Gambling Game in SL Stores for Outfits

[Burt Bolissima]

Hi all,

I would like your opinion on this: In two stores I found so far, Horntail and Moon Elixer, there are outfits shown without a price. There is only the possibility to pay 75L for which you randomly get one item from the board, in a color that is also random. See attached files.

Horntail presents 6 possible colors on 4 possible items, presenting a total of 24 possibilities. Moon Elixer, on this example, list 22. That means that 24x75L the total would be 1800L, which is fairly high for a fatpack, but how do you know if it is not possible to get the same item twice? Then the possibilities are virtually endless and you might not even get the item in the color you want.

So I would like to know how the community and the Lindens TOS thinks about this. This is probably a form of gambling, but you will not get Lindens in return but a random item instead. Also, should vendors not clearly state the price the buyer should pay and the items listed to be acquired for that price?

I may not be bitching about this if there is a possibility to buy one costume color for the board, for a price mentioned and a range of items listed, and/or a fatpack option. If there is on top of that a possibility to play this 75L random item game, I wouldn't even mind...

So please, tell me your thoughts on this and if the TOS provides any regulations against this and if not, should there be any?

Edited June 8, 2019 by Burt Bolissima

[Claireschen Hesten]

Those are "Gacha's" and are perfectly OK to operate and use in SL as Gacha prizes are normally No Copy there's a good second hand market for reselling any items you don't want

[Eva Knoller]

Have you been away for a while? Gachas are everywhere. There are multiple events dedicated to them. 

[Burt Bolissima]

Well I clearly don't know anything about this. If it's possible to resell the items you don't want then it is not that bad, however... how can you resell items when they are No Copy?

Where can we go for these second hand markets?

And can you get the same item twice? I believe it is vital to know that.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Burt Bolissima

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

Gachas have been around for years. You can sell the items because they are transfer (you don't need something to be copy to sell it). If you don't like what you get, sell it on the Marketplace or at a gacha resale/flea market location in world. Yes, you can get the same item twice. Sell the spare. 

[Burt Bolissima]

Thank you for your replies. Still I am against this, only if its optional I have no problem with it.

[Linda Reddevil]

25 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

how can you resell items when they are No Copy?

Where can we go for these second hand markets?

And can you get the same item twice? I believe it is vital to know that.

If you get numerous boxes of the same item/same color or any item you don't want, don't open them up. They may be marked no copy but you can transfer them. To resell, edit the item to mark it for sale, set a price and make sure you note that it's the original and not a copy for sale. 

People sell unwanted or unneeded gacha items all over. They're on MP (mostly the rares) and garage sales and numerous other places. Do a search on SL for gacha garage sale. 

Yes, of course you can get the same item twice. Unfortunately, quite a few times. 

Personally, I hate gachas since the only purpose is to make the designer rich. I'd rather pay a mega amount for the 1 item I want than mega amounts for 20 that I don't. The beauty of it is that you don't have to play and most usually an entire store is not made of gachas. They usually just have a specific section in the store for the gacha machines. 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Linda Reddevil

[Cackle Amore]

Ya, as others mentioned, those have been around for a bit now sadly. Nothing wrong with Gacha's in itself, but I do personally feel like they've gotten a bit abused in the past few years, namely other content creators like the ones ya pictured, splitting up outfits into bits and pieces and stuffing them into a gacha, some even do it with houses with matching furniture and decor.

Even worse is the fact it's often 90% all no copy, and it feels like very few ever offer trade ins for the stuff.

[Burt Bolissima]

My girlfriend did 15 attempts and we settled for the blue and winterpink outfits from Horntail. That's 2 outfits for 1125L which is not bad, however... we wanted the full pink one, not the winterpink. So we spend 1125L and still didn't get the outfit we wanted and now we have to quit because it can take ages before you get only the pink one, a 2x (1out of 24) chance.

Can't we do something about this? I still see it as scamming customers.

Edited June 8, 2019 by Burt Bolissima

[MoiraKathleen]

6 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

My girlfriend did 15 attempts and we settled for the blue and winterpink outfits from Horntail. That's 2 outfits for 1125L which is not bad, however... we wanted the full pink one, not the winterpink. So we spend 1125L and still didn't get the outfit we wanted and now we have to quit because it can take ages before you get only the pink one, a 2x (1out of 24) chance.

Can't we do something about this? I still see it as scamming customers.

If you think it is a scam, then don't play gachas.   

[Burt Bolissima]

2 minutes ago, moirakathleen said:

If you think it is a scam, then don't play gachas.   

But sometimes there is something that you really want. If it's only available through gatcha you're kinda forced to play it.

[Cackle Amore]

2 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

But sometimes there is something that you really want. If it's only available through gatcha you're kinda forced to play it.

