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 Forum index » Diversions » TimeWasters
Puzzle Experiment #2
Moderators: Giskard, ndemeter, ScarpeGrosse
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tabster
Decorated


Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 244
Location: Ohio

 		My thoughts

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
I think its Michael and Elizabeth, Michael kinda fell in the shadow of Eric and he had the log file (which if anybody decrypts might prove me wrong) on his computer and im gonna take a guess and say that he and Liz are having some kind of relationship then Elizabeth found some way to get the file from Eric and sent it to Michael, but being a careless secretary she lost her memory card which was encrypted with a simple password, which someone trying to frame her would have atleast made it harder to crack. Sooo Michael and Elizabeth is my *Educated Guess*.

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:27 pm
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MrToasty
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 4310
Location: Des Moines, IA

 		OK, after installing the Asian language packages I was able to see what we needed from the logfile, although honestly it was not necessary at all. Have a look at the attached. The message is:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Top drawer


ETA - the timecard looks to have a 'J' covered up with whiteout on the name line.
logfile.jpg
 Description   
 Filesize   5.89KB
 Viewed   389 Time(s)

logfile.jpg

PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:49 am
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thegreatpablo
Boot

Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Posts: 62

 		Are we able to ask Eric to look the top drawer of each of the suspect's desks?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:53 pm
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mapmaker
Unfettered

Joined: 26 Sep 2005
Posts: 608
Location: Providence, RI, USA

 		Yeah, given what MrToasty and Tenchizard found, I'd say the top desk drawer question is very relevant. Elizabeth may have white-outted Jonathan's time card and substituted it as her own? And if something is found in a top drawer, that might implicate Eric as well.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:53 pm
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth

 		I think they all deserve to die. I know this guy that...

Oh...

Never mind.

I got nuthin' here. Honest.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:55 pm
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MrToasty
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 4310
Location: Des Moines, IA

 		OK, looks like more to the log.

Chinese characters:
哪裡邁克爾把他的鑰匙
Translates to:
Michael where his keys (via google)

Russian
забудьте удалить
Remember to remove

Korean:
떠날 때 전화 할께
I will call you when you leave

Babelfish can give some very different translations.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:07 pm
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Tenchizard
Decorated


Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 254

 		So... mixing it all together... I make out this "conversation"

Where's Michael's key?

top drawer

remember to remove it

I will call you when you leave

So, after this...



Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Elizabeth is still my primer suspect, but maybe Michael was not his accomplice. If so, It must have been someone else of course, but I don't have a clue right now.


PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:34 am
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Big_Larry
Veteran


Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 96
Location: Not there... maybe somewhere else.

 		But as none of us are translation experts, the Chinese gives us two options:

"Michael, where's your key?"
"Where is Michael's key?"

Being that the logfile in question was on Michael's computer, I tend toward the former.

Oh, and stegdetect gave me a message about a false positive on the bracelet picture; none of the other pictures triggered it.

Other than that, I got nothin'.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:51 pm
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pancito
I Have No Life


Joined: 24 Feb 2008
Posts: 2095
Location: In my happy place.

 		No, I got nuttin either, but...

@ Omega > I think this one worked. Depending on your time scale for the game you might be at a point where something else is revealed to push 'em along a little. Not saying you want to do that on the test bed, just saying depends on how fast it's supposed to move at this stage.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:12 am
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Omega
Unfettered


Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 430
Location: Utah

 		Partial Solution
Okay, confession time...

I posted the experiment Sunday night before going to bed. When I woke up, I realized that not enough clues had been provided to precisely determine the guilty party. Well, in my mind I can piece it together. However, without a bit of extra knowledge, only Elizabeth can be singled out. I decided not to intervene to see what conclusions would be made, but everyone seems stumped now, which is understandable. Thanks to everyone who stuck through the experiment this far! I can't express enough how grateful I am for everyone's participation and comments.

As pancito notes, this would be a perfect time in an actual ARG to release further clues in order to push the hunt along. In an actual ARG, Eric would have been in constant communication with the team, reporting new findings. So, I imagine the mystery could have been solved much sooner with that extra input. I'll consider MrToasty's decryption of the log file the solve point.

Estimated Solve Time: 3 days
Estimated Difficulty: 5 out of 10 (moderate)

Actual Solve Time: ~2 days, 4 hours
Actual Difficulty: ~3 out of 10 (easy)

Participants: 11

My estimation of solve time was closer, but my idea of what's difficult still needs tuning towards what a community of players is capable of.


All the major clues for the experiment were discovered:
  • Only half the ransom amount is accounted for in the list, which implies an accomplice. Furthermore, the items mentioned in the list hint at Elizabeth's possible involvement.
  • The timecard on Elizabeth's desk has a 'J' that's been covered in whiteout (J for Jonathan). This could suggest that Elizabeth intended to use the timecard as her own (Eric remarked at the beginning that he hadn't seen Liz around the office very much that day).
  • The scrambled log file on Michael's computer shows random portions of an IM chat. The phrase, "Where are Michael's keys?" lifts some of the guilt from Michael and confirms that there are at least two people involved. But, who was on Michael's computer?

Without fully revealing the intended culprit(s), I've a few discussion questions:
  • Based solely on Eric's vocal details, between Nate, Jonathan, and Michael, who seems the most likely suspect?
  • Did the provided clues make sense within the context of the story? Did anything seem out of place or unbelievable?
  • What additional types of clues or events would you expect to see in a continued version of the office investigation? (i.e. a thrown away timecard, a tardy or missing coworker, police involvement?, etc.)

