Welcome to Zephire's Homepage!
- Archetecture
- May jump in on a test when the costs are low. Not going to spend hours making materials for a pointy rock
- Art
- Body
- For fun. Not too much intentionally. From time to time I may, but running through egypt aint my idea of fun.
- Harmony
- Leadership
- Not social enough. If an opportunity jumps...
- Thought
- If a puzzle catchse my fancy
- Worship
- Wrong time zone, but will keep an eye on.
The Society of the Gift Economy
<b>What it is<b>
Ruth Benedict, the famous American anthropologist, wrote a study in the early part of the 20th century, in which she tried to determine what caused the differences between the "good" cultures (those that treated their women and children well, had equitable sharing of resources, little violence, and seemed to be "happy") she had studied and the "bad" ones (opposite of above). She determined that it was primarily not material wealth, not geographic location, race, or population density that caused this distinction. Instead, she found it came down to the way the culture assigned social status and prestige. If a culture gave status and prestige to those who were the most individually successful, who hoarded, or who benefited themselves before the community as a whole, it would create a "bad" culture. Cultures that assigned status to those who were able to share, made their success the communities success, who kept wealth flowing through all parts of the community, and who benefit the community as a whole, were the good ones.
How it works
A gift economy, despite its name, is not a fantasy or a lovey dovey ideal. It is a practical, very real system that deals with wealth amongst a community of human beings. It is based on two principles:
- The community rewards status and prestige to those who are able to create and distribute wealth for the entire community.
- The commmunity rewards thos who can keep wealth flowing through all aspects of the community.
The idea is not just to give from one to another, but to keep wealth moving through the entire community. This idea, interestingly, is where the term synergy originally comes from.
Therefore, the opposites are true:
- The community rejects and shuns those who hoard wealth for themselves
- The community rejects and shuns those who funnel wealth from the group to a small group, or whom prevent the continual flow of wealth.
In Atitd, this will be facilitated in a number of ways.
- The Society of the Gift Economy will be a guild open to those who can be held in the social net. Immigrants, those who have been here only a short while, and those who are known to be deceitful will not be permitted to join. This will foster an atmosphere of trust.
- In order to track prestige and social status, the two key tools of a gift economy, The Society of the Gift Economy will keep a database of all its members.
- Whenever someone receives a gift from another person, and if both are members of the society, then the receiver reports it to the gift economy database
- Whenever someone is in need of something, or whenever someone has a gift to offer, they may post the request to the database, thus facilitating movement of wealth.
- Prestige is earned both by the value of the gift, determined by a combination of the receiver, TheGoods valuation, and general concensus, and by the length of time since the receiver has since received a gift. Thus, those with something to offer, are motivated to give to those who have not received.
- A public ranking of prestige will be made available, not just to the members of the society, but to all of egypt. Members on the top will receive status, prestige, and, perhaps, influence, while those on the bottom will be motivated to give and share more.
What it offers
To the rich: To those who have a lot of wealth, the society of the gift economy provides a means to use that wealth that:
- Gets it to where Sends it to where it is needed
- Provides a return that is not usually available (status, prestige, etc)
- Provides an in into a society where wealth is continually flowing. If you are every in need of something that you don't have, as a highly esteemed giver, you will likely receive what you need quickly.
- Membership into a cutting edge social experiment
To the average folk:
- Gifts! You will be a part of a community where wealth is continually flowing. You give what you don't need at the moment, and receive what you need when you need it.
- The opportunity to be rise in social prestige
- Membership in a community based on sound social principles.
How to join:
If you wish to participate in the Society of the Gift Economy, please contact Zephire in game. The following requirements are in place to assure that all members can be held accountable for their actions.
- Full citizenship in Egypt
- A Paid Account
- Participation in Eygpt for at least 2 weeks, either during this telling or a previous
How to help
- Database coding
- Spread the word
- Constructive feedback to help make this more interesting, functional, and rewarding!