[S] Soquili Charity

[Sirenz]

In the past we had soquili~charity that people could donate to. Every month or so the charity would give 100k or more to someone who was questing. That person could be nominated, judged on their time spent questing or picked randomly.

Now there is that Questline Charity that is run by those unaffiliated with the soquili shop. I'm not sure what the status is of that charity right now.

I'm really liking the idea of keeping the funds and paying the colorist directly like a bank. There have been numerous occasions where gold was given to someone for their quest but they turned around and bought another pet or gaia item with it instead. Now, its their gold to do with as they please but they should be respectful of the donator and why they were given it.

Perhaps there can be some long time questers or newbies nominated and then put up in the thread for people to donate towards their quests. The mule would retain the gold until that person had enough to complete their quest and in turn, it would be sent to the colorist. Either that or it would be done as previously mentioned in the first paragraph.  

[CheshireKttty]

I'm not so sure about opening it to other shops too. I think it'd get a bit too complicated and be a lot of work for whoever is running it.  

[Kaitaia]

Yeah. While I think that a charity for breedable pets would be a wonderful idea, I really don't see what Soq personally has to do with it. The "Soquili Charity", as the thread is titled, shouldn't be affiliated with other shops.

The idea of the charity directly paying the colourist is a great idea though, and works best, I'd think. While you can't assume everyone will feel inclined to donate back to the charity, I'm sure a lot of people would, and even people that didn't get chosen for the charity. I'd donate to it, and I doubt I'd ever apply for a donation.

If there was a B/C wide charity, it could contact Soq about the methods, but I don't really think it belongs in the Soq feedback.  

[Yuuka Kurokawa]

Sirenz

In the past we had soquili~charity that people could donate to. Every month or so the charity would give 100k or more to someone who was questing. That person could be nominated, judged on their time spent questing or picked randomly.

Now there is that Questline Charity that is run by those unaffiliated with the soquili shop. I'm not sure what the status is of that charity right now.

I'm really liking the idea of keeping the funds and paying the colorist directly like a bank. There have been numerous occasions where gold was given to someone for their quest but they turned around and bought another pet or gaia item with it instead. Now, its their gold to do with as they please but they should be respectful of the donator and why they were given it.

Perhaps there can be some long time questers or newbies nominated and then put up in the thread for people to donate towards their quests. The mule would retain the gold until that person had enough to complete their quest and in turn, it would be sent to the colorist. Either that or it would be done as previously mentioned in the first paragraph.

As the co-owner of Questline I can tell you that we have successfully donated to 6 quests with a total of almost 4 million gold. We even managed to help two people complete their quests. We limit it to two a month. We'd like to officially help out in a donation capacity in Soquili, but that's up to you. Right now we act in an unofficial capacity.


About the newbie nominations. Eve and I came up with a similar idea, but we restricted it to every 3 or 4 months.  

[Sabin Duvert]

Maybe instead of it being given to a particular person, there could be certain custom slots that are "Charity" slots - either newbie only or otherwise people from a select list able to qualify for those slots. And then, whoever wins that slot gets their custom or a portion of their custom paid for.

That way, someone who is deemed a recipient of a charity fund who may take six months... a year... or lose interest in the shop and never come back doesn't tie up charity funds that could instead be given to someone who is ready.  

[Graceangel]

Well, questline is great. The issue is that they too rely on the same pool of customs as everyone else. So.... if the people from the charity are entering for a slot for someone they have approved in their charity; they still have to be rolled or CC'd by the artist.  

[lilmissy4205]

Now I'm not putting down any of the ideas that have been suggested, but I want to remind people of the simple art of giving. A gift is just that, a gift. You can't expect to get anything in return. You can't expect it to go the way you had hoped. You can only give with hope and a selfless nature. While you can come up with many different solutions that might work on paper, it still remains that the gift may not end the way you had planned. Giving is a risk.  

[Yuuka Kurokawa]

Graceangel

Well, questline is great. The issue is that they too rely on the same pool of customs as everyone else. So.... if the people from the charity are entering for a slot for someone they have approved in their charity; they still have to be rolled or CC'd by the artist.

We can only do so much without stepping on Sirenz's or the colorists toes.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

I love the idea of a Soquili charity, and think that with the right rules and a small group of dedicated people (perhaps even just 1, 2, or 3 people, no more than 4 I would think), it could definitely work!

I think that the mule should definitely hold onto all funds until slots are won (at which time they would pay out to the colorist in the name of whomever won the slot).
And I agree with other statements that it shouldn't be the full amount being donated, but perhaps up to... 60%? 50%? -just throwing numbers out-

I will attempt to throw out another suggestion here as for how the charity might be able to chose candidates:
-Nominations are great (could be suggested by anyone for things like being active in the thread, for participating in every chance in attaining a soq especially for newbies in this case, and also for having tried for the same custom for a long period of time)
-I think that keeping a running total of how many times any 'eligible' questors enter custom slots for their specific goal will be a good way to keep track of how long someone is actually trying for their goal, and therefore may even provide a nice list for gifts/etc from colorists should they have the spare time to do so.
(By eligible here, I mean that there may be a few rules to qualify as a contender to win a donation, such as having a quest thread, having at least ___% of their gold total, etc, etc.)

