So what is your motivation?

[Teresa Firelight]

5 hours ago, Eirynne Sieyes said:

 

To me it's a quest that is connecting me more to the community. I like that.

I love that you said that. I feel the same way!

[Abnor Mole]

Perhaps on some level people are realizing that there are still plenty of people who do operate under the ideals of mutual respect.  There is a bit of irony since this is a Halloween themed event, but maybe they are realizing not everyone in SL is scary or wants to hurt you and invade your space. Those people exist, but for the most part when you ignore them they get bored and move on. But, if you work under the assumption that everyone is scary until they prove otherwise they never get the chance to do just that. A walled garden can be pretty, but it can also be a lonely prison of your own making. It wasn't the intended purpose of the event, but if in some cases that is what is happening and people are connecting more with the community, I think that is a very fortunate positive result. 

 

[Coffee Pancake]

58 minutes ago, Abnor Mole said:

maybe they are realizing not everyone in SL is scary or wants to hurt you and invade your space

This is very much a thorn in SL's side and it's only grown bigger over the years.

The tone in SL has very much shifted, newbies aren't like this. I think the problem is that as the platform and it's users have aged territorial instincts have only grown to the determent of the platform and experience as a whole.

This is a systemic problem and we need a systemic solution, and it will probably be a foul tasting medicine.

Personally, I would start by removing all notions of parcel based privacy. No access lists, no bans, no security orbs. Set the tone that SL is a open world where anything can happen. Sometimes that happening will be a jerk, but I'd bet that more often than not, it would be the kind of fun SL is sorely missing.

We would of course find new ways to carve out and enforce the lost security that would be far more personally engaging.

What's better - The jerk who never managed to do any harm because he was banned, or the jerk who showed up and got his ass handed to him by a group of friends demonstrating and reinforcing a shared social bond.

It's easy to think of disruptive actions in a polarizing light, but when the only outlet to be disruptive is interpersonal & emotional drama, we're all left hiding in our homes terrified of being actually hurt.

 

(you know you want to .. 🧁)

[Teresa Firelight]

On 10/26/2021 at 2:28 AM, Teresa Firelight said:

just a friendly reminder.. this thread is supposed to be about why people participate in the "Its the Great Trick Or Treat Event, Bellisseria" not about security orbs

 

Maybe those who have strong opinions on the orbs might consider starting a new thread on that topic??

[Teresa Firelight]

does anyone have any idea of how many candy pumpkins are out there? I heard someone say that someone else (not sure who) has broken 800 already. Personally I am no where near that number... but then I am not particularly skilled at "hunts"

If there really are over 800 people who are participating by putting out pumpkins, that is kinda exciting!

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Teresa Firelight said:

does anyone have any idea of how many candy pumpkins are out there? I heard someone say that someone else (not sure who) has broken 800 already. Personally I am no where near that number... but then I am not particularly skilled at "hunts"

If there really are over 800 people who are participating by putting out pumpkins, that is kinda exciting!

I saw the 800 number in the Citizens group chat last night, but it was a guess as to how many someone else had.  Someone did specifically said that they had 600-something.

While 800 is a pretty decent number for the participation count, it is still a super small percentage of Bellisseria home owners -- only 2%, if using a value of 40,000 for total number of Bellisseria homes (and that probably isn't too far off the mark).

Edited October 27, 2021 by LittleMe Jewell

[Polenth Yue]

1 hour ago, Teresa Firelight said:

does anyone have any idea of how many candy pumpkins are out there? I heard someone say that someone else (not sure who) has broken 800 already. Personally I am no where near that number... but then I am not particularly skilled at "hunts"

If there really are over 800 people who are participating by putting out pumpkins, that is kinda exciting!

There are more than 800. Most people I've seen who say they've searched every region and can't find that many... they're going too fast. I've watched them fly over me at full speed and completely miss the buckets I find in that region. So, slow down!

The biggest thing I think would encourage more to take part is to use set goals rather than a top ten sort of contest. Some people are hunting anyway, but I know a fair few who just clicked a few and didn't do more, because they knew they'd have no chance of getting top scores. Set goals reduces the impact of people gaming the system, which can happen with any system. It also goes better with people wanting to share their location and have visitors.

It reminds me of the RFL issue, where they had awards for the top laps run. They expected the awards to go to people who spent the most time on the track during the weekend. They actually went to whoever had the fastest speed boost. Then they changed to awards for set numbers of laps, so anyone who ran the required number got the trophy. It meant more people could work towards the trophies and it shared the fun. It also meant the speed boosters no longer mattered.

