Entertainer Archive
Thread: Entertainers: how do u kno if some1 is listening to u so u kno if they leave w/o tipping or not?
A lot more goes into whether or not you make tips than if you're friendly. Some of the things which I'm sure influence tips:
- What you are wearing (got a fleshwrap on?)
- How you interact with customers (do you ask about their day or do you immediately /lick them?)
- Where you stand in the cantina
- Whether you dance or play an instrument
- How many other entertainers are there
- How popular the cantina is
- What sex you are
- What race you are
- etc.
In short...the best entertainers are quite often not the best tipped people in the cantinas where I work. It's a well established fact that this game, as with so many others, is heavily populated with young men who have certain proclivities...playing to those will get you the most tips much of the time. Whether you choose to call those peple who do play to those proclivities the "best entertainers" is, of course, your call. I certainly do not think it's that black and white.
- J
Entertaining is simply not a lucrative profession for me, but that's not why I got into it. I enjoy dancing...there's no other reason.
I tend to run more missions now, but it's not because of lack of tips or because the customers are being jerks...it's because all the really cool entertainers seem to have left the cantina and I don't enjoy dancing with the type of individual which seems to be prevalent there nowadays. Seeing what some of these people do...it makes me ashamed to be one of them sometimes. So I leave.
- J
Pickles you are right.
I think most people take entertainers for granted. I'm sure they wouldn't like it if the entertainer just sat the cantina and not do anything. I'm sure that would piss most people off. Instead of trying to bash on us. They should respect us same way we do when they enter the cantina expecting to get healed. If you are an entertainer and feel you are not getting enough money or enough tips, then work on another profession that would help you earn money. Don't depend on tips because people are not obligated to do that.
Vankka Lokken
picklesSW wrote:
Hijo, it's really not that simple.
A lot more goes into whether or not you make tips than if you're friendly. Some of the things which I'm sure influence tips:
- What you are wearing (got a fleshwrap on?)
- How you interact with customers (do you ask about their day or do you immediately /lick them?)
- Where you stand in the cantina
- Whether you dance or play an instrument
- How many other entertainers are there
- How popular the cantina is
- What sex you are
- What race you are
- etc.
In short...the best entertainers are quite often not the best tipped people in the cantinas where I work. It's a well established fact that this game, as with so many others, is heavily populated with young men who have certain proclivities...playing to those will get you the most tips much of the time. Whether you choose to call those peple who do play to those proclivities the "best entertainers" is, of course, your call. I certainly do not think it's that black and white.
- J
Actually it really is that simple. I wear nothing revealing, I'm a twi-lek, I greet customers but I don't try to play psychiatrist with them (gah), I don't stand in front of the door where all the annoying dancers are, I play an instrument... basically, I am everything that people say can't get you tips. But you know what, because I don't annoy people with cliche questions about their adventures, I genuinely talk to people just like I would my friends (i.e., not as someone I am trying to get money from), I don't do a lot of things that I find entertainers doing which are blatant attempts to make money.... because of all of that Ifind myself making great money without even trying. I simply play my instruments (I have them hotkeyed and I change instruments and songs frequently... so does my band if I am playing with them), and carry on normal, adult conversations... be it about the game, the latest patch, or current events. I don't have to resort to flirting, wearing fleshwraps, asking people about their emotional status (pronounced "stay-tus" of course lol), or other tricks of the trade that many people think are involved in this profession. Sure there are horny young boys on their computers looking to score some cyber, and tip well for anything resembling it, but there are just as many adults playing this game as there are kids, and if anything they tip much better.
I guess for someone who is socially inept, it is easier to just play a whore and make the quick buck... but trust me that isn't where the best tips are. Many entertainers I've met can't seem to carry on an adult conversation so they may be hindered, but the rest of you might want to take a second look at your approach to entertaining.
And I'm here telling you that I do the same things you are doing and I consider it a good night if I get one tip. One the other hand, I'm male and a dancer in a very popular cantina surrounded by females in fleshwraps and other exotic getups flirting with everything with a pulse that walks into the door. Forgive me, but I think that MIGHT have something to do with it.
Look, I'm a realist. I don't expect to make money at this and I never asked to. I'm not whining about tips, that doesn't bother me. What DOES bother me is that all the good entertainers that match the description you put forward seem to have fled the cantinas and I'm left dancing with AFKers and people one step away from "whores" as you put it. The cantina feels like a brothel sometimes. I want the truly good entertainers back, but for some reason they never get the tips you seem to, or they'd probably never have left in the first place.
- J
In the end, if someone is playing this profession and focusing on money, they will probably find themselves playing another class pretty quickly... and that iswhether or not they are making good tips. All of the master musicians and dancers I know that are still performing do it because it is a nice change of pace from combat. I don't think it is realistic to expect all of the master entertainers to continue to do nothing but perform day in and day out, regardless of their tip situation or the number of great entertainers in the cantinas to keep them company.
As far as you being a male dancer... yea, they don't make many tips. 
I guess that even though the ages of players range greatly, most of them are still hetero males and not interested in watching, or embarassed to watch, a male dancer... much less tip one and be publicly thanked by said dancer. hehe However, if they ever get around to fixing/finishing a group tip command, it won't make much difference.
I walked into the cantina the other day and some guy had an afk macro up that said, "tips and heals are appreciated, otherwise I'll whomp you on my /denyservice list".
It pissed me off for a number of reasons. First, you're AFK. You have no idea who's watching, who's not, who's tipping, who's not - so you aren't going to put a single person on your /denyservice list. Second, there are a ton of other entertainers in the cantina who are actually at their computer, interacting with patrons and keeping up conversation. I could care less if you put me on your /denyservice list as I would prefer to allow others to gain the xp that I have to offer. (No, I'm not saying that I get my wounds healed for their benefit)
The first thing I did was type in /addignore [Player name removed]. I don't want to hear your pathetic macro over and over. The second thing I did was wish that there was a way I could add him to my /denyheal list while using my AE stims... I mean, if he's AFK, he's not going to tip me for healing his action. Shouldn't I be able to do something about that?
I spend a lot of time in the cantina -- and a lot of time when I have no mind wounds and no BF. I know and remember the names of the dancers who tip me for heals, and even those who thank me. I make sure that the next time I'm in the cantina that I'm especially friendly to them, and usually they do the same.
What I don't like are the people who assume that because I'm in the cantina I should automatically tip them for something that doesn't cost them a cent, but when I use my stims on them (which aren't cheap), they can just ignore me -- or better yet, add me to their /denyservice list.
But perhaps thats just me.
Tandava wrote:
Therefore I have no use for you in a cantina. you in no way enrich my game, make me glad to be there or treat me with a basic respect at any level as a person (or toon pretending to be one).
Remember, though, this goes both ways. If an entertainer spams "tip me" messages, threatens /denyservice right and left, etc, he's not treating a combat type with much respect or dignity either. Getting BF healed is never an enriching experience. It's just another chore to perform while in the city. If the experience is made more pleasant with good, honest conversation, then it's much nicer in general.