unforum

[spugmeistress]

It also looks like they know all about the salk log files and correspondance too, so I guess there's no point holding back on emailing people (Violet?) about it any more.

The new site and card input and stuff looks cool (love the design), but id wonder if they had anything larger scale other than just a forum for each individual card, and even that can only be accessed by people with the card code, so i dont think these forums have much to worry about in terms of competition, especially as we'll need as many people on board as possible to help solve those silvers, and the cross card puzzles too.

rach =)

[firefox]

hmm, the forums idea has been tried before successfully and unsuccessfully, Art of Heist was a good example of success, they used an in-game/oog forums to collect most of the information, puzzle content etc, was quite handy.

now i wonder will those forums be in-game or not? it would be sweet to have some char interaction, and if its done properly it should be fantastic...

then the cynic in my went, gee that sounds a lot like ms xbox360 halo3 plan, it feels like you get a lot of freedom and choice, player profiles, probably some kind of privmessaging, maybe blogs, friend circles and contacts, make the whole experience global etc but in the end the content is controlled and moderated by the higherups. That's why deep down I'll always prefer something like unforums, but times are a changing. no longer are we playing a small/medium game genre, its being targeted at the mainstream, and with that comes a lot of excess baggage, copyright, licensing, and flamers. sigh.

edit: just looked at the site looks very polished. the screenshot showing my perplexcity with your cards solved cards looked promising. I see arg-ing going through a transition period. Hopefully at the end, I can finally make a living out of playing these games

[GuyP]

Character interaction on the forums? Possible, but a real can of worms to open. I really expect them to shy away from it, although as ever I'm prepared to eat my words! It's interesting each card has it's own thread/forum that is only accessible... this suggests that there's more to discuss about each card other than just the solution, such as relating the solve to the overall mystery. That's something we weren't sure was possible.

Also:

[oliverkeers13]

What I really find interesting is a very minor linguistic point.

[tangohead]

i like the look fhow too keep track of your solves. it looks like it will check them off your list when you solve them. cool. interesting about what it says about the map -

[Leeravitz]

Hmmm. I have to say, this is starting to look pernicious to me. We knew it was coming, and I'm all for those who want to have a chance to climb the leaderboard being allowed to do so, but I don't really like the idea of corporate controlled forums. As Firefox said, they have a tendency to promise you loads of gimmicks, without allowing you much freedom to actually write what you want to. I also *really* don't think it's humanly possible for any one player to be able to solve the whole mystery single - handedly - I mean, come on, look at the level the silver cards are pitched at! As far as I'm concerned, although we have differences of opinion (ahem!) from time to time on this forum, it's populated by very intelligent, very committed writers/players who deserve to be allowed a forum for maximal discussion. In fact, although this is very much the nature of the beast, I find it a little irksome that something as significant as decoding the Salk Logs isn't at least accredited to the Earth players currently involved, given the hard work everyone put in over it. If you were a first - time player stumbling across the site, you might easily assume that there is no sizable community already in existence to discuss the puzzles, that this community has not solidly worked at sticking with the game for something like two years to reach this point etc. etc.

Given MC's apparent reluctance to actually promote 'Unforums' (or any Forums, for that matter), we could easily end up with a situation where there are plenty of good contributors going to waste, because they're picked up a puzzle set, are baffled by certain cards that are too difficult for them to cope with single - handed and/or inspired to see some great new possibility in the cards, and yet have absolutely no knowledge that there's a community, a wiki etc. that backs up all their efforts.

I accept that Mind Candy are mainstreaming (presumably for the wider puzzles/RPGing type markets), but it all seems a bit much to me - surely they don't think any *one* person deserves to be awarded that fabled prize money, after so many individual contributions will have gone together to solve the mystery. Everyone has something to contribute - I think it's undeniable.

[oliverkeers13]

Are you honestly saying that if you found the cube, you would split it with everyone on Unforum who you feel helped you? If so, BE MY FRIEND!
The idea that someone would want to discuss a puzzle card AFTER it has been solved seems bizzare, the sort of points we put up here after the solve are very minor, like extra, unneeded detail, or asking for a scan of the back.
What puzzles me about the lack of credit attributed to us was that a couple of months ago, Mind Candy were recruiting someone who would "moniter the Wiki, Unforum" etc. NOw, to pay someone to do something and then not acknowledge their work boggles the mind.
I do think that it would be worth splitting into teams to find the cube. i.e a team of five based over the world who would each get £20,000. Makes it more likely that you can find it, but that's a whole different topic!
Leeravitz style essay over! Phew!

[yanka]

[Brevity]

I hope by the "(coming soon!)" note on the new page, they mean that the "My Perplexcity" area of the site will be open sometime within the next week. I'm more than a little bit annoyed that they didn't have this feature ready for the launch of the cards. It defeats the whole fun and purpose of the leaderboard if they give everyone a chance to acquire all of the limited release cards before even allowing anyone to claim their points...

By the time they open it up, it will just be an exercise in data entry to see who tops the leaderboard.

*sigh*

[oliverkeers13]

Hold on there, there is nothing about speed of entry that dictates how high you place. If you have 300 points, but the person who enters his cards first has 297 points, you will go higher. The league table doesn't really say who is making the biggest dent in the puzzles, just who has bought the most!

[ProfMoriarty]

Hopefully the whole "My PerplexCity" thing will be set up before the next wave. That can make this a "practice round", if you will, with the majority of the game remaining untainted.

[Mikeyj]

There was the direct link from firebox, so one of their major rabbit holes (to judge from my modest poll ) to here.

/me goes to check

And it's still there if you search for cube on firebox.

I think we'll understand more when the site goes live and we've had a fiddle with it, but they're going to serve very different purposes. MC are treading a fine line between trying to make a self-funding ARG, for which they have to bring in people new to the whole concept of ARGs, making it accessible as possible, whilst also pleasing the ready-made fan base at Unforum.

I like to think of us as bits of seaweed hanging from the Mind Candy guttering...if we go stiff in the sun, they know they need to make a bit more rain.

A lot of thought seems to have gone into things so far...I think it'll do just fine.

[tanner]

bits of seaweed ?????

hmmm Bara Lawr

yum yum

[MrDoug]

my confusion is real

[Brevity]

I think you're getting the wrong idea. The leaderboard and separate forums won't limit anyone's access to the game, they will just be there as a system of rewards for the people that do spend the money on the cards and therefore help fund the venture. You can always come to this forum and see all the cards anyways.