Newbie Retention

Also, there is a help system that is availible all the time.. The xhelp, to talk to an admin and the just plain 'help' which allows you to browse through all the current help files that are availible.

I don't think giving the newbies a free mag-lev pass, or clone, is such a great idea.  We already have characters that come out of chargen and think this is rampage moo and just attack the first person they see, and usualy die.  Then when the create a new character they are more cautious.

I agree a VR tour of the city for starting would be a good idea.  It would aquaint the players with the MOO a bit more before just dumping them in, and maybe they wouldn't feel as helpless.

As for a character working without a history, the whole idea of a history is that it gives the admin and the player an idea of where they want to go with their character.  The time you spend in the game before you submit a history is, (this is what my opinion is) best spent figuring out where you think your character will fit into the dome, and writing a history to mimic that.

    Now, where was I?  Ah, Yes, defending my ideas regarding free clones, mag-lev passes and early employment. And I think I have some valid reasons.  But before I do that, I want to explore why people game online.  
    An article I read a while back broke online gamers into four basic catagories.  Socials, Explorers, Builders and Killers.  Socials are in it for the social interaction, talking to people, posing, ic gossip.  Explorers are in it for the adventure of finding shit out.  They want to find out what's on the other side of that door, tunnel, dome or whatever.  They also try to use things in different combonations to find out what they do.  Sometimes they break shit, but for the most part they are great at finding bugs.  Builders build. Not just buildings or even things, but guilds, gangs or even kingdoms.  It's not just the goal of having something they have created, but the actual act of creation that drives them. For the most part I think Builders are rare.  And of course Killers, who just want to kill shit or steal stuff.  If there are no monsters around to kill or steal from AND if you look like easy prey, they will try to steal from or kill you.
    Of course the tricky bit is finding a balance.  I have ran into a few builders down on red, and because of them I had some great RP.  But for the most part I think we have Socials and Killers.  Socials stand around, and are good for a little RP.  Killers are very CP and can be used for some good RP.  What I don't see much of are the explorers, which bums me out because I am one.  And I honestly think that the majority of the people in the street are explorers who got stuck, bored and logged off never to return.
    Okay, great.  WTF does that have to do with free clones, mag-lev passes and early jobs?  Marketing.  If you know who you are selling to, you can tailor the package you are selling.  
    The First clone free will help retain the Explorers and the Killers.  If they screw up, They don't have to compleatley redo a character.  Saves them time and effort but they still learn the lesson. This would help retention and is also in the spirit of the game. (You get ONE free pass kid, after that you're toast.)  Socials and Builders won't benifit as much, but they also won't be so pissed when their character gets killed because they have low combat skills.
    The mag-lev passes are mostly for the Explorers.  Maybe I am biased, but I really wanted to see other parts of the dome before I finished my history.  I think I could have done a little better.  Maybe we could skip the passes if there was a VR tour of the dome.
    Early jobs are for all the newbies.  Why? to give them something to do while they figure out who they want to be in this world.  To give them something to do until they have a chance to RP.  With low census and Gms trying to fix bugs most of the time, newbies don't get that much chance to RP.  A job like Trashman would teach them the basics of object manipulation and what is where on red.  And SHI could be a chance to catch up on a lot of reading, and make a history.  Basicly it is hard to make or find a niche if you don't know how things work or where things are.  When I wrote my history, I wanted to be a corpie.  I wanted to climb up the ladder from the bottom and end up  running shit.  Well, shit happens and dreams die.  Right now I am a 2-chyen hustler, running crates to survive.
    You know what, forget all of my other suggestions.  The way to boost Newbie Retention would require two Fixes.  Fix the registration for the bitch board and Fix the registration for the NLM grid.  Not being able to speak up in the community makes people feel excluded.  And not being able to access the Grid leaves the player in the dark about a lot of info.  And of course it is another way to explore the wonderful world of SD.

My 2 chyen.  anybody else want to ante up?

Your history is not set in stone (heh). You can rewrite and rewrite and edit and rewrite and change the whole vibe of the thing (while retaining the same facts, o'course), and edit and change and create a different slant to match your character's outlook.

Personally I don't see what the big deal is about histories, but, y'know, that could just be me and the fact that when I started playing I had a pretty good idea of what my character was, where she was from, and why she did things the way she did. And then I got to do it again with my second character when the first was eaten by a rat (…it was a big rat, okay?).

