The Gacha Ban From Two Owners' Points of View

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sept 1, the selling of items through gacha machines was no longer permitted in Second Life. It was about a month earlier that the upcoming ban was announced. It was probably one of Linden Lab's most controversial moves in it's history. It was certainly it's most controversial one since the move to Cloud servers. There were no shortage of comments about it. Most were from fans of gachas and their detractors. Not so many were those with the most to lose: those merchants and content creators whom were using gacha machines to sell their items.

The Newser reached out to some. We had some responses, the two with the most to say being Nams (Nama Gearz) of the Gacha Guild, and Keira Raindale (KeiraLans Resident).

Nams commented on Discord "I could say a few things since I've been making gachas for a few years now.

"I can easily say the ban won't affect me all that much. I've been gradually making less and less gachas over the past year or so, mostly because I believe they've run their course, and I've seen an increase in profits after focusing on regular release items. Since gachas have so much production time involved with them due to all the varied items you have to make for the set, it really just makes more sense to focus all that time and energy into a regular release. A regular release with fuller features and copy/mod permissions seems to beat out the gimmick of gachas in the long run and I can make regular release items for 2 events in the time I can make a gacha set. The only way now the ban will effect me is having to rebox all of my past gachas for resale, but that can be done over time so it's not a huge worry.

"Business aside, I will miss the fun of gachas. Playing them actually was fun for me and my friends, to throw a few Lindens into a machine just to see what you get or giving extras to friends. Going "Look what I got!" roaming around with friends at events will always be a special memory and I am sad that this aspect of gachas is going away."

The Gacha Guild team had earlier made a public statement on it's website, saying the event would change to "straightforward, regular sales."

Another seller who did business through gachas was Keira Raindale (KeiraLans Resident), who I heard about through Prokofy Neva. Contacting her, she thanked me for paying attention to the issues, and sent me some notecards.


As some of you already know, gacha will be banned from SL since September,1...

https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/8586-policy-change-regarding-gacha/

I am really trying to cope with this news and to figure out what to do next, but right now I feel very lost.

Most of my income came from gacha and I seriously doubt that I'll be able to cover my SL and RL expenses with regular releases only...

My C|M collections never get as much sales as gacha sets (even when they have 10+ items in). It's not about quality, time and effort. I can spend 60+ hours on a highly detailed project, and it will never bring as much money as a gacha set made in a week...

As you might notice, I don't make a lot of gachas these days.  Arcade covered my fullsim rent + other fees, and an extra set every other month helped me to maintain my modest middle class lifestyle here in Russia. 

In order to make this money without gachas I'd have to create 10-15 new releases a month - that's unrealistic, and I will be burnout in just a few weeks.

I do love gacha both as a creator and a shopper, I think 2/3 of the stuff I've ever bought were from gacha machines, and it really feels like one of the last things I actually enjoyed in SL is soon to be gone.

Maybe it's a sign for me to move on and finally do something else outside of SL.
I'm not closing Raindale just yet, and have no such plans in the next few months! But if it turns into a hobby without any real profit - I'll have no choice but to minimize my time here.

The most confusing part for me - is what to do with existing gacha sets.

There is no way I could possibly re-package hundreds of items into individual products, make new pictures, replace note-cards etc... it would be a huge waste of time and prim space (especially since I'll most likely have to move to a cheaper sim with less prims)

She had decided on the following:

I will make copy+ full-sets for gachas that are currently in main-store - after September,1

I will have to completely retire (remove from store) most of the older machines in the Outlet area.

I will try to hand-pick the best prizes from all the sets and re-package them into copy+ releases - it will take some time and there is no guarantee that a certain product will ever be for sale again individually.

I will still exchange all the prizes purchased earlier (or from re-sellers) to copy+ on request
*yes, re-selling gacha prizes is still going to be legal


While the gachas were still allowed, she put hers on 25L a purchase, 'let's enjoy our final days of "risky gambling' and 'lucrative business' (grin)."

