Items: The Unwritten Manual Sep 22
It’s no secret to us that the “Items” feature in Gowalla is a bit half-baked. While our next update release will address this, I figure I’d better go over some broad details concerning items so you’re not utterly confused. So here goes:
At any given time you can hold 10 items on your phone. Each item is serialized and they are limited in issue. As to how limited, time will tell.
If you are one of the first people to check-in at a new spot, you can opt to drop one of your items to become a founder. This helps us determine which spots are highly trafficked, and ultimately, which spots we should feature. Spot founders will receive recognition for their sacrifice in the future.
When you arrive at a spot where items have been dropped before and you see something you like — you can pick it up. However, you must leave an item you are carrying in its place. It’s a bit like karma — gotta give something to get something.
If you decide there is an item that you would like to keep forever, you can vault it. Unfortunately you cannot vault items from the phone yet. You have to sign in to Gowalla from the web, visit your items page, and click the vault button. The item will be added to your permanent collection. Vaulting from the phone is coming soon.
Biggest Question: How do I get new items?
Answer: By checking in! New items are randomly awarded when you check in on your phone, even if you’ve already been to a spot before. The odds of receiving a new item are based on a few things: a) how many items you’re currently carrying; b) the category of spot you’re checking in at; and c) the overall rarity of the item itself.
Alrighty then, this concludes our crash course on items for the time being. We have lots of plans for this feature, and it will receive a nice upgrade on the phone soon. Let us know if we can answer any questions for ya.
Time to go out!
53 Comments
Patrick Haney Sep 22 at 4:08pm
Good tips for Gowalla items, though I wish I had known this a while back when I was first testing the beta of 1.2 for iPhone. I was holding on to 10 items for over a month!
Luke Dorny Sep 22 at 4:13pm
vaulted all but one item. let’s see what happens…!
Grant Sep 22 at 4:14pm
Good to know about the 10 item limit. Sounds like I need to be founding more spots!
I’m having trouble with vaulting concept. Nothing is more deflating than seeing someone vault an item you’ve moved, thereby ending it’s story. Isn’t it more interesting to see them migrate from user-to-user, place-to-place? I’ve vaulted one item, but would love to release it back into the wild.
Will the vault eventually have a max number of items OR allow a user to exchange/drop/trade items?
David — you’re right. It’s awesome to watch an item move from place to place. That said, we will be allowing you to unvault an item at some point in the future. We want the good vibes to continue.
“That said, we will be allowing you to unvault an item at some point in the future.”
Seriously? Can I get that in writing? Oh, wait…
David, maybe think of it this way: Its story may end, but it has found a loving home in which to reside. Someone wanted it badly enough to decide to keep it forever.
We’ve asked for unvaultable icons on Get Satisfaction that would travel from spot to spot. Maybe someday we’ll see something like that!
Zanzabar Zanzabar Sep 23 at 2:15am
So, where are all of these unique and fun icons coming from… seasoned players should get an insight- not just newbies, right? The new icons to new packs only is a little scandalous
Zanzabar Zanzabar Sep 23 at 2:18am
Also- in some of the geocaching games, there is a way for you to identify what you would like the icon to do (i.e. my little sister is in New Zealand and it’s my goal to get this “doll house” to her… I know that may out of reach but it’s interesting when the “icons” are on a mission.
Matt Davidson Sep 23 at 8:11am
Hey guys, absolutely loving Gowalla down here in Australia and now that I know I can only carry 10 items I won’t continually be disappointed when I check in for no free icon time and time again… cause I got no room!! Hitting the founding and vaulting pretty hard this weekend though.
My main comment would be about the VALUE of an icon, obviously the more rare it is the higher the value will eventually be.
However, could it also be done geographically?i.e. a check in in Australia may net a koala, kangaroo or meat pie icon where in France a croissant, England a bulldog, Egypt an Ankh, etc. (or even state by state for you guys)
In that way, say a Mockingbird or bluebonnet (only available through a Texas, USA check in) would have ENORMOUS value in Sydney, Australia.