Apologies to Mac users and others who had difficulties extracting the clues from the zip archive. This was not an intended obstacle for the experiment. However, given that the experiment had already started, I left it alone--if this had happened in a real ARG, the information couldn't have been pulled away and revised. The unexpected lesson of this experiment: PMs can't take back what they've given.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:37 pm
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rowan
Unfictologist

Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 1966

 		Re: Partial Solution
Omega wrote:
The unexpected lesson of this experiment: PMs can't take back what they've given.

Part of the reason beta testing for puzzles is so vital - and why creating the puzzles ahead of time is important. Ideally, puzzles should be tested on a number of different systems, browsers, programs, etc - and not by the original creator. Of course, I realize that ARGs are hardly ever designed under ideal circumstances, but it is something to shoot for. Little, but crucial, errors in an otherwise decent puzzle can really set players back with frustration (see the Safeget puzzle in EE).

I thought that this puzzle was much better in terms of believability than the previous puzzle - even if it wasn't solvable by the items that we had. I would have to withhold actual analysis of the puzzle until I actually knew who the culprit was. As it is, I think I could still make a pretty convincing case for Elizabeth, so I'm curious as to why she was ruled out.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:07 am
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faeryqueen21
Unfictologist


Joined: 25 Sep 2007
Posts: 1348
Location: Pasadena, CA

 		As a Mac user I have gotten used to it. If I want to watch an IG video I usually have to download it, convert it online, then re-download it. It makes watching a 5 minute video about an hour and a half long process (if the quality is high). A pain, but worth it to keep playing.

And Rowan, I didn't think he was ruling ELizabeth out. I thought he was saying that Elizabeth was one of the culprits and we still have to figure out who her accomplice was.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:56 pm
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Omega
Unfettered


Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 430
Location: Utah
faeryqueen21 wrote:
And Rowan, I didn't think he was ruling Elizabeth out. I thought he was saying that Elizabeth was one of the culprits and we still have to figure out who her accomplice was.

Yes, Elizabeth is one of the culprits. Even though there is insufficient evidence to make a solid judgment, based on Eric's information, who would you guess the accomplice to be?
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Puzzle Experiments: #3, #4, #6

PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:47 pm
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rowan
Unfictologist

Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 1966
Omega wrote:
Yes, Elizabeth is one of the culprits. Even though there is insufficient evidence to make a solid judgment, based on Eric's information, who would you guess the accomplice to be?

Okay, I misunderstood what you meant by 'singled out'.

I'm sorta into this puzzle now, but not in the way you probably want. If this was part of a game I was playing, this would be the sort of message I would send to Eric's friend:

Is it bad that I've sorted stop caring about who the culprit is? Let Eric pay the ransom as a sort of penance for the seemingly utter lack of security in the office.

One - all computer users should be required to use strong passwords so that no one can go and use someone else's computer to either hide their illicit activities or to frame someone else.

Two - employees should have all desk drawers locked at all times. None of this leaving keys for locked cabinets in an unlocked drawer.

Three - write up employees who don't know the difference between a paper shredder and a waste basket.

Four - switch to electronic time keeping. Who uses paper time cards anymore?

But if I really had to guess who was behind the theft, I would have to say Elizabeth and the janitor. See, Elizabeth, stuck in the office typing up memos for Eric (who for some reason still writes in longhand) fell in love with the janitor who would keep her company as her frustration with the company grew. The two of them hatched a plan to steal the diagrams and force Eric to pay a ransom. Elizabeth knew where the diagrams were stored (secretaries know where everything in an office is) and told the janitor where to look while he was making his rounds. There was a small hitch in the plan when the janitor discovered that the file cabinet was locked. Elizabeth had left the office by this time, so he messaged her asking where the keys were. After she told him, he tried to shred the IM session (since he had nothing against Michael). He then got the diagrams, put them in his wastebin and was able to exit the building with the plans hidden away.

Sadly for Elizabeth, it turned out that the janitor was actually working for Back-End labs and that he had been waiting for months to steal the plans for the new chip. He was the son of the manager that Jonathan had a falling out with (in fact, it was more than a falling out. Jonathan tried to run the man over with a truck and the son was a bit bitter about it). Before leaving Jasper-Tech, he planted the print out in Jonathan's wastebasket and a falsified time card for Jon on Elizabeth's desk. Then, because he was so annoyed at Elizabeth's constant whining about her job, he dropped the flash drive he had taken from her house in the hallway, knowing that her laughably easy password would be broken and she and Jonathan would be accused of the theft.

Elizabeth and Jonathan were arrested. Elizabeth, believing she still had a future with her janitor, told the police what they wanted to hear and that Jonathan was the mastermind. Jonathan, having no way of proving his innocence, was sent to prison, while Elizabeth got probation. Eventually the janitor (now fabulously rich from his company's new chip design) and Elizabeth reconciled, and they moved to the south of France. Eric's business collapsed and he lost his home and started living in a box. Nate and Michael shrugged the whole thing off, bought a house together in Vermont where they started selling maple syrup to tourists.

And this is why you do not give open ended puzzles to Rowan.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:46 pm
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faeryqueen21
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Joined: 25 Sep 2007
Posts: 1348
Location: Pasadena, CA

 		That. Was. Hilarious. Especially the bit about Nate and Michael. Rowan, I hope you don't mind if I worship you.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:33 pm
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