Another hunt thread - hidden/moved stuff

So go ahead and move it. It's the ones who hide it that irk me.

What did it for me was a store that had several hundred Easter eggs that looked almost exactly but not quite like the hunt egg in baskets for sale for L$50 all around the store. I'll bet they sold quite a few baskets to people who thought they were picking up the egg.

1 - When I shop, hunt, causally visit, I do not always know who owns the store, who works there, etc. 99.9% of the time if there is conversation going on, it is stuff I do not want to see. So I normally have chat open, but move screen to hide it. Focused on looking at the store, etc.

2 - I like exploring. I love taking pictures. Many places seem to love to involve glow or other effect that causes my name/others names/group tag stuff to show up in pictures. So I tend to have name tags/group stuff off.

3 - I'm shy. I actually get nervous if there is someone else in a store, regardless of whether or not they own the place.

So Lexxi...here's what I am going to assume. I'm going to assume, since you say you actually look around, that you don't use cheat lists. That gives you one gold star. Second, you state that you like exploring, which I'm ging to assume is one of the reasons you do the hunts--not just for the free schwag--second gold star. Third, you were polite enough to state your case here without throwing barbs--third gold star. I appreciate the feedback and will try to remember those things next time I"m ignored.

Not silly you, silly them. What is wrong with a little common courtesy these days! Regardless of the language barrier. It used to be the norm. Now it is the exception? Oh my English is not that good so is that an excuse to be rude?

Also, there are "freebie" translators available. I have one. Perhaps the same effort that is put in looking for a free skin or whatever could be made into looking at "freebie" translators.

Whenever anyone comes to my sim I greet them and mostly they greet me back in their native tongue. If not I put my translator on. Arielyn, you are so correct on this one.

If I decide to go hunting, I try to do as many places as I can. That's why I don't stop and look around more than I have to. I would say that your freebie/gift shall sell your shop, when it's unpacked and I go "Aah nice!" over it. That's the best exposure. If I wear it often others could ask me about it.

If I tp out angry and frustrated, I often think "I'm not going to buy anything here no matter how good the gift is!" Maybe i trash it immediatly without looking on it.

Cheat sheets may look like you are beeing screwed. And it's a tough market. Sometimes I think there's more content creators that consumers. I spend 20K a month on shopping, but I still visit only some of the shops that participate in a hunt. It's not fair, I know. But see it this way, those who have all the time in the world to spend on hunts, do they earn money in RL? Do they buy §L?

What would you prefer - a overwhelming "Thank you oooh I love your gift you are so generous", or a silent customer that TP out quickly; but return later and spend some money?

There are hunts where you have to PAY to do them???

Only been on a few hunts. If I do one I do one. and when I look at the prizes and if I find something I like I will go back.

Now my take on it is I like to wander around while hunting, to me it is not a time competition. Yes I have a friend that does teh beeline she finds she leaves. Course I dont hunt with her, cause she is well too hurry up we need to go onto the next one kind of person lol.

Didnt know there were cheat lists out there. I really need to get out more often.

Ummm was with a friend shopping at a store and they must have been having a hunt and I asked said friend why there was this thing up on the wall just mentioning that it looked a little odd up there..... well holey cow you would have thought that was gold up on that wall cause we pretty much almost got trampled lol. And as soon as they got they left.

Bec

THIS !!!

I do try to watch chat and acknowledge any greetings. However, it is not always obvious that who is greeting me is the Owner or just a Greeter. If I know it is the owner, I do say Thanks, but I won't say thanks just a Greeter.

QFT -- the thing I hate the worst about stores that make the hunt really hard is that if I cannot find it, I usually have no way to bypass and move on in the hunt.

The Keys to the VIP or something like that was charging a fee. I glanced thru the list of participants and decided there were not enough stores that I knew for sure were good, so I skipped that one.

The only other time I've seen L$ associated with hunts are the Treasure Quest hunts were charging L$10 for each of 5 items in their Challenge hunts -- and I had no problem with that because of all the extra time/work they put into those hunts.

To the store owner who greeted the hunters and didnt get replies or thank yous:

Many hunters are moving through stores all the time, its rare to see the store owner there, its much more common to see a bot that greets you and spams you with a message, a landmark and unwanted group invite. Hunters have to battle the lag, wait for items and people to rez, delete the spam that's just been sent, and all the while usually have 3-6 IM windows open of hunters group chat and friends chat.

