Announcing Virtual Rewards 4.0

[+Geocaching HQ]

Announcing Virtual Rewards 4.0

 

Is there anything better than finding a well-crafted geocache? Perhaps the joy of creating one!

 

Geocaching HQ is pleased to announce Virtual Rewards 4.0, an opportunity to reward 4,000 lucky cache owners who create inspired and noteworthy geocaches!

 

Unlike prior Virtual Rewards, there’s no need to opt in or apply. Geocachers who meet the following criteria will automatically be eligible for selection on January 17, 2024.

 

How can I qualify for a chance to hide a Virtual Cache?

• You must have a non-Event geocache published in 2023 that has earned at least 4 Favorite points by December 31, 2023.
• You must have created your geocaching account before June 13, 2023.
• Prior Virtual Reward recipients are eligible to participate.
• Players who opted-in for Virtual Reward 2.0 and 3.0, but did not receive a Virtual Cache will have a higher likelihood to receive a Virtual Reward 4.0.

How does the process work?

• On January 17, 2024, Geocaching HQ will randomly select up to 4,000 eligible geocachers, with geographic distribution, to receive one Virtual Cache.
• Recipients will have one year to create their Virtual Cache page and submit it for review (January 17, 2024–January 17, 2025). The caches must comply with Virtual Cache-specific guidelines.
• All geocaching community volunteers (reviewers, moderators, and translators) who qualify will receive a Virtual Reward as thanks for giving their time to support the geocaching community.
   

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why do I have to hide a geocache to qualify?
Adding new caches to the map is essential to the health of the game. It provides fresh content for experienced players who have often cached out the areas closest to them. And it offers quality content for new players who are still forming an impression of the game. Our goal is to reward those who are adding quality new caches to the gameboard.

When do I need to hide a geocache to qualify?
You must hide a non-Event geocache that is published by a geocaching community volunteer reviewer between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023. That same geocache must earn at least four Favorite points from the geocaching community before December 31, 2023. The publish date of a geocache is not the same as the placed date. You can find the date that your geocache was published by viewing your published caches, selecting a cache, and scrolling to the bottom of the page to view the Publish log on the cache. This is generally the first log.   

Does this mean Virtuals are back permanently?
No. We hope to see 4,000 new Virtual Caches in 2024, but Virtuals will remain a legacy cache type. 

Are Virtual Rewards distributed evenly among countries?
No. We use an algorithm to help distribute Virtuals, favoring countries newer to geocaching, which may not have many Virtuals, rather than basing it solely on land area or the number of active geocachers.

Could an account receive more than one Virtual Reward from Geocaching HQ?
Yes. Previous Virtual Reward recipients may receive a Virtual Reward 4.0. However, the likelihood of selection is lower than for geocachers who have never received a Virtual Reward.

How do I find out when new Virtual Rewards are published?
Premium members can set up Instant notifications to receive an email when new Virtual Rewards are published. All members can use filters to search for Virtual Caches worldwide.

Will there be more Virtual Rewards in the future?
We may consider a similar set of Virtuals in the future. As with prior Virtual Rewards, we would likely make changes to the criteria and selection process.

Combined with previous Virtual Reward launches, are there too many Virtual Caches now?
There are approximately 12,300 Virtual Caches worldwide, which is 0.4% of the world’s 3,371,000 active caches. Adding an additional 4,000 Virtual Caches will still only account for 0.5% of all active caches.

Why not make Virtual Caches available for everyone to hide?
Because today’s Virtual Caches are rare and generally well-liked, people often forget the problems that led to the Virtual becoming a legacy cache type in 2005.

The Virtual Cache type was initially created to place a cache where physical caches were not permitted or where too many muggles made a physical cache impractical. While the intent of this cache type was positive, it created significant problems for geocaching community volunteer reviewers and often led to poor cache quality. Some players used Virtual Caches as a shortcut to create basic caches that did not require maintenance. Guidelines were eventually updated to require Virtuals to have special qualities to set them apart from other caches. However, the subjectivity introduced to the review process became difficult for both reviewers and cachers. The decision was finally made for the Virtual to become a legacy cache type to avoid the issues above.

Virtual Rewards releases have helped to minimize the previous problems with Virtuals, while delivering more opportunities for the community to enjoy this beloved cache type. Most importantly, it’s a fun reward for cache owners who have contributed so much to the game.