And there is unfortunately a LOT of stuff being funneled into gacha's lately, it's rather hard to ignore. There's even some avatars that are released only through gacha's, but those atleast use a little voucher card thing that can be passed around, which gives you the avatar in copy/mod perms.

[Burt Bolissima]

1 minute ago, Digit Gears said:

And there is unfortunately a LOT of stuff being funneled into gacha's lately, it's rather hard to ignore. There's even some avatars that are released only through gacha's, but those atleast use a little voucher card thing that can be passed around, which gives you the avatar in copy/mod perms.

Yeah I wish that the Lindens would revise this. See if they can get an official point of view on this.

[Fox Wijaya]

9 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

If it's only available through gatcha you're kinda forced to play it.

not at all, most items will get for sale at the MP, there are many people buying the items for reselling.

[Fritigern Gothly]

23 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

So we spend 1125L and still didn't get the outfit we wanted and now we have to quit because it can take ages before you get only the pink one, a 2x (1out of 24) chance.

8 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

But sometimes there is something that you really want. If it's only available through gatcha you're kinda forced to play it.

Since the spares are resellable, and since there is a HUGE and thriving market reselling these items, check out the marketplace and find the pink version, pay the (cheapest) reseller for that items and walk away happy in the knowledge that you got the pink version!

Nobody forces you to play the gatchas. I don't play them either (except for literally one time only). If there's one that I want, I check the MP and if the one that I want is too expensive (perhaps because it's a rare) I check back one or two days later and see if someone had put a cheaper one on the MP, or I simply forget about it and just don't get the stuff.

Yes, playing the gatchas is bit of a gamble, but in an actual gambling game, if luck isn't on your side you will be out of your money. With a gatcha, you always get something for the money you pay. Show me a gambling game where the same is true.

 

 

[Burt Bolissima]

3 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

Since the spares are resellable, and since there is a HUGE and thriving market reselling these items, check out the marketplace and find the pink version, pay the (cheapest) reseller for that items and walk away happy in the knowledge that you got the pink version!

Nobody forces you to play the gatchas. I don't play them either (except for literally one time only). If there's one that I want, I check the MP and if the one that I want is too expensive (perhaps because it's a rare) I check back one or two days later and see if someone had put a cheaper one on the MP, or I simply forget about it and just don't get the stuff.

Yes, playing the gatchas is bit of a gamble, but in an actual gambling game, if luck isn't on your side you will be out of your money. With a gatcha, you always get something for the money you pay. Show me a gambling game where the same is true.

 

 

But if it's not available on the MP and you really NEED that item then you are still forced to play!

[Fox Wijaya]

5 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

and you really NEED that item then you are still forced to play!

think you mean "want"... life won't change when you don't get that item.

[Burt Bolissima]

2 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

think you mean "want"... life won't change when you don't get that item.

Should you or the vendor decide what I want or need, or should the customer?

[Fox Wijaya]

1 minute ago, Burt Bolissima said:

Should you or the vendor decide what I want or need, or should the customer?

in case of cacha it's the script what you get, not what you need, and most likely not what you want. Deal with it before the temp rizes and you melt.

[Burt Bolissima]

Just now, Fox Wijaya said:

in case of cacha it's the script what you get, not what you need, and most likely not what you want. Deal with it before the temp rizes and you melt.

I find it really strange that people would take the side of the vendors, and not the customers. But that is probably something that creeped in from RL into SL.

[ThorinII]

To be honest, I also hate gachas. I don't even buy gacha items on the marketplace -  not even when it's an item I'd like to have. But that's my own preference. There's a lot of people who love that gambling and reselling, and have made good business doing so. And yes, I also call it gambling, even though the Lindens say nothing against those gacha machines.

[Ceka Cianci]

If there is a certain item you are wanting from a gacha,search the MP where people sell their extras..

Just make sure you look at more than one of the item because prices may vary from seller to seller.

[Beth Macbain]

When you gamble, you're taking a risk that you're going to put money into something and get nothing in return. 

When you play a gacha machine, you are going to get something. It may not be the particular something you want, but you're going to get something, and if you bought that something outright in the store, it would almost definitely be priced higher than the cost of playing the gacha machine.

[Linda Reddevil]

21 minutes ago, Burt Bolissima said:

I find it really strange that people would take the side of the vendors, and not the customers. But that is probably something that creeped in from RL into SL.

It's not illegal in SL. Those of us who don't like them, don't play them. I'm not saying I've never used them but for the most part my sanity is worth more. When I've played because there was something I really wanted, it's good to know I can resell and recoup my money.

[Bree Giffen]

There is a bill introduced in the US Congress to ban the sale of lootboxes in video games. It takes a long time to turn a bill into law (note: do not post schoolhouse rock video). If this ever happens I think LL would ban gachas just to be safe.