[from: https://www.facebook.com/adamgolding/posts/pfbid0cLdjQJkwnoHNcJPEDmaxv1UwK3v3rLHAkhgqzuBJWka9K4Ae23vuyvvZuDNpys9Ll]
Okay I invented a new game/religion, it's called "RANDOM HELPING" [or “DECENTRALIZED VOLUNTEERING”] and it's an improvement on "Pay it Forward" where some players still receive no help--this is a form of "Decentralized Volunteering" where everyone is volunteering for each other, not for a central cause with one definition:
RANDOM HELPING 0.1
- n players write their name on n cards, and the deck is shuffled
- everyone draws a card and reshuffles, and redraws if they draw their own name,
- ask the person you drew for their contact information, and see how you can help them
- players vote on when to draw again [eg: weekly]
- help is not to exceed 2 hours of time weekly, or $30 of personal financial support
- for redundancy, each player can put their name in *twice* and draw TWO cards, again redrawing if they draw their own name
- for volunteer efforts where no-shows are important to disincentive, up-to-$30 deposits can be refundable if you show up--some hacker conferences have had refundable tickets in this manner
With Pay-it-forward, you are also helping people at random, but there is no guarantee that everyone gets help or that the distribution is uniform--this is not to say that everyone needs the same amount of help, some players will need help helping someone else. [aka: “Help can be transitive.”] Try it! Please let me know what problems you find with it!!
I like the concept and would enjoy seeing Random Helping in action. My only concern was that folks wouldn't accept help - I'm one of those independent types that says, "Oh no, everything is fine!" when I'm asked if I want/need help. But I'm intrigued by this improvement to "pay it forward".