[+Goldenwattle]

"You must have a non-Event geocache published in 2023 that has earned at least 4 Favorite points by December 31, 2023."

 

That will certainly favour some parts of the world more than other parts. Parts of the world that caches get more finds in, and so the cache has a much higher chance of getting 4 favourite points, even if the % is lower. I'm travelling in Europe at present and caches often have many favourite points, even though they are VERY ordinary caches. When they can get several logs a week, even sometimes a day, that's to be expected. I keep a watch on my finds until the next log. Against that, many of my past Australian finds might not get a log for months after mine.

Expect most of the Virtuals to go to northern countries.

 

% is what counts; NOT number of favourite points.

[+Vicious Cycle]

Looking forward to new virtuals. I know in my neck of the woods (Montana) we are geographically the 4th largest state, but we rank 44th in population, leaving us at an average of 7.6 people per square mile. While we will probably not see a large number of new virtual rewards, I'm sure the big cities (big for Monatana) will see a few new ones pop up. This makes me happy.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Vicious Cycle

[hsiale]

3 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

Players who opted-in for Virtual Reward 2.0 and 3.0, but did not receive a Virtual Cache will have a higher likelihood to receive a Virtual Reward 4.0.

Higher likelihood compared to who?

[+Geokid12]

Virtuals are nice but come on HQ, give us Webcam Rewards!

[+JL_HSTRE]

"You must have a non-Event geocache published in 2023 that has earned at least 4 Favorite points by December 31, 2023."

 

So if you have four friends with FPs to spare it's easy-peasy.

 

It will be interesting to see what geocaches come of this. Has Groundspeak ever done a promotion before that gives a reward for placing geocaches?

 

If the cache gets to 4 FPs, but then one is taken away does it still count?

 

If the cache gets archived before Dec 31 does it still count?

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by JL_HSTRE
additional questions

[+Great Scott!]

Geocaching HQ,
Will these Virtuals be adoptable?
i.g. someone that was eligible to be awarded a virtual, gets one, and is able to adopt it to another geocacher.
 

[+barefootjeff]

5 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Against that, many of my past Australian finds might not get a log for months after mine.

 

Yes, around here anything that's not an urban cache can struggle to get four finds in its first year, let alone four FPs. Of the eight caches published in my region so far this year, only three have four or more FPs (fortunately two of those are mine, one only just with four FPs from four finds). But since they've said they're favouring countries newer to caching rather than places where it was once popular but is now almost dead, that's probably not an issue.

 

I'm a bit surprised they did away with opting in, as I suspect a fair number will go to players with no interest in placing a virtual while those who are keen to do so will miss out.

[+Hügh]

1 hour ago, Great Scott! said:

Will these Virtuals be adoptable?

 

All Virtual caches are adoptable, not just those awarded by the Rewards process.

 

 

[+Corp Of Discovery]

12 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

Prior Virtual Reward recipients are eligible to participate.

 

12 hours ago, Geocaching HQ said:

Could an account receive more than one Virtual Reward from Geocaching HQ?
Yes. Previous Virtual Reward recipients may receive a Virtual Reward 4.0. However, the likelihood of selection is lower than for geocachers who have never received a Virtual Reward.

 

Methinks this is not going to make cachers who aren't awarded one for the fourth time very happy...

[+thebruce0]

22 hours ago, Corp Of Discovery said:

On 6/13/2023 at 1:17 PM, Geocaching HQ said:

Could an account receive more than one Virtual Reward from Geocaching HQ?
Yes. Previous Virtual Reward recipients may receive a Virtual Reward 4.0. However, the likelihood of selection is lower than for geocachers who have never received a Virtual Reward.

 

Methinks this is not going to make cachers who aren't awarded one for the fourth time very happy...

 

It sounds like if you have received one previously, you might still this round, but your chance is less than someone who has never received one.  Or another way, someone who hasn't received one yet and is eligible has a greater chance of getting one this round than someone who is eligible who previously received one.

 

That almost certainly means there will be people who won't get one for a 4th time. But they can't simply give everyone one who hasn't had one yet.  Best one can do is be eligible and hope that, having a greater chance, it's enough of a chance to get one.

[+Corp Of Discovery]

21 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

 

It sounds like if you have received one previously, you might still this round, but your chance is less than someone who has never received one.  Or another way, someone who hasn't received one yet and is eligible has a greater chance of getting one this round than someone who is eligible who previously received one.

