New Cache Type? - Lab Cache

[+Ambrosia]

can see the push to plant hundreds of Lab caches at an event, so people can rack up lots and lots of smileys.

 

 

If the future of lab caches is anything like what they were, then this would be impossible (without cheating)

Those lab caches took us all day. We got 12 and were exhausted (we did the HQ geotour as well)

 

I didn't look at my watch too hard, but in between 9 geotour caches and 7 labs, I think we spent about 3-4 hours. It was tiring, but really fun.

[+L0ne.R]

can see the push to plant hundreds of Lab caches at an event, so people can rack up lots and lots of smileys.

 

 

If the future of lab caches is anything like what they were, then this would be impossible (without cheating)

Those lab caches took us all day. We got 12 and were exhausted (we did the HQ geotour as well)

 

I didn't look at my watch too hard, but in between 9 geotour caches and 7 labs, I think we spent about 3-4 hours. It was tiring, but really fun.

 

Thanks for clarifying how many lab caches were available. From the description of the photo I thought each of the Devil Duckies were equivalent to one smiley each and that there quite a lot of them.

 

"There were a lot of duckies in the different fountains and you had to upend them to find the code."

Edited August 23, 2013 by Löne r

[+Ambrosia]

can see the push to plant hundreds of Lab caches at an event, so people can rack up lots and lots of smileys.

 

 

If the future of lab caches is anything like what they were, then this would be impossible (without cheating)

Those lab caches took us all day. We got 12 and were exhausted (we did the HQ geotour as well)

 

I didn't look at my watch too hard, but in between 9 geotour caches and 7 labs, I think we spent about 3-4 hours. It was tiring, but really fun.

 

Thanks for clarifying how many lab caches were available. From the description of the photo I thought each of the Devil Duckies were equivalent to one smiley each and that there quick a lot of them.

 

"There were a lot of duckies in the different fountains and you had to upend them to find the code."

 

Oh, sorry I was confusing! No, a lot of the duckies only said something like "try again". We were thinking that maybe 7 of them had the same code, because the name was something like "The seven deadly ducks".

[+JesandTodd]

can see the push to plant hundreds of Lab caches at an event, so people can rack up lots and lots of smileys.

 

 

If the future of lab caches is anything like what they were, then this would be impossible (without cheating)

Those lab caches took us all day. We got 12 and were exhausted (we did the HQ geotour as well)

 

I didn't look at my watch too hard, but in between 9 geotour caches and 7 labs, I think we spent about 3-4 hours. It was tiring, but really fun.

 

It was those brewery caches... They were far! And we had to walk to the furthest one first (hillards) to get the geo-beermugs (adorable!) and tasting cards. About 2mi ATCF from Fremont to Hillards. They walk back seemed soooo much easier!! Lol

[+Ambrosia]

can see the push to plant hundreds of Lab caches at an event, so people can rack up lots and lots of smileys.

 

 

If the future of lab caches is anything like what they were, then this would be impossible (without cheating)

Those lab caches took us all day. We got 12 and were exhausted (we did the HQ geotour as well)

 

I didn't look at my watch too hard, but in between 9 geotour caches and 7 labs, I think we spent about 3-4 hours. It was tiring, but really fun.

 

It was those brewery caches... They were far! And we had to walk to the furthest one first (hillards) to get the geo-beermugs (adorable!) and tasting cards. About 2mi ATCF from Fremont to Hillards. They walk back seemed soooo much easier!! Lol

Ah. We didn't do the brewery lab.

[4wheelin_fool]

So there was a ducky with a word written on the bottom, and locating this incremented your find count? It doesn't sound like geocaching to me.

 

So after several years of explaining how geocaches are always containers, and code words cannot substitute for logbooks, as well as temporary caches are not really caches, the laboratory comes up with something new, and this is it?

 

Looks like it will be much more popular than Challenges, even though I don't know what it is. Somehow the labels are more important than the actual object..

[4wheelin_fool]

Looks like virts will be back soon also.

Edited August 23, 2013 by 4wheelin_fool

[+Manville Possum]

Looks like we will get a chance at a lab cache at the next Mega event we attend.

[+Ambrosia]

So there was a ducky with a word written on the bottom, and locating this incremented your find count? It doesn't sound like geocaching to me.

 

So after several years of explaining how geocaches are always containers, and code words cannot substitute for logbooks, as well as temporary caches are not really caches, the laboratory comes up with something new, and this is it?

