Jump to content

Discussion of Official 2023 Second Life Halloween Video Contest!

diamond Marchant

By diamond Marchant,
in General Discussion Forum

 Share
You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 204 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Recommended Posts

diamond Marchant

diamond Marchant

Posted
Posted (edited)

This topic is to discuss this marketing initiative. It is NOT for posting videos... do that in the topic below

https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/504322-official-2023-second-life-halloween-video-contest/

So the basics.... Linden Labs has created a contest for video creators. You post halloween videos made in SL on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Creators getting top views on each platform get 25K lindens. If the same creator wins on all three platforms, that creator gets an additional 25K Lindens.

First of all, kudos to Linden Lab marketing. For a mere $US300 or $US400, they might get some exposure on these platforms. There does NOT appear to be any small print about Linden Lab claiming full rights to entries or winners (maybe I missed that), so that seems good.

Note that the target of this initiative is social media, not Second Life. I can imagine that people who have never heard of SL might take an interest and maybe one or two may jump the hurdles and actually stick. I speculate that the only feedback we will get is the winners and the number of views.

 

Edited by diamond Marchant
  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zalificent Corvinus

Zalificent Corvinus

Posted
Posted

The last Halloween contest from LL I paid any attention to, the Costume contest, had so many rules forbidding, basically anything people might think of as a Halloween Costume, no violence, no weapons, no tobacco, no booze, no outfits resembling anything ever worn by an actor or actress, etc. which automatically excluded just about every "vampire / wolfman / stiched together monster / zombie / ghost / nightmare on hockey mask street" costume anyone might wear.

The "contest" was won (assuming there were any other entries LEFT after the auto-reject all halloween costumes from the halloween costume contest rules) by...

A Store Greeter Bot, posting an image used by the store the bot greeted for, as a product picture on the MP, violating the contest's "must not have been used elsewhere" rule.

LL spent a whole $100 on that contest, and even though the rules probably disallowed 99.99 % of entries, at least anyone could enter, even if they were doomed to be auto rejected.

 

This new contest, 3 or 4 hundred usd, for a smaller subset of people, the ones with pc's grunty enough to make fancy videos, who also happen to have the relevant capture software AND use social media.

So, basically aimed at a small pool of machinima makers. This is basically going to be "Here's $100 for 3 of LL's fave vbloggers"

 

Too elitist and cynical for my tastes.

/me shrugs

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chic Aeon

Chic Aeon

Posted
Posted (edited)

As a long time machinimatographer (now retired) I am happy to see this and agree it is "cheap publicity". 

My two main thoughts  are  --- it that it is way to easy to game the results. 

And what was my second thought?  -- it is way too easy to game the results LOL.

 

Been there done that so many times shaking my head at the "winner".  .  

 

I do very much hope that LL publishes the results of the contest -- something that they don't always do and it makes me wonder.

 

Also for folks FILMING --- make sure you have PERMISSION TO FILM in your inviorment in accordance with the photo and machinama policies. 

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Snapshot_and_machinima_policy

Edited by Chic Aeon
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
diamond Marchant

diamond Marchant

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Chic Aeon said:

And what was my second thought?  -- it is way too easy to game the results LOL.

Yes. Suppose I were to make the greatest video ever. No one would see it because the algorithm would disfavor my post. A winner might be a TikTok /YouTube /Insta influencer who is an SL resident and believes spending time on an SL contest a good alternative to producing their regular content.

Or maybe the winner only needs 15 views 🙄

Also what account do you use to post? Do you have to make a new account with your avatar name? 

Edited by diamond Marchant
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Caitlin Tobias

Caitlin Tobias

Posted
Posted

I love making videos in Second Life, and I got excited when I saw the announcement. But I am not going to enter a video in the contest.

I was very disappointed after reading that there will be no judge(s) but the winner is the one with the most likes on YouTube, Instagram and/or TikTok.

As said by diamond, I could perhaps make a really awesome video -  but I do not have the massive following needed for likes. Nor do I have the time or resources (groups, friends) to keep begging people to please like my film.