 

That almost certainly means there will be people who won't get one for a 4th time. But they can't simply give everyone one who hasn't had one yet.  Best one can do is be eligible and hope that, having a greater chance, it's enough of a chance to get one.

 

They could give one to everyone who hasn't gotten one yet, they just don't want to.

 

IMO there should be no chance for anyone to get a second one until everyone else who wants one gets a first one.

[+thebruce0]

1 hour ago, Corp Of Discovery said:

They could give one to everyone who hasn't gotten one yet, they just don't want to.

 

IMO there should be no chance for anyone to get a second one until everyone else who wants one gets a first one.

 

enh. I'm siding with HQ on this one, given the history of Virtuals. No, I don't think everyone who wants one should simply be given one. There's a reason they have minimal requirements, and there's a reason they aren't just plastering the gameboard(world) with them. Unfortunately that necessarily means that some who would otherwise get one, won't get one, because there's a limited number to give. There's no perfect solution. And there's no guarantee that every Virtual given will successfully be created and be quality. C'est la vie.

[+Hügh]

Yeah, I'd side with HQ on not giving everyone who simply wants one, a Virtual. I like that there is criteria to meet, which keeps the quality reasonably high.

 

That said I would be curious to hear the relative chances: if someone who doesn't have one is only twice as likely to win than a previous winner, I think that is terribly low. I would hope the ratio is in the 8-10 range: that way, some previous winners are rewarded but the majority go to first-time winners.

[+barefootjeff]

14 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

And there's no guarantee that every Virtual given will successfully be created and be quality. C'est la vie.

 

Of the 4000 offered in Rewards 1.0, where there was no opt-in, 2595 currently exist (the rest were either never published or subsequently archived). In Rewards 2.0 and 3.0 where an opt-in was required, those numbers are 3638 and 3581 resepectively. Not having an opt-in and including previous recipients in the draw for 4.0 is almost guaranteed to result in substantially fewer being published. If that's the intended outcome, well I guess that's okay.

 

It's no skin off my nose if I miss out again, as I've sometimes thought missing out might be a blessing in disguise when hearing about the fake logs those who have them must deal with, but it would be nice to have a few more in this part of the world to experience. My region has no original virtuals, none from 1.0, four from 2.0 and none from 3.0 (it appears no-one in New South Wales north of Sydney got a 3.0, they all went to cachers in the southern half of the state), so they're still slim pickings and a rare treat here.

[+CCFwasG]

Just to say it would have been nice to reply to the GC HQ blog post announcing the new virtual rewards, but I can't... without creating YET ANOTHER online account. WHY? 

[+terratin]

On 6/13/2023 at 7:48 PM, Goldenwattle said:

"You must have a non-Event geocache published in 2023 that has earned at least 4 Favorite points by December 31, 2023."

 

That will certainly favour some parts of the world more than other parts. Parts of the world that caches get more finds in, and so the cache has a much higher chance of getting 4 favourite points, even if the % is lower. I'm travelling in Europe at present and caches often have many favourite points, even though they are VERY ordinary caches. When they can get several logs a week, even sometimes a day, that's to be expected. I keep a watch on my finds until the next log. Against that, many of my past Australian finds might not get a log for months after mine.

Expect most of the Virtuals to go to northern countries.

 

% is what counts; NOT number of favourite points.

 

Agree. I'm now thinking of the lonesome cache in Kazakhstan who might be placing caches, but finders are so rare that the chance of getting 4 fps is pretty much nil. I think especially those countries would benefit from a well-made virtual.

[+Goldenwattle]

On 6/20/2023 at 9:31 AM, terratin said:

 

Agree. I'm now thinking of the lonesome cache in Kazakhstan who might be placing caches, but finders are so rare that the chance of getting 4 fps is pretty much nil. I think especially those countries would benefit from a well-made virtual.

Agree. As virtuals don't have a physical cache that needs maintaining, I think the place for them is in more remote places where a cache can't be maintained. Placing YET ANOTHER virtual in an urban area with already lots of caches is a wasted opportunity to spread geocaching further. Short-sighted!

That's what I did with my Virtual. Placed it in a place with few caches. In fact, when I started to think of placing a virtual in Normanton, there were no other caches.

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9P6QB_sidetracked-normanton

[+Ringrat]

17 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

 

That's what I did with my Virtual. Placed it in a place with few caches. In fact, when I started to think of placing a virtual in Normanton, there were no other caches.