 

Looks like it will be much more popular than Challenges, even though I don't know what it is. Somehow the labels are more important than the actual object..

They had said that there would be containers, and the lab explanation page says that there are containers, but then there were none. We were a little confused by that. I'm hoping that this gets rectified in the future.

[+JesandTodd]

So there was a ducky with a word written on the bottom, and locating this incremented your find count? It doesn't sound like geocaching to me.

 

 

It was far more work than *any* (and every) LPC or guardrail...

And far, far more fun

[4wheelin_fool]

So there was a ducky with a word written on the bottom, and locating this incremented your find count? It doesn't sound like geocaching to me.

 

 

It was far more work than *any* (and every) LPC or guardrail...

And far, far more fun

 

That's not setting the bar too high. More fun than a LPC or GR? Was it more fun than being in rear end collision with a garbage truck? How about spilling hot coffee in your lap on the way to work? Bet it was lots more fun than that.

 

Now would it be any fun without the smiley? Digging through a pile of ducks to find a word? It doesn't appear on the stats, but still boosts finds? That's the king of the stats, the find count. Sounds like it could be a good idea if the count was kept separate, like benchmarks. Otherwise it appears that Groundspeak has been churning out some counterfeit smileys, and I'm not a Puritan. All of those people in Ohio who have been posting 1000 of attends at single events are now feeling newly redeemed with a sense of justification. Micro owners with inherently soggy logbooks will be editing pages so finds could be based on code words, hoping that nobody says anything and TPTB will now let it slide. Its a brave new world..

[+funkymunkyzone]

I had a great time at the Block Party and enjoyed completing the two sets of labs caches - the micro breweries and the HQ ones. As it was explained to me by a number of the lackeys was that it was a way for a mega event to add interesting geocaching-related activities to their programme and that participants would be rewarded for completing them.

 

They know that people put out temporary caches for events anyway - that then fall into disrepair after the event is finished, so here now is a way for those caches to be allowed to happen.

 

These labs caches would effectively not be reviewed, meaning that, for example, a set of lab caches that took participants around the sponsors of the mega event could be possible. I suspect there will be some level of review, to prevent it getting out of hand. There is no saturation guideline on them and they can sit close to each other and existing/new physical caches.

 

All in all, I think they are a positive addition to the game. For my Block Party experience, it meant I spent more time enjoying the Block Party instead of only being there to sign the log and then going caching elsewhere, which I'm told happens quite often at mega events. Ok, I'm not a big numbers person anyway, but I enjoyed them.

[+JesandTodd]

 

Now would it be any fun without the smiley? Digging through a pile of ducks to find a word? It doesn't appear on the stats, but still boosts finds? That's the king of the stats, the find count. Sounds like it could be a good idea if the count was kept separate, like benchmarks. Otherwise it appears that Groundspeak has been churning out some counterfeit smileys, and I'm not a Puritan.

 

Yes. I would have done the entire set without the smileys. Just like I did the challenges 2 yrs prior. I did them and enjoyed them then as well. It was a spixal aspect of the game.

 

Sorry you can't understand...

[+jellis]

What happened to my Labs? From the time we completed both Labs til yesterday I could see the Labs on my list. Someone wrote me if you did NOT do the Labs you can not see them on others profile. Then said Groundspeak fix it so everyone can see them. But oops what happened. Mine are no longer on the list.

[+Don_J]

What happened to my Labs? From the time we completed both Labs til yesterday I could see the Labs on my list. Someone wrote me if you did NOT do the Labs you can not see them on others profile. Then said Groundspeak fix it so everyone can see them. But oops what happened. Mine are no longer on the list.

 

Try refreshing, or do a CTRL-F5. I can see them in your profile, and did I not log any, so I think that Groudspeak at least fixed that part of the problem.

[+jellis]

What happened to my Labs? From the time we completed both Labs til yesterday I could see the Labs on my list. Someone wrote me if you did NOT do the Labs you can not see them on others profile. Then said Groundspeak fix it so everyone can see them. But oops what happened. Mine are no longer on the list.

 

Try refreshing, or do a CTRL-F5. I can see them in your profile, and did I not log any, so I think that Groudspeak at least fixed that part of the problem.

