Totally flummoxed by the new Arcade

[Chic Aeon]

4 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

I see machines with queue lengths of 3, and here, at the Arcade, apparently 6. But to me, and as mentioned above as well, it still looks like gambling. People will still go after the rares, which will less likely appear in the queue at all. And thus, like with the old gacha machines, people will continue to pay these machines until, by chance, their desired prize appears in that queue.

Wouldn't the suspense of gambling - you know, the adrenalin kick you get by the anticipation of reward while you are bleeding money - increase with the reduction of the queue length? Or would the intensity of such sensation not matter significantly with the differences in queue length (or even zero queue), given that the rare ones appear so infrequently anyway? And are these gacha machine alternatives as addictive as the original machines? I guess I'm curious what people feel, physically and emotionally, when they play these things, and how these feelings compare with the ones experienced while playing the old machine.

Also, are there any legal limits to a queue length? Is a length of 1 legal?

[Update] Another thing I was wondering: what seems to be the frequency of doubles and triples appearing in these queues? Are the appearances of the items as random as one would expect, mathematically? Or did the scripters 'work' the numbers a little as to make double and triple appearances go away so that every new queue member is different from the previous one? I'm asking, because @Marianne Little's example at the top of this thread shows a very un-random distribution of billiard balls. I understand that's just a photoshopped picture, for the sake of aesthetics, but the notion made me wonder what it would be like in a real situation.

Again NOT gambling as you see WHAT you will get WHEN YOU BUY.   This is the OFFICIAL word on the subject of these type of machines.

 

And as far as I can tell, the rare likelihoods are still set by the merchants. That was the way it usually was with the gachas and on many machines you could see the percentage of times a RARE would come up by looking in the description code (very handy).  There are some long time gacha folks who set their rares as VERY VERY rare and others (the majority) at something like 5 to 9 percent.  A few folks (and I do remember but won't mention either) set theirs VERY low and some of course didn't have any rares at all (in some events).  I have seen three rares in a row on the new ARCADE gachas and of course your chances are better if there are LESS items or MORE rares  -- the rares to commons ratio.   

 

I am pretty sure it IS really random. And again no reason to keep paying to get a rare. Players choice. 

 

And to  @Marianne Little   I have seen the number of avatars down to 35 and still not be able to get in (not Premium).  I think the number of avatars in a region is set by the owner of the region and I would honestly like to know where that is. It might be in the upper level of the estate management as I can't see anywhere I can set the number on my rented sim.  

[diamond Marchant]

6 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

This is the OFFICIAL word on the subject of these type of machines.

Linden Lab Official:Gacha policy is the relevant policy

The key passage is

Quote

For the avoidance of doubt, any content sold in Second Life must present the purchaser with a clear understanding of the item to be received at the time of sale.

Any transaction that satisfies this requirement is not gambling because there is nothing of value at risk, that is, there is no bet.

It is worth noting that Linden Lab adopted this policy

Quote

to mitigate potential risk that may arise from a changing legal climate related to gachas and loot boxes

Gatchas and loot boxes are restricted by laws in various countries (e.g. Belgium, Netherlands, Japan)  but not in the United States.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

8 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

And again no reason to keep paying to get a rare. Players choice. 

Just like doing drugs, alcohol, and (other forms of) gambling, right?

[Rowan Amore]

48 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Just like doing drugs, alcohol, and (other forms of) gambling, right?

Or Saturday sales.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

13 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Or Saturday sales.

Or collecting fountain pens.

[Love Zhaoying]

Being flummoxed at least sounds better than being flim-flammed. 

[Rowan Amore]

5 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Or collecting fountain pens.

Or sex.  LL isn't in business to mitigate anyone's risk of obsessing over one thing or another.  Gambling, shopping, sex, etc can ALL be addictive in SL and RL.

LL did not change the gacha policy because they cared about anyone's gambling addiction.  They didn't even really get rid of gambling just how it was defined within SL.  Not to save you but to save themselves a potential legal headache in the future.

That said, anytime you pay for a known item, it's not a gamble on what you will receive.  Except for maybe SLex.  😂

 

[Eddy Vortex]

19 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

(this is another peeve of mine, sellers who put the colors they know everyone really wants in the fat pack only!).

It vexes me that they put a basic color in a fatpack. I only have limited funds and don't have an extra $800L laying around. If I wanted a particular style of clothing that badly, I either learn to like the colors on offer or live without. Oh well, at least this frees up the funds I could use for other things.

 

[So Whimsy]

Just looked at the shopping guide. Man I remember when the arcade was actually good and had great, creative stuff.

[Blaise Glendevon]

15 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Just like doing drugs, alcohol, and (other forms of) gambling, right?

Are you an adult, or not?

