The Waymeet Auction, Sunday February 12th

By Lina WillowwoodThe average hobbit has a nose fer a good deal, as displayed during the the biweekly market in Michel Delving. At the same time, many hobbits find their closets and chests full of unused trinkets and dusty goods. Combine this, and it is high time we had us an auction. On Sunday February 12th, we will!

Date: Sunday February 12th

Time: 7:30PM GMT/2:30PM servertime

Location: Waymeet, The Shire

A grand night where yer can meet hobbit friends, eat food, enjoy local entertainment… and engage in ferocious bidding wars with yer neighbours. Can life be better? Naw, it can’t!

The auctioneer is ready, the local Shirriff has promised to oversee the proceedings, and the curiosity of many a hobbit has already been pickled. If yer want to offer goods at the auction, yer should sign up in advance, though!

OOC guidelines:

This is a hobbit preferred event, drawing inspiration from the scene that met poor Bilbo when he returned from his adventures out of bounds in The Hobbit. He found that most of his goods had been auctioned off by the firm of Messrs. Grubb, Grubb and Burrowes. Given that we have never tried this kind of event before, it will quite possibly go all sorts of wrong, but we'll give it a try anyway!

We ask that all trades during the auction are kept below the limit of 100 silver coins, to allow many hobbits to participate in the bidding. Remember, this is less about making money, and more about having creative fun together with your fellow hobbit!

If F2P players want to participate, they cannot trade silver coins. Travel rations are accepted instead, though, at the rate of 1 travel ration = 2 silver coins.

All trades are to be finalized between the seller and the winner of the bidding process.

Looking for sellers!

We are looking for sellers who would like to offer goods up fer the auction. If you have something yer would like auctioned off, yer should sign up in advance, since we have to limit the number of items that can be sold (due to time issues). You can sign up by:

* Sending an letter in-game to Lina

* Using the comment system in this article

Please include the name of the item you would like to sell, the name of the character that offers the item, a suggested starting price for the item (well below the 100 silver coin limit), and a minimum bid for the item (in case no-one wants to match the starting bid).

Auctioning off solid hobbit goods… with a story

This is an auction for hobbits, and as such, it is grand if the items are of interest to hobbits! Furniture, clothes, yard items etc. are generally grand items.

What is most important, though, is that each item should have a short history to it (3-5 sentences max). On the night, the seller has to introduce the item by this short description, which should pickle the interest of the bidders before the bidding starts. This way, even strange-looking items could be of interests for hobbits (“Why, this may seem like one of them silly armours them longshanks use, but really, me grandpa had this built special fer the first time he met his mother-in-law. She used ter throw mugs after the local lads, she did, so he wanted ter be prepared”).

Process!

At the start of the auction, we introduce all the items offered for the auction. After this, we’ll have a bidding round for each item, going as follows (although the process may be tuned and optimized somewhat before the auction):

* The auctioneer calls on the seller

* The seller gives a short description of the item, as discussed above (3-5 sentences)

* The auctioneer announces the starting price

* Hobbits who would like to bid for the item enters a designated bidding area, others are asked to stay behind and watch the show

* If no-one wants to bid, the auctioneer may choose to lower the starting bid

* Once the bidding starts, the bidders are asked to wave to the auctioneer and announce their bids! No bid is accepted until the auctioneer acknowledges it. Bids made from outside the bidding area will not be acknowledged

* The bidding process ends when:

a) No-one wants to bid over the current highest bid

b) When the 100 silver coin limit is met. The deal has to be settled by a drawing of lots (that is, a /roll overseen by the Shirriff)

c) A set time period passes. The current highest bid wins

After the trade between the seller and the bidder has been made, the bidding for the next item starts.

Remember!

This may end up somewhat chaotic, so try yer best to play along!

Don’t immediately bid 100 silvers, that’ll just stop the bidding process.

Consider offering low-value goods, but with grand and exciting short stories to them. That is one way to keep bids under control.

Enjoy yerself! There will be breaks with food and entertainment!