Fly or no fly

[Amiryu Hosoi]

I did a quick search but can't seem to find any answers or suggestions. I have 4 sims and only 1/4 of 1 sim is my inworld market / store. Because I want to force my visitors to explore and experience my scenery sims better and because we are starting Edo period Japanese roleplay I decided to block flying. Now, what I would like ti know is this; would block flying have a negative impact on my sales or are people smart enough to use the map and tp where they need to go?

Any case studies?

Ami

[Irene Muni]

Usually I don't shop in malls or markets where I cannot fly. But it's  just my way, not saying that should be a general rule.

[Wildcat Furse]

thanks to the Phoenix Viewer we can fly in no fly zones, so the restriction doesn't bother me at all, but from a commercial point of view it is better to allow flying *meows*

[Argus Collingwood]

I would allow flying in the shopping area and have many tp points in the no-fly zones along with numerous signs that give notecards explaining/promoting the RP areas. In my personal experience, people love to be able to fly anywhere and it is a turnoff not being able to.

[Amiryu Hosoi]

I didn't know Phoenix was able to bypass the Fly settings. What is the use of setting your land to "no fly" if people still can fly whenever they want. I think LL should stop allow viewers that can bypass land settings. If I am right, it is the land owner that decides about the settings, not the visitor. Btw, what other land settings can be bypassed with non LL viewers?

Ami

[Honey Puddles]

 

I've been to your store before, and it's always seemed huge (though I'm assuming you've proabably reorganized since I was last there). Walking speed is SOOO much slower than flying speed. And with your store as spread out as it has been in the past, with so many small things like candles and lamps and small ornamental plants rezzed out, you have to get close to them to even see them... you can't easily cam-shop.walking that whole thing would be so tedious.

Plus, I know you like to do the ornamental gardens thing.. and if there's any walkways, railings, staircases, bridges, or ponds, it's pretty easy with a little lag at just the right moment, to end up on the wrong side of a railing, underwater, or back on the ground floor or a multi-level structure. Then good luck trying to get back on the path if fly is disabled. I seem to recall that you used to put your landing point at one end of the sim, and try to get people to walk through your entire store to find whatever item they were after.

The harder and more limiting/frustrating you make things on your customers.. blocking fly, blocking scripts, even blocking the ability to rez packaged items.. the more likely they are to just give up, leave and not come back... no matter how gorgeous your products are You've got ONE first chance with each customer.. don't encourage them to leave "to get their AO/collar/hugger to work properly" or "to unpack the item they just bought".. and try not to give them any excuse to say "this is too much effort, I'm going home, it's too laggy to maneuver here" or "god this sim goes on for days, I don't have enough time to shop here".

While it may be "immersion breaking" to have people flying around.. are you running a business in SL to create an immersive RP experience? or are you running the business to make money? If you want to block flight for RP purposes, I'd say do it on your other parcels, and leave the store as permissive as possible (with a short autoreturn).

I've always been impressed with the scale, detail and scope of your shop.. but I've always felt like it's just too massive, and too time consuming to shop. I just don't have that much time to find a shoji screen that I like. Blocking flight would make it even harder. I'd vote for not blocking flight.

[Gaudin Himmel]

Actually, if you knew how, you could fly in a no fly area with the old Viewer 1.23. I don't know about Viewer 2 .

[Madeliefste Oh]

I am a 'search on marketplace, buy inworld shopper'.  From the moment I tp to a shop from the marketplace I must be able to find the item I saw within 5 minutes. In small shops that is no problem, but large shops have a good chance to loose me as a customer. When it'snot clear on the landingpoint into which department I should go to find the item as saw, I'm gone. When it takes ages for signs that can guide me to rezz, I'm gone. Flying or not depends... when I can easily cam around it's ok, though I prefer the possibility to fly. 

When I really fell in love with the item I saw, I might give it a bit more time to find the item, and depending on the price and what it is, I might even decide to buy it straight from the marketplace. But in most cases I don't have to much patience to walk along al the nice merchandise someone has also for sales, I just want to see the item from the marketplace rezzed inworld, or be able to fit a demo of it. You must make it very easy for me to find it, to have me as a customer. The more things you can take out of the way between me and the desired item, the bigger the chance I spend my money at your shop.

[Deja Letov]

I wouldn't bother blocking flying...it annoys the heck out of people and almost everyone can bypass it.

[BlackMagi Darkwatch]

I would expect not to be able to fly in a role play zone (the ones I've been to anyway) but personally I hate not been able to fly in a large shopping area.

Just my 2 eurocents

Black

[Polenth Yue]

Stopping me from flying doesn't force me to explore. It makes it harder to explore, meaning I'm more likely to leave. As a tiny, I often use fly to deal with things that have been designed for tall avatars. I also use it to get out when I get stuck.

[Zanara Zenovka]

You don't even need a special viewer, most flight assist gadgets let you fly anywhere.

[JodiLyn Jewell]

I agree with most here. Don't block the flying. It is easy enough to bypass for anyone who wants to anyway. I can understand no flying for RP, but I see no other reason to block it. Personally, I gots to fly.

[Shockwave Yareach]

What possible sales boost would it give you to forbid flying?  What's the purpose of such a restriction? 

Me, as a customer, I'd not be all that interested in returning to any store where the flying was turned off.  Especially those malls that are 2 or 3 stories high.  If you make it more difficult for a customer to get somewhere, then you make it more difficult for them to spend money.  It's as simple as that.

