Boycott Arcade!

Just as I did for the last round, I'm calling on consumers to boycott Arcade.

Why am I calling for a boycott of the most popular event of the year, the grandfather of the entire gatcha economy in Second Life? Well, for those very reasons.

At least one of the organizers is something of a douche, but that wouldn't be a reason to boycott anybody -- I save my personal boycotts for people who are douches both inworld AND on the forums.

No, I have three substantive issues and if these changed, or even 2 out of the 3 changed, I might end my boycott.

Interestingly, one of my complaints last time was that the Arcade required a whopping 50 pulls for the freebie special gift.  That's $2,500 or US $9.25 for a thing that more often than not was just a potted flower or handbag or something stupid. (That's a problem with special prizes at all events; seldom are they any good; they are likely made in a hurry by hard-pressed creators).

So surely not only because of me and my blog but plenty of other people who bitched about this, they now have put this down to 25 pulls. 

People think protests never work in SL or never do any good and laugh at you; in fact they do, because changing that reward system from 50 to 25 -- nearly US $10 going to $5 for those greedy creators -- is quite a sacrifice on their point. Likely they will see it made up in people simply pulling the same amount, only on more creators' one-armed bandits.

See, the real force for change here may have been by creators who made crappy gifts nobody bothered to pull 50 times for, and they whined and demanded a change to 25 -- for all we know!

Another quiet force for change may have been the yardsale owners who benefit the most from the gatcha economy. 50 pulls deprives them of renters with extras to sell; 25 pulls cuts that problem in half.

Changing from 50 to 25 is good, and progress, but not enough to end my boycott, because the special rewards should be TRANSFERABLE and are not.

My other beef was the high price of the pulls. While in their early days they were $25 or $50 and rarely more, today many are $75 and $100. $100 already feels not like a gatcha, but a store cost.

Creators argue that for something like hair or skins, $100 is nothing and a fraction of their store cost. Nonsense. There is no difference between the hair made for $100 versus the hair made for $50. It's as good or better. For furniture, there is no rhyme or reason. It's not like pixel-wranglers have materials cost. There's no difference in a $50 or a $100 item; $50 items can be more hard to make and time-consuming than a stupid box with a blanket thrown over it that someone might charge $75 for. Price does not reflect anything but greed. I've noticed the creators from some of the poorest countries charge the most because once they figured out they could drain down spenders from the First World, they saw no reason not to grab more. And it's not just Third World creators. Some of the Japanese and Chinese are the worst -- they routinely set to $75 or $100 and are very stingy with the rares. They do this because they can and you won't do anything about it.

But it can be any nationality that sets a $75 pull and a very low change of a rare simply because they can and they don't care or they actively despise customers.

So only free markets with active consumers can give people like this the feedback they require.

Here's a list of those with more than $50 pulls:

Astralia $75
Fawny $75
Amala $75
Ariskea $75
Atomic $100
Rebel $100
Mai Moi $75
Birdy $75
Candydoll $75
Claw $75
Clawtooth $75
Contraption $75
David Heather $75
DRD $75
Half Deer $75
Howl $75
Ink $75
Lamb $75
Le Primtif $75
Little Bones $75
M.Birdie Story $75
Mon Cheri $75
Moon $100
Moon Amore $75
Nomad $75
Olive $75
Random Matter $75
Remarkable Oblivion $75
Schadenfreude $75
Sorgo $75
Sweet Thing $75

When you look at the shopping guide and compare the $75 to the $50 items you will see what I mean. There's no difference. Tableau Vivant hair for $50 is different than somebody else's hair? Of course not.

So don't buy the $75 ones and send a message.

Boycotting the Arcade event and these prices doesn't mean that you have to refrain from buying these items.

I myself buy Arcade items -- but I buy them at HALF OR LESS the price at yardsales and refuse to pay these prices. So anyone can do this without announcing a boycott or joining my group Boycott Arcade.

 

 

Comments

[Gordon]

This is a good publicity ploy. If someone like you is calling for a boycott than more people will have a look to the location. :)
Thanks for the promotion.

[Stephanie Meyer]

Hi! Your last post about the Arcade was actually a good overview of what was available, and I did go over and try a few pulls. But the article also made me aware of the gambling element of gachas and the fact that there is no guarantee that you will get what you want.

Of the five items I got at the last Arcade, I have not found a real use for any of them, so what I got for my money was a learning experience.

I will still probably do a pull now and again: If even one of the items is something I could use (example, a machine where the items are the same except for color) or if I'm visiting a shop I enjoy but not in the mood to buy - then the gacha is more fun than contributing to a tip jar. If I go to the Arcade again I will try to avoid the higher-priced gachas.

I have put one of your barrel-shaped "Landmark Giver"in my Tourist Information Center, but thinking about gachas gave me the inspiration to create my own "Free Mole Landmark Gacha Machine." Thanks

[Prokofy Neva (@Prokofy)]

Stephanie, I'm glad you got some use out of the landmark giver. I will have to see your Mole LM giver, that sounds interesting, I think I have collected most of the Mole freebies.

Gordon, I don't care if it gives more publicity. Why would that be a deterrent to criticism? It also has some effect -- they reduced their reward system from 50 to 25 like other events.

More and more people are complaining about the high prices even reaching $100, and they will come down.

[Gacha Addict]

I'm late to the party but.... bumped into it accidentally - pretty ridiculous post filled with self entitlement.

Last summer I belive it was, linden exchange crashed, L$ became cheap to buy and creators had added fees to their withdrawals by LL + exchange rate for cashing out was a complete mess with terrible rate. It hurt small stores and businesses. Stores will adjust their prices based on economy.

You don't get to dictate how shops should price their gachas. Smaller stores prices will go up because they have to survive and make profit among the large brands who can AFFORD to make things cheap due to their enormous following.

Your little movement doesn't mean shit, all i hear is wah wah too expensive, boycott!

LOL Don't wanna play? Don't then. Who forces you? Only 2 stores had 100L gachas and I'm sure they felt their items were well worth it. Kudos to them for getting paid for their hard work.

Some of these brands offered clothing in ALL SIZES, not just one size/prize - that could be shared between friends wearing different bodies. Being a crazy shopper myself, I don't mind paying 100 for a top I can share with 5 of my friends who wear different mesh body. That's ridiculously cheap. So instead of whining like a spoiled child, get over it and go to gacha sales.

[Prokofy]

Guess what, sweet pie, I'm not calling for a socialist diktat to force people to set a price, I'm using the same free speech and free market to say consumers shouldn't pay $100 for gatchas, it's a rip-off, and guess what, I get to do that in a free economy, imagine!

It's not "smaller shops" which is a meaningless concept in a setting where ALL the merchants are big name or they wouldn't be paying the huge fee to participate. In fact, people don't pay the prices, and guess what, because we complain, they've started lowering them. There are less doing this now. I don't expect to have an impact with my little campaign, it isn't about me, because many other consumers themselves are saying the same thing.

More and more, these people have to put out 4 or more different gacha machines to accommodate all the mesh manufacturers who don't work off a standard. And that's "their right" too of course. But after awhile, you wonder why you are taking a chance to buy these things, just sell them outright, even for MORE, and give people a CHOICE not random bullshit. THAT is the issue. Sell them to those who want them, at the size and type they want, even for more. The end.