Of how much she would charge in the future, she had this to say:


All of ex-gacha sets will be priced as my normal copy+ products at this time:

25-50L$ for a small deco piece
75-150L$ for a simple piece of furniture in 1 colour
250-350L$ for PG animated furniture with  colour change HUD/menu
350-450L$ for adult furniture with  colour change HUD/menu
250-499L$ for builds (sheds, gazebos, cabins and cottages)

I'm afraid I will have to raise prices eventually, to survive in a new market, but only for the future products.

I made some approximate calculations on a few gacha sets and it looks like copy+ fullpacks will be around 900-1500L$ without any discounts applied. The final price/discount amount will be different for every set depending on their value.

Most collections will be available only in "fullset" and "rare" versions (no individual common prizes separately)

Few collections will be repackaged and set for sale with all individual prizes available to purchase separately (right now Wonderbell, Riverbreak and Millcreek are on that list due to popular demand)

A few prizes will be individually set as a small copy+ collection/mini pack (Moonleaf boat-sofas, Applemore couches and poufs, Meadowbloom arbours and swings - the list will extend based on your requests)

A third notecard was presumably made later on, "I received an overwhelming amount of questions, opinions, suggestions and just sweet messages from many of you! I think I should share some of it with the folks who have the same thoughts/solutions/concerns, but decided not to contact me for some reasons (cheers to all the introverts out-there ♥)."

• First of all, there is a popular opinion that if we put our gacha items in regular vendors, we'll have the same profit (or more). Sadly this is not true! Most profit comes from gacha re-sellers. Regular customer spends a few hundreds L$, regular re-seller invests a few thousands in a good gacha set. As a result I get a lot of sales during event, re-sellers get even more profit on a longer distance and customers can choose to have fun and pay a little for a random item or pay more for specific product. In my opinion (as an avid gacha player, ex gacha re-seller and soon to be ex gacha creator) It was a good and fair system for everyone.

I simply don't feel comfortable to charge 2000L$ for a house and up to 5000L$ for a full set as re-sellers do. So without re-sellers my revenue will automatically shrink down to 50% or less, even if all the same people will buy all the new products directly from me.

• I'm glad that creators are trying to find some new and exciting ways of shopping to replace gacha! Normal shopping is boring :D Unfortunately new systems that were introduced so far didn't inspire me as a customer, therefor I'm not going to implement them as merchant (I'm talking about those conveyor style vendors)

• I will also pass on simply drugging all the products to multi-vendors, or put that hover-text script inside old gacha machines. I have standards :D
Last year I re-packaged every single product just so they all have updated LM and NC inside! I think, that things like correct note-cards, individual pictures, nice packaging and overall aesthetics are super important - call me silly for that XD

• I will try to put for sale as many individual products as possible considering prim limit and general demand. You can always ask me to put a certain item for sale - many people already did - I'm very flexible about those things!

• I very much like the idea of collectibles - as transferable products available for a limited time or in a limited amount of copies. You can re-sell, trade, gift them to a friend and so on. All the things we loved about gacha minus the fun of getting a random prize. I'll try to make first collection in September and we'll see how it goes. I will also exchange them to copy+ on demand (normally less than 5% of my gacha players requested an exchange, so I see no point in making copy+ vendor at the first place)
I hope you'll also like this idea of having more exclusive and limited products + it will help re-sellers to stay in the market after gachas are gone.

Though we need to find a balance between re-sellers quickly getting all the copies and sell them for insane prices - and customers getting so many copies, that collectibles are no longer so special and exclusive.

 I'm not sure how to make it fun, fair and exciting for everyone, let me know if you have any thoughts!

Keira did add on a personal note, "Quite a lot of people contacted me with their concerns about my financial well-being, advices and suggestions  - it's so very nice of you - but I can assure you there is nothing to worry about. ... Even though I had the most terrible RL summer with a few family members having serious health issues - I'm still a debt free home owner in a country where minimal wage is 185 US$/month and average salary is around 600 US$/month! There are plenty of ways for me to make money as a 3D artist (actually much more money than I make in SL) - I'll be fine :D In the worst case scenario I'll wipe out the dust from my useless degree in Liberal Arts and get a RL job.

