Dancer Archive

I'm upset how many of the dancer's here use the term "T I P S". We as a whole must change our mindset and not settle for T I P S!!! What the hellis with your thinking here??? Do master 'smiths ask for the "T I P S" when they sell an item they crafted??? Can you just imaging if a weponsmith gave a away a weapon and left the value up to the customer??? SHould Master Dancers be any different???

I hope I don't go way off base here but I don't want to sound to P.C. but here is a lil thing I do in my classroom instruction...when I teach a co-ed class, I alwasy address the students as "hey FOLKS, plz hand in the book report." The key term here is "FOLKS", because boys are boys and girls are girls. Do you go to the market ever and ask for an orange when its an apple you want??? Do you folks understand what i'm trying to get at here. T I P S is"an additional gratitude payment forstreet performers and star bucks etc... We perform a service and therefore should charge SERVICE Fees and IF THEY REALLY THINK THE SERVICE IS GOOD ask for the TIP!!!

I know that their are certain people/moncalamar/bothans etc dancers that would love to leave the "payment" up to the customer. However, as one person kindly pointed out to me...:we are not strippers dancing at a strip club...we are entertainers who dance a variety of dances". We shouldn't be dancing/buffing for T I P S...strippers get tipped..what we should be doing is charging like everyone else.DEMANDPAYMENT IN FULL UPFRONT.

I read earlier that u can use a /deny command or something to no allow your services to be rendered to others...I'm definetly using the "DENIED" option 'cause its time to get P A I D.

If you made it this far in my rant, I have a friend who created a vendor for me and some items termed "Dancers Edge" card/tickets for my cantina. It allows the buyer to purchase "dancing time", personal performances, "buffs" etc...All cards/ticketshave a set price. And like the bill you get at the end of a meal when you go to a themed restaurant..it states in the description "gratuities not included"

Thanks for your time!

- P A I D!!!!

Have you ever been to a fringe festival, the entertainers absolutely accept tips and they are not strippers. By that reasoning would you look down on a waiter or waitress for accepting tips as well? I think people should do whatever they feel comfortable with, many dancers give buffs on the tip system just as ive even seen doctors give buffs on the tip system, admitedly much more rarely. The point is theres room for everything and everyoneive sold buffs on dathomir for 10k when someone was sitting 10 feet away selling for 6k and you know what,I still had more customers than i needed. As a dancerI chose to ask for 2k for a mind buff and people payed it even though others did it for a discretionary tip.

I also notice in your post you say "strippers get tips." Its the complete oposite. Stripers charge fees, pay a cover charge to get into the club, then pay a fee for a backroom dance. Entertainers entertain because they are a certain type of person and thats what id liken swg performers to, fringe festival entertainers, stage performers etc.

When buffs were first implemented I posted a thread asking dancers to please charge up front for them so that they would continue to be marketable and a reliable source of income. Offering services for free is, of course, your choice. However, please realize that the effective result is going to be a reduction in the demand forpre paidservices thus lowering the value of our only marketable skill.

My 2 cents.

thanks for your time.

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TheSillyOne wrote:

When buffs were first implemented I posted a thread asking dancers to please charge up front for them so that they would continue to be marketable and a reliable source of income. Offering services for free is, of course, your choice. However, please realize that the effective result is going to be a reduction in the demand forpre paidservices thus lowering the value of our only marketable skill.

My 2 cents.

thanks for your time.

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I've certainly come around to this way of thinking. I never set a price for buffs, asked only that I be tipped what the patron thought it was worth. I've found that it's worth what I say it's worth! So, now I ask for payment, stating my price before I start to dance or setperform and remind the patron to pay me if the funds don't hit my pocketbook within the first minute.

"Do master 'smiths ask for the "T I P S" when they sell an item they crafted???"

I'm afraid your analogies are flawed. Architects, tailors, weaponsmiths all produce and sell a product. Entertainers provide a service. While both can be profitable, the business models can be quite different.

In addition, while some service organizations charge a direct up-front fee for their service, others work primarily on gratuity. Historically, entertainment can be either. For example, you pay quite a lot to go to a rock concert, but if you go to a club, you often just pay a small cover charge, or nothing at all to see the entertainment. Certain other venues (such as strip clubs) rely mostly on tips directly to the dancers.

