to charge or not to charge

Ok... I run an amusement type place and get several hundred legit visitors a day. It usually takes around 15 minutes to go through. People always tell me how fun and unique my place is, however, I'm getting really sick of people not tipping the hat at the end. I thought I would just let people decide how much fun they had, and hope for a tip from them. A few tip really well, however, most just walk on by. I don't mind losing money running this place, but I would like to make more, so I can keep it going. So my question is, should I charge an entry fee or just keep providing a free service in hopes that people understand it costs me a lot to run it? If I do charge an entry fee, what is the best way to do that? What to do? Why is SL full of cheap-asses?

Is the tip hat clearly visible? Some people might overlook it. You can place them in more than one place, also. You could also make a sign or something that says what you said in your post about being happy to allow this place to be viewed by everyone, but it's costing money to run it and a tip would be greatly appreciated if you enjoyed your time here. Or something along those lines.

sometime people are going to have to charge for places like that. For to long they have been free. Sure some will not go if they have to pay but lets face it, if its worth the visit it should be paid for. You have to pay for having the place, others just dont realize this.

Modest charges - such as to pay to tp in to a ride - are acceptable in my eyes. 10-20L to tp is good and doesn't break anyone's bank.

You'll never get every person to tip...but I agree with placing the tip hats in more places with a friendly sign that says something along the lines of "Your donations help keep this place open". Short and friendly.

I don't know if I like the idea of charging for entry. I tip when I go to places, I know what goes into the creation and maintaining of a public use area so I always tip when visiting places like that. I would not pay for entry to a place that I had never been, not knowing what was inside...I would go somewhere else to explore.

I would not charge an entry fee. There are enough free things to do in SL that if you make someone pay you before they even get to see what they are paying for they will just TP out and go do something else.

The above post had good suggestions. Make sure your donation bowls are clearly marked, and put up a polite sign reminding people that donations help offset the cost of operation and are appreciated.

It's the curse of running an entertainment venue rather than being a land baron or selling goods - it's hard to get people to part with $L for enjoying something that they can just as easily enjoy for free. Take pleasure in the fact that your efforts are making SL a more fun place for everyone. A couple hundred visitors a day is astonishingly good!

What if you kept the basics free, but put a reasonable cost on certain items (maybe some rides, or games)?

If there is a tip object visible, I always tip places like this. Unfourtunately though, unless a place comes very highly recommended, I will not pay because I have no way of knowing if it is worth my money - well, okay, I might pay if it is cheap enough, but it would have to be really cheap, which would then be way less than the amount that I normally tip.

I would also suggest that there should be a very visible sign by the tip object stating something to the effect of 'Please help keep this place free for all to enjoy'.

Some places have been offering free 'entertainment' so as to attract as many people as possible to a sim, to boost traffic, so some may be assuming this is the case with your amusement park. As Abi said, make sure the Tip Hat and message is clearly visible.

Although, since just recently, traffic won't affect Search rankings anymore...

I went and had a look, I saw no rides, basically what I saw was a cave you walk through, some things you can sit on (like coffin, and such)

a few ghosts come out, stuff like that
damage is enable, but nothing hurt me (others might be getting hurt and dieing before they make it to the tip jar)

to be brutally honest I found nothing that would make me want to tip (for me to tip for places like that, it has to be spectacular, something that would make me want to go back)
I am now at the end (I think) there is a store of sorts and the tip hat, which if I were to not look or wait I would just think was another unrezzed sign

I would suggest putting a tip hat/ball kind of thing at the beginning, and middle and end

maybe something like I have in my arcade, that gives them a fortune when they tip it

I just visited your place. Very nice! I really should have taken someone with me, however, because I scare easily. I did tip at the end, too. But I was trying to tip the box under the hat for the longest time. That was probably just me being an idiot, but there may be some other idiotic people out there too. So maybe have a floating skull tip jar or something??

Unfortunately, most people, if they can do something for free, won't bother to pay a voluntary tip afterwards. If it can be done for free, they see no value in it.

But an up-front fee to access the area at all will keep a lot of people out. They might not be willing to pay for something without seeing that it is worth paying for.

I think I would try placing a tip jar at the entry and/or at the exit for each ride, with a "recommended voluntary donation" indicated on a sign. So if they enjoyed the ride, they can make a small tip while they are still thinking about how cool the ride was. Or maybe set up some sort of scripted acess system that records avatar keys, and only lets them ride each ride once for free. o reset the ride so they can ride it a second time, they need to pay a small fee?