And I think 'Charity Specific' Custom slots are a marvellous idea as well! (which could be run for any of the 'eligible' questors, or for that matter, any questors if that is deemed fit by the colorist, to enter). Of course, run every so often by any colorist that has the time/want to do so
+As a little sub-comment to the above, I personally would love to see a 'free'(free being operative, even a nice discount or free familiar or something) long-time questor custom slot for anyone who has been questing (and entering at least say... 80% of slots) for at least a year? 2 years? Come on. Commitment for that long of a period of time deserves some repayment! (Again, just something that I would probably find myself doing if I were a colorist. Gifting is fun!)

I would also like to mention that I think a charity for a shop this massive is enough of a task as it is, and I do not believe that it should be involved with any other shops on a full-time basis. That being saiiiiid... Perhaps a once a year event or something like that for them to hook up with other charities in the B/C forum would be a splendid idea! BUT that would obviously be something to be discussed after this charity will be/might be built and running.

Anyway. End of my wall-o-text. xP  

[lilmissy4205]

With my charity, we had to work out a percentage that was fairly low and was randomized simply because price of Soquili can get insane (hoshit6miltocoverhighestprice). That small percentage can either put someone further in their quest or even finish them up.

I've been pondering this idea to just completely negate gold out of the factor completely but to have winners earn a percentage off of their custom. It would require the charity to find their form every time they enter for slots and to stamp their approval as well as link to the winning post, etc.  

[Manda]

*pokes nose in* Speaking of Breedables Charities... I have one that I run ... kind of off and on. I fail a bit at keeping up with it, but I know there are funds in there now that I haven't come up with a way to give out. If anyone's looking to help run one, I would gladly take assistance! lol (the current things are sooo out of date orz)

Said Charity is here: Seasons of Love

I like the idea of the Charity itself paying a shop for things. Though mine's never done that, I usually don't give out more than 100k or so at a time. And I usually ask people to come post their pet in the Charity once they get it. It's kind of an honor system but most people my Charity has helped have come back and posted something eventually :3  

[iStoleYurVamps]

My 2 cents:

I would say people who are able for quest donation should be those who have NO CUSTOM SOQ. ZIP. ZILCH. It would really lame in my opinion to see someone who has multiple soq already custom won getting a donation to yet another custom. Yes, we ALL love getting ponies, but I think with how hard it is for newbies to really nab a slot, let alone save gold, I think the charity should really focus on them as a group. Those who have game, or freebie won soq can still enter, provided none are custom. It's that custom factor. If a custom soq was won for free this still counts as a custom. Custom is a custom is not a pre-made soq.

As far as how to handle it gold wise, I would say each custom month (or when ever customs or events are held) the shop allots a certain percent of TOTAL profit made (5, 10, or whatever) to a mule made for the charity only. Newbies enter with ONE custom soq quest. When they enter this quest, it is considered a final concept. No changes can be made should they win. This charity then, pre-next custom round, goes through whatever system and picks winner(s) for the charity. (raffle I would think) The winners are notified via PM. The amount they win depends on the quest they entered. A percent amount of the total soq cost based on edits, breed, and such.

A list is kept in another thread of the winners, the percent the shop will donate to their quest they entered, the percent won, and, the form of the quested soq in question (to prevent any editing of post). The separate thread list made by the charity mule also updates when the slot has been won! So, past questors can see who has gotten their quest filled! The list never expires, so a person can quest year round and always know a small portion of their dream will always be covered.
The times when they are dropped is if they choose to custom a different quest, win a custom slot for a different quest, or request to have the quest dropped to quest for a different soq quest, (in which case they are free to re-enter the donation raffle with the new quest)

The gold on the mule account goes to the colorist in question, combined with what the questor has already.

At every 6 months or year, perhaps FULL custom quests are given, or, at that time, colorists can roll from the winner's list directly, (Warning obv given so people can make sure to have funds).

As for going to other shops...I would say focus on a soq based system first, as so many shops and different customing systems, it would get messy fairly quickly. Do the soq charity first and see how that works before branching out.

IDK, just some thoughts  

[Yumitoko II]

Kamiki

I would feel more comfortable with a charity if whoever was running the charity kept the funds for the "winners" kept in trust until they actually WON their custom, and the charity paid the colorist directly.

That would be my only concern... because people do drop ideas and get bored with shops and leave. But yeah, I'm all for helping people out for things they couldn't afford. heart

I think a lot of agree with Kamiki, you are bang on the money.
I think that the charity should keep the funds but list who's won what and also how much they have to give, etc.  

[lilmissy4205]

@ Vamps: I'm using my charity as an example again. We have a Soq number limit of six Soquili for those we donate to already. And we can't exactly put to "custom" newbs only because of how long this shop didn't have any custom slots open. I'm sure there are some "custom newbs" who have multiple ideas by now just waiting to get their first slot.

And we can't take too much of the colorists' earnings away from them. I understand that it would be funds to give back, but it is sounding more like taxes to the hard work these colorists bust their arse doing. It is one of those round about systems that just doesn't make much sense.

And I have a list kept of all the winners so far, the percentage of gold that was given, the full number amount as well, and I systematically go through and check to make sure the funds haven't been spend else where simply because it's human votes that are able to tell who's dedicated and who's not.

That's the main reason I'm leery about randomizing donation winners. True the fund could be "held" against them until they win a slot, but also that gold is rightfully their property now. We could possibly face scamming reports for not fulfilling our end of the contract of hosting. And then we're dealing with mod issues and that just gets sticky.

Like I said, instead of dealing with gold and sending the colorists multiple trades, there should be a percentage taken off of the custom. That way we don't have to worry about being called scammers, don't have to hassle the colorists with an extra trade, and it is an acting trust with no worry about gold getting up and going.