The Rules for Merchants
Why have rules? Because without them, we have headaches. That’s the collective “we” again (hunters, merchants, admins) – everyone’s life is easier if the merchants know what to do, and the hunters know what to expect. Trust us, we’ve been through this. ;) And with that said – here we go.
- You may not rename your hunt box. [more info][less info]
Yeah, we know some people cheat and use finder huds, and if they know the name then they can find your item without having to hunt. We’re going to let them. Let them come and go, and think of them as jackass cousin Bob who comes to your family reunion, eats all the potato salad and leaves again, to the tune of ‘good riddance’. Most people hunt – and keeping the hunt boxes properly named helps them keep their inventory intact and lets them keep track of where they are on the hunt that way. No point in punishing the whole fam because cousin Bob is wanker.There is ONE exception to this rule. If you have multiple prizes and want to add (X of X) at the end to both alert hunters there is more than one and tell them which one they’ve gotten, this is just fine — but it MUST go at the very end, AFTER your store name.
- If you’re going to include a LM to your own store, it needs to be IN the box with your items. [more info][less info]
The only LM a hunter should see inside the folder they get from you is the one to the next store. It may sound like a small thing, but these poor people are suffering some massive lag. The easier we can make it for them to keep moving, the less likely they are to be a cranky SoB on the hunt. And no worries. They already have your LM – they got it from the store ahead of you. ;)
- You must sell the contents of the hunt box for L$0. [more info][less info]
This seems to be a tough one for people. Some want to charge L$1. Some want to sell a copy rather than contents. Some want to use a scripted ‘give’ instead of selling. Some want to use a ‘give only once’ script. No, no, no, and no. More and bigger problems are caused by this than we can describe. If you sell a copy and not contents – then they have to find somewhere to rez to get the next LM. (And seriously, not everyone knows you can wear the box and pull the LM out.) And using a scripted ‘give’ is nightmarish for hunters. Scripts are also some of the first things to start failing when the lag begins – and you end up with a pile up of frustrated hunters in your store being cranky, and no one has any fun. So – selling, contents, L$0.
- You need to box up your hunt gift, and put YOUR box inside the ‘hunt box’. [more info][less info]
Here’s what the inside of your hunt box should look like: the LM to the next location, and a box containing your items. If you have male and female gifts, you might have two boxes and the LM to the next store. The point is – don’t just toss the LM in there with your stuff and make people sift. No, it’s not that hard – when you’re not lagged out because there’s a hunt going on. But when you’re waiting for inventory to load and suffering little freezes (which is just life on a hunt), it can make a big difference if you don’t have to hunt for the next LM too.
- You can’t resize, retexture, recolor, remove the rotate script, or otherwise change the external appearance of the box. [more info][less info]
People need to know exactly what they’re looking for when they get there. Trust me – even if you think it’s easy, they don’t know your store like you do. So they need to understand the kinds of places it might fit (size) and what they’re looking at when they’re looking at the box (texture, color). Otherwise, the hunt is just no fun for them.
- You must place the hunt box within 30 meters of the place hunters land. (See #7 for Petite boxes.) [more info][less info]
Note the language here: whether its because it’s the LM you gave us or because you have teleport routing forced to a certain point, the MAIN GIFT box must stay within 30 meters of that landing point. Let’s face it – 30m to the left, 30m to the right, back, forward, up, down – that’s a whole lot of space to search for something so small (and our hunt boxes are SMALL). If they had to search a whole sim for something that small, they’d cry, tear their hair out, and give up – or complain until none of us could stand it. We know some of you love torturing the hunters a little – and you’ll still have plenty of room to do that in 30m any direction. So – keep it within 30 meters for the main gift. If you have additional gifts they’re not required to be within 30 meters (with the exception of PETITE – see #7). NOTE: Last time around, some merchants didn’t stay inside the 30m rule. Others started out obeying the rule, but as prize locations became compromised, the box got moved out of the 30m range. We’re really not kidding about this rule — and while we wish we had time to chase you to get you to move your box back in range, we just plain don’t. So – if you move your hunt prize farther than 30m from where hunters land, we’ll send you a note about it, then start giving out the exact location (SLurl) of your hunt prize until you move it back in range. We’d rather people were able to hunt for your gift, and we’re sure you would too — but too much confusion is created for hunters when it’s not within the range we told them it would be, and too much time is spent by the Twisted Assistants and Organizers trying to clear up that confusion.