I really hope this contest does get won by people who spent a lot of time searching, especially as I'm one of them! But past history suggests that even if this contest works out, the next one won't.

[Nika Talaj]

1 hour ago, Teresa Firelight said:

does anyone have any idea of how many candy pumpkins are out there?

I have a strong suspicion that @Quartz Mole has his ways of knowing the exact number.  Whether he chooses to tell is another matter!

I play a different game with this hunt:  once a day, I look for an out-of-the-way pumpkin in a region I haven't noticed being mentioned.  Then I post it in Belli chat.   I can tell you this: if you haven't found the Bellisseria Squirrel's house, which only had 36 clicks last night, you haven't found them all!

When I leave a property's door open, I hope that people take it as an invitation to look around, and come inside if they like.  I was SO delighted recently when Rabid posted pics of our Boarding House.  There are also a lot of people now who list their homes on the Parade of Homes blog, and they post signs that explicitly invite you in.  Here's one from my neighbor's home in Acanthis, which is a cool Viking build. 

There are different styles of signs, but they all mean the same thing: "Come on in!".  If you want a sign for your place, you can apply for one here.  I don't do that myself, because I'm an old fart from the beforetimes, and one of the things I REALLY enjoy about SL as opposed to RL is a sense of open-ness and sharing.   This is particularly strong in Bellisseria, I think.  So I just leave my door open when I think of it, because I don't think that in SL one should need an explicit sign to invite people in.

Long ago, in our much-loved ranch in Leporis, a bunch of South Americans moved into the row houses we had put out (as just decor), for nonexistent ranch hands.  They were a blast, until they weren't lol, and we evicted them.  But in the meantime we had much spontaneous fun.  Random people can bring fun surprises into our second lives.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Nika Talaj

[SarahThe Wanderer]

Quote

if you haven't found the Bellisseria Squirrel's house, which only had 36 clicks last night, you haven't found them all!

My pumpkin only has 37 clicks ( It's not hidden, it's right there on the porch ), and my next door neighbor has 50 clicks, so yeah there are more pumpkins out there than you think!
i wanna gift the 37 people who found my pumpkin, they earned it, but nothing i make worth gifting, will you take lindens instead? : b

Edited October 28, 2021 by SarahThe Wanderer

[Elena Blossom]

The main motivation to me was joining the fun and  connectiong to other residents... I personally don't get the whole Halloween thing, it is not part of my culture and spooky stuff is not a thing I particularly like, but I do love the idea of the whole Bellisseria community doing something together. 

So, I placed one of those candy buckets in one of my alts' homes. I really enjoy when I see people coming over and stop by to look at the garden, or even say hi.

Even though I'm not taking part of the hunt due to RL, it was a great idea putting together something like that. Being part of an interactive community has always been one of the best things Bellisseria brought to SL. It is also adding a little bit of joy to a time of the year that actually has some sad and blue feeling in my country.

Edited October 28, 2021 by Elena Core

[Chloe Bunny]

My bucket has almost hit the 100 candies given out mark so - still feels quite a low number considering when I was hunting for them I saw buckets heading toward that giveout mark already. My neighbour just put a bucket out in Kenneth as well so there are at least two in Kenneth!!!! SHOUTS!

[Eirynne Sieyes]

On 10/27/2021 at 12:44 PM, Coffee Pancake said:

This is very much a thorn in SL's side and it's only grown bigger over the years.

The tone in SL has very much shifted, newbies aren't like this. I think the problem is that as the platform and it's users have aged territorial instincts have only grown to the determent of the platform and experience as a whole.

This is a systemic problem and we need a systemic solution, and it will probably be a foul tasting medicine.

I don't see a systemic problem at all. I remember early SL with griefers left and right; they were a nuisance. People were proud to call themselves a griefer, and lots of HUDs showed up to counter them. I see far more community now everywhere, particularly in Belli.

That's just my perception.

[Laniakea Nebula]

The community aspect, for sure. I've been on SL for just over 15 years now and I would always end up leaving for a year, coming back for a few months, leaving again - and this continued much in the same vein until I stumbled upon the premium homes. It's been a real treat. I messaged around 250 log cabin owners to let them know about the candy hunt and have become friends with quite a few of them. I think it's been a great success and I hope we do one or two hunts a year going forward, revolving around different holidays. The candy hunt, combined with the good folks at the boat parade and the BBB has given me a reason to stay this time 🙂

Edited October 29, 2021 by alex Alas

[Coffee Pancake]

5 hours ago, Eirynne Sieyes said:

I don't see a systemic problem at all. I remember early SL with griefers left and right; they were a nuisance. People were proud to call themselves a griefer, and lots of HUDs showed up to counter them. I see far more community now everywhere, particularly in Belli.

