Who's Interested in Playing?
The idea was conceived in a contest hosted by @greenacrehome, in which we had to answer the question, what we would do with 50 SBD, which also happened to be the winning prize. As soon as I had submitted my article I was convinced. Not that I would win, but that the idea was good enough to turn into something fun, exciting, and potentially quite rewarding. So as I was waiting for the announcement of the winner, I decided that I would pursue this challenge even if I didn't win, provided there were enough interested participants. This is exactly what happened, by the way, which hasn't diminished my excitement one bit. I'm still curious to see who would want to participate. Anyone who's reading it, a show of hands please...
Again, What Is This All About?
As a homesteader I would like to share one of my products with someone else who produces things at home, and would like to pass it forward to a third person, and so on, and so on, until we've circled the globe. The products should be gifts, and the shipping fees should all be covered from steemit.
Home made products
The person willing to participate should have some type of home made products they are willing to share. It doesn't need to be farm / garden related, even though that is the realm this idea came from. A hand-carved armadillo is just as great of a gift as home made raspberry jam, a self-made bone-flute, or an embroided handkerchief (whoever still has those!) as long as YOU, the participant, was the creator of the tangible object. Perishable goods, such as my frozen spirulina, are not a great idea, as it usually takes a few days to arrive, and we don't want to increase potential disappointment.
Fundraising
Certainly, part of the excitement of the game is tracking the objects, reading about their arrival, etc. But in order to make each next step possible, ALL participants should be actively engaged in fundraising. In other words posting articles, more or less related to this endeavor, and voting for them. It wouldn't be fair to ask to dedicate all our effort on steemit to this project, but certain articles could be specifically designated to fund the next shipment, and if all of us participants know about it, we can upvote and share it with others, to gain as much as possible from it. Once the reward is paid out, the amount will be transferred to the person whose turn it is to send something to the next one.
Strategic Route Planing
Since the number of players and their geographic locations are essential for the success of this challenge, it is important that we all do our part in deciding the route our products take, in other words the order of players, and who should send their goods to whom. It would be great to circle the globe in such a way. Obviously, if there are only a handful of us interested, it will be just as boring as expensive. With 15-20 interested people, who on top of this are (more-or-less) evenly dispersed around the world, I would feel comfortable starting out. If we do our fundraising campaign well, I'm sure new members will want to join, and we'll have to collectively accommodate them, and change the sequence of players, and the overall route. But that's the challenge in it!
Why Is It a Good Idea to Play?
- First of all, it could be fun tracking our progress. Where did our chain start? Which places has it passed through? Which players have received what products from whom? How did they enjoy them? Where is the next one going? How many steps are left before the circle is closed? All of these burning questions will be addressed (hopefully in great detail) in posts by all members, even those on the end of the list.
- The longer we can keep this circle going, the more people are likely to follow, upvote, and request to join. With each additional member we are adding to the pool of authors and voters supporting the next step, but also the steps in between the steps, and thus the richness of the overall story. By the time the circle comes to a full close, there will be a huge community of steemians who produce things at home and want to share them with others.
- The material reward is undeniable. As the following of our circle grows, each of our own following grows as well. While we all write posts to raise funds (and tell the story) of this challenge, followers are also likely to vote on other posts we publish. In addition to the material (though virtual) reward of steem payouts, each participant is going to receive something tangible, maybe even delicious, coming directly from another steemian. So while reading each other's posts may be the first level of connecting, writing and answering comments is the next one, sending a product of our own could be a strong third level.
Have I Sparked Your Interest?
I know there are a couple of people who are already interested. If you're one of them (or would like to be), please leave a comment with 1. your location (postal code should be close enough) 2. what product you have that you'd like to share.
I am going to give it a week and see how much interest there is. So I will make my decision whether to go ahead with this project, and if so which way, around this time next week (7:00 p.m. CDT or UTC-5).
Hope to see many interested people. If you have any questions or suggestions, I'm even more interested in hearing them. If all goes well, I 'd like to use the rewards from this post as the basis for the funds to cover the first shipment, whatever it may be, and wherever it may go. For this reason I used the tag steemaroundtheworld. Let's see what comes up!