Why, exactly, is there still camping?

Hi Egon <3 x 5

I have wonder about this but it seems like over the years depending on what browser I am using often I see all these sites based on trying to sell me something first often I can't find what I am looking for majority of time regardless if I use Firefox or IE.
Sometimes I get quite discouraged using Search on the web half of the time.
So I assumed its those who pay for hits and the most get the higher placement
Its good to know its not that way.

Basically it's a step in the right direction but it does need a slight rethink. Keep the only count an av once per 24hours part (though I imagine that might generate some rather large lookup tables for popular sims so it could be a problem), and change the calc something like:

Up to 5 minutes = 0 traffic.
For each minute over the first 5, 1 point. (or 10 points if you like! doesn't matter!)
Up to one hour then stop counting. So 55 max for any visitor in one day. no matter how often they return and how long they stay.
You could do away with the current divide the online hours across the regions that way as well. Just keep a simple per area count.

Sure it'll be gamed, but it eliminates the point of having camp pads run for over an hour so noobs can still get a few L's from camping but will need to hop about a bit more. Dedicated "real" campers will still be able to work the system (as will camp bots). But casual "leave the computer running while I sleep" camping will be pointless.

It also makes a distinction between a quick visit. Wait for it to rez then run screaming, or go to a nice club and stay for ages.

Because it's a totally restructured way of computing traffic, you can just say "this can't be compared with previous traffic figures in any way". So the visible drop in traffic figures will be meaningless.

Just a thought. Yeah. Like talking to the wind. I know.

With all the campbots loose on the grid, I doubt noobs have an easy time finding camping pads that are unused.

To answer the OP...there IS no good reason for camping to continue to exist in SL. None. Not one. Nope. Zip. Zilch. Huh-uh. Unless, of course, you happen to game the system by running a herd of alts and campbots - all trickling Lindenbux into separate accounts at some pathetic rate.

Too true, but even worse it is:

a) a horribly inefficient payola scheme requiring massive SL resources to support as opposed to mere payola

b) as mentioned above, it is desired by LL because it boosts concurrency numbers somewhere between 30 and 50% depending on which analysis you look at. LL likes the concurrency numbers to be high because it help them attract attention.

The net effect is that - I love this part - through policy LL is getting players to arrange payola schemes for them at no direct cost to LL.

Big heap of pathetic BS. There ARE good reasons for camping. Even with a reformed traffic system I will keep my 3 camping spots for the public AND the camping dance poles for the groupmembers. Because I like to give out free money to newbies and not so newbies in a way that fits with the theme of the club. I do not have any campbots gaming my camping spots, it seems they do not find them, and absolutely no overloading of the sim and no conflict with neighbours. And what right do you have to tell me what I can do with my money on my land ?? None. Not one. Nope. Zip. Zilch.

In addition, camping chairs are there because they work. By raising the traffic count on the land sales go up.

I don't have camping chairs at my store but after a day there building I've inadvertently raised the traffic count. The next day I almost always have more sales. Most people are putting up camping chairs because there is a direct link between a higher traffic rating and more sales. Pure and simple.

I totally agree that camping chairs put me off a store. I always ignore the top results on Search and scan the shop description for the word camping. I remember finding camping chairs on the roof of my favourite furniture store and being gutted that their traffic figure wasn't real. I'd actually been using them as a benchmark for my own store's success.

Plus I've been hit by the 'can't get into my home sim because there's 40 campers there' headache. Had to move home and lost a lot of money over it. Personally I can't stand camping chairs.

However. despite the social issues with cc's, it seems that higher traffic figures = more sales and that it what is speaks the loudest to a lot of business owners.

I more often that not find that the high traffic areas are the least inspirational. And we all know the high traffic areas are synonymous with camping. Is the high traffic on these sims truly related to the camping chairs? I’m not sure…perhaps it’s simply the similarities in personality of those who like high traffic, badly designed areas full of clutter and mayhem--perhaps they share the same camping mentality. I think it's more that these types of people love to hang out in 'popular places' and get paid (peanuts) to either chat...or not be there.

Among the many types of citizens, there are two that stand out in this situation. One is the type listed above—he who thrives on mayhem and chaos. And the other is the citizen that appreciates serenity, balance, and thoughtful design. It is very rare to find camping chairs in the latter of the two areas.

Camping chairs turn me off. This being as it were--I do not judge anyone who sits in them, nor do I care whether a sim owner prefers to game the system…What I care about is an environment conducive to socialization, creation, and sometimes even inspiration.

The most respected of sim owners know that it’s not about how you game the system…it’s about how artful and savvy you are with the platform. It’s not always an ‘if you build it, they will come’ scenario—that’s just the beginning.

There are way too many amazing low-traffic sims out there to even think about hanging out in ‘popular places.’ Popular places is for the fishes.