As Nemi says, the timeline is awesome. Also, the admins are awesome. Write something out veryvery barebones with some basic information about what gave your character the kind of personality they have - and gloss a little over the exact skills and experience at this stage. If it gets rejected - big deal. Read the notes that are given to you and take them on board. xhelp if you need to, for some further assistance and ideas.

Chances are, your first character will die. It's a sad thing, but it's a part of life in Withmore. You learn, you deal, and you come back with a character a bit more refined, and maybe one that doesn't go wallowing in the sewers with an unfamiliar weapon so often (hello, IC line…).

Hell, I think I was lucky when I first signed in, I had not one, but two admin holding my hand through chargen and suggesting things and basically telling me I was going about the whole thing all wrong. Perhaps some automated version of this would be helpful... "Don't spread your skillbase too thin. If you specialise in (x) and (y), your character can find work as a (z)."

There is help on stats and skills, I can't remember if it's as simple as "help stats" and "help skills" while during chargen, but it's available while logged on as a guest, at least (and I'm fairly sure still accessible via chargen).

Personally, I cringe at the idea of free clones and maglev passes, if only because they are faaaaairly unnecessary from my perspective. You say you want to explore? My god, it took me forever to get my character's ass up off RED, and she's not really the mixer type… and she wasn't sitting around in one place for terribly long either, really. There are so many places on RED to go wander around in… I know I haven't seen everything yet, with two characters.

And if you give them free clones, they don't have quite as much incentive to keep going and looking for work / chyen. Again, it took me forever to get a clone, primarily because she was more interested in pretty clothes than having life insurance.

Plus: Why the hell would the corpies want new immigrants running around anywhere other than in the trash of RED?! Ew, stinky! Yuck! *spits* …god knows, they hardly want them up there when they're employed :)
(Similarly, no IC VR tour of the dome because you are on RED for a reason - you don't deserve to be (or see) anywhere else. OOC VR tour perhaps, maybe that's something that could be tied in to Sam_Guest?)

Oh! This thread contains a big huge discussion about newbies and playing and all sorts of things (it's been a while since I read it verbatim). It includes a discussion about a new user guide.

The best advice I can give?
Read everything - EVERYTHING - you can find, both on the website (esp the BgBB!) and in the help files. It explains soooooo very much and also gives you a bit of an insight into the people that are playing, as well as the game structure / concept / whatever.

1) free clones for new players are not a good idea. because, why the hell anyone give a homeless bum a sophisticated piece of biotechnology for FREE? clone's are not for everybody.

2) mag-lev passes… what, for FREE too? this is not a SOCIALIST society. actually, it is the diametrical opposite.

3) jobs for newbies.. I can't remember, you need a history to work at SHI? that seems kind of dumb. SHI is kind of like a -late 21st century soup kitchen. why od they care who you are. the technology in use there is like, 19th century grade anyway.

4) yeah, people need to know that certain skills/things have absolutely no in-game functionality at present. i.e. cyberware, matrix, most of the sophisticated shit. even our damn taxis are broken.

5) Chienne, my first character surivved and did pretty well for himself. the learning curve is maybe somewhat severe, friends and enemies and what not.. but its good.

6) about 'exploring'.. if you had access to the Grid you could see a cute map that would help alleviate your curiousity. too bad at present. RED public isn't all that big, but there's still enough stuff of interest. I like big, labyrinthine maps though, personally.

(Edited by BuddhaBrand at 11:59 am on Mar. 4, 2006)

What you just said is a really typical pattern. Wannabe -> Hustler -> Killer -> Very good killer -> Tired….?? Tired? It can be boring cuz it's the same pattern that alot of characters follow. Thankfully there are other character patterns to follow, i.e. mechanic, tailor, electrician... but the market is extremely limited due to a small player base. As we all know, corpie's generally do nothing but eat, 'work' (idle?), and occasionally buy some shit.

Sure there is biz for a hustler. It's fucking really hard to make a lot of chyen as a hustler. Some of that is due to the nature of the game, some of it due to the lack of players and a limited market (i.e. basic staples are clothes, weapons, and drugs - not all that much else).

Now say you hustle for a while, you get experience and your stats improve. Now you can be a killer. You learned something about the 'politics' of the game, you learned to survive. You have options, you can choose to take risks for a big reward or play it safe and make your money gradually.

I agree, repercussions are good.