"For the past few years I was privileged to make a living by designing things that I love on the platform that I like - now it's over and I have to find other sources of income in or out of SL. That's OK, I see it as a new beginning. You should have much more sympathy to gacha-creators and re-sellers from more expensive countries, with a mortgage, small children, no free health-care and so on. They are the ones who will struggle the most in this situation!

"Still I'm very grateful for all the support, kind words and wishes!"

Dropping by Keira's place again, a quick look showed plenty of items for sale, but there was a choice at some vendors of either the rare item only, or the full set for a larger price. For now, she's still in business.

These are just two stories out of many among the gacha merchants. If anyone else out there has a story, either another merchant or a friend/favorite customer of one, please feel free to share it.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Montecito Bay's NuYu Modtacular Event

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's a big event going on in Montecito Bay this month: the NuYu Modtacular. The main feature is the number of booths in the northern part of the boardwalk. Dropping by there recently, I had a few words with one of the women behind it, Becky Nosferatu. Not far away was Magpie Hyena (VesperBloodwing Parx), whom was also it the event.

"The NuYu Modtactular event is a mod-exclusive gacha event!" Becky told me when asked to describe it,"It's main goal is to help people find one-of-a kind, unique and new mods! Hence the awesome auctions and all the exclusives we have." When asked how long it took to organize, she answered it was about three months, "It was pretty back-to-back for most of the staff coming up with ideas, took us a good half a month to come up with the name. The auctions were purely Mag's idea and we ran with it!"

There were almost two dozen booths on the boardwalk, eighteen tents and several smaller stalls, each representing a vendor. "The center tents, near us here, are the premium vendors," Becky explained, "The booths here in the center, these four? They're the sponsors. They were randomly picked. The different sizes were how many prims were distributed to each, with the sponsors getting Entertainment events."

Magpie chuckled, "Well the folks that couldn't show up, we decorated with various furniture. But one of them we went crazy with. That's our crazy corner I guess. Everyone needs a crazy corner. Don't, look too deep into it. Me and Brae don't even know if Becky's seen it yet." Becky gave a snicker, "Yeah, a few had to back out last minute. Some are still empty and were planning to make it. They ended up having family emergencies and such. Hopefully we'll see them soon."

Becky did say a few backed out, "But it happens," Magpie commented, "We ended up with nearly everyone here, which is honestly incredible." "It wasn't a lot we lost," Becky added, "I was really impressed with how many we ended up keeping." "We did have some late folks," Magpie stated, "but they both were super communicative. One of em's already up." "Honestly if it wasn't for Brae (Brae Vaher /Braelynn Darkstone) and Mag's help," Becky commented, "it probably wouldn't have gotten done at all, Bixyl. The three of us busted our (behinds) getting this event on time, and it's really proving to be a great idea." "We all had our parts," Magpie remarked, "plus helped each other with certain things. It was definitely a group effort, and the Montecito Bay staff as a whole should also be recognized for their patience and support."

I asked if anything in particular stood out. Becky answered, "Well the auctions, of course! Really, every vendor has unique stuff. Most are for the Regalia body currently, that's super popular right now." Magpie commented, "I was shocked how many worked with Regalia (chuckle). But it's definitely an up and coming avie. Plenty did omega compatible mods and Kemono, and some feral stuff too here and there." When asked more about Regalia, Becky responded, "The body is from Sugarcult. It has bodies that fit existing bodies clothes and is aimed at furries with digitigrade legs and a long neck for alternate heads. It's main draw is it uses a very simple UV, so a lot of modders have been working with it easier than (other) SL UVs. The Regalia is a lot cheaper than mainstream bodies, too, which is a big draw for the cheaper furry crowd, as human skins and heads tend to be a lot more." Magpie commented, "I think modders are attracted to the Regalia because the UV unwrap is way easier than the typical Omega unwrap, but it's got multiple bodies that seem to fit just fine with nearly every article of clothing made for some of the popular current omega bodies." "She's been updating it like mad, Bixyl, so there's a lot of stuff." "Yeah I think it's gonna catch on. She literally is keeping track of all the bugs."