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

1 minute ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

Are you an adult, or not?

Are you suggesting only kids do not have the discipline to just say no?

[Blaise Glendevon]

Just now, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Are you suggesting only kids do not have the discipline to just say no?

No. But adults shouldn't have their (legal) pleasures abrogated because someone else finds them naughty.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

20 minutes ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

because someone else finds them naughty

Who finds what naughty?

[Blaise Glendevon]

5 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Who finds what naughty?

The scolds who object to Gacha and its new counterparts.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

2 minutes ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

The scolds who object to Gacha and its new counterparts.

Can you quote the part where I was scolding or objecting to gacha?

[Blaise Glendevon]

Just now, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Can you quote the part where I was scolding or objecting to gacha?

I did in my first quote.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

Just now, Blaise Glendevon said:

I did in my first quote. ["Just like doing drugs, alcohol, and (other forms of) gambling, right?"]

What I said there was that people (even adults) do not always make the right decision when it comes to drugs, alcohol, gambling or collecting fountain pens. Nowhere did I suggest that doing drugs, alcohol or gambling or gachas or whatever was bad.

[Marianne Little]

The argument before was "FFS, just let me buy it!"

And now the Arcade gacha has the fatpacks neatly packed on every vendor. Ready to buy, no transfer permissions.

That they are exceedingly expensive is another debate.

You did not specify "Let me buy it to a price I like".

You = general you. No specific person in the thread.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Marianne Little

[Seicher Rae]

8 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

The argument before was "FFS, just let me buy it!"

And now the Arcade gacha has the fatpacks neatly packed on every vendor. Ready to buy, no transfer permissions.

That they are exceedingly expensive is another debate.

You did not specify "Let me buy it to a price I like".

You = general you. No specific person in the thread.

I'll bite.  I was a general "you" who said "ffs! just let me buy it!" but in my case I also added that I don't want to bring in alts to move the vendors to where I want, wear a hud, have to keep returning to see if the vendor moved, or any of the other nonsense that I seeing here in the forum. I think I've said elsewhere, I have not actually gone in to see for myself and I have not gone because based on what I read here this is a "oh hell no" for me. (YMMV, that's cool!)

I get the arguments people are saying "if you know what you're getting, it isn't gambling." That isn't my issue. The whole convoluted mess of the thing turns me off. So for MY "ffs, just let me buy it!" I basically want to go to the store (or event), click the vendor boxes of stuff I want and... leave with my new stuff. 27 seconds. And for the fun of "rare" then just offer a limited number of items, so we all pile into the same sim at once, crash and lag, so we can have the one with the duckies on it.

The price points can be another issue, but I think that is regardless of the vending system. If what you are saying is true (and again, I haven't been there) then that's yet another reason for me not to go. However, in my original comment I stated that there's nothing for sale on the grid that I want badly enough to go through all this hoopla... well, history has shown there ARE things on the grid I want badly enough to pay stupid amounts of money for.

 

[Marianne Little]

It's not different from any event if you want to buy, not play. @Seicher Rae

The fatpacks are in cardboard boxes on every vendor. Ready to buy, no alts, no HUD to attach. Teleport in, locate the vendor, pay, teleport out.

It is a very high price. But if it was lower, nobody would play and come back to play more. 

 

 

[Marianne Little]

I did not go to all the 100+ vendors to see if they sold a fatpack, so maybe someone does not offer that.

I only wanted to take pictures of vendors, and saw that they, and the ones around them, had these boxes.

[Modulated]

The Arcade was fun in its earlier years, but after that  it became a money grab, like all things. I stopped participating and just finding the items I wanted on MP, even if they were a bit inflated. 

[Marianne Little]

3 hours ago, Modulated said:

The Arcade was fun in its earlier years, but after that  it became a money grab, like all things. I stopped participating and just finding the items I wanted on MP, even if they were a bit inflated. 

I have bought many gacha items second hand too. Gachas from 1 year or more years ago can be sold so cheap. Especially decor. Clothes can be badly rigged, and I avoid standard sizes. I deleted many no copy gacha clothes, corsets, body armour and chains yesterday. I am used to a much better fit now. 

This Arcade does not have so much good. If I forget to return after I took pictures of the vendors, I will not feel I missed out much.

[Chic Aeon]

It is day 5 now and I have tried repeatedly (not premium) and it has been full down to 35 people. I am wondering if some folks are just STAYIING there and waiting for the huds to reset for another day?   Pretty selfish but I haven't seen it this busy in a VERY long time and for me it doesn't seem like all that great a round.    HMMMMMMM.    

[Love Zhaoying]

For those of us who have a predilection towards addictions, should we try this "Arcade", or avoid it?

Thanks,

Love