The thought came through handling about 15 smores since start of play a month ago but I’ve never had one and don’t even really know what it is…
Just an 11:30 pm thought before sleep, again thanks for the good times guys.
augustss Sep 23 at 8:25pm
How do I vault items? I can’t log in. It’s been broken for quite a while and I have lost hope it will ever get fixed.
— Lennart
Lamar Sep 23 at 9:55pm
I just started the other day, and quickly ran out of items. There are hardly any spots yet in here in Ventura County, CA. Hopefully I can pick some up in Atlanta this weekend…
Christine Sep 24 at 8:13pm
I agree with Zanzabar. Perhaps you could implement some sort of item trip tagging. Like we could type in a location on an item to where we would like it to go.
It would also be neat if we could track previous locations of items, sort of like a travel history log that we can see where this item has been.
Bruno Sep 25 at 7:28am
Hi Josh,
If you are in a country where there aren´t many Gowalla users (yet!) there are less chances to “check in” and adquire new items. What is your solution for that?
Also the iPhone A-GPS can be a bit erroneous. It would be awesome if a spot founder could edit the location (maybe on the web?)…
Keep it kicking!
- Bruno
Lamar ~ are some of your spots coffee shops or pubs? These seem to garner many items.
As far as vaulting vs passing, I like a bit of both. I have some great items vaulted from my UK trip ~ it is fun to go back and remember when and where they were discovered. I also have a Model Train in my pack. It popped up at Paddington Station and I am saving it to use for founding a spot on CA. Unlike Matt, I think all items should be distributed in all areas (in their level of rarity, of course), since not every Gowalla player will be a world traveller and the collectable aspect of the items is a great draw for this app.
I dropped all 5 of my items in South Bend, IN and I don’t see many places to pick up new items. Tried to pick up one of the ones I dropped off but it says I have to trade one of my other items. I don’t have any other items though. How do I get an item w/o having one?
huphtur Sep 29 at 2:15pm
Yes on the unvault please. I just vaulted two exact same items.
Gowalla, A Location Based Social Network For Discovering & Exploring New Places Sep 30 at 1:18pm
[...] Foursquare, Gowalla also has a game layer. You can pickup and drop items at various locations. Dropping an item lets you become a founder of a location when you enter it [...]
Yeah, I’m out of items right now after dropping them in new spots in San Francisco this weekend. Still trying to figure where I can find more.
vaudesir Sep 30 at 8:55pm
Wondering what’s the point of vaulting? I think it had sense in packrat where other players can steal your cards, but in Gowalla, only you choose to drop items, right? So why not just keep them in your pack? Just wondering…
If there aren’t many spots in your area yet, you have the chance to shape your city’s Gowalla landscape! Think of some cool places you like to go and make spots. Then there will be lots of spots for you and others to check in and get items, and your name will be all over them as the commissioner.
I’m lucky enough to be in Austin where there are a bunch of Gowallabies and spot creation is, may I say, a little competitive, but I’m always stumbling across somewhere new that I didn’t know about because someone created a spot there.
Could you please tell me what the “Missing” tab means under the Items section of my Passport? At first I thought this was a listing of all items that exist but which I don’t have (which would be cool to see). However, I realized that there are items under this missing tab that also exist at the moment in my pack. What does this show me?
I also agree with @Bruno above… it’d be great if we could slightly alter the geographic location of places we’ve created. I’m using a first gen. iPhone whose triangulation is slightly “off” in some regions, causing the locations of the spots I create to be a bit inaccurate.
Another problem I’ve encountered is an incessant “confirming” of a location. After I’ve chosen to create a location, it shows me on the map where it will be created. Except for situations mentioned above, it’s pretty close, but it just spins and spins without end, and I miss out on a creation and check-in because of it. Is this a bug, or just my bad hardware luck?