My next question was about the auctions. Becky answered, "They're still taking bids, and will be all month. Mags can tell you more." Magpie responded, "Getting the script made by our scripter was terrifying but he worked damn well. I don't know JACK about scripts, so Becky and Trevor helped me a lot through the process of getting the script to do what we needed it to do. I love that it ended up working to where customers could bid on a mod they wanted, it'd instantly take their Linden, and if they got outbid, it'd be refunded back. Anyone had the choice of making an auction mod, but in the end we ended up with the five current ones you see at the front. It's only day three, and every single mod has had at least one bid. They all worked SUPER hard on their auction mods and I'm extremely proud how successful it's been. The auction was something I wanted us to do because it was basically like selling off a character. A new look that would never be sold again, not even as a recolor. It's like getting a custom from a modder, but it's already done. Some of them even gave their Auction mods a cute name and personality in their ad images and information."

I saw a schedule with several music events and asked about it. Magpie told me, "Those are the Sponsor events! All sponsors get their own show with the Entertainment department! (grin)" Becky added, "Yeah! so part of being a sponsor for the event, they get an event dedicated to them and their store by our entertainment staff. Think Mod Monday, but for them only." Among then was an event DJed by Sheba Metaluna of the Bay's Flying Pickle Lounge. Becky told me, "She actually sponsored us using AllFur Radio! They've been advertising it a lot for us, and in return, they are played here." Magpie added, "She did. AFR's on the sim too for the duration of NuYu I believe as our music channel when shows aren't happening? Sheba's been helping out a ton too with some cute as heck ads during her shows."

This being December, Becky reminded, "We have a lot of Christmas themed mods to this event too." Magpie stated, "... all the gacha machines at NuYu are at or below 100 Lindens." Becky then directed out attention to a nearby boat, "I should add, the events are also going to be in one new location. On the yacht! We're treating all our sponsors to an awesome boat party. (smile) Whiiich that reminds me, we'll have to move some of the hardware around to the boat. Heh."

Before we parted ways, Becky stated, "This is going on all month and we hope people will enjoy it enough that they come back next year! Or maybe for even a summer time event. We haven't decided that yet."

The event goes on to Tuesday December 31st.

Montecito Bay (31/128/26)

Bixyl Shuftan

A Gacha Garden for Littles

By: Alura Denver (Alura Messing)

Now, we full size avi's love our Gacha Gardens, and why wouldn't we?  There is the thrill of dropping a coin into a machine, turning the lever and hoping that our favorite piece goes into the slot to win!  It takes you right  back to your own youth and those silly little red machines outside of the grocery store.  So I thought what a shame that littles (Child Avi's) in Second Life didn't have their own Gacha area.  I mean, after all, gachas are for kids!  

Well, while I was exploring, I stumbled on Little Diva Gacha Garden.  It is a beautiful little park you can explore, that is also filled with gachas that are all designed for a child avi and some even have goodies full sized Avi's wouldn't mind.  In the many gachas, there are seasonal items, clothes, home decorations and even fun trinkets to just play with.  The best part is that all of the Gachas are only $50L a play.  Compared to some out there, that is a total bargain!

Little Diva also has some extra bonuses too.  If you join the group in the store, you can also rez items at the location.  This can be a nice bonus if you have no permanent place to call your own and want someplace nicer than a typical sandbox.  Just for the month of December there is a Group Christmas present that gives you a random gift card to the store up to $300L.  It is transferable, so if you can't use it, you can share it with someone who can!  Also, while you are there you can check out her Seven Seas pond.  It has items from the gachas, even a few rare ones, and a specially designed fishing pole that can be used by all avi's.  Prizes in the pond are changed monthly to keep it interesting.

