Question About Gc.com Virtuals & Waymarks

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

My apologies if this has already been answered somewhere.

 

I have a couple of virtual caches that are puzzle caches. To find the coordinates to the final virtual cache, people have to answer a series of questions. With Waymarking, can we still do virtuals like this? Or must every coordinate have a real destination? I would love to see a category of puzzle waymarks, for those who enjoy a bit of a challenge. (I would eagerly volunteer to be owner of such a category.)

 

Can this be done under the new website/ game?

 

A link to one of my puzzle virtual caches if anyone wants to see what kind of virtual Im refering to.

Trivial Pursuit Cache

[+caderoux]

I think maybe a sibling category to this one:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=106353

[+Lil Devil]

This type of puzzle/virtual does not qualify under the existing guidelines for geocaches, so it can't go there. The one you linked is grandfathered. And I don't see how it fits into Waymarking either. Maybe you just need to add another stage and hide an ammo can.

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

My virtual has been popular, and fun for me as well as others. I know it is grandfathered in. All I want to know is can I play "my way" on this new site. I would like to see a category of puzzle/ game virtuals on Waymarking. That other thread link posted didnt answer the question of whether or not such a thing would be allowed.

 

I dont want to have it as a regular cache just because it would be degraded from the wow factor to have a final stage be a parking lot micro.

[+Lil Devil]

I don't want to have it as a regular cache just because it would be degraded from the wow factor to have a final stage be a parking lot micro.

Who says it has to be a parking lot micro? I'll agree that seems to be the theme, though. Someone doesn't want to put much work into a cache. So they create a virtual. It gets denied. They find they can get it listed if they add a physical cache. Since they don't want to put much work into it, they just add a parking lot micro. Done. It meets the guidelines, but now its even more lame then before.

 

On the other hand I've done some well done multis. I remember one that took you to a plaque at a train station where there was an old steam engine on display. I used info off the plaque to derive some coords, which took me to an ammo box a quarter mile away that had a bunch of railroad-related swag in it.

 

Just because McDonald's serves more hamburgers than anybody else doesn't make them the best. Just because there are more parking lot micros doesn't make them the best.

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

One virtual that I ended up not doing is a good example. (Fyi, I never submitted it, so it was never denied, no blame on anyone.)

 

It was a good wow factor virtual. It would have made an exciting hunt. There was no place within several miles to place an interesting physical cache. I would either have to place it in a parking lot or people would have to drive about 10 miles for the final cache. Many people were reluctant to do that before gas hit $2.50 plus per gallon. Now they would be even more so. (Our local geocaching listserv has proven the local reluctance to driving that far to finish a cache.) So the wow factor surprise of the virtual would be cheapened by the lame parking lot final cache. This is why we chose not to do the cache.

 

All that aside, some people enjoy puzzle type caches that end up with a cool virtual at the end. It isnt unreasonable to want to have this on the new site. I would just like to know from Jeremy et al if puzzle waymarks will be allowed. From the other thread, I can see Im not the only one interested in such a category. I thought that was the point to having the new site, that we could have our virtuals without having to find a spot to make it a "real" geocache. If the thrill of puzzle virtuals is removed, it would lessen the potential for fun at the new site.

 

A McDonalds category is not better for the site than a puzzle category.

[+dino-irl]

I would either have to place it in a parking lot or people would have to drive about 10 miles for the final cache. Many people were reluctant to do that before gas hit $2.50 plus per gallon.

Eyerytime I see that written down it makes me laugh. Petrol here costs me approx $1.90 a LITRE and I have only 15 caches within 50 miles. The nearest to me is 10miles away. I wonder how I've managed to notch up approx 1/5 of all Irish caches without going bust

[+Happy Humphrey]

Where are we told that puzzle-type (and multi-stage) virtuals are not allowed? I haven't come across that yet.

 

HH

 

P.S. Cheapest petrol (gas) around here works at at $7 per US Gallon...

Edited August 21, 2005 by Happy Humphrey