unforum

[Phaedra]

[StarkRavingMad]

I'm not too worried about the information conduit side of things. It seems like the PMs have a handle on the fact that there might be a lot of non-ARG people, especially on the leaderboard. Look at the "top players" that Lucky invited to his private table yesterday; they weren't the chip leaders, they were people either high on the social charts or the card hunters. And a lot of us got phone calls as well.

I don't think we need to take any drastic measures just yet. The leaderboard tournament might not even be an information thing, maybe it's just a thing for the poker players and the winner will get a little "leader board tournament winner" symbol or something.

If worse comes to worse, we'll just have to try and pump one of the leaderboard guys for information after the tourney. Treat them like a character, get on a table with them and say "So, how was the leaderboard tourney? Dealer say anything weird?"

Like I said, I might try and make a run at it, if I can get enough time on Friday night. Or we could have a little ARG-only tournament or something to try and get someone either on the leaderboard or with enough of a stake to get himself there. But I don't think we need to stoop to outright cheating. At least not yet If we miss this tournament, I don't think it'll be a game-breaker.

If it turns out after this tournament that all sorts of crazy stuff went down at the private table and no one there cared enough to make notes on it, then we'll have to re-evaluate for next round.

[KermieD]

I think I'm with Phaedra on this (and not because she's a fellow cheesehead). It may not be this particular winner's circle tournament, but I'm convinced that sometime and somehow an unlock/reward/clue will be dependent on actually playing and/or winning in that tournament. A couple of things lead me in this direction:

First, the PM's have incorporated a blatant cheating system into the game via the private message system. From another thread, it's clear that some of the pure poker players are both aware of this and actively using it. I'm convinced that, not only is it okay for a group (ours, rabbithole, whomever) to try to place someone in the weekly tournament, but rather that it's expected of us.

Second, the poker interface is average to poor. That slider for choosing a bet value is horrid. I'm stunned that people are there strictly for poker and I doubt the ones who are serious about their poker will stay for long.

Lastly, the winner's circle table is going to be very popular. I believe the game ID thread is now 15 pages or longer. I'm guessing there will be almost 100 ARGers trying to watch that tournament and trying to interact with any characters that show up. That's going to happen exactly once before the communication channels get locked down or attendance in the room itself is restricted.

[/list]

[ouroboros]

An ARG, as we have experienced, is an entertainment punctuated by problems.

Poker, as played in casinos, is a series of problems. Any given hand of poker is a problem to be solved in pursuit of an overarching goal of increasing the money one has at the table.

In this ARG we are seeing poker employed as a problem-riddle used to control our information access. If poker is the problem, then I see no reason not to deploy our strengths of distributed riddle-problem solving demonstrated in the Beast and the coordination-networking demonstrated in ILB. We may or may not need that.

I have already invited a housemate of mine who is a keen poker player (he posted rent a couple of times while living in SFO a few years ago) to check out the Last Call Poker site, and suggested that should he get into a rich position we might call up on him for chips or if not (as he lost a 12k pot holding A Q against A K on the river) for advice.

Further, from what we know, the leader board resets every week.

I'm not saying that there is no ethical question. And I appreciate that we are brought to a point of examining our methods. In most places they shoot people who cheat at cards. But I don't think that we are necessarily on this game to play cards.

[ThaJinx]

[Kjartan]

I for one plan on sitting down for an hour or two on Friday night and playing until I'm up on the boards or flat broke -- whether or not I'm at a table with a bunch of ARGers. I, personally, feel that its slightly dishonorable to drop your bank roll without a fight; even if it's not real money.

That being said, I'd much prefer to drop my roll to someone I (kind of) know. (Actually, I'd much prefer to take the roll of someone else I know -- I'm lookin' at you Jinxie ) So, if we just get together and play really strong against each other, I'm sure we'll get up on top of the board. I like Stark Raving Mad's idea (I was actually logging in to post it if someone else hadn't) -- it should accomplish the same goals in a methodology that isn't quite so devious, and I think it'd be a lot of fun to play with more of y'all.

I've got a real poker game a bit earlier in the evening, but I'll be in to run up to the leaders or bust myself once I take all my coworkers' cash away.

[RPGgame]

i have read throught the posts and i can understand how some might consider what they consider cheating a bad thing to do.

I have said this once and will say it again. I am looking at this situation as a puzzle that the pms perhaps intended.

I have talked to the other poker players and they do not want to talk about arg's.

Once you get talking to them they are nice.

One even said what the hell you guys stroke yourself off by looking for clues around some mystery that you don't get a prize for?

I just sat there and gave up.

The poker players hate when the stupid card messages interrupt the game. Unlock a card.... what the hell is that???

Ok so you are into being like stalkers.

Listen folks they just dont get us which is fine.

I feel that the pms gave us a big clue with the announcement of the tournament and saying 7 seats. If it was 8 than I would think its just for the poker players.

I am starting to think that we let this one go and see what happens. We know that the pm's check out our site to see what we are up to and prob are considering what they are going to do if we get an argn player. They will find a way to let us know what they want to do.

But just like any puzzle, you need a mathematician to solve a math puzzle. You need someone that speaks chinese to solve a chinese one. And in this case you need a poker player to unlock something big that will bring us on to the next week and perhaps even unlock another website or some other things. Who knows the joker might show up.

We are running out of time and need a decision!

[Phaedra]

[RPGgame]

[Astald]

[RPGgame]

[Phaedra]

[commo]

ok i think most people agree we need someone in that tournament and that we can cheat to do so... well, on that note ive got 128k chips, but im a bad player lol and wanna palm them off to someone who can play in the tournament and can play well. soo.....any ideas?

[rose]

[Dr_Pangloss]

I agree...it feels like "us" and "them"...and this is supposed to be fun for kids of all ages.

I don't know what happened during "I love Bees" because this is my first real ARG, but if lines start to be drawn separating who "deserves" to play at that site and who "deserves" the clues, then I, like any other nOOb, will be gone. Why stick around if you're muscled out of the game? (I say this with my neck on the platter) Because there seems to be a developing thought that only the people here deserve to get the clues. It kinda takes the fun out of it for the rest of us.

It's a game...just enjoy the thrill of a flush from the river and a mystery to be solved.

I know the regulars will be offended by what I've said, but I didn't feel very welcome here anyway - so it probably doesn't matter.