Does L$ camping still exist?

[Carolyn Zapedzki]

1 hour ago, Perrie Juran said:

And not just camping and sploders. There were the 'best dressed' and similar contests at clubs.

Yes! They came in useful as well. 

Was thinking of opening a nostalgia club, maybe call it Club Nostalgia. Ask for everyone to dress in system/prim clothing, and system avs. (I have lots of women system clothing free on my MP and a few mens things incase people have binned their old stuff.)

Weekly contests, legal sploder, a few camping spots - done in a way that doesn't breach any rules. And an "old school" Type club, but without tons of flashing lights and fog that used to be off-putting.

Just paying tribute you could say to the starting days in SL.

[animats]

Much to my surprise, someone has opened a TV and video rental store near me that is trying to build traffic with camping. They have Lucky Chairs and such. They were getting about 20 avatars for a while, but now it's down to 4 or 5. Most are AFK, of course.

[Maitimo]

I haven't seen L$ camping in years. Ditto for money-trees. Its all product-camping now (lucky chairs, Midnight Mania boards etc).  There are still a few sploders, but to be legal they have to be "no-lose" so 99% of the time you only get back exactly what you paid in.

Trivia games and club costume contests are probably the only legitimate ways left to earn free L$ in-game.

[InnerCity Elf]

Sometimes, I do a bit of ruthless cleaning, and delete complete folders with things that belonged to a roleplay character from a long-gone sim, or folders like, "new stuff 2017", but at the slightest hunch of maybe-remorse, I'm usually too lazy, or cherish my time too much to do that, to go through to sort, and push it all into my "archive" folder. One day, I'll drink a mulled wine too many, and delete that one, and start a new one

But, really, maybe just push it all into a folder that won't stare in your face too much, you could also name it "zzz" instead of "archive", so it won't stare, unless you scroll

Edited November 23, 2023 by InnerCity Elf
typo

[Phil Deakins]

Is the cone system still operating? That was a good system for making some free L$ that was pretty much bot-proof. It required the avatar to go to different places, usually stores, find the cone, and get a L$ or two and the next place to go to. It got avatars into stores, creating traffic for them, and was a means of making a little money.

If it's not still operating I think that @Qie Niangao should create one

 

[Qie Niangao]

11 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Is the cone system still operating? That was a good system for making some free L$ that was pretty much bot-proof. It required the avatar to go to different places, usually stores, find the cone, and get a L$ or two and the next place to go to. It got avatars into stores, creating traffic for them, and was a means of making a little money.

If it's not still operating I think that @Qie Niangao should create one

Oh, sure, lure me into thinking about how later features (Experience portals, Linkset Data, etc) could make it more interesting, before I wake up and realize: nobody wants this thing!

Well, folks craving free L$s (e.g., newbies) may wish it would exist but I can't see how a merchant would care anymore, now that there are uncountably many store-hopping shopping events (weekend and otherwise), and barely any traffic benefit except maybe club/entertainment venues, but they all plead perpetual poverty.

[Phil Deakins]

36 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

... before I wake up and realize: nobody wants this thing!

Au contrair. All noobs want this thing

I remembered something else about the cones. When you found it in a store, you had to click it and then wait a few minutes until it paid you. Clicking and getting paid didn't work for just anyone who clicked it though.

Now have I tempted you?

[Qie Niangao]

33 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Now have I tempted you?

Well no. I mean, it takes two to tango, and newbies can want all sorts of stuff but unless some critical mass of merchants see it in their interest to satisfy those wants, 'tain't gonna happen. Back when these things were popular, traffic was much more of a thing—heck, search was much more of a thing—driving in-world commerce. For that matter, in-world commerce itself was much more of a thing then, before the Lab bought the underpinnings of Marketplace and started advertising it to newbies as the way to fill those empty Inventory folders.

Most merchants now seem to see their in-world store as mainly a place to park a redelivery terminal. It can take many months for event-exclusive items to make it to those stores, if ever (so just try to find anything worth buying at Black Friday 50% off "bargains" at those mainstores).

It's one thing to swim upstream to the draining of traffic's value, but the whole creek bed is dry, bulldozed in, and has a pickleball court on it now.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:23 PM, Exocet Kungler said:

Any reason to keep these around?