That's just my perception.

Compared to other online / virtual social spaces and games with social elements, we have a long way to go.

SL social is mostly group chat, which is great and shouldn't ever be changed or upgraded in anyway ever. Set in stone. Sacrosanct.

[2Teacup]

On 10/22/2021 at 5:36 PM, SarahThe Wanderer said:

 

I'm definitely this.
it's a challenge from myself to myself, i just open the map i pick a theme and a region then tp there; i walk around this region and maybe 2 other regions next to it, then i open the map again and repeat, it's my first time exploring  Bellisseria  like really explore it; and i saw/found some amazing places, beautiful regions ( that make me want to have a 3rd home ), i only have 2 homes in Bellisseria one on my main the other on my main alt ( if that make sense : b )
i have a pumpkin out in my alt's home in fantasseria with 20 clicks, i don't wanna have it in any list i want people to discover it by themselves, i myself found 60 pumpkins using the method i mentioned above, my total is 63 pumpkins the last 3 i used the mega list out of curiosity and i wish i didn't ( i cheated on myself  - _  -  ) it was NO FUN AT ALL!! very boring thing to do, very unsatisfying, like wth where's the fun in getting them in a matter of seconds! after the 3rd pumpkin i stopped using the list.
 i haven't been collecting pumpkins for 2 days now; but i'll get back to my quest and will see how many i will get by the end of the event!

 

----

 i found a pumpkin but instead of a candy i got this xd

I found that one to.

 

 

[Marianne Little]

21 hours ago, Chloe Bunny said:

My bucket has almost hit the 100 candies given out mark so - still feels quite a low number considering when I was hunting for them I saw buckets heading toward that giveout mark already. My neighbour just put a bucket out in Kenneth as well so there are at least two in Kenneth!!!! SHOUTS!

I was foolishly hoping for 100 candies given out every day, hah. And I have not reached 200 in all these days. Even if I am on the "big list" of locations and have even set out a Belli pin. 😔

Without the list and the Belli pin, I would surely have much less.

Makes me wonder how many "serious" hunters there are. Most go around for fun or give up, I assume.

[Chloe Bunny]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

I was foolishly hoping for 100 candies given out every day, hah. And I have not reached 200 in all these days. Even if I am on the "big list" of locations and have even set out a Belli pin. 😔

Without the list and the Belli pin, I would surely have much less.

Makes me wonder how many "serious" hunters there are. Most go around for fun or give up, I assume.

Lots of people for the fun it would seem which is good to see. I am not using the pin but I am on a list and the POH places of interest.

[Teresa Firelight]

I agree that it is extremely difficult to find a lot of buckets on your own. There are a few really talented hunters who excel at that sort of thing, but most of us dont.

What I have really enjoyed about this event is how the community is coming together to help a lot of people feel successful in collecting a lot of buckets. There are some who are in it to "win" on of the top 10 spots.. and that is perfectly fine. But what thrills me is how so many of us are interesting in helping each other out... we may not win anything extra individually, but we are taking our friends and community with us by sharing what we find and giving each of us the pleasure of finding more because we are helping each other.

And that dynamic has made this event become really fun for me.

[Gingir Ghoststar]

On 10/27/2021 at 12:30 PM, Teresa Firelight said:

does anyone have any idea of how many candy pumpkins are out there? I heard someone say that someone else (not sure who) has broken 800 already. Personally I am no where near that number... but then I am not particularly skilled at "hunts"

If there really are over 800 people who are participating by putting out pumpkins, that is kinda exciting!

I'm currently at 557 collected, and I'm still searching. Slowly, slowly, working a grid pattern as I fly slow and low, trying to stay in the public areas between homes as I search the regions.

[Gingir Ghoststar]

13 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

I was foolishly hoping for 100 candies given out every day, hah. And I have not reached 200 in all these days. Even if I am on the "big list" of locations and have even set out a Belli pin. 😔

Without the list and the Belli pin, I would surely have much less.

Makes me wonder how many "serious" hunters there are. Most go around for fun or give up, I assume.

I dunno, I mean, that's cool if you think about it. That means people aren't relying solely on the list or pins. They're actually out there searching on their own. That is HUGE! Bellisseria is a massive continent. People are out there working to find their candies. I love that.

[Evangeline Arcadia]

9 hours ago, Gingir Ghoststar said:

 Bellisseria is a massive continent. People are out there working to find their candies. I love that.

