Gachas Going Bye-Bye

This is probably the biggest SL news in almost a decade.  Gachas will no longer be legal on the grid as of September 1. You can read the new Second Life official gacha policy here. 

Now I of course have lots of thoughts on this, so many that it got me writing  a brief-for-me comment on the forums which I have been avoiding of late.  So let's start off with what "I" thought was the most import part of the discussion (you can see the long long long forum post here). 

From my comment on the forums. (Sorry I can't make this text smaller ^^ ) :

So this thread is WAY too long and I will put my personal thoughts "elsewhere",

*********BUT BUT BUT **********

 

This really needs to be said and in all the post I read (not all as it made me tired) I didn't see this comment.


While Linden Lab may give you the right to resell your no-copy gacha items as regular items ----- IF you were in some of the top gacha events, you (as a creator) agreed to NEVER SELL THEM ANY OTHER WAY BUT GACHAS.

Shall I repeat? Nope. You got the idea.

So that mean for those of us that are honest and keep our word (I have LOTS of gachas made in the past) those items will be discontinued. There is no other way to comply. SOME events let you sell items as both no-copy gachas and fatpacks in the same event. So those fatpacks could still be sold of course.


BUT (again that BUT thing) -- EVEN if you only made a gacha set for YOUR store and never sold it as a fatpack --- you pretty much PROMISED your customers that it would always "just" be in gacha form. That is how the gacha resellers stay in business.


Heading off to type elsewhere.

As the original official blog post states there will SOON (tm) be a FAQ page with questions answered but honestly I didn't have any. I thought the announcement was quiet clear. 

Personally I am both happy and sad about the decision.   

I am sad because I know a lot of events and creators will close or at least walk away for awhile. If you have been around during any other major decisions that shook the grid, you know the outcome of these things.  I realize a lot of creators make a ton of money off of their gacha sets -- I certainly did. It is mind-boggling; and that in itself is a reason for sadness of another type. That money came from real people.  I watched one gal play a machine of mine at an event for thousands of lindens just trying to get a lamp she loved. Eventually I wrote her (I have show inworld sales turned on) and asked her what she was after. I told her she had played enough and sent her the lamp.   

As a consumer I have never loved gachas -- mostly because they are no-copy and fairly easily lost in our boxing ring matches with the database.  I am HOPING that some of the outstanding skills that our gachas creators use on their sets will translate over to some more creative and better REGULAR products, which most of us have noted and commented on have been steadily going downhilll (overall) for more than a year or two. 

So two conflicting feelings, both relevant to me anyway. 

On a store owner level I will be heading over to my gacha building and marking down my gachas 60 percent  along with "some" fatpacks.  They have had a good run and I am not particularly sad to see them go.  That area could use a really pretty park come September.   

May we live in interesting times ---