Then why not just give the newbies and not so newbies money directly as a gift, maybe with a nice landmark to your club and a notecard welcoming them to SL with a little useful information on it, rather then participating in a ridiculously gamed system if your motives are purely altruistic?

How's about one better and give the poor newbie a JOB at your club, dancing or serving drinks or something where they actually have to interact with their environment and your clientele rather then turning them into afk zombies?

Or I know, maybe you could have an event... Trivia contest or something where you award prizes for the unwashed but witty masses.

If you arent interested in traffic from camping chairs and just want to help the poor newbie that LL wont give any play money to, there are FAR better ways to do it then to play along with a system so completely flawed.

If "traffic' was eliminated, I wonder how many of you claiming to do this "for the Newbies" would still have camping chairs.

I read in another thread where a guy figured out how to figure out how many bots are in traffic figures according to camping spots and other criteria. Most everyone agreed he was pretty close to the mark.

Anywho,

What he found that about 25% of the 60 day concurrency number was due to camp bots!

I don't think LL will be willing to scale back their numbers by that amount. It will make their product look less attractive to businesses.

That plus the fact that they advertise camping as a legitimate low end job in their "Official" guide.

It isn't a ridiculously gamed system, I like it and the people who use it (the campers) like it. Some of these camping systems are fun and fit nicely in the theme...

I do pay newbie staff but for work, not for camping. I pay now 120L/h as greeters (10), 2L/5min for dancing (4), 2L/10min for camping (3). I don't have any afk zombies ;P

and that makes it clear where your 'problem' is ...

the problem is not the camping but the Linden's traffic system. As long as you dont take the ressources of your sim neighbours I don't see ANY problem with camping. In the end all these threads about camping or not lead to 2 conclusions: Lindens traffic count is useless (I agree to that), and paying users want to get rid of free accounts and go back to the time where the grid was nice and empty - and thats just eliticist (?) newbie bashing. Camping and free accounts are here to stay, you just have to learn to live with that...

See you same time next week in the next camping thread ...

LL has been whitling away at "traffic, DI, whatever buzz word" For a very long time, reason being it's very easily gamed. Traffic will slide away when LL decides it will. It has been mentioned and it will happen.
People have to recognize this and decide "Am I using Traffic, am I a part of the solution or a part of the problem".

You might want to re-read that thread and some of the questions raised about the validity of his conclusions..

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

thats a good one.

Nice try, but I am hardly what you would call an elitist.

I currently have a 13Kmeter freebie garden full of hundreds of plants for which I pay tier and maintain soley thru my own funds, tho yes I do get perhaps 150$L a month or so thru donations at the wishing well... that gives you free planters for donations. I maintain this garden because it is my own personal little SL dream, and I think its nice to give folks free flowers.

When I first joined SL I payed about $200USD to aquire enough land to host a free apt building for new players where they could live rent free as long as they wanted. I kept that establishment running purely coz I'm stupid and too nice to folks.

I have a t-shirt I got from LL for referring every single person I could persuade to try this place out.

I am NOT a newbie basher, my darling, I am a basher of people who take advantage of others by gaming them thru a system full of holes and failures.

Besides, IDV will clear the grid off nicely for me.

My word and I do apologize sweetheart. Please bash the people who game the system, not the campers. The problem is the traffic / search system, not the camping ...

And I still love my camping chairs ;P

Pbbbbbbt!

You say there are good reasons for camping to exist, but you fail to name a single one.

Yay for you.

You "like to give out free money to newbies and not so newbies", and you think CAMPING is the best way to do it?

And I have NO right to tell you what to do with your money on your land...until it starts lagging the sim for your neighbors or those on protected land. That's when your fun becomes someone else's problem.

Heck, throw money away by the BAGFUL to everyone who comes and visits your sim. There are LOTS of other inventive ways to give money away in SL - besides setting out a bunch of chairs for the tweak-headed welfare scamming camp crowd.

Camping is simply the lamest way to game the search engine. And a pretty pathetic way of making money in SL.

Camping fills a void - the one between being too new to understand SL culture and thus being worthy of being hired, and being skilled enough to be hired/productive on their own. Who wants to hire someone one day old? Or one week old? They can't help themselves, much less anyone else, for the most part. I wouldn't hire anyone one day or one week old unless they came with a marketable skill already (photoshop, rl DJ skills, etc.)

Some people actually like the thought of earning their SL living, and some people don't have the extra disposable income (if they are between jobs or some situation like that). It is a staple of the economy, but is hard to measure how much. I used to camp like hell (I was between jobs) and I shopped with it. But it was also satisfying earning my SL living "on my feet" instead of turning tricks as an escort. And I made some good friends while doing it.

Camping, when done right, serves a decent purpose. When LL gets rid of the traffic stat as the ranking measure for search, camping will still be here. It may not be as prevalent, but it will still be here, because there are people who will give newbies a hand.