit of the community, but I agree that locking up all the plots could be a disasterous power in the wrong hands.
    Perahps only a fraction of the plots could be lockable, with others open to all no matter what? Then if all are locked, you can still try the non-lockable plots. Perhaps you could limit locks per person per time period, also.

    And perhaps instead of a meter, some sort of guard character, like a reformed bad juju. A good juju.
    Posted 13 months ago by Xain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I understand the issue, but there are too many glitchen for this idea to work.  There are relatively few community plots, so they would end up rented all the time.  Produce can be purchased at vendors. What we need is to have herbs added to vendors too, so that there isn't as much pressure on the community herb gardens from folks with crop houses.  Then people who are doing quests might have a fair chance at an herb plot.
    Posted 13 months ago by Lucille Ball Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No, I don't like this idea. 
    Posted 13 months ago by Papa Legba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think herb vendors might be the way to go, here. Either that, or the ability to transmogrify plots back and forth from one type to another, at some cost, or the ability to purchase special flower pots for herbs, with the number you can own being limited.
    Posted 13 months ago by ✰ Lorelei ✰ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Herb vendors would be cool, too.  More community garden space would probably also help, I agree, and maybe there is a plan in the works with all the upcoming housing improvements to allow us to grow herbs in houses that aren't in the bogs.  One can hope!

    My thought was not to leave the plots locked for days at a time - only an hour or so, and you'd have to be there to feed the meter.  An hour is actually plenty of time to grow a crop with guano, even the longest ones.  You could put a cool down on it, too, to prevent people from hogging them.
    Posted 13 months ago by Wintera Woodswitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Rather than a parking meter, perhaps the community plots could be coded so that you can only take what you've planted, and not anyone else's plantings? Wintera's suggestion of a cool-down period would keep someone from grinding this.

    @Wintera: I'd love a little herb-garden-on-a-stand, even just one plot, that could be an add-on to non-bog homes. Or one-shot flowerpots that allow you grow a single planting, so non-boggers *can* grow herbs, but at the expense of paying for a specialized item.
    Posted 13 months ago by TK-855 Subscriber! | Permalink