(This may be not quite the right forum for this discussion, but Help seemed a bit off too. At least I think it's the right audience.)
I've been thinking and discussing with a few other people the various different policies that can be used in a settlement to balance players individual needs and desires to improve themselves and/or have fun, and the need to help their community and contribute. When I was looking for a settlement, one of the things I asked the community leaders who responded was about what their policies were in this regard, but the only coherent guideline I found was effectively communist--Everything belongs to the community and we'll worry about individuals later. That might even make sense during a community's formative period, but once all the basic necessities are met.... Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to hear what other groups and people thought about the subject.
What is the right or a reasonable balance between contributing to the community and having the freedom to do and explore the things you want to explore in the game. What guidelines or community policies does everyone use? How do you manage the sharing of resources, and how well is it working for you? On the flip side, if you are part of a community or were thinking about joining one, what would you want to see in a community's policies?