As for finding the prize quickly, because prizes use the same box and because that box is being seen at each location, and is cached, it will appear and rez more quickly than everything else at the store. So it can often be the first thing that people see in the grey mist. Unless someone hid it inside a wall.

I am glad that you had a lot of hunters tping in, you are lucky, it raises your traffic. I did a hunt and because of people before me dropping out and making the prize too hard to find I got very, very few hunters reaching me.

To everyone in general:

Hunts have to fun above all else, you really have to remember that some people can only come onto SL 1 or 2 days a week and have a few hours to play. They do not want to spend those hours in one store looking for the proverbial needle.

I spend 5 hours in one store looking for the prize (crashed 3 times) and finally the owner arrived laughing heartily as me and the other hunters were steaming mad, she had hidden it inside a wall, it was impossible to see or find. Wild horses would never drag me to visit her store again and fellow hunters agreed.

A lot of us quit the whole hunt ultimately.
I wouldnt dream of standing in a real life store for more than twenty minutes for something free that cost 5 dollars. You can't expect people to hunt for long periods for a prize that would cost 50 cents.

Store owners need to really consider how bad it looks when they complain and ban people, in a real life store you would have to do something seriously bad to be ejected and never ever allowed to enter again.
Drama like that really spoils the fun.

A new system for getting free items, having fun, playing games and bonding is Lucky Tribes. It is so much less stressful than hunting.

OMG! I always assume the owner is there doing business and not wanting a lot of chit chat. I will occasionally leave a compliment if I run into an owner who makes things I absoluetly love, but generally I consider thier time too valuable to chit chat with me the annonomous shopper.

I have only done a hunt or two and then just for fun. I don't care for those where you must progress from point a to point z. I will only do the type that a full list of locations is somewhere, then I can stop at a couple stops as I have time.. and pick up a thing here or there. I never plan to complete them.

My main AV is male and has participated in hunts as a vendor. As a vendor, I do move the hunt object around but try to keep it in a place that, yes, you have to look but it's not secreted away someplace, like between two display boards or something. Someone walking around would be able to see it eventually. However, I think most people cam around and they can find it too. So, hidden or obscured, but not impossible. Since I go on hunts, I try to walk the fine line between hunters having to make an effort and having to make so much effort they go away annoyed. The last hunt, I started putting a hint near the landing point that would tell someone exactly where it is but only makes sense when they look around. Of course it seems some people didn't bother to read the hints but that's probably because they began camming or walking before anything rezzed near them.

My alt AV is female and she goes on hunts. Most hunts are female things, which I understand, but it's still a shame that there isn't a guy one at least twice a year. Anyway, I sometimes have 5 minutes to hunt. Other times I have hours. If I have only a few minutes, I do tend to tp in, find object, tp out. If I have plenty of time, I'm more prone to walk around and look while hunting, assuming the store sells things I'd buy and I can actually move and/or things eventually rez.

Once I go through items from the hunt, they tend to fall into three categories:
1. trash (because it's not something I will use or, most often, it's just really, really not my style)
2. Cool, I'll keep that one. I might find someplace to wear/use it.
3. WOW, I totally have to go back to this place and see what else they have. And I do go back, especially if I did not have time to shop when I was hunting.

So, if I have time, I will look around while I'm hunting but if I have little time or the place is so crowded I couldn't look even if I wanted to since no textures ever rez or it's nearly impossible to move, it's the hunt gift that brings me back. What makes sure I never return is making it impossible to find the object and/or giving very obscure hunt hints or none at all. Especially in large places. Because, no, I'm not going to wander your 1/4 or 1/2 sim or 4 floor store for several hours looking for some tiny object that blends into your walls.

Through my experience as both a vendor and a hunter, I've come across some things that annoy me about hunts. However, they don't keep me from going on hunts completely. I really do wish that hunt objects are either plain colored/textured but big enough to be seen from a short distance or small but brightly/differently colored. Because, again, I'm not spending several hours wandering around looking for a silver colored bump against a gray wall.

Hunt hints that involve cultural references, movie or tv quotes, etc. are not helpful to me. I'm American and have some knowledge of British and Canadian culture/tv/movies, however, 9 times out of 10, I have no idea what the hint might mean. I imagine that non-Americans have even more problems with it.