All said, I love Gowalla… thanks for the great work!
hillary hartley Oct 12 at 1:04pm
Ditto to the Packrat comment. I was assuming we’d be able to vault sets. Have been hanging on to 3 of a kind hoping to complete a set. Is that in the works?
pwb Oct 14 at 11:53pm
I just signed up for Gowalla and have no idea what the items are all about. You need to give us newbies a primer. If items are scarce, it’d be nice to get a sense for how scarce.
Katie Wallace Oct 15 at 11:38am
Carolyn, the “missing” tab means that the item exists out in the world but you do not have it in your vault. You may have it in your pack of up to ten items, but if you vault that item it will move from the “missing” tab to the “vault” tab.
I’ve been having a hard time finding items, and I’ve felt “sold out” for a while now…
Jonathan Carroll Oct 28 at 9:23am
Odds should be about 1:3 or 1:4 to get an odd on check-in. Tell us more at our support site: http://getsatisfaction.com/gowalla
Scott Nov 8 at 2:55pm
I appreciate that there is now (on the website) a way to collect all of the different icons. I’m rushing towards that goal.
Secondly: Matt Davidson…it is a shame that you have not had a s’more before. So I will give you just a bit of information. First of all, it’s called a s’more because you have one and you want “some more” which gets slurred into s’more. They are easy to make. You put a marshmallow on a stick, over a flame or heat source, get it to the point where its melting and then sandwich it between two graham crackers with a piece of chocolate.
Rik Nov 9 at 12:11pm
Just wondering why I can’t seem to collect any more items. I was doing well for a while, but have been out of items for a couple of weeks now. Checking in and creating new spots and not being able to be named the founder sort of sucks.
Does this have something to do with archiving items?
Gowalla » Rubinary Blog Nov 11 at 6:09pm
[...] to the point that you got it and then after you left it somewhere. But you can read more about items on Gowalla blog. Then there are special stamps and pins. There are goals like visiting 5 pre-set [...]
pl0gscreencast #06 - gowalla bei pl0g.de Nov 12 at 4:15am
[...] gowalla.com/blog/2009/09/items-the-unwritten-manual/ [...]
re s’mores… we here in Australia could say what’s a graham cracker… I watch enough tv / read enough to know, but we don’t really have them here!
Justin L. Nov 16 at 1:49am
I think you guys should make a short video with this explanation for users who just joined to watch. That would probably be the simplest way to let people know. I just started using this today and find the idea of items great since Foursquare doesn’t have anything like them, but if people don’t know how to get them then it can become very frustrating.
I vaulted all my items not knowing I couldn’t get them out. Urgggggh!
You should make a video or something to explain this to new users. It is a really cool feature, but hard to figure out what is going on.
jhuppenthal Nov 17 at 10:39am
You really should reward extra for adding a new location, especially in markets where you should be trying to gain adoption and traction…such as LA. I used all my items founding places and now the game is up since you must give to receive. Nothing left to drop.
Ramon Padilla Dec 1 at 8:06pm
Unvaulting please! I just installed the app and not knowing I vaulted a box of cigars! I rather remove the app if I don’t get that thing from there, please help!
Jeff Hurt Dec 7 at 12:41pm
I’ve given all my items away founding places too. Now I have to wait to receive new items before I can found some others. Wish there was a way to get more items quickly. Also, can a company contact you to have specific items created that are given away?
Carolyn Dec 11 at 12:08pm
Why can’t you change the rules and reward founders with an item instead of people having to leave an item in order to be a founder? I find a lot of fun in finding new places (early adopter habit) and sharing that with my friends but I can’t be founder of a place if I don’t have an item to drop takes all the fun out of using Gowalla for me.
Peter Dec 16 at 2:37pm
hi, another vote for “unvaulting” I was playing around with the site and I didn’t realize that vaulting would lock your items down. I think there needs to be clearer descriptions as to what items and vaulting means right on that page. I accidentally ended up vaulting them all. Now it seems I can’t drop or trade for any items because I don’t have any items to drop!