They reversed it. Now I can't see my own. I asked my friend who also did it and she can't see hers, yet I can. Yes, I did refresh and nothing

[4wheelin_fool]

 

Now would it be any fun without the smiley? Digging through a pile of ducks to find a word? It doesn't appear on the stats, but still boosts finds? That's the king of the stats, the find count. Sounds like it could be a good idea if the count was kept separate, like benchmarks. Otherwise it appears that Groundspeak has been churning out some counterfeit smileys, and I'm not a Puritan.

 

Yes. I would have done the entire set without the smileys. Just like I did the challenges 2 yrs prior. I did them and enjoyed them then as well. It was a spixal aspect of the game.

 

Sorry you can't understand...

 

Yes, I don't understand how a duckie with a word on the bottom could be called a cache. However I suspect this definition will eventually bleed over to the rest of them and logbooks will become obsolete for micros.

[AZcachemeister]

Is the lillypad feeling the need to 'bait' cachers in with the promise of extra smilies for attending a mega event?

 

I can't see why, but that seems to be the case.

 

I have attended events with temporary caches, and had fun finding them. Some people had so much fun they felt the need to log 'Attended' on the event for every one of them!

 

I have attended events with fun caching-related activities that didn't always involve finding a container and signing a log.

 

I have attended events where several (sometimes 12-15) new, real caches would be pre-released to the event attendees.

 

--------------------

 

It looks to me like the find-count increment, new icon(s), and souvenirs are being used as bait.

 

Here cacher, cacher, cacher! Come to my mega event and get a new icon! And not just one, but a BUNCH of 'find credits'.

[+Ambrosia]

Is the lillypad feeling the need to 'bait' cachers in with the promise of extra smilies for attending a mega event?

 

I can't see why, but that seems to be the case.

 

I have attended events with temporary caches, and had fun finding them. Some people had so much fun they felt the need to log 'Attended' on the event for every one of them!

 

I have attended events with fun caching-related activities that didn't always involve finding a container and signing a log.

 

I have attended events where several (sometimes 12-15) new, real caches would be pre-released to the event attendees.

 

--------------------

 

It looks to me like the find-count increment, new icon(s), and souvenirs are being used as bait.

 

Here cacher, cacher, cacher! Come to my mega event and get a new icon! And not just one, but a BUNCH of 'find credits'.

The thing is, Groundspeak's just trying to try some fun things out. It's sad that you're seeing only negative in this. I wonder if you could have been at the block party and done some of these labs with lackeys (and reviewers) like I did, and if you had seen the simple joy that they took in the whole experience, that you might see it differently.

[+jellis]

What happened to my Labs? From the time we completed both Labs til yesterday I could see the Labs on my list. Someone wrote me if you did NOT do the Labs you can not see them on others profile. Then said Groundspeak fix it so everyone can see them. But oops what happened. Mine are no longer on the list.

Is anyone else having this issue?

[+tozainamboku]

It looks to me like the find-count increment, new icon(s), and souvenirs are being used as bait.

 

Here cacher, cacher, cacher! Come to my mega event and get a new icon! And not just one, but a BUNCH of 'find credits'.

Oooo! evil Groundspeak, trying to encourage people to attend their event, and perhaps to participates in some of the activities they planned.

 

I personally find neither hollow smileys nor souvenirs much of an incentive to cache (or to participate in event activities) and maybe I view those for whom these are incentives as shallow individuals who miss the whole point of geocaching.

 

One can argue that Groundspeak has some responsibility to encourage people to cache for the "right" reason. But just look how silly that sounds. Not even Groundspeak can control why someone geocaches.

 

Perhaps you can bemoan that Groundspeak is acknowledging that there are substantial numbers of individuals who are motivated by smileys. For years now, event organizes have realized that hiding caches (either permanent caches listed on GC.com or temporary caches for which you can log extra attended logs) draws a lot of people to an event. Power trails have shown that an opportunity to increment your count with a lot of finds, is a draw for many geocachers. Even the number of challenge caches with silly requirements show what people will do just for one more smiley. But make it too hard - like a difficult puzzle or a long hike - and you don't get many people going for it. Lab cache are no more than an acknowledgment of what most of community already knew.

[+Don_J]

It looks to me like the find-count increment, new icon(s), and souvenirs are being used as bait.

 

Here cacher, cacher, cacher! Come to my mega event and get a new icon! And not just one, but a BUNCH of 'find credits'.