Common sense says that it costs money to hold a large parcel of land or to own a sim. and that is someone is presenting a public attraction, that they have expenses and overhead for keeping that open. But SL has been 'everything free and wide open' for event access for so long that most people think that everything should be free.

Rha!!! You still have your arcade???? I couldn't find it last time I was there.

To the OP....for me, an amusement park needs to have roller coasters and similar rides like at a fair for me to be interested. There was a GREAT one on Galveston Isle (no longer there). It was free to residents of Galveston but charged 75L (I think) for an all-day pass to the public. I felt that was reasonable for the quality and variety of rides in that park.

1. Your visitors should never be out of sight of a tip jar. Put them everywhere, clearly marked. You never know when just one appeal for a tip, at the right time, will result in success.

2. You should sell something. Amusement parks make a lot of their money from sales of food and souvenirs. Sell T-shirts and funny hats. Sell ghosts that people can put in their own gardens. Sell candles with your SLURL on them. Sell avatars pictures of themselves on your rides (I haven't seen anyone do this in SL. Might be a niche market for a new product, if it can be done.)

3. Have a group. Send out notices to your group when you've got something new to show them.

4. Have events at your place. Be sure to have a donation jar or two out near the DJ's tip jar, with appropriate signage.

You can't charge up front, nobody will come. So you will have to be shameless in your begging.

Thanks for all the replies. I doubt I will charge an entry fee, and maybe just express the fact that tips keep this place open.

Raorth: Sorry you didn't enjoy yourself. That's why tipping is optional. But when I watch people go through, and do everything, and laugh and have a good time and still not tip, that's what eerks me. Where is there a coffin in my cave?

The latter item would be unnecessarily complex to do, involving bots probably, but in general: yes. People are much more likely to "tip" by buying a souvenir, which feels more like a standard commercial transaction and avoids them having to think "oh how much was that worth but how can anyone put a value on an experience and should I tip at all er I'll just leave". Also, if they are any good it gives them something funny which at some point they might whip out when other people are around, thus increasing your particular exposure.

If a place has a really astounding reputation one can charge for entry, but few do - in any case, _always have a shop_.

You might consider renting out spaces in a shopping center at the end or something. The traffic is valuable, think of it that way. Selling advertising might be a fair idea too.

Hmm I suspect somewhere along the line pay to enter should become more common as, heck if you can't afford $10L to access something that someone else is paying to keep up for for your enjoyment after days of work then you aren't a great deal of value to the owner other than an "Ohh Ah, nice place!" which is great but doesn't keep doors open, for creators who may be good but not well off finacially.

I agree completely... Do you have a gift shop? (o.o)

Even if it's 2 prims, a chatty spam script, and a texture. Put it out around the area for L$5 and just about anyone will buy it for the novelty value alone. Stick your park name on it and you get free instant advertisement. (^_^)y

I know I've been known to buy a souviner or two at places I like. Even been tempted to make a thing or two for th' island.

Mari

yeah I do, it is off the kids store which is now being turned into a prefab/furniture store
I am once again shuffling things around

just check my picks the link in there should take you right to it
I now charge 1L for the games though, to see if anyone is actually using them, and lo and behold, no one has been using them

So I might end up removing it, not sure yet

it may not have been a coffin, things were taking a long time to rez, might have just been something to sit in

I was very confused in there, not sure where to walk and getting stuck a lot

*shrug*

some folks might like that kind of thing, but I am like Czari when I think amusement I think rides and such

Even if that did become common, it's not necessarily good for the owner. Being charged $10 upfront could easily keep me from tipping $100 at the end. Whenever a "tip" is added to my RL bill, I tip that amount instead of something more. On the other hand, there's no harm in having your tip jars automatic options for payment be 100,200,300,400 instead of 10,20,30,40. As long as the option to type in a number is still there and nothing is preselected, people will feel like they are making the decision to tip more.

i only called it amusement in my description in this thread. I said amusement because it's not a mall, store, or club. It's something you walk through that I was even told today was very engaging. I appreciate the troubleshooting comments such as "getting stuck" and that is always being looked at and improved upon. Your posts seem downplay the amount of time and effort that I have put in the place. Thanks for the constructive criticism though, even if there were subtle jabs in there.

Yes but problem is one person tipping $100 means nothing when the other 100 tip nothing, and if only 20 out of 100 people pay to enter, you are still better off.
SL users are generally tight arse moth-filled purse thriftmongers to put it nicely, the only way this will change is to start charging and make people come up with entry money by whatever means. Otherwise fantastic built sims just get deleted when the owners can afford no more.