After you have played your fill of gachas, done some fishing, and checked out the Little Diva store, be sure to wander the garden and find some of the fun off the beaten path.  There are little fun things hidden all over; buildings to investigate, a tea party with Mr. Thumps, picture perfect spots, a piano to play, what will you discover there? Before you leave be sure to look for a little pink ornament bulb in a cup of tea.  In it, is a hidden surprise just for our readers both big and small alike.  Hope to see you around the Garden, at Little Diva Gacha Garden!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Boscombe/16/42/23

Alura Denver

Gacha Market and The Arcade

By Wesley Regenbogen

Imagine a shop where you get items from so-named "fruitmachines" of which you make a purchase, and you're not a hundred percent sure what you might get. But if you're not truly happy with what you got, you can trade it with someone else who made a purchase whom had gotten something you like. This is "Gacha," a concept that's apparently been in Second Life for a while, but it's new and innovative to me as I haven't seen it around yet.

I took a look at two Gacha shopping locations. The newer one was the Gacha Market. The owners of the Market and its residential area are Erick Miles and Marc Bing, both are Dutch residents. You can also rent a home and a shop basement there too. They made the homes first, and then built everything around it. The decorations at the sim were done by both as well.

The older, better known Gacha area is The Arcade. It was co-founded by Octagons Yazimoto, Katharine McGinnis, and Emery Milneaux. The idea behind it started as a joke, but eventually the owners decided to put the project in action. The Arcade sim was created five years ago. You can buy items from the “fruitmachines” for L$ 50 or L$ 75 and you don’t quite know what you will get. It’s possible you get an item that you don't really care for, but it can also be that you get a rare item. So, it’s basically a “I buy something, but I don’t know what I will get” thing, which is quite original in my opinion. Different creators make stuff and they put it in the "fruitmachines," which can be totally different with every creator. If you don’t like the item that you bought, you can resell it on the “Gacha Market.” 

Of the team behind The Arcade, some might know Katharine McGinnis for her work on the "Fennux" breedable pet. Marianne McCann, listed as a chat moderator, is noted for helping organize events at Bay City and other places.

On the Arcade location there is a radio station that is played, with different styles of music. It has events four times a year at March, June, September, and December.

The music which is played in the Gacha Dream location is from the 1950's and 60's. There are no events planned in the near future yet, because the sim has just recently opened. But they promise that they will give an “extra twist” to things down the road. 

The Gacha Market shops and sim is a realistically designed place with homes and shops that you can rent. The homes are photorealistic and very well made.

The Arcade is a circle path where the shops are at both sides of the path. The path is formed by a brick pattern and it’s beautifully made. It's website describes it as "set in a seaside build that evokes the whimsical feel of the penny arcades of early 1900’s Coney Island and Brighton Pier."

More information about Gacha Shop and Sim can be found at this website :

http://www.gachadream.com/

More information about The Arcade can be found here :

http://thearcadesl.com/

You can find the Gacha Shops and Sim at this location :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dreaming/104/127/24

The Arcade can be found here :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Acerbus%20Silva/57/80/52 

image credit: thearcadesl.com

Addition: Scratch the part about Gacha Market being part residential, they don't do it any more.

Wesley Regenbogen

The Gacha Show Premieres on Templar

By DrFran Babcock

I am not an oldbie, but I have been in Second Life™ long enough to have witnessed many ideas sweep the grid. Some come and go, and some stay. Right now gacha madness is in its ascendance, and few residents are without at least some awareness of what it’s all about.

What is Gacha?

The main gacha event is the Arcade Gacha ( http://thearcadesl.com ) held several times a year. Major content creators are asked to create a series of items, and place them in a machine where residents pay a fee to get the prizes that have been placed within. Most creators make one or a few items RARE, in that the odds of getting them are more difficult. The real coup in designing this event is that the items in the gacha machine are no modify, no copy, but transferable. This means, if you don’t like what you got in the machine, you can trade it for something else. An entire Gacha Culture has sprung up with residents running yard sales to sell their extra and unwanted items. In addition, some items that are RARE, especially items from earlier gachas fetch prices of several thousand Lindens! There is even an entire sim devoted to the sale, auction, and display of gacha items: Gachetopia.

Gachetopia is a sim-wide yard sale along with several stores dedicated to selling items from the past gacha events. The sim is the work of Morbid and Luke Templar, who are dedicated gacha addicts. They have been selling items and holding auctions for a while now, but on Saturday, November 16^th, they hosted the first of what should be many live shows called: The Gacha Show. Each show is planned to host a content creator, and an interview with them to explore their work, their lives, and their gacha goods.

