Hey, can I borrow that?

[sheepluva73]

This has probably been discussed already but I’m going to plough ahead anyway DARN IT.

Over the years, I’ve admired Gaians and their sassy outfits from afar, wishing I had that Owlpocalypse ( OK I’ve never actually wished for that) or Day of the Dead. I know that I have enough items that I could sell to get it, but I want to keep them... and get the new item.

That’s when I hit on the idea of lending- would a Gaian lend me an item if I temporarily gave them an item of equal or greater worth. Think of the joys open to everyone; you could borrow that item just long enough to know what it feels like to own it, then return it. Possibly then go on and buy your own.

So

Cutlery-
- Would you lend your items to another (random) Gaian?
- SHOULD lending happen or does that just encourage laziness?
- Could this be a system regulated by the site or is there too much margin for error?
- What kind of terms would you put on it to make sure you got your item back?
- Does anyone honour a gentleman’s promise any more?

biggrin

I do hope this isn’t an actual feature or I’m going to look silly
-

[Rabid-Turtle]

As a general rule I don't let items leave my account. But I have done a swap a time or two with gaians I trust.

[Lazarus Larkin]

I have lent items to VERY close friends before... I'm talking people I know IRL very well. People I would lend money and stuff, and trust to pay me back. I wouldn't lend stuff out to just anyone though, even with collateral.

[Dankin]

Why does this make me think off some sort of Gaian-run pawn shop? xd

I actually have done what you described. Way back when, my friends and I would swap items all the time. I think that's a really fun part of Gaia that a some people miss out on; the sharing.

Don't get me wrong, I won't fork over an outfit piece to some randomer running around in towns. There has to be a bit of trust too. But trading stuff around with friends on Gaia is a good laugh.

It's funny to don the signature item of a friend's outfit, then you can pretend you're them and make a fool out of yourself. ninja

[Evil Goth Bunny]

I wouldn't lend my items to random gaians, because I don't really trust random gaians. Unless gaia actually did have a system, and the items would automatically be returned after a certain amount of time, and whatever I had leant would become soulbound so that whoever had it couldn't sell it.

If it was done in a way that made stealing or scamming completely impossible, I'd think it was a good idea. There are so many items, and it will take ages to get them all. Although I imagine that the people who have the expensive rare items will end up getting annoyed because they'll constantly be getting PM's asking to borrow stuff.

[Milk Kittea]

There's a thread in the AT dedicated to lending items to one another.
It seems very beneficial for those who trust each other. 3nodding

I haven't really lent items to people myself, but I wouldn't mind doing so on certain occasions.
Lending items that aren't too expensive wouldn't be a big deal, especially when it comes to friends.
I'd be hesitant when lending any expensive items though, mostly because people take hiatuses.
If a friend wasn't around on Gaia to give me back my item when I wanted it back, I'd be disappointed.

[sheepluva73]

Evil Goth Bunny

I imagine that the people who have the expensive rare items will end up getting annoyed because they'll constantly be getting PM's asking to borrow stuff.

Ah yes I suppose that would be an issue- nobody would want to wear expensive things for fear of being bothered. Might that drive a Gaia-wide dress down?

Also, if there were a lot of people asking for one item you can bet some shrewd individuals would begin hoarding it

biggrin

[Mewsey]

I've actually lent a Noel's Gift to one of my irl friends, although she really wanted to keep it and I sort of had to force it out of her so no more lending from me anymore, because I don't want a situation where the item doesn't come back.

Maybe if there was some sort of system that made it so the item was forcefully taken back at any time, or a specified time.

Although, Gaia probably wouldn't want to do that, because they could lose profit from users just borrowing from others instead of directly buying the items themselves.
(Maybe that can be countered by giving a limit to how many items you can lend out so it's not abused, maybe one at a time?)

[KaryuunoSamurai]

I don't trust people to return things much any more. Bad experience when I let someone borrow my Pokemon Silver game and he allowed me to keep his Crystal one till he returned it... Didn't it happen that way? No, my silver is forever lost because he said it was 'stolen'. I've been pretty much regretting not keeping his Crystal game because it would've been a good way to compensate for the lack of my Silver game. scream

So I don't let people borrow/trade my item for theirs till a specific time due to that. However there's an exception because I have let friends that I know very well and trust on here borrow an item or two. It just doesn't happen often.

[hornworts]

I'm reminded that when an RPG instigated item lending in a feature, it quickly turned into "item renting."

[ThanatosRising]

Considering how many people I've seen in Q&A, upset that they were scammed out of an item they lent a supposed friend who never gave it back, I would have to trust some one a hell of a lot to lend them an item on Gaia.

[Sand Dancer Shaka]

I only ever lend my items to very close friends I've known for many, many years.

To a random Gaian? Never, even if they swapped an item of far greater worth. The fact is that items values can change very rapidly, so there'd never be a guarantee that I'd get my item back. Most of the items I have have some sort of memory attached that can't be replaced. Sad but true: majority of people in the world can't be trusted.

[Voat]

I would lend items to my Gaia bestie (you hear that girl??? all you gotta do is ask if I have something..). But random people? Not without collateral in which the item they lend me is worth 2x more than what I lend them. And I wouldn't really lend w/collateral to purely random people, but people I talk to regularly at least.

I'd be fine with lending as long as there were a system in place that guaranteed that the lender got their item(s) back. I have thousands of items I never use...

Personally i don't think Gaia would ever create an official lending system, mostly because such a system would hurt cash shop sales. but it's nice to think about.

[Bibaxt]

♫♫ I only lend items to my twin sister if she asks.There's no way to know for sure 100% you'd get your item back and if the staff were to get involved the headache that would happen would be tremendous.

Sand Dancer Shaka

♫♫ Exactly right my will of wisp I bought for 20k, well today I logged in and it's at 3.5 mil emotion_jawdrop
The marketplace is just too unexpected.

[Secksy Panda]

Years ago an awesome gaian, who i didnt know, lent me(with collateral) an AFK back when I wasnt sure that I wanted one or not. After about a week with it I returned it and had also decided that I in fact didnt really want to get one for my self.

I thought it was really nice of them to do that.

Now a days theres more people around and harder to know who to trust and what not. I dont know that I would do something like that now though.