Thumbs Up!
Virtual Geocaching can be a unique experience
Yes, another comic! This one first appeared in FTF Geocacher earlier this year. It has to do with a requirement to hopefully help people from “cheating” on virtual geocaches. I say “cheating” because everyone plays the game differently and some people like to travel “virtually” instead of leaving their living rooms and actually going to the location. But c’mon if you’ve never visited a place how can you honestly post that you have?
For those who might not know- a virtual geocache is just a location. There is nothing to actually find. You just need to go to a place and either gather information or take a photo. The photo usually has to have one of the following:
a note with your geocaching name on it
a selfie
a part of you
your GPS
a signature item
This additional direction came up because there were people just doing an image search for the location and posting that photo. Anything for the numbers, I guess.🙄For many this could be a simple as just putting your thumb in front of the lens. Some geocachers have decided that there is a simple cheat. Have your thumb block the majority of the photo, so it could be taken anywhere. The crazy part is you can now make a sticker of yourself to add to photos just using your phone.
I decided to do this comic when someone posted in a group about a geocacher who had Photoshopped in their thumb into the photo of the location from the actual cache page! They didn’t even look for other photos. Right click- save photo. The cacher was “shocked” that the Cache Owner had removed their log.
PRO TIP: People can look at your geocaching profile and see that you logged a virtual cache in Indiana, California, the U.K. and somewhere in Peru all on the same day… while also logging physical geocaches in Germany. Why? Why? Is it so important to have the numbers and souvenirs? I blame participation trophies.
Sometimes I hope that my comics will shed light on bad practices… OK most of the time.🤪
Cecil, of course brings along an entire camera crew to chronicle his exploits.
Bruce addresses the old-time issues of respect and honesty. But with AI forming into a tsunami of artwork and writing, I wonder what AI impact on geocaching will be?
I remember a conversation from 10 or so years ago with a group of "geo-gals" I hang out with (including your lovely wife). Basically it all came down to... be a good steward of the hobby. Respect the areas where you play the game, and the rules of the game. There is no winner in Geocaching, so cheating with fake finds to "win" gets just a quizzical look and shrug of the shoulders from me... then I'm off to find the next one!