- If you’re using it, you must place the PETITE hunt box within 20 meters of the place hunters land. (See #6 for standard boxes.) [more info][less info]
The Petite hunt boxes are a new option for this hunt and are half the size of the standard hunt boxes. (You asked for small, we’re giving you small.) Making those itty bitties search 30 meters would be cruel and unusual punishment, even for Twisted. If you’ve chosen to do a Petite gift in addition to a standard gift, the same rules/explanations apply to the Petite boxes as the standard boxes, but at 20 meters instead of 30.
- If you’re going to hide the hunt box, you must hide it fairly. [more info][less info]
You don’t HAVE to hide your hunt box, and some prefer not to (which is just fine). But if you do hide it – you need to hide it in such a way that a reasonable hunter can find it. So no stashing it in the wall completely, or with only a tiny corner showing. No sinking it into the ground, or totally concealing it in another prim. We can appreciate if people have to cam for it – but total concealment is out.
- You are limited to a total of eleven (11) visible hunt boxes at your location. [more info][less info]
At no point, for any reason, should there be more than 11 visible hunt boxes at your location – THIS INCLUDES YOUR PETITE BOX if you’re using it. Whether you have one prize and ten decoys, three prizes and eight decoys, or eleven prizes — eleven visible boxes should be the maximum. There is nothing fun or challenging for hunters about just endlessly clicking on boxes that have no prize in them – it’s just tedium, and hunters (rightfully) feel like it’s just a waste of their time. While we encourage every merchant to make their prize challenging to find, and making them look for a needle in a haystack is just fine – we require more creativity than just making hunters find a particular piece of hay in a haystack.Of note, VISIBLE – is an important word here. You are welcome to sink 100 boxes in your floor to foil scanners, or into your walls to foil wireframers – but regular old hunters, using their eyeballs, should never see more than 11 boxes. DECOYS CAN BE A MIX OF BOTH STANDARD AND PETITE BOXES.
- You may not break up your main prize into many pieces in order to make hunters find more boxes. [more info][less info]
If you have a male and a female gift, it is perfectly reasonable to have (male) and (female) boxes, hidden separately. If you made more than one prize, it is perfectly acceptable to have more than one prize box hidden. Even if you made an additional prize that complements your main prize, it is just fine to have this hidden in a separate prize box hunters must find.However — you may not break your main prize down into ten pieces and make hunters find every piece individually. For example, if your main prize is a pair of boots — you cannot put the left foot in one box, the right foot in another, the left leg in yet another, etc. It’s just not cool.
So them’s the rules. If you apply/register, you’re agreeing to them. And we’ll hold you to them. You should know up front we’re going to make every SLurl of every participating store, in order, available to hunters from day 1. If you frustrate them – they’ll have the ability to move on to the next location without your gift. And that may seem just fine – but really, it’s better if they get it – because they might love your stuff and want to shop with you. But they’ll never find that out if they get so frustrated hunting for your prize that they give up and skip you.
Some Words of Friendly Warning
Every hunt, we inevitably get at least one merchant who thinks they have a good explanation why one or more of the above rules should not apply to them — so we want to be very up front and say this:
We will never agree with you.
These rules exist for very good reasons, and no merchant or sponsor is exempt from them — no matter how good a reason they think they have. If you break the rules, you will only be creating work and frustration for others — as the Twisted Assistants WILL hound you until you are back in compliance or we are forced to remove you from the hunt. For every broken rule, at least two man hours of work is created for a person who volunteers their time. It’s not fair to the hunters, it’s not fair to the assistants who must spend time making you keep your word, and it’s not fair to the other merchants who keep to the rules. We record the names of our problem children — and they may very well find themselves not invited back to the hunt again.
And if you’ve made it this far, might as well roll on to the suggestions!