I am fascinated always by the content creators with consistently innovative, detailed and improving work. For the first show Morbid Templar interviewed the genius behind O.M.E.N.: Damien.

Damien and O.M.E.N.

A sampling of the wise words of Damien is below. Damien was very measured and wise in his responses, and the crowd was clearly eating out of his hand. He even got a marriage proposal from someone in the audience by the end.

 I found out that O.M.E.N. actually stands for Ominous Meaning Elude No one, that Damien created as a comment on all the business names in SL that actually mean nothing.

Creative inspiration that might be saleable is hard to come by, and Damien admits that he does rely upon his manager, Aarin Jennifers, to help him with his creations. He has several ideas that were rejected by his manager  (farting tacos ), but he has held on to them for the future. His personal favorite gacha creation of his own is the Panda Sushi (http://www.flickr.com/photos/75496317@N07/8799819073/ )

Morbid bodly brought up the subject of the odds on the machines. My own experience has been that some RARES in the machines are harder to get than others, and my visits to yard sales have confirmed that certain objects are much harder to find. Damien felt that no RARE should be impossibly hard to win, especially if someone plays a machine very often.

He was asked what other creators he admired and he mentioned two of my favorites, Apple Fall and Anya Ohmai (Nu’ville), and one I didn’t know: Rose of Olive. Of great interest was the fact that all of the designers in the Arcade Gacha Group get free copies of the gacha items. This tidbit had the crowd murmuring in jealousy.

However, no matter how much the crowd begged, Damien would not let people know what would be in his December 2013 Arcade Gacha, but he had sage advice for new content creators: Be willing to embrace being small to be big.

FREEBIES!

A big surprise was announced after the show. Each person who had attended was treated to a detailed globe made by Luke Templar that was only for this show, and would be retired. In addition, Damien promised a free gift to the attendees of this first Gacha Show.

The next guest is already lined up, and is Contraption, who makes…well, contraptions. It is set for November 30^th on the sim of Templar, and if it is run as professionally and welcoming as this first show, it will be a hit.

If you are interested in joining the Gachatopia group, you can teleport to the sim here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Templar/121/179/41

DrFran Babcock

The Elusive Arcade

By Gemma Cleanslate

I have been trying for two days to get into the Country Club region to visit The Arcade. 

This is an Event at The Arcade and it is the first birthday. It is always full! This event will be here until the 30th of September, so sooner or later you may be able to get there. It is billed on the website as, “The Arcade is a brand of gacha events within Second Life, featuring some of the grid’s best content creators.” Read about gacha events here on the website http://thearcadesl.com/about/the-event/ . 

As I hung around in the air at the edge of the sim with others waiting and hoping we got a message from Archibald Gachum, who shouted, "Enter The Arcade photography contest, featuring prizes from 12 beloved brands. 1st place gets early access into our next 4 gacha events (December 2013 - September 2014)! http://thearcadesl.com/contest/how-to-enter “ in the chat. 

As I cammed in on the inside of the Arcade, I could see that the games are definitely arcade games from the past. Each game has a prize connected with it that is displayed on a small billboard next to the machines. I don’t know how much it costs to play yet, since I am still hovering on the next sim edge but it looks extremely popular and I wanted to let you all know about it so you will have time to try to enter. The build itself is worth a visit and perhaps if you are a photographer enter the contest. 

As I looked around at the three sims next to Country club I found 34 avatars hovering in the air or on the landing ship in Casablanca Bay, or Club Road and Park Drive. If you are a member of the group I read that you are granted early admission to an event.  As I left there were still 31 people inside The Arcade. Good Luck!! I will try again tomorrow! This is the first time I have written about a place to which I have never been! 

Thanks to Daniel Voyager for getting the slurl!
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Country%20Club/167/114/3132

Gemma Cleanslate

Editor's Note: The games I noticed in a visit in June cost 25-100 Lindens each round to play. It's possible others could be higher.