One would have thought for a contest with such a huge prize, it would be a fair competition. Sure, I could enter a video for the fun of it, but hey...I am petty and don't feel good knowing I have no chance anyway.

Oh, and yes, I will keep making videos, even Halloween ones, but will not submit any to this.

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chic Aeon

Chic Aeon

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, diamond Marchant said:

Also what account do you use to post? Do you have to make a new account with your avatar name? 

Well most of the folks that I know that have "feeds" do have avatar accounts.  I only have YouTube (well there is a Facebook account for Chic with much dust on it  that was made  like 13 years ago for  a contest or something but I was never really into Facebook even as Chic).  Some folks call me an "influencer" but it is only on my blog, NOT social media or even YouTube since I finished the Blender tutorials.  :D

And thinking on your point -- which I didn't until you commentewd -- is it OK with the TOS of those platforms (Insta and Tok) to have avatar accounts?  Guessing it must be.   

Now if this was going to be more like the contests at University of Western Australia (with lots more money on the table and a panel of real people voting on winners) then yes, it would look more legit and less like cheap advertising. 

 

Still I hope folks that do it have fun and actually  make something worthy.    

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
diamond Marchant

diamond Marchant

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, Chic Aeon said:

Well most of the folks that I know that have "feeds" do have avatar accounts. 

Yes. diamond has a gmail account and I just logged into YouTube with it and it is letting me create a channel and upload a video, bwah ha ha ha ha! (not really uploading a video.... yet)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Orwar

Orwar

Posted
Posted

   Well I wouldn't go anywhere near TikTok or Instagram .. And my video editing skills are next to non-existent, sooo. Guess I'm sitting this one out.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SabrinaCooke

SabrinaCooke

Posted
Posted

Yeah, I was excited when I first saw it, but after seeing it was a popularity contest, my interest deflated. As others have mentioned, it would be really easy to game the results. 

But hey, at least now I got a good idea for a horror short, so yay, I guess.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
EmpressLuna Starchild

EmpressLuna Starchild

Posted
Posted (edited)

Sadly bothe TikTok and Instagram have bots you can pay for views so I dont exspect this contest to be fair but I entered anyways becuse why not have fun making a video.

Hope you guys will come to my ghost hunt its fun! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunas empire events/211/33/12

Edited by EmpressLuna Starchild
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Scylla Rhiadra

Scylla Rhiadra

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well, this is a bit depressing.

I don't do machinima anyway, so I have no stake in this, but . . . what everyone else has said above.

Honestly, I can see why LL went this route: the aim of this contest is clearly to outsource what will in essence be free promotional material for SL, so of course they are going to reward the videos with the most views, because that's their end goal: exposure. A really beautifully made machinima that is seen by a relatively small number of viewers is very nice and all that, but doesn't do LL the kind of service that an inferior one with lots of views will have.

I get it, of course. Presumably, too, the thinking is that videos with the most likes will also be very good, because otherwise the creator wouldn't have a lot of followers, etc. . . . except that, as we all know, that's not actually how social media works. Flickr is a fine example of how creators with pretty mediocre and derivative work can get hundreds of faves: it's often a question of "playing the game" (although in fairness there are very good photographers who are also popular too).

It's all a bit cynical, though. If I thought the intention were to encourage and nurture creativity in-world I'd be more upset -- but clearly, that is not the goal.

Edited by Scylla Rhiadra
Typo
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
EmpressLuna Starchild

EmpressLuna Starchild

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Honestly, I can see why LL went this route: the aim of this contest is clearly to outsource what will in essence be free promotional material for SL, so of course they are going to reward the videos with the most views, because that's their end goal: exposure.

Not if there fake views or if the user is targetting children.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Orwar

Orwar

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, SabrinaCooke said:

Easy enough to write a macro to autoclick the play button on YT, then set up a browser and VPN. Boom, instantly popular video. 

   .. Ooh, perhaps I do stand a chance after all! ^_^

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 204 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...