On June 20th Linden Lab blogged Celebrate SL10B With a Chance to Win a New Alienware 14 Laptop! “Awesome” was likely to have been the reaction of many, until they saw “Note: this contest is limited to Second Life users in the US” At this point the reaction of many was likely to have been “Boooooo!” I don’t have a problem with this, even though I can’t enter, the same as I don’t have a problem with the previous Amazon promotions I can’t participate in.
The competition runs until July 17th, so if you are a US resident and fancy entering, go here: http://www.alienwarearena.com/lan-give-a-way/second-life/ Read the rules carefully, if you’re from Rhode Island you’re out of luck!
I see promotions such as this as helping to promote Second Life outside of Second Life circles, and that’s a good thing. I will however say that I don’t think this competition is a great fit as part of the SL10B community celebrations, but that’s a minor quibble.
To get this into some sort of perspective, there are Alienware competitions that cover other countries, for example The Alienware Arena Weekly “Gamer’s Grab” Sweepstakes is open to: “legal residents of the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, that are 13 years of age or older and residents of Germany that are fifteen (15) years of age or older.”
A lot of excluded countries there, then there’s the 5v5 Heroes of Newerth Tournament – Europe which is open : “only to residents of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom that are thirteen (13) years of age or older, residents of Spain that are fourteen (14) years of age or older and residents of Germany that are fifteen (15) years of age or older as of June 17, 2013”
So we can see that it’s not unusual for competitions and tournaments to be restricted. However where I feel opportunities have been missed here is that a platform such as Second Life has a wide range of ways to deliver content and prizes, and there are more creative ways to engage with a wider range of users.
Continue reading “Missed Opportunities With Alienware Competition”