Newbie question - Camping

it just occured to me that the owner of these camping chairs eventually suffers the same problem as other property owners on the same sim.

he probably LOSES business because gambling avies (who see his high counts) can't get on the sim with all those campers ... or ifthey do, they leave because of the lag.

so everyone ... even the camping chair owners.. loses.

Maybe we could get a Linden to write some code that would rank Popular Places by the number of Picks they receive on people's profiles rather than by (spurious) Traffic Counts?
Would be a better list, and solve a lot of camping problems real quick.

First, let me say that I don't think camping is the best possible use of server resources, but neither are a lot of the activities that can be found in SL... and traffic based search rankings are subject to debate. BUT, think of it like this:

Companies pay millions to have their ads on TV during the Super Bowl, right? Think of camping the same way... A landowner will pay $50-100 per day to campers, to get high traffic, to get on the Popular Places, to get your attention. Just another way to get your attention and potentially your business...

I have little problem with camping itself or with the people who do camp. I have a mild problem with the owner of camping chairs, if they are used irresponsibly.

If they are used in private islands, fine. If they are limited to no more than 15 max in mainland sims that have more than one person owning property, I have no problem. Especially if they are ones that add ambiance to the area. I've seen a wide varity, including ones sweeping sidewalks, digging weeds... that sort. Makes the sim look less sterile, so I'd say this more like earning a wage than simply camping. You're being paid to be decorative

I have problems with those who have no regard for other property owners, that's all.

And it costs you how much for electricity to run the computer for that length of time? And for Internet access for that time?

$48 USD divided by 720 hours in a month = 6.6 cents per hour. For having your expensive computer system tied up and largely useless. It probably costs you more than that to power your monitor for the same period of time.

Still think it's "not bad money"? Sounds like a loser's gambit to me.

Not if Mommy and Daddy are footing the bill...

For a second I thought you were gonna link camping in SL to Global Warming..

On a normal day, I have about 6 hours tied up in sleeping, and 12 hours tied up in working (including commute). That's 18 hours a day my home computer is not in use, and could be doing something for me rather than nothing by keeping me logged in a camp site.

However, I've only been in Second Life a short time, and I've seen available camping go way down, both in availability and payout.

Until Linden Labs creates a welfare program or civil service, camping is the Second Life equivalent of McJobs.

Not really Amity. You are losing money. The average cost of the electricity needed to keep your pc running 18 extra hours a day - even assuming you have a relatively power efficient PC and you shut the monitor off - far outweigh the value of the Linden dollars you can earn camping during the same time. So, do your pocketbook a favor, do the environment a favor, and do your fellow SL residents a favor, and shut that PC off and go buy a few thousand $L on the Lindex. It's far cheaper, and less harmful to others.

I know, camping feels like a smart thing to do. But it's all an illusion. You are being suckered into spending more money for less return ... all so some knucklehead can increase their search rankings.

I disagree... I found one of my favorite sites right at the top of Popular Places, and I don't believe I've ever seen any camping there.

Meggy

You sure about that?

Well, can't get inworld right at the moment, but plan on checking later this evening... could be wrong, been known to be at least once or twice in my lifetime... hehehe

But, no, no outward signs of camping and/or dance pads... though they DO have freeplay slots, which does attract traffic, but I've always earned more L$'s than some stupid chair, and I'm playing a game I love, meeting interesting people, am free to walk around, mingle, have a conversation, dance, and otherwise spend some time doing what I came to SL to do, which is NOT sitting idly by... hell I do enough of that in RL.

But, no, haven't seen any chairs. I'd mention the site's name, but I am not sure if that's quite kosher.

Meggy

I have to confess a sneaking liking for a few (a VERY few) of that kind of campers precisely because it does add an aesthetic value to a large shopping mall or other commercial build.

In that context the drain of two or three campers is probably dwarfed by the drain of texture downloads and vendor scripts.

On the other hand, last week I saw a camper that rather took me aback. I was shopping in a retro mall build -- very classy, very elegant -- and one of the campers was a decaying corpse writhing on the ground, rolling over and over again. I'm still trying to see the attraction in that kind of ambience.

Why do you turn them off under people that are away?
Of course I am away when I am camping!
Do you expect me to stare at my screen, looking at my sitting avatar?
Or do you expect me to be stupid enough to play a casino game?

Camping isn't just chairs. Dance pads are functionally the exact same thing as a camp chair, the only difference being it plays an animation on the person sitting on it. I know there are other camp devices that play a variety of different animations. In this very thread other people have mentioned some of these alternative camp devices. Just because you don't see the tell-tale chair cluster doesn't mean there isn't camping.

LOL! Good point.

A limited use of camping can be an asset to a store and to the customers. Ambiance has been mentioned in posts above, but I've also seen some used for modeling clothes.

Blaze has an area where one avatar dances while modeling a suit in inventory. And on my last trip to Avilion, there was a wonderful store display of a couple, wearing the matching male and female outfits that are for sale.

Seeing the clothes on an avatar is really a great advertising tool because I will be more willing to buy an expensive outfit when I've seen it modeled rather than from a photo.

I don't really think that this should be lumped in with camping, per se. It is true, we are still talking about unattended avatars, and their presence certainly does impact the traffic calculations for the parcel. It is also true that some stores may even use them more for their traffic benefit than their marketing utility.

But I think that "mannequin" avatars are a different phenomenon. It is certainly easier to argue the benefits of a mannequin than a camper, as you have done above.

I look forward to the day when these types of unattended avatars can be managed through a very thin client such that their impact on sim is greatly lessened (for example, there is no reason to download any graphics or sound data to such a client). I have a need for such a mannequin in my stores, but I do not wish to run a full client to persist them in-world all day. I have looked at Sleek for this, but I cannot find a way to have the avie sit on a prim. If this were possible, I would have a mannequin in my store right now. As you have said, this would benefit my store and my customers.

YOU FOUND A SPOT LIKE THAT!???

Got a LM?? Ya gotta cut off screensavers & "Power Save" features of course right

After checking... yes, I'm sure.... #13 on list



Realize that... though what they have there is merely a "dance floor" and not pads.

Perhaps they are on the "Popular Places" list cuz its a fun place to visit. hmmmmm.... novel concept.

Meggy

As he only has 3 or 4 pads its not for the traffic so what he really is wanting is promo girls/boys like you see in real nightclubs that will entice people to come a make the nighclub look like a desirable place to be.
If you dont talk to anyone your just a zombie so that is no good for bringing in customers.
But if he advertised a job as a promo girl/boy it is highly likely no one would apply at the rate he is paying so instead he has to call it camping because there are no shortage of campers.
If he wants to turn off AFK campers fair enough i say, his land his rules.

OK, I can see the use of that. As a matter of fact I was just thinking about creating a job like that in my own club. But I think it should earn more than camping. It requires active participation in the things going on in the club.
I have been to clubs with similar anti-idling procedures imposed on campers and I have not returned there. In my view they were just "bad places to camp". If the club owner would make it clear what they expect of an avatar, I would see those places in a very different light.

So I guess I have been doing a bad thing all this time by camping.