I know a lot of people prefer hunt gifts to be boxed so as not to inflate their inventories so much. However, having to unpack boxes to try things on is just one extra step and, often, I will simply not bother and discard the box unopened from stores that I don't know or seem to remember were not my style. I prefer to get things in folders so I can simply "add to outfit" to try it on and move on to the next and also don't have to go back and find the copied box I just opened.

And as to the being greeted while hunting thing... I guess I'm one of the rude ones. I often won't notice someone has said something and/or don't realize this person is talking to me in particular. If I do notice, I might say Hi but that's about it. If the tag above your head says you are the owner or greeter, I won't notice, I have tags off. In general, I don't pay any attention to anything in public chat as it's extremely rare that anything said is directed at me. I also usually have it so I don't even see public chat, am talking in IM with someone and/or am on voice with someone. So, I apologize to all the owners, greeters and otherwise friendly people who I have ignored. I do have to admit though, when someone talks to me, even if they just say Hi or Welcome, my first reaction is "what do they want?" not, "Oh, how nice. I'm being greeted." It's a personality flaw of mine. Sorry.

I can only speak for myself but, I must confess, as a merchant I have never understood the concept of making your freebies/hunt items as difficult to locate as possible. Purely from a selfish perspective, before even taking the hunters into account, it makes sense to me as a merchant to place the item(s) in a strategic but easily located spot which will guarantee that the hunters/shoppers will find it without heroic effort yet still see the parts of the shop I would like them to see. Isn't the point to pack an item into the freebie box that acts as a free ad for your store and makes the finder want to come back and explore later? Not to mention all their friends who may see that item inworld and possibly search out your shop. There may be some grid hunters who love a challenge at every turn but I'll bet that this does not apply to the majority - especially when many hunts are now featuring hundreds of merchants. The beauty of SL commerce is that you never "lose" anything by offering freebies (I know some will vociferously disagree) and the upside, providing that the freebie is of good quality and represents you well, can be tremendous. Just my thoughts.

p.s. NEVER disrespect a customer who is acting reasonably - even if you think their question is silly or irrelevant. It is not silly or irrelevant to them and sometimes a level headed and kind response will pay much bigger dividends than you can imagine. It is a proven fact in the world of marketing and in the service industry in general - a customer who leaves angry will tell far more people of their experience than a customer who leaves satisfied. Don't let it happen to you

Oh thank you!!!! I totally skipped a "Haunted house hunt" because I was clueless. Even if I had read books in English. I don't feel so inferior now!

There was one hunt I almost quit because of a merchent. They were going on about how stupid hunters were. he gave a hint, one person found it immediately from that hint, and the owner noted what I stated above. Something like "you can't imagine how many hunters do not get the prize after I give that hint" (but meaner and nastier).

The hint was something that indicated the prize was at the top of the stairs near an attic. I cammed up there but didn't see anything. I was about to climb the stairs to look closer (as sometimes the prize cannot be seen from a distance) when that other hunter noted that they had found it . . etc. etc. That other person was no where near the attic.

The prize was in a completely different building. No attic nearby. The LM lead to one building using the name of that building's store. The other bulding had a different store name. Though the merchant owned both.

So yes, do not disrespect your visitors. heh, which reminds me of another in the same hunt. Never been back to either store.

The prize was in the top of the building inside a bell tower in the bell. I got it easily then climbed back down. I recalled the store and prize from pictures in a thread and knew ithe prize was neat so I started looking around at the rest of the store. The store owner and someone else were sitting up near the top of the building. They started laughing about how some customers simply can't see the obvious hunt prizes. I felt stupid and left. Even though I had found the hunt prize and was just looking at the rest of their store. The prize was 0L so I guess they didn't get a notice that I "bought" it in world (though transaction history would have it, but no reason for them to have that open and notice I found it, heh).

edited to add: and yes, I told "everyone" about that store owner's actions, though I was as vague then as I am now, to be fair and to account for misunderstandings.