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9P6QB_sidetracked-normanton

 

That's what I did with mine too, it's in the middle of nowhere on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego (https://coord.info/GC9P589). Unfortunately I'm unlikely to be eligible this time around as that cache meets the date criteria but is unlikely to get 4 finds. I also live in an area with little traffic, so any caches I hide this summer locally would also be unlikely to get 4 finds by end of year. 

[+Harry Dolphin]

On 7/6/2023 at 10:46 AM, Goldenwattle said:

Agree. As virtuals don't have a physical cache that needs maintaining, I think the place for them is in more remote places where a cache can't be maintained. Placing YET ANOTHER virtual in an urban area with already lots of caches is a wasted opportunity to spread geocaching further. Short-sighted!

That's what I did with my Virtual.

 

I put my virtual at a place where people should come to remember.  Weehawken 911 Memorial.   60,000 people were boatlifted across the Hudson on 911.  

[+Goldenwattle]

15 minutes ago, Harry Dolphin said:

I put my virtual at a place where people should come to remember.  Weehawken 911 Memorial.   60,000 people were boatlifted across the Hudson on 911.

Do you live within 161kms. You didn't say where you live. Then surely it would have been possible to put a physical cache; if not a traditional, than a multicache with the cache a little distant away. You could maintain it, if you live in the area. Virtuals are ideal for places where they can't be maintained. Earthcaches are similar.

[+barefootjeff]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:46 AM, Goldenwattle said:

As virtuals don't have a physical cache that needs maintaining, I think the place for them is in more remote places where a cache can't be maintained. Placing YET ANOTHER virtual in an urban area with already lots of caches is a wasted opportunity to spread geocaching further. Short-sighted!

 

If I were ever to receive a virtual reward, my intention is to place it on the Spion Kop headland in Brisbane Water National Park. As well as the unusual "dragon's head" rock formation and expansive views, the walk out there is also interesting with potholes, a waterfall and some sandstone caves. I wanted to put a physical cache there but it was rejected by national parks as the trail out there passes near some Aboriginal engravings, but the ranger said they have no problem with people unofficially going out there and that a virtual or EC (which don't need formal approval under the NSW national parks geocaching policy) would be fine. I'd also thought about an AL there but the map in the AL app doesn't show any of the trails and it would be too easy for someone to get themselves lost.

 

 

The downside is that getting there is a pretty long hike, with a terrain rating of at least 3.5 or perhaps even 4, so it would have very limited appeal and, for most cachers, would be seen as a wasted virtual. The Central Coast has four existing virtuals, all from Rewards 2.0, and three of those are terrain 1 or 1.5 (the other is a T4.5 at a secluded beach), so maybe another higher terrain one isn't too unreasonable. I don't know, I'm kind of torn between wanting to put it at an exceptional location while not making it too exclusive (some here might say elitist), so maybe missing out again will be a good outcome.

Edited July 7, 2023 by barefootjeff

[+Harry Dolphin]

3 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Do you live within 161kms. You didn't say where you live. Then surely it would have been possible to put a physical cache; if not a traditional, than a multicache with the cache a little distant away. You could maintain it, if you live in the area. Virtuals are ideal for places where they can't be maintained. Earthcaches are similar.

 

I live 30 miles away.  About an hour's drive.  It's a very urban area, near the Lincoln Tunnel.  I did have a mystery cache there.  Part of my GeoArt.  A nice, if long, walk along the Hudson River Walkway.  These caches needed a lot of maintenance.  When my friend, who lived in the area, died, I archived the entire series (and some other caches).  I was not going to go back frequently for maintenance.  Too far and too much time.  No new caches have been hidden along the walkway.  When I received the Virtual Cache, I knew that this is where it had to be!  Bring cachers here to remember 911!  It has had 50 finds, and 7 favorite points.  My mind said that this is where my Virtual Cache had to be!

[+JL_HSTRE]

On 7/7/2023 at 5:02 PM, Harry Dolphin said:

 

I put my virtual at a place where people should come to remember.  Weehawken 911 Memorial.   60,000 people were boatlifted across the Hudson on 911.  

 

Are those supposed to look like broken cutlery?

[+Harry Dolphin]

14 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

Are those supposed to look like broken cutlery?

 

Two of the thirteen surviving tridents that supported the World Trade Center.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Harry Dolphin