Are Events Rigged? Themed Contest or Popularity Contest?

Blake:

You have a knack for opening up very dangerous threads don't you?

I used to run events, quite a lot before surgery, and I also use to attend quite a few as well. I can honestly say, that when I ran events, I didn't care who won. If some newbie that just strolled up new the answer and got it to me first, they got paid. I will say I had an IM or two that basically said if I give them money now, then at their next event, they would give me money; of course, I didn't give them the money, nor did I choose to attend their events.

When one sits down and really thinks about this issue, you can't help but become quite the sinic (sp). With no means, nor any concern to on LL's part, to keep track of who is winning, and how often they win, and where they win, I can see that this system of using $L for prizes is flawed.

A simple fix for this would be to use "Certification Notes" that would be given to someone when they won a contest. These notes would have a value attached to them and would be redeemable by either an in-world Linden, or say some type of ATM machine that cashed these notes for $L. The other half of this fix would be for the redeeming bocy of the notes would have to report these notes and who turned them in. The notes themselves would be trackable by creator, therefore, if Creator A has 5 contests a week, and Player Z is redeeming 75% of Creator A's notes, then someone might want to look into these contests to see if they are on the up and up. If it's found out that Creator A is paying off his/her friends, then Creator A would have to be punished; but what do you consider a fair punishment for this type of infraction?

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I certainly can see where cheating could take place. Instead of just ranting about it, I've tried to present a system in which these type of infractions could be spotted and dealt with.

I also want everyone to know, if you are at a contest, and I am the Host, please don't IM me asking me for money. Two things will occur. First, I will consider you nothing more then a slug and no longer deal with you. Second, even if you happen to give me the correct answer to a question before anyone else, you will be ruled out of the competition for attempting to cheat. I promise to everyone that reads this, in the coming months, when I run events that have $L as prizes, I will NOT be swayed by friends, I will remain honest and trustworthy, and I will give the prize money to those that complete the task at hand within the time alloted.

Perhaps now that someone has started declaring their intentions to run a clean event, others will not only follow with their declarations, but they also will follow with their actions.

Well said Bob !!

Ah, well, if it's to cause drama... might as well go for it!!! nobody will notice it anyway in all the ongoing drama threads

Bob I don't see why you say this is a dangerous thread. And Im not going to speculate as to the reason why you say that..because that will open up a big can of worms. Events should be fair as possible. Not saying that the owner or host of any club isn't.

I said it as well Blake, and if you can't understand why it is dangerous ....... then I just don't understand.

Is it me or is Blake mysteriously starting to sound like some "Forgotten hero's" we all know...Hmmm to speculate tisk tisk tisk

Well..please be careful of catagorizing all "audience" vote events as fixed. I certainly never play favorites at my events, and 90% of them are by popular vote, and most of the time that is announced in the event listing. And, though I do see some folks vote for friends, for the most part it seems to me that folks really do vote for who they feel is deserving. And believe me when I say I never make money from an event, instead actually losing a bit with each contest.

There is never going to be a perfect system for picking winners, and the same can be said for RL. How amny times does the most deserving and best performance actually win in Olympic Ice Skating. Not often from what I've seen.

Your best bet is to attend events you actually have fun at, whether you win or not, and don't attend those that aren't fun or interesting. And try to avoid the "sore loser" syndrome.

Hell..I've won two contests lately at places where I hardly knew anyone and wasn't even aware of the contest at one of them. So it's not always about being popular.

You can't stop yourself, can you LOL

I do think that even though he is being flamed a bit, Blake does raise an excellent point, he is just not as eloquent at explaining it as some would like so I think the message is lost sometimes. Perhaps white man avatar contest was not your finest example, Blake I respectfully disagree that raising this topic is dangerous. Controversial maybe, but not any more dangerous than talking about any other issue in our little SL society.

I definitely think there is fraud that goes on at certain events. It is to be expected with the rise of the Clasino culture in SL and just the overall explosion of events. I have been to events that were very blatantly fixed, or just stretched out a ridiculously long time in an effort to affect dwell. It doesn't point to a larger problem with events overall, the sheer amount of them just means that some of them are going to be fixed - it's pure statistics, as not everyone is honest. I think it is important to know the reputation of the place and even the host of the event. A place the consistently fixes its events will not get away with it for long.

I know. I need help! HEEEEELP!



Well, you are entitled to your opinion. But can I point out that my previous post was pure sarcasm. As Jaq said, this is a 700lb elephant he's pointing out. I hope no one (except Blake) thought I was actually complimenting Blake on his accute insights, because I really, really wasnt. God forbid!

I agree David. I've won contests before and didn't even know what was going on lol. I know the system isn't perfect..nor may be financially feasible to pay Judges..it just disturbs me when I hear a comment from someone saying that most events are rigged after seeing something that can't really be helped by the host or owner..only possible recomendations or solutions..and I surely hope this isn't the reason why some do not attend events out of misperception.

You know what could/would go a long way to prevent event abuse?

..... wait for it.....

.....suspense is building.....

.... oooohh!!! who will say it?!....

Self - Government!!!!

Ha ha ha... couldn't resist!

Yes. you can have your 100 Linden prize following the trial by jury, any appeals, Linden approval of both processes and agreement of all members of the government oversight committee, followed by a national referendum

Brilliant idea. Dare I say you are volunteering to spearhead this effort?

We need a catchy, kvetchy name or slogan... hmmm...

Cristiano, you want a piece of this action?

I think I'll leave getting this instated as the new Events management procedure to those more interested in politics and paperwork than I.

But I submit "Red Tape R Us" as a working title.

Most events seem fair to me. But there are certain clubs I have stopped going to their events entirly because whenever they have a contest someone whith their club name and "dancer" or "escort" in their title always wins. cause when there are 10 people there and you know 5 of them came with you and said they voted for you and the hoochie wearing 7 pixels and a dancer title wins something isn't quite right.

Of course, there is the answer. Stop going to events hosted by hosts who are gaming the system.

For one thing, the host should list the people who are eligible for the contest before the voting begins, which would keep the guy dressed in red from even competing in a dressed-in-white contest. This might require some work on the part of the host; but good hosting is good work, after all.

Well, thank you for helping me express my point..I think..lol. I won't get into the Avitar bit. I think im rather intelligent for being a Kidner Garden Graduate.

I'm good, thanks for the offer. Kris doesn't like to share the spotlight, she gets all Tanya Harding-like and the outcome is not pretty, and generally involves a crowbar and a TOS warning letter.

Thats why she's the perfect candidate to head our self-government!

Plus, I thought you'd be a good moderating (Colin Powell-esq) factor in her cabinent. Till she gives you the boot, of course.

Gaming and Event Regulatory Commitee (GERC)

Well I went to a club once where they were giving out like 5k as the prize and when the owner said "insert name here, wins again! girl you are so lucky!" and the friend replies "gigles arn't i" yeah I think that is bull. Keep that in mind when you go to the big money events a lot of the time its just to get ppl to come and they have no intention of giving any money away.

Another thing that they do is they say its a contest but an hour after the contest is suppose to be over they still haven't asked for any votes. Even after many ppl have asked if they get to vote, if this is a contest, etc. Now here is the kicker they get LL support too.

If you supect someone is running a scam report them.

Cat