The vote is in! - New Rules

Okay folks! The vote is in! It would seem that the majority of you would like to make this hunt one where we move the eggs around from time to time, if we have the room, so as to keep the traffic up.

However, some of you do not have the room to do this.

That being the case, it has been decided to leave it up to the store owner. Should you want to keep the egg in one spot, with hints still available, that will be allowed. But I will need to know if you want the hints within the next few days as I need to make sure I have a list of those that are going to do this and those that will be moving their eggs.

The eggs will be moved on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly basis, depending once again on how often the vendor can get in to move the egg.

With this change comes new rules.

Here are the rules, some amended from before and some new.

1. 1. If you have been chosen for this hunt, you must make one special item for the hunt, and ONLY for this hunt. It is not to be something you've given out before, sold before, or are using in another hunt. I ask that you please think hard about this one, as this item should be a nice quality item since the goal of this Hunt will be to showcase just what you can do and give the Hunters reason to come back to your small business. So you will need a quality item that is 'non holiday', i.e. a skirt and top with Happy Easter across it may not get worn at all depending on when they get to your shop, but a pink & green skirt set, though in seasonal colors, would as it is not specifically for Easter. It is advisable that you have something that is unisex, or include something for the men as well as the women. If all you do is women's clothes, then why not try something as simple as a pair of pants and a t-shirt for the men. Or if you do woman's jewelry, try a pair of cuff links or tie tack for his favorite outfit. You do not have to package them together, you can have one egg for the men and one for the women. But it is advisable to make sure that you do something special for the men. They will be more apt to return to your store (with their female companion) to pick her something nice out even if you do not have a men's clothing line, simply because you thought of them during this Hunt. You do not HAVE to, but I can tell you now that most are and that we are being known now as the hunt that is catering to men and are getting a lot of men drooling over this hunt. So, though this last part is not a 'rule' it is a strong suggestion that you don't forget the men.
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3. 2. Hidden eggs, those not moved or those moved, can NOT be made smaller. I am not saying you can not make them bigger, because there are some shops that would like the option to make the eggs easy for the customer to find since they have large sims/shops. So I am going to leave that up to the discretion of the shop owner. But they can NOT be made smaller and harder to find.
   
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5. 3. The egg can not be put: under floors, inside walls, inside boxes, anywhere where it makes it very difficult to find unless you have super camming skills. I have heard a lot of complaints lately on a few of the hunts of shop owners that put their boxes somewhere that is near impossible for the hunter to find. Hunters get mad and swear to never come back. This hunt is to show off that your small business is just as good as the big name brand businesses and if you piss off your customers before they can even be a customer, they won't come back.
   
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7. 4.The egg can not take more then 15 minutes to find. I know that some have big sims, so in that case, keep it close to the landing point, not clear across the sim up a tree that takes the hunter a hour to fly around the sim to find. If you plan on putting it at the opposite end of the sim, then you need to leave a hint that says what section of the sim you are going to put it in so that it doesn't take more then 15 minutes to find.
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9. 5. NO MORE THEN ONE EGG IS ALLOWED HIDDEN ON THE PROPERTY (unless it's two gender related eggs)! This rule is NOT to be broken. You will be given simple instructions on how to make sure your egg gives it's CONTENTS so that no one needs to rez an egg on your property to get at next clue. There are to be NO false or misleading eggs ANYWHERE on the property. This is cheating and will get you kicked out of the Hunt. The eggs will be special so that if you have eggs out to decorate, people will be able to tell the difference. If you have two eggs, one for male and one for female, this is allowed. But this is the ONLY time it is allowed. If you want to give two gifts, put them both in the same egg (unless it's a gender issue). The reason is so that there are no FALSE eggs tricking people into thinking they found it when they didn't. There are newbies out there hunting, finding a false egg and thinking they found it. I know that some love to put out a million false items, and have the people guessing which one it is today, but this only upsets the hunters (at least all the ones I've talked to) and makes them NOT want to return to your store. They much rather be looking for one egg then have to run around clicking on false eggs, trying to remember which one they clicked on already. If you have questions regarding this rule, just contact me.
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11. 6. You must have the hunt sign in your shop during the whole hunt. Why am I stating this as a rule, something you'd think anyone might know? Because it seems some do not. They still don't have the sign up and if it is not up the day before the hunt, their shop will be skipped. People need to know that you are the shop they are looking for. If you are having a problem with this, contact me, I will be more then happy to help you put the sign up.
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13. 7. Use your common sense. Make this fun for all. I've listed the major rules, the rest have to do with common sense. All you have to remember is that this is to promote your business. Traffic is good, it increases your standing in the search engine, but don't try to get traffic by hiding an egg so hard to find (without even including hints) that it takes so long to find it that the hunter is now cussing your business and never wanting to return. It doesn't matter how good a gift or how long you worked on it, if they are so pissed off at you that they never return.
    

The hunt has been changed to a month to allow for the hunters to get a chance at it. I've got about 20 applications that I put in a 'waiting list', and I may still allow them in in a spot over 100, so those of you that are already in the hunt, no worries. This is still not a big number, 120-125 is low compared to some of the hunts going on right now. In fact we are still half the size of them. So no worries.

Most of all... HAVE FUN! This hunt has changed a lot since I first started it back in the middle of January. It's gone from a hint hunt (I now know that to do that will have to be a much smaller hunt) to one that is almost a free for all. Things have changed because I'm doing this for you, the business owner. To let Second Life residents know that there are good small companies in Second Life that they can find with just a little more looking.

One more note before I close this. Some of you have freebies that you give out normally. During the hunt it would be a good idea that if you have any freebies, put them near your landing point and make it clear what they are. Yes, that means giving away more things, but you would normally anyway if they found them. The point of it is that when they get to unpacking they will be able to see not only the great gift you gave them, but also the gifts you normally give customers and the quality of your items and they will return. A LOT of my business lately has been people that stop while on the hunt or return after the hunt because of what they saw in my shop or what they got while hunting. Or how NICE I was while there. It is very important that you treat the hunters nicely. I know that you will run into some really rotten people during the hunt, hunters that are greedy and all they want is what you can give them for free, but that is just a small part of it. There are a LOT of nice people out there that will be in your shop and how you treat them will depend on if they return. A little bit of sugar goes a long way. That is not to say if you have a really nasty one you should put up with it. Just deal with it in a diplomatic way and the other customers in your shop will see that you aren't a witch even when someone is wrongly attacking you. Peace out!