But look, Social Darwinism in the game, in RP, does not mean 'Social Darwinism' in the way the damn thing works. It has to be easy to play, it has to be reasonably easy to get INTERESTED in playing. When I first logged in as a guest over a year ago I thought the holo-ads and TVs and so on with the rolling adverts was very cool. It gave the game a DYNAMIC. The game has to have a DYNAMIC aspect, that requires coding, not just about player-to-player RP. I think we all agree here.

Actually, I don't even know what the fuck we?/I? are arguing about. This is all old shit.

THANK YOU GMs, CODERS, ETC. FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK . LET'S KEEP THE GAME ALIVE AS BEST WE CAN.

On Mag-lev passes to newbie.  BuddaBrand and Chienne are right.  Not only is this NOT a socialist society, there is no way the corps would want an immigrant up on gold or green their first week and they definetly wouldn't want to pay for it.
However, if people could buy mag-lev passes for the week or the month, the corps might go for that.  Say 500 chyen for a weekly pass, 3000 for a monthly. might work.

On Histories and jobs. Histories are important, however I would change just three things about it.  

1) make the history menu available in chargen.

2) drop the requirements for a history for jobs on red, Keeping them for the ones on gold.

3) fixing the UE system so that you couldn't spend any UE until you had an approved history. Imagine having points sitting there calling your name, waiting for you to get off your ass and write a valid history. If you try to access the @assign UE system without a history you get back "Without a history, one can have no future."  Which of course follows Gamer rule #14.  "If the GM sounds like a fortune cookie, you have already lost the argument."

I sort of have to agree with BuddaBrand on Withmore Wholesalers.  The fact that they are on gold and are making hand deliviery to cordoba mallplex is not economicly sound. Of course right now, I like the work and  use it as often as I can, but we need to come up with a different courier system.  In my mind, most couriers would   take from one business and deliver to another, not just from a central wharhouse.  Supossidly Rastus was working on something involving Tickets before he got banned.  I don't know.

P.S.  Right now I am stuck in my cube at the New Rose Hotel.  I see the TV but My commands aren't being echoed and I can't seem to do anything.  Any Ideas?

(Edited by Mensaboy at 9:23 pm on Mar. 4, 2006)

You are covered for TWO WEEKS as a newbie under 'protected' status. If you do something stupid like 'kill npc' or 'kill player' your newbie protection is lifted, and you typically die.

There are avenues to get the 5000c to get a clone in the game within 2 weeks of enterance of the game world. In fact, as soon as you have an approved history you can tap into a network of employment services and loans that get you enough money to get a clone within 48 hours of chargen or less.

The tools are there, and most of them are spelled out in @newbie. But, most newbies don't read @newbie, even when told to by chargen, login as a guest, and by staff.

Honestly, some times I think it is simpler for us to simply take over the characters and let the players sit passive as we roleplay for them.

Now, Mensaboy, ( funny name ) to answer some questions ( in reverse order ):

1) History Menu in Chargen - Yes, I agree.
2) History for job in game - we require a history because we are an RP enforced game, and feel that a history is key to roleplaying a character. Forcing players to build a history before fully interacting with the game is a tool we use to weed out twinks, mudders, non-rpers, and the lazy.
3) Fixing UE system - interesting idea.

Stuck in new rose : exam here, exam <exit name>, then try 'press open on <exit name>'.

Initial questions:

1a) Revamp Chargen - I've said this for years.
1b) Help System Accessibility - it is always available through many channels. The commands are - 1) examine <thing> 2) help <topic> 3) xhelp <sentance for admin>
1c) Stats and Skills are listed and defined - help stats, help skills
1f) Virtual Tour - in theory when everything is working ( damned server deaths! ) there are maps on the grid, ICly available, and tour guides in the game. In practice at the moment not so much.

3) Maglev pass - Maglev passes are planned, but why should a newbie get access to higher levels of the game, particularly a newbie who is a criminal. Why would we let pickpockets and thieves roam the wealthy corporate areas? This theme is about inequity, and unless your history warrents you starting on Gold, you are probably dirt poor with a criminal past and are most likely to get shot by a Judge on Gold just for smelling like the mix. Theme. Is. Everything.

4) You can inspect the items before sale to get an IC look at them. Command structures you can not see. If you are in doubt about the useage of a particular item there are two channels to pursue: 1) IC questions of the game world. 2) xhelp

5) Pre-history jobs: not gonna happen, for the reasons stated above. If I had my way players wouldn't get out of chargen without an approved history, but due to limitations of staff we can't hold people out of the game waiting for approval of histories.