Jim Dec 16 at 7:18pm
Agree on unvaulting, and very much agree that frequent founders should get new items more frequently on checkin.
Please? =]
embracing gaming in SF Dec 18 at 1:08am
Ditto the comments about educating us newbies on scarcity of items: I was dropping them left & right and now have none and resent that I can no longer be a founder until the algorithm chooses to replenish me at some elusive point :-0
Amie Dec 24 at 4:42pm
love the collecting of items@ makes it fun to look for new items…however I agree…that if we take the time to enter in new places, we should get an item not have to leve one. Also…I am finding the previous spots have had their pins dropped way to far away from there the place is…we need to be able to edit the locations on pins. Also – I did not know what vaulting was and was playing with it…we need to be able to unvault it. Other than collecting items – what is the point? I feel like the only reason for collecting items is so you can leave them behind to be a founder? More info please…been on this for two days and already addicted!
i accidentally vaulted most of my items, not realising what the vault was so will be very happy when/if there is an unvault feature.
i like the items idea, but have yet to “find” any. have been awarded some but since i vaulted five i’m screwed in founding places.
like the service overall so far…keep up the good work!!
When will we be able to collect an item after say, 10 visits to the same coffee shop to receive a free coffee, or some other way of utilizing items as a form of currency.
AmandaEspi Dec 29 at 10:50am
PLEASE allow un-vaulting! I accidentally put them there. I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I don’t have anything to drop anywhere and I can’t pick up an item without swapping. I can’t swap, because I accidentally put them in my vault. My bad, but I wish I could fix it. It’s no fun checking in, if I can pick up an item or even swap them out.
Gowalla for beginners | Olivier Lacan { thoughts } Jan 6 at 4:34am
[...] at Barnes & Noble). On your phone, you can only hold 10 items at any given time. As the The Unwritten Manual tells us “Each item is serialized and they are limited in issue. As to how limited, time [...]
Is there a limit to the number of items people can leave at a place? If 20 people leave an item somewhere, does that mean that place will always have at least 20 items? If it gets above a certain number (maybe 10?), it would make sense to let people (maybe just people who have no items) take one without having to leave one.
I usually don’t become a founder of a place I’ve created. Should I become a founder as well?
BigPipes Jan 13 at 12:47pm
UNVAULT! I agree. This feature is extremely stupid. The first thing anyone is going to do (like myself) is click everything and see what it does. A pop up should at least come up informing what will happen and do you wish to continue. Took me 5 minutes of searching to find these comments after trying to figure out how to move items from my vault. Probably the most fustrating thing about Gowalla.
Yann Jan 15 at 5:49pm
Yeah, I really think there should be some “unvaultable” item. Maybe a stick, a heart or a Bonobo. Those item would just travel across the world spreading the love an getting a huge history? This would be pretty neat uh!
PS: being able to unvault an item could be really useful. Thanks
Stephanie Sullivan Jan 16 at 2:29am
Luckily, I didn’t figure out there *was* a vaulting feature, so I’ve not lost any items. That said, I live in an area of Phoenix where there are barely any users. So I’m founding lots of areas. But I can’t drop items at all of them (I certainly figured that out quickly when I almost lost them all). I do agree with those above that commented that those in areas were there’s “little Gowalla” shouldn’t “lose” everything to found new spots. It would be nice if the percentage of “discovered items” in a lightly Gowalla-ed areas was a bit higher so we could found more. (And yes, what DO we do about spots we can’t check into because the original founder wasn’t exactly AT them when they dropped the pin?)
Lastly, though I realize some items have more worth, is it related to the number on them? Higher better? Lower better? Not related at all? Enquiring minds wanna know!
Pins, spots, items & future.
Amadeo Plaza Feb 3 at 11:57am
I’d really like the ability to unvault. I vaulted a guitar because I was just clicking around and now I can’t get it out. Like everyone is saying, there’s either got to be a way to unvault, or a clear indicator that says you lose that item from your inventory forever.