The devs were trying to simulate this in the online world. In the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have seen them adopt the model of a cover charge that then paid the entertainers, but this was probably a whole lot more difficult to implement than simple tips. We have, essentially, the strip club model in the game right now, though player cantinas can and sometimes do go the cover charge route.

In any event, all of these make far more sense to me than what you're suggesting. When you walk into a typical club, you don't fork over a $5 to the musicians on the stage. They're paid by the establishment.

All of that stuff aside, it's not realistic to charge up front for generic healing. Why? Because there are plenty of other entertainers that won't charge, and your clients will simply go to where the healing is free, or at least where they can tip their appreciation rather than be charged for it. That's human nature. Buffs are different as they require a certain skill level, an ATK person and a deliberate act on the part of the entertainer, so buffs are often given for a fee.

In any event, you're free to follow your own path with regards to making money in this profession, as is everyone.

- J

When the holotainer craze started, I started an alt who has lately spent a lot more time playing than my dancer char, KMad, has. But last night, I decided to go back to Theed cantina and trydancing again.

I have never had a set fee for mindbuffs, I say 'tip what it's worth to you' and I end up with an average of far more than 2k per. Last night, I was buffing one TKM, when another one came in and send me a /tell "I'll pay you 6k for a mindbuff". I told her I could start her after that one, in 6 minutes, if she was willing to wait, which she was.

When I started her buff, we talked in tells, she'd only had one before. I explained it to her a little bit, and told her I'd let herknow when ten minutes was up, and to not stop watching until then. Bless her heart, she was grateful for the explanation, and had fun during (a dancer friend said 'who am i buffing?' and i teased him by saying 'i know who i'm buffing, it works out better that way'), and when the buff was over, she surprised my by tipping 10k instead of 6.

That really made me smile. That's part of why I've never had a fee, it's interesting (although sometimes sad) to see how much a mindbuff is worth to people, when they tip you. And sometimes, people will come back for another one, and tip more, since the last one did them good. My favorite iswhen people come back the same night just to tip me gobs more and say 'You saved my life!' and then run off again lol.

-KMad (aka the junior afk dance police of Kettemoor)

Sangral dear,

I can make more in gratuities that I can ever make under your system, because frankly, I'd think you'd sell me short.

It's interesting to hear other dancers find flaws in anothers person system and boast about how much more they would make instead of trying to help new dancers out who weren't ever part of the system to begin with. I congratulate those who have been making money credits in the established system.

Sangral, don't be afraid to work outside the mindset of what has been established "by the devs". I'm not here to hate upon you and your thinking. The forum should be open to discussion, not to boast or put down what you have in mind. So quickly are people to judge your statement due to the sounding nature, however, if thoroughly read through, their are some golden suggestions you make.

I will warn you, you are going against an already established profession with many hard-core-s. In that framework, you also go up agains a profession that many have come and gone, not due to grinding but to the conditions in which we work in. Continue to run your business they way you do, for its your business to run and no one else. Those who continue to work in the old ways are those who aren't willing to change nor willing to try. People who are set in their ways will hesitate change in the establishment because they are comfortable.

Many are alreadyquick to pointout your flaws instead of trying toimproveupon them. At the same time, many dancers out there have set their price before selling their product. You are not in the majority but don't give up.

Don't be so quick to turn this into some sort of battle, Ronstar. You sound pretty bitter for some reason. This isn't about fear of change, it's about a whole bunch of people who have tried what he's suggesting and found that it simply doesn't work. Maybe he can get it to work, who knows, but to dismiss the advice of the experienced base of entertainers as set in their ways is foolish.

If people cannot take a bit of criticism about their ideas, they are better off not posting them for comment.

- J

I didn't charge til yesterday.

Now I'm a Master...........there's a fairly set expectation of what the buff WILL do......vs "Well it should do this, here's my past experience" which........well I can't reliably charge for unreliable product.

So yup, I charge now. Of course, if you want to tip me, that's your prerogative, but I don't expect it.