There, done yammering. Cheers all. And rumors of my demise are greatly exagerated.

This is not reccomended.

Makes sense to me.

You hand your pair of black pants to Salesperson.
Salesperson looks over the black pants for a moment before saying, "It'll do."
Salesperson hands you 2 chyen.

It would gives newbies a job AND cut down on MOO bloat.

I'm definitely in favour of pointing out which skills are not yet being used in game. It's extremely frustrating to have something and have no use for it.. be it a skill, new object, new verb, etc. I haven't gone through Chargen in years, so I can't really comment on the level of ease or difficulty. As an introduction to the game, this is one place that should be the most user-friendly.

Iga's right about being able to get money quickly for a clone. @newbie is your friend, so is reading the boards and help files. I am working on another job or two (the selling back to the clothing depot was very close to one idea actually) for newbies. I'm still debating how these will work.. whether they would be just for newbies out of the gate (until their status or some other variable runs out) or available to all players. They will be low money jobs, but will require exploration and/or interaction to complete them.

Things have changed a lot in the last 7 years I've been on SD. At one point in time, exploration and scavenging was supposed to be a big thing in the mix. Players would have to search out different components and put together their own gear, weapons, food, etc. This is one reason why most of the weapons in the game are basic, everyday objects. Whether this would have made things more interesting for players (and give them a greater drive to leave the mix and go up to a corporate life) is another story. Anyway… keep the ideas and comments coming guys!

   Hell, it doesn't even need to be that complicated.  Just ask a new player if they logged their chargen,  erase the name and other vital stats that would protect their identity and post it.

and the pot gets bigger by another 2 chyen.  anyone else in?

Why don't you consider getting a job at Bitch 'n; chickn?
Be a shift manager, or work the counter. Or maybe you can work at a pizza place. Hell, there is alot of drama in resturants, and it would probably be more profitable and more fun as opposed to typing <command> over and over.

You" Ok sir, that will be 200 chyen.

Customer: 200 fuckin chyen for a sandwhich and some fries? What the hell is this? Kuwait? I want to see the manager!

You: You see dis name tag ma fucka? I da ma fuckin manager.
*You pull out your seburo 6mm compact that you've saved up for weeks to get and shoot the complaining customer in the face*

Now excuse me while I finish my beer.

The only two automated jobs that I know of, are SHI and WWW.  Everything else needs no automation.
You do not need to scan in for a BC job. Let me tell you why.

I've had plenty of characters with plenty of jobs. One was a bartender, and he did not need to scan in and out, becuase he was paid on a weekly basis. That's about how they do it for all non-automated jobs.

Was it boreing? Sure, most if not all of the RP-reliant jobs are boreing, but then a GM or PC will notice this and usually go out of their way to make it no so boreing.

Example: You on Sic at your BC job: Man, this job is so boring.
Bob the bank robber comes in. "Empty the register then ma fucka"

See, nothing needs to be coded or extra work done for these jobs.  

But yeah, depending on your job, you do actually do work.

When I hard a bartender character, he made drinks, deposited money, cleaned the bar, etc.

Some other jobs may not require that much work, such as  another character I had where they did security and all they did was make sure nobody went where they weren't supposed to be.

And those are just some of the odd jobs new players never think about. When I started like two years ago, I was all about dealing drugs, getting guns, and stealing.

Some ideas for jobs if you need any that can be obtained in sd:
Bartender
Security guard (be it mall security or corporate)
Mechanic(We have one, but he dosn't get much RP due to lack of players with vehicles)
store clerk
car salesman

Forgive me for the short list but I am just getting woke up here heh.

Atleast thats an IC reason for it.  An OOC reason for it in my case would be that it's something to do when other players are not around or otherwise engaged.  It can also be a good way to create some RP, some scavenger asks you to find them something and you involve some other players by seeing if they have the item.  It gets gear and chyen circulating.

I would like to see some other automated jobs in game.  Particularly jobs that would effect your standing within the game.  I've talked about it in other posts so I'll keep it short here, but it would be awesome if you could do a job for an NPC, and have your standing with that NPC raised, and perhaps your standing with other NPCs that might be at odds with the NPC you did the work for, decreses.

Based on your standing with these certain NPCs, your interactions with still more NPCs could be effected.  It could change your 'rep' in the mix.  Make certain orginizations hate you, and others, like you.