On 7/15/2022 at 1:23 AM, Rat Luv said:

paid 1 or 2L [...] for 10 minutes

Let's be generous: camping there will earn you L$2 per 10 minutes, L$10 per hour, or 4 $ cents per hour. The average power an average gaming computer uses is about 400 Watt. That's 0.4 kWh per hour. At an (average American) electricity price of 15 cents per Watt-hour, that will cost you 6 cents per hour.

You go camping in SL, you lose 2 cents per hour.

[Phil Deakins]

59 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Let's be generous: camping there will earn you L$2 per 10 minutes, L$10 per hour, or 4 $ cents per hour. The average power an average gaming computer uses is about 400 Watt. That's 0.4 kWh per hour. At an (average American) electricity price of 15 cents per Watt-hour, that will cost you 6 cents per hour.

You go camping in SL, you lose 2 cents per hour.

Yes but if you're doing other things with your main account and using an alt for camping, it makes sense. It made sense for a lot of people, anyway

[Sid Nagy]

2 hours ago, Phil Deakins said:

Yes but if you're doing other things with your main account and using an alt for camping, it makes sense. It made sense for a lot of people, anyway

They found that SL should be free. They didn't mind paying RL electricity bills.
Ingame payments were not common in those days, if i recall correctly.

[Alwin Alcott]

11 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Ingame payments were not common in those days, if i recall correctly.

they were common for a very long time, just not as blown up as now. 
Tipping a DJ 20/25 L$ was appreciated, if you dare now they'll not even say thanks.
Clothes weren't really cheap, but life wasn't as complex as now without mesh bodies .. at most positioning sculptie cuffs and collars...

[Sid Nagy]

I meant in general, not SL specific. Nowadays there are tons of games out there, where one has to pay for all kinds and everything.
When I started in 2007 that was not common outside of SL, that is what I meant.
That was the reason why many people camped. Paying in a game with real money was not commonly done back then.

Of course prices go up in SL. Linden Lab takes more commissions and fees. Creators who try to support their RL with SL will raise prices to try and achieve their RL goals.

[Maitimo]

20 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Let's be generous: camping there will earn you L$2 per 10 minutes, L$10 per hour, or 4 $ cents per hour. The average power an average gaming computer uses is about 400 Watt. That's 0.4 kWh per hour. At an (average American) electricity price of 15 cents per Watt-hour, that will cost you 6 cents per hour.

You go camping in SL, you lose 2 cents per hour.

If youe computer is switched on anyway, you're not losing more than you outherwise would. May as well recover 2/3 of it.

[InnerCity Elf]

On 11/23/2023 at 3:46 PM, Phil Deakins said:

Yes but if you're doing other things with your main account and using an alt for camping, it makes sense. It made sense for a lot of people, anyway

Wouldn't it use up more electricity, though, if you're logged in with two viewers or viewer instances? Just as it also would be to be logged in with one avatar, even if your computer is on for other things anyway? Not wanting to be nitpicking, just curious; any educated guesstimate on how much an hour of SL costs electricity-wise if your computer is on anyway? On average, I suppose it would matter what specs the thing has.

Edited November 26, 2023 by InnerCity Elf

[Island Granville]

Anyone remember this great camping system? As a camper you could increase both the L$ pay amount and the payment frequency IF you were there to pay into the machines anyway. I got lucky enough times with the bonuses and payout prizes to keep me coming back in those early days.

I forget what I paid for the 8 seat system when I bought it - it was significant for me at the time - but running the chairs was colossally more lucrative than camping in them, that's for sure. 

 

 

[Akaesha Revnik]

13 minutes ago, Island Granville said:

Anyone remember this great camping system?

I do yes! I had some on my region loong time ago. I think these were around the Zyngo hype days. 

[Phil Deakins]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:54 AM, InnerCity Elf said:

Wouldn't it use up more electricity, though, if you're logged in with two viewers or viewer instances? Just as it also would be to be logged in with one avatar, even if your computer is on for other things anyway?

I don't think so. If it would, I have no doubt that the difference would be so negligible as to be not worth even considering.