I have to admit I didn't take part because of this, even though I would have liked to (I like Linden type bears ) .  Just the thought of sooooo many regions to search felt  like trying to finding a needle in a haystack. That thought  just took away any initial motivation I had about it.  I know that there have been lists etc. put out and things shared in chat, but not everyone necessarilly wants to have to keep up with forums or chat to get such lists to participate.

I would prefer if there was a list of regions involved at the start to narrow it down. But that  would of course mean residents would have to apply to be pumpkin owners ahead of time, and not ad hoc as it is now, which has it's pluses and minuses. 

Or maybe set up the hunt like the other hunt there has been in Bellisseria with the linden HUD where you get clues you have to work out (cna't remember what they're called). But that of course wouldn't have the same invovlement of resident homes, which I do think is nice and seems to be enjoyed by the community.

[Polenth Yue]

12 hours ago, Evangeline Arcadia said:

I would prefer if there was a list of regions involved at the start to narrow it down. But that  would of course mean residents would have to apply to be pumpkin owners ahead of time, and not ad hoc as it is now, which has it's pluses and minuses. 

Or maybe set up the hunt like the other hunt there has been in Bellisseria with the linden HUD where you get clues you have to work out (cna't remember what they're called). But that of course wouldn't have the same invovlement of resident homes, which I do think is nice and seems to be enjoyed by the community.

They could do a radar hud and then still be able to keep residents placing the items. A radar hud would notify you if the region had any buckets and show a warmer/colder display of some sort as you get near them. I know people have been using the pins and area search in similar ways, but this would be more efficient and be there for everyone taking part.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:18 AM, Teresa Firelight said:

Bellisseria's Great Trick Or Treat Event .. is it a hunt? is it a chance to explore? Is it a Quest? is it a contest?

I have been hearing a lot of different opinions on what the event means to them.  Some see it as a contest and want to Win because.. well because it is great to be a winner. Some are after a specific prize (e.g., one of the special bears). Some treat it like a quest... where they get a feeling of satisfaction by watching the number on the HUD tick upwards. Some see it as a fun excuse to explore Bellisseria. Others see it as a way to get out and see some very "cool" Halloween decorations. And there are probably dozens of other motivations.

For me personally, it is kinda like doing a quest... I don't really want to win anything... I mean we all get a bear just for participating and one bear is enough for me. I do love to explore Bellisseria and do so regularly (by horseback, by boat, by motorcycle, on foot, etc) -- so I don't really need an excuse to explore. But there is something fun about watching the numbers on my Hud tick upwards as I find places. I dont really care if others have higher numbers, but it feels good to watch my own numbers grow. Kinda like a small sense of personal satisfaction or something.

What about you? What does the event mean to you?

I have enough Linden bears -- my God, the early ones are so high prim I would need a sim to put them out so I'd rather just visit the Bear Museum (in fact I contributed a few there).

My interest was to ride around and see how people decorated. I figured most people wouldn't want to burn a lot of prims because they wouldn't have them without sacrificing their main house furniture. I'm always fascinated to see how people do with little.

So it was rewarding to see some really innovative deco jobs that didn't ring all the usual chimes with all the usual weekend sale bargains.

I think this proved to me once again, however, how atomized the SL "community" is. The forums regulars, the Lindens, the Moles, some Bellisseria groups, people like me who put an ad for the Trick or Treat in my Mainland newsletter  to customers -- all of this "media" combined cannot reach but a fraction of the population. The Lindens obviously have the forums top "real estate," the splash screen, even direct  email to Premium members -- and even they couldn't turn out a large enough population. I find that worrisome on a number of levels but I don't know how to fix it. Even if every resident volunteered to IM the 10 people immediately around his or her house, that might not achieve much, with different languages, time zones, interest levels. 

The Lindens made a sprawling suburbia, and with the hobbles of no commerce (which incentivizes people tremendously) and no placement of parcels in search, they had to rely on groups -- of which there are only about 100, with only a small percent active.  There might be more participation in activities but first people have to hear about their existence.

If this were RL -- and steadily it will become RL -- and the Lindens had to achieve a RL function like warning people of a governor's COVID lockdown, or issuing an "amber alert" for a missing child or "silver alert" for a missing vulnerable elderly person -- or an attack like 9/11 -- how would they do it? Where is their bullhorn? Their Citizens' app to which every New Yorker seems to be tuned, startling every five minutes from their alert sound which is the banging of pots and pans?

Every island sim has the ability to send pop-up broadcasts to the whole sim population on demand, and the Lindens' regions are like islands for them -- but they'd have to go and manually broadcast from each individual sim -- who has the time?! They used to have a radio relay system for town hall meetings which was interesting; you asked to have a radio put on your land, and then you could hear the town hall meeting. They could leave those radios on each sim and squawk out a message -- but is everybody looking at chat to see it go by? 