(Edited by Mensaboy at 10:17 pm on Mar. 9, 2006)

Quote: from Mensaboy on 5:36 pm on Mar. 4, 2006[br]Thanks Iga,

It's nice to know that you guys are listening, even if you are very busy and that at least one of my ideas was interesting.

As for being stuck in the new rose cube. �it isn't a lack of knowalge that is keeping me here, I know how to get out. Its the fact that MY FUCKING COMMANDS ARE NOT WORKING AT ALL. Sorry, a little frustrated there. �

anything I type in doesn't get echoed and I get no response from the game. �However I know I am connected because I still see the TV. and I also get notices that there are posts to this forum.

Heh. �Maybe if I die, I will do chargen and log it. �remove important details and then post it to be disected and improved.

But I hope I don't. �I like my character.

P.S. if you want the story behind my BgBB handle just ask.

Mensaboy:

if you are still trapped, please provide the following info:

1) Operating System
2) MOO Client

We can then figure out what is the issue. It maybe you have an incorrect setting.

And do not worry about the deaths, it usually takes between 3-6 characters for a newbie to the game to get into the groove.

::is evil, very very evil::

But I could see someone doing something like that. Would be cool…

Thanks for the idea, Biohazard.

Gotta go to work.  Looking forward to your comments.

In addition, to make it easier, you could have.
1) some shelves to sell the gear on. (you don't need it, you could sell the gear in the market.)
2) A back room to store the gear while the loan is being paid off. (you don't need that, a locker or even a cube would work)

Hmmm.   Maybe my character should become a Pawnbroker.  Did this help at all Sal?

The rest is just marketing.  Letting the right people know that you have money to lend, and you won't take crap from anybody.  Sure you might die, but at least you would have rolled the dice.  

Maybe two more additions on the nice to have list.
1) business cards to hand out.
2) SICADS  at 200 a line they are cheap.

Dammit this is sounding better and better all the time.

Now can we get back to the original purpose of the thread? Newbie retention.

anybody else have any ideas, or do I need to wack myself upside the head and see what comes out?

Owww…Dammit Salvatore....that hurt.
     Okay.  How about converting @newbie information to a Babblescript that would be accessible in the coffin.  It would be more IG and more in the flavor of the game anyway.  newbies would feel a little more welcome if they actually had something targeted to them that doesn't involve OOC action.  And I concider pretty much anything that involves @ as OOC. Sue me.

Also Salvatore, we are exploring chargen in the Chargen thread in the game problems and complant forum.   The two weaknesses that I can see in your method of generating stats is.

1) The newbie would have to wait untill the history is reviewed and approved.  I have honestly waited 2 weeks for history approval.  Part of that was my fault, I aggonized over the intial history and the rewrite, but it is still a long time.  Most Newbies won't stick around for the minimum of 48 hours, let alone that long.
2) It would be arbatrary.  You would be depending on anothers person's judgment to set your vital statistics.  Even if the Gms had the wisdom of Solomon, many newbies would argue with them about why their stats should be higher.  I have been on the recieving end of that argument, and honestly I would rather deal with a colicky, teething baby than a adult gamer who is sure they are being cheated by the GM.

I am done for the night.  I am tired and my head is sore. (Fuck you very much, Salvatore.)

(Edited by Mensaboy at 9:47 am on April 6, 2006)

Quote: from Mensaboy on 10:37 pm on April 5, 2006[br]     I am tired and my head is sore. (Fuck you very much, Salvatore.)

::wasnt serious… but okay::

I think you're right, that it would be based on opinion... but I am talking about GM's being a bit of an overviewer of how they distribute their stats. I have read some histories from people who grew up in Eastern Canada and lived a peaceful life and never had to fight and on and on... and then they -do- get in a fight and they can use some weapon and they are super uber +2. I dont mean that the GM's would do all the work, I dont think they have the time. And I know that histories can take a long time, but you have to take into account of what they're doing... a lot. But maybe they could setup a system so they get an e-mail whenever a history i submitted, because 2 weeks is a long long time.

And @newbie would be cooler if it were more of an IC thing. Maybe you could, instead of standing in the line, have some basic ways to make money, and where to stay explained to you. I mean they wouldnt know about the loanshark, and if they did they would shut him down I think. But some sort of a tour IC, or a "Welcome to Withmore" would be really cool.

Instead of 'real' channels.. is there a way in BabbleOn to keep a counter? Like the second time the script runs for someone it shows something different?