Oooo! evil Groundspeak, trying to encourage people to attend their event, and perhaps to participates in some of the activities they planned.

 

I personally find neither hollow smileys nor souvenirs much of an incentive to cache (or to participate in event activities) and maybe I view those for whom these are incentives as shallow individuals who miss the whole point of geocaching.

 

One can argue that Groundspeak has some responsibility to encourage people to cache for the "right" reason. But just look how silly that sounds. Not even Groundspeak can control why someone geocaches.

 

Perhaps you can bemoan that Groundspeak is acknowledging that there are substantial numbers of individuals who are motivated by smileys. For years now, event organizes have realized that hiding caches (either permanent caches listed on GC.com or temporary caches for which you can log extra attended logs) draws a lot of people to an event. Power trails have shown that an opportunity to increment your count with a lot of finds, is a draw for many geocachers. Even the number of challenge caches with silly requirements show what people will do just for one more smiley. But make it too hard - like a difficult puzzle or a long hike - and you don't get many people going for it. Lab cache are no more than an acknowledgment of what most of community already knew.

 

I've always been curious as to why it is important to draw more people to your event, especially if the people that you are drawing are coming to the event for the wrong reasons?

 

I've never been to a mega, but it's starting to sound like a mega isn't an event at all and violates one of the basic guidelines of event caches. Is a mega just basically a base camp where people sign in and then go off on their separate ways on a local cache hunt? Just a big extended flash mob with revolving people?

[+wimseyguy]

I've never been to a mega, but it's starting to sound like a mega isn't an event at all and violates one of the basic guidelines of event caches. Is a mega just basically a base camp where people sign in and then go off on their separate ways on a local cache hunt? Just a big extended flash mob with revolving people?

 

From what I have seen, a mega is simply an event that more than 500 caches have attended. I've been to 10 mega events and attended last year's Block Party. Each one has had a different flavor, mostly driven by the location. For the most part I have stayed at the events and socialized with other cachers, explored the vendor booths and the exhibits and wandered around the venue property. Sure I have also walked to some of the nearby caches on the property; but I was still at the ranch, park, nature preserve. If some attendees want to drop in, sign the log, and spend more time caching than socializing, that is their choice. How is doing that at a mega any different that the cacher who does that at the local Meet and Greet event be it at a place that offers pizza, beer and wings or a picnic in the park event?

 

I'm curious about these Lab Caches; I'm glad they will be at the Hampton Roads Mega next weekend which I was already planning to attend. I'm looking forward to experiencing them first hand, and adding the new icon. I like having the full set of icons.

Edited August 25, 2013 by wimseyguy

[4wheelin_fool]

It's a deja vu of the day I discovered beer was being packaged in plastic bottles. Yes they may be popular, like American flags made in China. Perhaps one day I could buy a happy meal at McDonalds and find a message that I have just discovered a Geocache! 1- Log your find at Geocaching.com. 2-Hide the container in the parking lot or similar area. 3- Register your new geocache by locating it on Google Earth, and enjoy!

Edited August 25, 2013 by 4wheelin_fool

[+Manville Possum]

We just completed the Hatfield/McCoy Mega - Matewan History lab cache. I really enjoyed them.

[+akgh519]

I too completed the Matewan history lab that was available during the HMGT Mega. It was a lot of fun. I heard nothing negative about it. In addition to the smileys we earned a souvenir.

This lab is an example of geocaching bringing you to experience something that would most likely have been overlooked. They had a container at each one with swag and a log to sign.

I think this is a good concept. People would not do temp caches at Mega events in the past because they would not earn a smiley. This will encourage more to take part.

Edited September 3, 2013 by akgh519

[+bflentje]

Question - will puritans accept these?

A better question: Will those folks who are so self despising that they must apply negative labels to those they disagree with accept these?

 

It's like any other word out there that gets a bad rap.. it's only negative if YOU'RE offended.

[+Dame Deco]

I can't understand this part of it: it doesn't affect my statistics, but it's a find, so it would mess up my mile stones. How is that not affecting my statistics? I was at Hatfield and McCoy, and I purposely skipped the lab caches for this reason. It should either count as a find, or it shouldn't. How can it be both? Just looking for info here--it's confusing. I'm going to the EarthCache Mega this weekend, and I might do a lab if I knew it wouldn't mess up my milestones. But as I understand it--it would. I would do them if they were either one or the other--but this half-way thing just has me scratching my head.