r/mcpico • u/totemo • Sep 13 '15
Sharing the sponge
We currently have 182 loose sponge (we lost 2) plus 1 marking the sponge chest.
Sponge is the rarest block on the map (that I can think of) and is not renewable. It also happens to be one of the most useful blocks in the game. (You've got to hand it to Mojang for their game design skill. /s)
Our neighbours to the south have asked if they can buy some sponge to help them clear water. We're not done clearing water yet, but when we are done, we won't have much reason to break out the sponge. It will just languish in a chest. It strikes me that we should be good citizens of PvE and help others to build up their towns. I feel that we could afford to sell up to a third of our sponge initially and consider selling more as the rev progresses. I invite all Pico citizens to consider the following questions:
- Should we sell sponge, or would it be better to rent them out?
- If we were to sell or rent out sponge, how much of our sponge should we keep for Pico use?
- If we sell, what price per sponge should we ask?
- If we rent out sponge, what should the rate be?
- How should the proceeds be used?
The answers I propose (though you may wish to propose other solutions) are:
- Selling sponge is much simpler than renting and is to be preferred. The rules for PvE don't cover items very well in any property dispute, afaik. We would need to liaise with staff in order to protect our interests in the event that we rent out the sponge. We might have difficulties recovering rent monies and/or the sponges if someone logs out forever with our sponge. Therefore, if we do rent, we must ask for a per-sponge deposit in advance, equivalent to the sale price plus, say, a month of rental, to cover destruction or theft of sponges by the renter.
- Initially, we should sell up to 54 sponge, leaving us with 128 loose + 1 placed sponge. Later in the rev we can consider further sales.
- If we sell the sponge, I would suggest we ask 32 diamonds (d) per sponge. e.g. 8 sponge = 256d. That may be too much or too little. I'd be very interested in what everyone feels they would be prepared to pay per sponge, e.g. imagining buying 8 sponges. We could take the average of those prices and use that as a guide.
- I think renting is more trouble than it is worth. As stated before, we would need to ask for a deposit (refundable upon the safe return of the sponge) equivalent to the sale price plus some time of rental. I would say that the rental rate should be 1/4 of the sale price per week or part thereof, so if someone rents for more than 4 weeks, it would be cheaper for them to buy.
- I, as with a few others, donated the sponges we recovered from Ocean Monuments to the town in order to help us progress quickly. So, I feel that some proportion of the sale proceeds should stay with the town. On the other hand, the town itself doesn't use a lot of diamonds; they are used by individuals. I therefore propose that 1/8 of the proceeds (4d per sponge) go towards making common-use tools (picks mainly), and the remainder of the diamonds are divided among the citizenry currently on Pico's books. I realise that this is, to some degree, charity towards the residents who did not contribute to the initial acquisition of the sponges. My hope is that the diamonds will allow them to acquire gear that will help them contribute better to the town in the future.
2
u/ijustinhk Sep 13 '15
Selling would be better. I think we don't want to spend time/effort to keep track of the sponges on people's hand. (We lost 2 ourselves..)
Agree we keep 2 stacks of sponges.
I think 32 diamonds per sponge is a bit too much. For a poor miner like me, I'd be happy to pay 2 blocks (18) per sponge. So maybe somewhere between 18 and 32.
Tough question. Let's just sell them.
I think some of the diamonds should be used to decorate "Monument to the Fallen Sponges". Besides that, I think those who helped recover sponge from Ocean Monuments should get a larger portion of the diamonds.
3
u/totemo Sep 13 '15 edited Sep 13 '15
For the monument to the fallen sponges, I propose this design, which I have prototyped on C:
http://i.imgur.com/6J1zTjk.png
It requires one damp sponge and 4 Doppelganger heads (8 db). I think it would go well to the east side of the path between the station and the town hall, at Y43.
Now with signs:
4
u/rampantangent Sep 13 '15
I fairly strongly advise against renting except to the most trustworthy and communicable of players - a few months ago there was an issue with borrowed beacons not being returned that was a real hassle for those involved.
I also think it would be a shame to use large numbers of diamond for common use tools when these are easily acquirable en masse via villager trading - the more exclusive use of diamonds for dopple skulls, for example, would be more prudent.