That way everytime the newbie woke up they'd automatically get the next channel, i.e. tech or whatever… it would be like a dream, but you could choose to exit the coffin if you wanted and ignore it.

Sindome is the first game of its type that I've played - although I grew up with a Commodore 64 and a whole pile of text-based (Zorkstyle) adventures (go north / climb tree / kill grue), so the basic concept wasn't new to me.

If I'd had detailed information spoon fed to me, I'd have quit a long time ago. I wouldn't have spent hours with my first character exploring and scavenging. I wouldn't have spent similar amounts of time in SHI reading help file after help file. I wouldn't have gotten online while listening to lectures in class and read everything posted on the Bitch Board because I couldn't play myself. I wouldn't have @typo'd and @bugged everything I could get my hands on - because I wouldn't have felt the same sense of community about the game.

I know I'm not alone when I say Sindome is not just a game, it's an experience (or something similarly cliched) - I don't log in just to play. I log in to help develop, offer feedback, and to discuss plans and ideas.

If everything was forced down my throat and made simple and easy and obvious, so much of what I see Sindome to be would be lost, and I probably wouldn't hang around. I don't like my intelligence being questioned by a program. If you treat me like an idiot who can't figure things out herself, I have better things to do with my time.

INcidentally, TVs perplex me... I dont get how they work, or why one of the channels always appears as the current room.

Ideally, there'd be TV like you'd expect... I mean, there's even a holo-ad for the Weather Channel! Yet you can't tune in to any channels on TV. My experience with the TV has been pretty non-IC. Like suddenly a program will start rolling all over the Dome like with the Fight Night. I mean, you can watch it anywhere right, because there are screens everywhere? But that defeats the point of having channels at all if suddenly it's "TV TIME" and the whole Dome starts spewing broadcasting.

So the suggestion is:

Reduce the OOC help fiiles to the bare minimum. Commands, posing, emoting, how you the IRL player operates your character.

But for everything else, i.e. the Sindome world, make it IC. You don't want that info in help files. You don't want to have to wait in SHI reading those helpfiles just to learn you can next go to Wholesalers and deliver crates.

This doesn't mean you tell people: THE LOCATION OF THE ARTERIES SECRET BASE IS …....

or, "There will be a delivery of 100,000 chyen sometime in the next 24hrs to that place of Knife..."

You tell them stuff like... "Beware the sewers. Recent radiological tests conducted by City Services have indicated the presence of military grade nerve toxins in certain areas..."

You have a little documentary that *just happens* to explain why a newbie would want to stay around to make enough chyen to buy a car.

You make an incentive for people to stay around, because they will then know that there is _A POINT_ to staying around, meaning they will enjoy themselves, and potentially be rewarded by the richness of the world.

Its all about advertising the richness of the world... even though it can be hard to believe that sometimes.

Secondly, if NLM broadcasts a ridiculous number of channels then the viewing population feels like they have a choice, and thus some degree of freedom. In the interest of the ruling corporations, again, it's important that those in their servitude think they're completely free and that everything is better than it used to be before the corporations were so powerful. A simple way of doing this with TV is with loads of channels: like everything in cyberpunk, quantity is seen as the most important value, and quality doesn't even have to come into it (just look at TV in real life nowadays).

Thirdly, as far as I know most advertising is designed to work around your conscious mind rather than influence it, so I don't think anybody tuning out the ad-blimps would be a problem for the advertisers. However, I've never lived in any kind of ad-filled city or anything so I can't be sure of this. I would definitely assume that the advertisers know their psychology though, and they do not waste money.

I think that instead of playing shows on ad-blimps they would be far more likely to play an ad for the show, obviously, or at most a five-minute clip or something. Advertising costs money, and that money is not well-spent if it goes on free TV for the whole city.

And another thing: I've never been very sure about the way the seperate levels in the Dome are designed, but if I'm right in thinking that there may be potential gaps in between levels (say, the sewers on Gold might at some point lead to the airspace above Red), then some anti-corpie mixers could arrange a crafty plot to take out an ad-blimp from above using a secret temporary hideout in the Gold sewers! Or even better (assuming that the blimps have been made out of some anti-inflammatory substance or something), aim extraordinarily carefully and drop some petrol on top of the blimp, setting it alight shortly thereafter, creating a floating effigy of hatred with the SECONDARY FUNCTION of sending choking, deadly fumes up to the higher regions of the Dome, smoking out the once-proud tiers of high society and creating a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

God, if only object-oriented programming was feasible down to the particle level.