Scylla Rhiadra

I think that this is my problem with the setup here. The amounts of money required to buy chips is not negligible: minimally, L$799, and up to a whopping L$9999. When was the last time you spent L$9999 on a single thing in SL? I generally don't go through that much in a month. It is absolutely clear that LL expects and wants people to drop pretty major sums to play here; the tiny free daily chip allowance is pretty much just enough to get you "hooked," and wanting to buy more. Note also that the number of chips that a single L$ will buy you increases as you spend more: they've very deliberately incentivized this so that people will make larger chip purchases. I'd have no problems with this at all if it truly were entirely free -- even if that meant you could only play a half dozen games a day. I'd have fewer problems if you could buy 50 chips for L$50. As it stands, it's really difficult not to conclude that LL isn't very consciously exploiting, if not "addictions," at least those who have a hard time walking away from a gaming table.

I'm not "asking for" anything -- please don't put words in my mouth. I haven't, and wouldn't, call for a ban on games in SL, including this kind of casino. But there are some people who believe that this kind of game feeds a very real RL social problem. I don't know if they are correct or not, but you're not addressing it with this kind of response.

And yet . . . people play such iPhone games. And spend real money on them, just as people will buy tokens at this casino. They are trying to "beat" something, even if they are not winning anything. I'm not going to push this, because, again, this is not an area of expertise, but the essential psychological mechanism seems to be the same, or close to, even if nothing of value is available to be won?

As at least one of them got a seven day suspension, I suspect that they're not laughing now. I am not sufficiently well-informed about gambling addictions to know if this casino constitutes a real threat or not. I DO know that LL itself seems to think it might, because they have a sign in the casino about how to get help for gambling addictions in the US.

Too easy to solve. Linden Lab done it.

You're pretty brilliant, you know. So, when will you have this finished? I can hardly WAIT to visit! 😀

Oh, definitely. The period touches are what it's all about. For that matter, I'd be attracted to a Mississippi Delta juke joint set in a shack with a corrugated metal roof if it looked right.

I don't know, Elise, how this might be interpreted. The "value" in an object doesn't just reside, surely, in the money that one might be able to make for it on resale? I spend real money on a ton of things in SL that are no-transfer: their value is intrinsic rather than potential.

This is kind of the annoying thing about this is that it comes so close to being just "fun," but instead misses the mark, and manages to be a bit gross and sleazy without possessing the kind of appeal that a nicely put-together place might have. I'd LOVE to dress up for a nicely rendered high-end casino of the sort @Qie Niangaodescribes. I don't really RP, but I could "play" a clever cigarette girl working her way through college, a swanky double agent, or even a bubble-brained blonde if need be for long enough to make it fun! (The bubble-brained blonde wouldn't even require effort!) What we need is a really great looking place where the games are free and the ambiance is conducive to just having FUN.

YES I won't actually play, but I'll gladly kiss someone's dice, if he's glamorous and cute enough.

Well, as I said, I've walked through a couple in my time. Those had made some attempt to look "ritzy," but in the same kind of way that a cheap club or restaurant will substitute "tacky" for expensive and tasteful. Certainly, again, the SociaCasino is generally well-made. It looked much nicer than one from 2007 must have looked, for instance. But it was still . . . very meh. In my view. And definitely not a place where you'd want to RP, say, a spy story, or a Prohibition-Era backroom at a Speak. They can do better.

It was mostly butt slapping when I was there.

Post pics, please, so that I can steal ideas!

If they fix it up a bit, I'll come as Vesper. If they don't, I could do a cigarette girl. Sure, why not?

The place had a bit of an "Elvis" vibe to it, for sure.

I think there's something to this. I should start by saying that I have never played a casino, and pretty much certainly never will, but I've walked through them before, and found them deeply depressing, and an outright assault on my senses. But I get that some people love the ambiance -- the noise, the tacky decor, the lights, etc. The LL build is, as you say, of high quality, but it seems to me to be replicating, despite that, the "low end" casino experience -- the banks of flashing slot machines, the painted plaster and paste bling, and the nylon carpeting. And I suppose, as I've noted above, there must be some who want that atmosphere. But why on earth would there not also be a more lush and expensive-looking area? Something James Bondish? It was awfully hard to imagine 007 or "high rollers" playing in the existing areas. Areas -- maybe accessible only for high stakes players? -- that replicated Monte Carlo or whatever, rather than the casino planted next to the Walmart, might attract RPers, photographers, or, heck, EVEN ME (very short term: I'm not a gambler) -- just to experience it. As it was, I just found the place dreary and depressing looking.

If gachas / loot boxes count as "gambling," then surely so would prizes at the casino? It's still "winning something of value," even if it's no transfer. The irony is that the "rules" make it possible to set up a game where you can only lose money, but never win anything of value for it.

The one I saw was "Disturbing the Peace."

When I went there last night, they were simply standing near the entrance holding signs, and offering info on gambling addiction counseling. They were friendly and engaging (except maybe for the one who speculated that I was really Prok's alt), and in no way impeded me from wandering around the casino. This does seem to me a harsh response. But there is, I suspect, some history here to which we aren't privy.

Ironic, given who has been doing the protesting (and got the suspension).

I'd have thought that a simple ban from the region would have been both sufficient and better optics. I suspect that's what LL itself would have advised a landowner ARing such activities on their land.

These threads shut down in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

LL is apparently handing out suspensions for violations of the ToS to at least some of those protesting at the casino, including someone who has posted in this thread.

Well, they have Blackjack anyway: I sat and watched a couple of residents play (and lose) at it last night.

Ya know, if you'd just asked me, I'd have happily distracted him long enough that you could just pilfer whatever you wanted from behind the bar for yourself. Ra helps those who help themselves, as they say.