Trick or Treat was a test of the "Emergency Broadcast System" in a way (which of course at this stage in history isn't needed in a virtual world), but whether for fun or an emergency, how can it be done? How do you reach every person? How do you even reach some demographic? (All members of all Bellisseria groups).  We all know that people bat away group messages even in groups they voluntarily joined and get freebies from, but I suppose in theory, the Lindens could create an inworld messaging group that everyone was made a member of automatically, which didn't count on their group count. But groups can't hold more than 8,000 people without stalling -- this was proved by the old Concierge group. So they'd have to make hundreds of replicated groups which only slightly reduces their problem of messaging to thousands of "islands".

Lindens use the teleporting space/time as a kind of metro ad that you have to view while teleporting. If you asked me when I arrived what that message said, chances are I couldn't tell you. I tend to put an avatar on the teleport job and look elsewhere in the other window.

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

1 hour ago, Prokofy Neva said:

I have enough Linden bears -- my God, the early ones are so high prim I would need a sim to put them out so I'd rather just visit the Bear Museum (in fact I contributed a few there).

My interest was to ride around and see how people decorated. I figured most people wouldn't want to burn a lot of prims because they wouldn't have them without sacrificing their main house furniture. I'm always fascinated to see how people do with little.

So it was rewarding to see some really innovative deco jobs that didn't ring all the usual chimes with all the usual weekend sale bargains.

I think this proved to me once again, however, how atomized the SL "community" is. The forums regulars, the Lindens, the Moles, some Bellisseria groups, people like me who put an ad for the Trick or Treat in my Mainland newsletter  to customers -- all of this "media" combined cannot reach but a fraction of the population. The Lindens obviously have the forums top "real estate," the splash screen, even direct  email to Premium members -- and even they couldn't turn out a large enough population. I find that worrisome on a number of levels but I don't know how to fix it. Even if every resident volunteered to IM the 10 people immediately around his or her house, that might not achieve much, with different languages, time zones, interest levels. 

The Lindens made a sprawling suburbia, and with the hobbles of no commerce (which incentivizes people tremendously) and no placement of parcels in search, they had to rely on groups -- of which there are only about 100, with only a small percent active.  There might be more participation in activities but first people have to hear about their existence.

If this were RL -- and steadily it will become RL -- and the Lindens had to achieve a RL function like warning people of a governor's COVID lockdown, or issuing an "amber alert" for a missing child or "silver alert" for a missing vulnerable elderly person -- or an attack like 9/11 -- how would they do it? Where is their bullhorn? Their Citizens' app to which every New Yorker seems to be tuned, startling every five minutes from their alert sound which is the banging of pots and pans?

Every island sim has the ability to send pop-up broadcasts to the whole sim population on demand, and the Lindens' regions are like islands for them -- but they'd have to go and manually broadcast from each individual sim -- who has the time?! They used to have a radio relay system for town hall meetings which was interesting; you asked to have a radio put on your land, and then you could hear the town hall meeting. They could leave those radios on each sim and squawk out a message -- but is everybody looking at chat to see it go by? 

Trick or Treat was a test of the "Emergency Broadcast System" in a way (which of course at this stage in history isn't needed in a virtual world), but whether for fun or an emergency, how can it be done? How do you reach every person? How do you even reach some demographic? (All members of all Bellisseria groups).  We all know that people bat away group messages even in groups they voluntarily joined and get freebies from, but I suppose in theory, the Lindens could create an inworld messaging group that everyone was made a member of automatically, which didn't count on their group count. But groups can't hold more than 8,000 people without stalling -- this was proved by the old Concierge group. So they'd have to make hundreds of replicated groups which only slightly reduces their problem of messaging to thousands of "islands".

Lindens use the teleporting space/time as a kind of metro ad that you have to view while teleporting. If you asked me when I arrived what that message said, chances are I couldn't tell you. I tend to put an avatar on the teleport job and look elsewhere in the other window.

It had been mentioned a while ago that there might be a possibility of using the mailboxes/house changers as a way to reach each and every home owner with an official Linden message.  I don't recall reading how this would be implemented, whether it was in progress, or just a thought, but it has been brought up.  I wouldn't mind the occasional update (no more than once monthly) letting me know of an official event, new house design, open floor plans released, or whatever official Linden announcement might be put out concerning Bellisseria.  Not everyone wants to be part of chatty resident groups and even fewer read the forums or blogs here in the website.

[yestothis]

Back in the day, they had grid-wide Instant messaging.