PantherX
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Posts posted by PantherX
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I love the Geocaching iPhone app but one of the biggest issues is the fact that when I submit logs, they do not appear on the website with the same timestamp. Depending on the time of day, the log will either submit with yesterday's date or today's date. When the logs are submitted, it should use the date and time that the entry was made.
Challenge Caches
in User Insights
Posted
I've read quite a few posts before writing my own and it's clear lots of people are agreeing on certain things, and there's plenty of debate on others. These are just my thoughts on how challenges fit in with the way I cache. YMMV and that's okay!
What do you like most about challenge caches?
They add another dimension to the experience and encourage people to find caches that they otherwise might not seek out.
What do you not like about challenge caches?
Sometimes they can be a little arduous to determine if you are eligible to log a find due to complex requirements (for example, ones where you need to be able to compare your logs to other logs en masse), but generally I don't have any dislikes because they are meant to be challenging! There also needs to be limits on the number of similar challenges, by way of their logging requirements, that are in (regional) proximity to each other.
What would you like to see changed about challenge caches?
It would be good to easily separate them from other cache types, my preference would be a new type for challenges or a sub-type under unknowns that breaks puzzles/challenges/unknowns into groups. It would be even better to have some way of validating whether the challenge conditions have been met (for instance, if you have completed all the D/T because of your profile stats, then the system already knows this and can allow/prevent you from logging). That obviously wouldn't work in all situations, but it could be put into practice for many of the challenges I've seen to date. It would also be nice to be able to see some sort of stats on challenges, or a way of demonstrating completion, so you can compare your progress with friends and challenge each other, etc.
If you could describe your favorite challenge cache type, what would it be?
Usually ones that ask me to push my own boundaries (ie. find 10 x T5 caches, or cache every day in a month). This gets me out and about and also gives the log value when you have put in the effort knowing that other people can't just come along and log it without going through the same achievement. Ones that are tough to get (ie. ones that might only have a few found logs a year) give me something to work towards beyond just an ever increasing find count.
What types of challenge caches do you avoid?
Ones that are too difficult to figure out if you qualify or have what I would describe as unreasonable requirements. It's difficult to draw a line on what is unreasonable because it's meant to be challenging, but I have seen some very bizarre logging conditions before and just decided it's not worth even looking at and at that point you have to ask if the cache is really adding any value.