I tend to find that where the hunt item is easy to find I then spend time looking aound the store. Where it's difficult I get so frustrated that as soon as I find the item I head off to the next one. I also think many of these hunts now are too long and those at the end of the list must really suffer. The VIP one was about the right length. The ones with 100's of locations I'm not sure I'll "do" anymore, or at least not in full. I'll be very picky on the ones I attempt going for stores I recognise or where these has been a blog posted about the item and I like it. These long hunts are geared for those that spend most of their time in SL - that is not the case for many. Many of the hunt gifts I have are still boxed up and I'm unlikely now to upack them - seems a shame for those designers who have spent time providing the gifts.

As for moving them - with VIP the hints were posted on the blog, yet the keys moved without updating the blog. So if they are to be moved and there are official hints then _please_ update the blogs too. We spent forever searching for one in particular where the hint was way out of date.

Saying hi to the owner - so many avis have "owner" tags then it's not always easy to spot who the owners are.

Me too. Because I don't really mind helping a customer when I'm working on something in my store, but it *is* a distraction.

every 6 months or so we have a mega hunt on our sim
we hide about 200 prizes all over, some easy to find, some not so.
half the prizes are cash, ranging from 10L$ to 500L$, the rest are popular items from our store, one or two new releases, and absolutely no freebies. the top prizes are worth 3000L$, the cheapest are on average 100L$, with lots of middle prizes.
all the prizes are once off, when they're found, they disappear.
we close the SIM for one hour before the hunt... and then its open and just carries on until its done.

we get tons of ppl.. and many hang around and chat. we actually enjoy the hunt a lot. we sit in a conspicuous place.. and ppl often come and join us after the hunt is over.

sales are usually up for several weeks after the hunt, and we often get new 'regular' customers. we have never participated in grid wide hunts.

sometimes we do the hunt as part of a bigger event, and hold a 2 or 3 part hunt to cover as much of the world clock as possible.

i kinda enjoy the hunts, i like meeting the ppl who want to stay and talk after.. those who dont, its ok.. i can see them having fun with their friends, and that, i suppose is the main point of the whole affair.

I absolutely hate these kinds of hunts because:

1) they start when I'm offline and everything is gone by the time I log in

OR

2) I'm online, but there are so many people trying to get into the sim and find the prizes that the lag is horrid. I have a tendency to skip the first few days of a hunt specifically to avoid the crowds and lag.

The freebie entitlement mentality is nothing new.
Years ago when money trees first came out I put one on my land to help newbies. within 24 hours I realized it was not newbies using it for the most part it was a host of new alts that simply zipped from place to place cleaning out trees. The same avs would land in the same order once an hour and clean it. After a month of watching it carefully I took the tree down.

Freebies from stores though I sort of take a different tack on. People have been placing freebies in their stores for years before lucky chairs or hunts. It's a great way for someone to sample the quality of your work. If the freebie is no transfer then the merchant doesn't even have to worry about folks reselling it. Let them come snag the freebie and poof. Eventually they will sort their inventories and at least look at your work. If you have included a LM with it they might just hunt you down later to actually buy.

well, that proves the saying... you can please some of the ppl some of the time but not all of the ppl all of the time

I would rather do it this way than give away things worth less. the point is to showcase our better stuff and this is the only way we can do it without making something redundant.

I like your way of doing it. I mentioned earlier that I'd hate to set an item for free that I've sold to people for the proper amount. I'd feel it is letting the paying customers down. But setting something for free, and when it's gone it's gone, is different. Another alternative for me would be to create something new and good, and let it go for free in a hunt to anyone who finds it. Then put it out for normal sale when the hunt has finished. It's the idea of using previously, or normally, sold items that I don't care for.

Phil we also have put out limited versions of new items.. for example a hot tub with only a partial menu (ie only 2 anims per sub menu) ... sort of like a taster ver.
we also put in one once off item, exclusive to the hunt only.

our hunts are trivia hunts too, with relatively simple (but funny) questions, with a yes/no answer.

I know some ppl might not like this kind of hunt but our customers seem to like it, and they bring their friends who then become customers too. we do announce on the event calendar and i notice ppl flying around the sim looking for prizes in advance.. even though we announce that prizes will be set out in the 1 hour before the hunt when the sim is closed. i think there are ppl who make a living finding the prizes and selling notecards of locations...

as for the money prizes, i have noticed that some ppl will then go shopping in the store with the money they have won, and the ppl who get the bigger cash or item prizes, more often than not come and say thank you.