I was going to write an article about my thoughts and musing on the Challenges created by Groundspeak, Inc., on the one year anniversary of their introduction. However, I had some pressing issues preventing me from posting at the time.
Boy, am I ever glad I waited.
Groundspeak, Inc. sent out the following email to members on Dec. 4, 2012 :
"Dear Geocacher,
In our effort to inspire outdoor play through Geocaching, we are often faced with decisions about what to focus on next, and to focus on less. It is through these decisions that we explore opportunities to grow the global game of Geocaching.
Occasionally, during this process, we are faced with the reality that certain ideas don't catch on as we had hoped. In these situations we owe it to ourselves and to you to make tough decisions about the future of every project and the resources to be applied to each. Sometimes, as a result, cool features must become casualties.
In this spirit, we have decided to retire Geocaching Challenges.
This means, that, effective today, we have disabled the ability to create new Challenges. We have also removed the Challenges application from all mobile application stores. In approximately 7 days, we will be removing the Challenges functionality and related content from Geocaching.com.
On an office wall here at HQ is a sign that reads, "Let's make better mistakes tomorrow." By accepting that we will sometimes get it wrong, we can allow ourselves to learn from and imagine new opportunities in the world of Geocaching. Our hope is we can take the lessons from Challenges and create better tools to guide you on your next adventure.
Sincerely,
Geocaching.com"
Groundspeak, Inc. launched Challenges on Aug. 17, 2011 amid much fanfare. The concept, according to co-founder and Groundspeak, Inc. CEO Jeremy Irish was this: "It became quickly apparent that the community wanted virtuals back as much as we did. However, knowing the history of virtuals, we couldn’t just flip a switch and have the same process again. So we sat in a room and tried to distill the idea of virtuals into one sentence. The result was “go somewhere and do something.” This evolved into Geocaching Challenges." (source: Groundspeak, Inc. Blog Latitude 47 titled The Eureka Moment: Challenges Aug. 17 2011 accessed Dec. 4 2012 from http://blog.geocaching.com/2011/08/the-eureka-moment-challenges/).
Within the first week, there was backlash from the Geocaching community:
- Worldwide Challenges (i.e., "Kiss a Frog") were accused of promoting "armchair caching"
- Forum posters were angry and called Challenges a cheap cop-out for replacing virtuals
- Geocachers did not like the fact that Challenges were counting as part of the finds total
Groundspeak, Inc., to their credit, addressed many of these issues quickly, changing requirements for creating Challenges and separating find totals from completed Challenge totals.
Things died down, and caching continued on.
Challenges in the region where I am from never really caught on. I gave it an attempt. I did 12 Challenges, and I created 1. I found the whole concept fraught with problems from concept to execution to delivery to completion.
For me, there were 3 basic areas where Challenges fell flat.
The idea that Challenges were a replacement for virtuals
Groundspeak, Inc's idea that Challenges would be a suitable replacement for virtual caches in the eyes of cachers likely doomed this idea from the start. I personally felt that the Challenges idea was a big cop out by Groundspeak, Inc. Virtuals were problematic for volunteer reviewers and staff: there were poor quality of submissions -interesting statues and landmarks were being replaced with spray painted bridges and the local Tim Horton's; armchair logging was commonplace with information readily available through a quick Google search; and, there were no consistent rules from reviewers on what constituted a "good" virtual. The decision was made to grandfather them. Here is the thing: The same problems that grandfathered the virtual cache existed with Challenges- poor quality, armchair logging, no rules.
To me, a virtual cache is similar to an earthcache in how you play: go to a location of interest, find the answer to a question posed by the cache owner, and then email said answer to the cache owner in order to log the find. So why can guidelines be created for an earthcache, but not a virtual? Groundspeak, Inc. can create all number of guidelines for where a cacher can place a cache, the distance between caches, what constitutes an event, etc. So why not clear, consistently enforced guidelines governing the creation of a virtual cache?
No control for the creator past creation
If you created a Challenge, your ownership for editing purposes lasted a mere 24 hours or until it was found. The creator was not responsible to keep an eye on the area, nor were they required to police or review logs.
It is like that old infomercial tag line: "Set it and forget it!"
This was an obvious attempt by Groundspeak, Inc. to get a large number of Challenges out there, and appeal to newer cachers through fast creation and a lack of responsibility for maintaining something like a physical container. However, ownership, and the responsibility for cache placement and maintenance that comes with it, is the cornerstone for good, high quality cache hides. With no ownership of the Challenge, there was no reason or opportunity for the creator to track logs, view what the level of enjoyment cachers had in doing the Challenge, or potentially improving the Challenge over time. That aspect of caching was lost.
Not user friendly
This was the major issue that I had with Challenges: They were simply to hard to find compared to a geocache. Being able to see Challenges on the map, and download them via a GPX file, would have gone a long way towards realizing the full potential of this concept. Groundspeak, Inc. even acknowledges these areas for improvement under their official Challenges FAQ. It is a shame the concept never became reality. Making Challenges as easy to access as a geocache would have gone a long way to improve the enjoyment of Challenges as a whole. I know I would have done a lot more of them if I could have seen them on the map while planning my caching route for the day. Being able to download a GPX file of Challenges to my GPS from that map would have been awesome.
Groundspeak, Inc. launched Challenges as a (now) failed attempt to quell public outcry for not bringing back virtual caches.
Now is the time to move in the right direction. Please, Groundspeak, Inc., bring back the virtual caches we all know and love.
