Oak Grove - Mysterious happenings

I've noticed on two occasions now my Avairel Wing has been missing from the Oak Grove area. Aside from being cheap to buy based on prims made it is also cheap to rez and for some reason keeps going missing.

I'm not sure about anyone else but after a year of being in game it's my first successful item that I'm happy to sell to residents, everything else I have made has had less than successful results...

So what in SL is happening?

i think we might need permission from lindens first, my tanks and hummer i was selling was returned to me.

Millie,

Your vehicle was returned to you. Even with our latest expansion there is only so much space. Vehicles need to be in an area where it does not obstruct user movement. So not in front of the stairs

Also, FYI, apparently you're not allowed to sell boats in Oak Grove.

what is oak grove?

It's the sim to the north of the six vehicle sims, and has a small place for selling cars/bikes/hoverboards/whatever.

Boat area added.

Ryan, can you or someone else please add a sign or a notecard dispenser that outlines the rules for placing vehicles? Here are some questions that I've heard from other sellers (and from me) that I think need clarification:

* Which parking stalls must be kept empty? Players had placed vehicles in clearly marked stalls, but the vehicles were deleted. Should the stairs be kept clear for the entire width of the staircase? (That's about 8 stalls, IIRC)

* What kinds of vehicles are acceptable in each category? We have Motorcycles, Boats, and Hoverboards on one side, and Flying Craft and Cars on the other. Where do hovercraft go? The Flying Craft and Cars areas are too full, so I placed mine beside Harald's hovercraft in the Hoverboard area, but they were deleted yesterday.

* How many vehicles can each person put in the lot?

* Is the vehicle vendor script still the required way to sell from Busy Ben's? How do new sellers obtain the vendor script?

* When the lot becomes too full, will there be a thinning process to remove the least successful vehicles? That was hinted at during the Busy Ben opening event.

* Will Busy Ben himself ever emerge from that trailer? He's been in there for weeks!

No. He's busy.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback. Generally I have asked people to place only one vehicle in each category. So if you have three MC's, leave only one. This will give more people the ability to participate.
In 1.2 we will be selling small plots of land in BB's. Each plot will have the ability to support the vehicle object limit. The parcels will count toward your land allotments. See this post: Merchant announcement We will see how things go after the 1.2 switch (no I don't have a date )
It is no longer required that you use a vehicle vendor. In 1.2 you will be able to sell the contents of an object directly in the UI. A check box is provided that says, "sell contents". When someone chooses "buy" they will get a window that lists all the contents and their individual perms. If it is clothing they can "wear now" after buying! You can also just sell a copy the regular way.
I have seen Busy Ben on occasion. Usually at very odd hours. I tried to talk to him once but he ignored me. I think he did not want to loose count as he riffled through his bills. He had a very Wonka quality about him.

Thanks for answering those questions, Ryan!

When I log on tonight, I'll make sure that I have only 1 in each category. I hope others will do the same.

Also, I hope Ben has a shower in that trailer.

Just for info, there's now a 32m^2 space in the flying craft section free, as I'd previously got 2 vehicles in the yard.

Ryan - how is the vehicle park land purchase for 1.2 going to work?
First come first served?
1 per applicant?
Something else?

Hmm. Judging from available yard space I really oughtta start making boats...

With boats having a quarter of the entire lot, you'd think they were the hottest thing in SL

The land will be sold either be by auction, or maybe a lottery. What do you vehicle merchants think would be the most fair?

Hmm. Maybe auction half and put the rest into a lottery?

The problem with auctions is that it ends up over-inflating the price of the land by a hundred times. With an open land auction, I could easily see several of the wealthy players, who may not even build vehicles, snatching up all of the spots and renting them or reselling them at insane prices.

A lottery is good, but I'd hate to see some good vehicle-builders shut out due to the luck of the draw.

I really liked the original concept of allowing the best-selling vehicles to stay, and replacing the worst-selling vehicles. That ensures that the lot is stocked with the most appealing vehicles that people can build. Is there any way to implement that kind of arrangement?

Bah! Accomodate all the builders, Use this land with 5 level elevators like the samll parking lots in big cities do. hold 5 times the vehicles (Kidding)

Auctions should not be the way to go. Only Rich already successfull builders will have plots, not the little guy like me who is selling his first item.
Or. make it by user vote. this nicest vehicles? This would encourage the building cummunity to make NICER things rather than just seriously lousily built/poorly functioning vehicles that nobody would buy.
OR have the plots as temporary with the aggreement that those vehicles that are not selling will be removed and give the chance for someone else on the waiting list to display items.

EDIT:
Well, I see Cubey beat me to the punch on this one

Cornelius, that's a great idea. There could be an event where all vehicle builders put out a couple of their best vehicles with a voting booth or something. The ones that get the most votes get first crack at buying a lot.

There are dozens of stalls at Busy Ben's so that would accommodate many builders, ensure quality vehicles, and not favour wealthy players.

Thoughts on this, Ryan?

i replaced me one vehicles with a BocVendor that holds 4 so far, it even rezzes preveiws, so you dont just have to see a picture.

I don't like this idea Cubey. While on paper it sounds good, it's not only easy to game, but it most likely will devolve into a popularity contest rather than being reflective of the quality of the vehicles.

-Bone

I suppose there could be scenarios where groups get together to give all their votes to one player, but that's one of the shortcomings of the democratic process. So no it's not a perfect process. However, I think new players should have a fair chance at getting a spot to sell their vehicles, and voting is a good way to do that. An auction is guaranteed to shut out new players.

People are more likely to vote honestly when it costs them money. Maybe there should be an all-day vendor's fair, and the makers of the best-selling vehicles get first crack at buying one lot.

Well,

As it goes thusfar I can pretty much see that I need not apply for one of these plots. I'll have to find other places to sell my vehicles.

Corny

Again, this is problematic to me. You know, as well as I, that on some days some vehicles sell better than others. One day of sales is not representative of the overall mass appeal of one vehicle to consumers, nor is one day of voting by the interested parties that happen by Oak Grove representative of how a vehicle may sell in the marketplace.

Maybe the best option would be to put 1/2 of the lots in each area up for auction, and 1/2 in each area can be alotted for the winners of some voting process. But to lock ALL lots into a popularity/voting contest would be unfair.

Think of it this way- while an auction for every lot may lock out noobs who don't have much cash to bid high, a voting contest for every plot will lock out those whose building skills may not be able to compete with more veteran builders.

So perhaps a mix of both ideas may be the best way to go.

-Bone

Great input all.
Best of contests are problematic. After all, best of is subjective. BB's is prime real estate if you are selling vehicles. 1.2 will see the introduction of Phantom Collison and make the race timers work everytime. We hope to see many more reacing events in the area as well. I like the idea of half auction half lottery. When I have a definite plan I will post. Until then continue to discuss as I will take all suggestions under consideration.

-RL

More mysterious happenings...

It looks like Oak Grove is being prepped for sale. I stopped by to see it completely empty. Will we be able to apply for the lottery/auction soon?

Yes. Busy Ben is busy parceling out the lot . Spaces will be available for auction and lottery. The number of lottery spaces will be much higher than the auctions. The parceling is being done now but the auction and lottery won't happen till we return from vacation. The prim limits in OG will be adjusted so that a 4x8 plot can accommodate a vehicle. There will be a handful of larger plots available.