[Cerise1488303085]

 

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Wildcat Furse wrote:

thanks to the Phoenix Viewer we can fly in no fly zones, so the restriction doesn't bother me at all, but from a commercial point of view it is better to allow flying *meows*

---

Oh, all viewers can do this. No fly is bypassed with Advanced>View Admin Options on old viewers, Develop>Show Admin Menu on newer ones. The very latest viewers need AdminMenu set to TRUE in debug settings for that menu to work.

 

[Cinnamon Lohner]

I agree with the majority.  I don't like places that block me from flying and will avoid them or just fly anyway.  Overriding a no fly setting is easy with any viewer.  Simplest way is to just teleport in while flying

--Cinn

[Darrius Gothly]

@Ami - I'm a "walker" mostly, but I find more often than not that while out wandering around, I will see others flying all over. I'm definitely in the minority in my choice of personal locomotion.

[Amiryu Hosoi]

The difference is that my market is in fact a garden with a very clear floorplan surrounded by open pavilions so it is easy to find your way. Besides from a shopping area it is also a lovely serene garden where you can do tai chi or just hang out zipping your green tea. The point is that the market is walled and themed and it is surrounded by rpg ground. I could choose to block flying in the other 3 sims and leave the sim with the market as it is, flying enabled. But maybe it will break the enchantment.

What strikes me in the answers is that not a lot people actually want to take the time to explore inworld shopping area. In my eyes a good shopping area can be an attraction an sich. It is always good to sow down a bit and enjoy the wonders of SL

Ami

[Cerise1488303085]

 

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Cinnamon Lohner wrote:

I agree with the majority.  I don't like places that block me from flying and will avoid them or just fly anyway.  Overriding a no fly setting is easy with any viewer.  Simplest way is to just teleport in while flying

--Cinn

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There is an interesting "cyber" kind of mall called Oralune. It is really a must fly zone, all the vendors are high up on the walls of a pile of giant cubes.

 

[Irene Muni]

 

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Amiryu Hosoi wrote:

What strikes me in the answers is that not a lot people actually want to take the time to explore inworld shopping area. In my eyes a good shopping area can be an attraction an sich. It is always good to sow down a bit and enjoy the wonders of SL

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If I'm exploring, I'm exploring. But if I'm shooping, I'm shooping and I want buy quickly and enjoy my new items, not explore your region (that for another moment).

 

[Madeliefste Oh]

 

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Amiryu Hosoi wrote:

What strikes me in the answers is that not a lot people actually want to take the time to explore inworld shopping area. In my eyes a good shopping area can be an attraction an sich. It is always good to sow down a bit and enjoy the wonders of SL

Ami

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You might get different answer when you ask this question not at the merchants forum. The general customers have different shopping habits then most merchants. Of course there are exceptions, but in general you can say merchants don't want to loose much time on shopping while their time is valuable. In the general audience there are much more people who have in world shopping as a hobby. This last group might be easily impressed by attractive shopping area's.

For making decisions like these it's important to know your targetgroup and focus on their preferences.

[Shockwave Yareach]

Irene:  Exactly.  If I am there to shop, I am shopping and not exploring.  If I am there to explore, I am exploring and not shopping.  I do not usually mix the two functions as I get distracted from my task if I do so because I am easily... oh look, a bug.

If you want to encourage exploring, have signs in the mall announcing that more than 6 freebie boxes are hidden throughout the area you want people to explore.  Then it becomes a game and more people will join in on the fun, especially since there is a reward involved.  But wanting to leave and finding that I have to walk to the border of your place rather than just flying away makes me grouchy and less inclined to return there again.

[Paladin Pinion]

I get extremely annoyed when flying is restricted. I almost always walk everywhere, so you'd think it wouldn't bother me, but it does. So if a merchant wants me to feel resentful about their shop and their attitude, they should turn off flying.

I think it shows a general distain for customers.

[Amiryu Hosoi]

So Shockwave, you suggest that all inworld stores and markets should just be a platform or a box full of vendors? Do you really think environment isn't playing a major part in sales. In my world shopping is also exploring, when the atmosphere is okay I will hang out longer and take a look at other products then I first came for. Atmosphere also can trigger emotions that when targeted will "force" your customers / visitors to "want to have" and thus want to buy.

I hear some of you say; "I am a merchant and I am here to shop and not to explore". I just don't get that. RL is fast and busy enough as it is, why not slow down a bit, relax a bit and enjoy while you are shopping? What I am trying to do and what I think works for my product range is create a seamless combination of scenery and shopping area. In fact I lure people in with atmosphere.

Ami

[Madeliefste Oh]

Not all people shop in the same way as you do, that's the first thing you must realisize when you decorate your property to bring people in a shoppingmood. You try to attempt people by putting them in a surroundings that relaxes them, so they also feel relaxed when it comes to pulling the wallet. But you have all kind of shoppers, with different shopping habits. The group that is sensitive for your strategy is just one group.

When I was a fashiondesigner I shopped the most when I was about the release a new design, when I needed shoes to go with a dress, or hair, or jewelry, or different shape or a or some new modelposes. I couldn't do my photoshoot as long as I or the model I worked with didn't have the right accesoiries to go with the design. So it was browsing xstreet for possible fits, hopping over to the shop to get demo's, judge them on their purpose, if yes then buy, and back to the photo studio to do the shoot. 

When I want to relax in SL I go sit somewhere with a friend, to have a nice long talk about all and everything. I don't care to much for the surrounding while I have good talks with friends. Or I go to explore places, sometimes beautiful sims that friends recommanded to me, but often art exhibitions or art contests of such. And sometimes even shops... but shops I like to explore to relaxe are strange shops, the sort of unreal shops, where the merchandise is more about art or fantasy then about commerce so to say.