unforum

[SpaceBass]

Re: live event

[European Chris]

It's all whine whine whine whine whine.

If anyone didn't like it, leave the house on a Saturday night.

[SpaceBass]

[European Chris]

[SpaceBass]

European Chris: While I agree that unconstructive comments such as yours are less than desirable, I am on record as encouraging the constructive discussion of both positive and negative opinions on these boards. You are free not to participate in these discussions if you have nothing constructive to add. If you are unable to bring yourself to ignore them or participate constructively, I would be more than happy to provide you with a sabbatical from unforum, entirely free of charge, as encouragement.

[Mico]

I have to agree with most of the comments made here â€" I enjoyed the fact that we had an event to do, but was a bit disappointed with what and how it worked. I am quite sure I’m not being whiney, but hope to raise some constructive points. Please feel free to slap me with a wet fish if I miss this target!

There was no practical way for me to get to SF for the live event, so I was looking forward to the online games. However I had envisaged a form of interaction between the onliners and the on-the-grounders (for want of a better word!), where they were given some clues and we were given others so that we would direct the teams to their destination. I can see how difficult this could be logistically, even in the days of mobiles (or cells ) and PDA’s, but we could have done something more directly useful. Maybe even something like us solving some coded locks that would open a door to the data-link control room for those on the ground to get in and solve another puzzle to bring the link up? Or a graphic of us breaking down a series of barriers (like Die Hard ?), rather than just making it to 100% in some arbitrary fashion. So I’m hoping for more of a Crystal Maze feel for Season 2 I guess.

I enjoyed the puzzles (even though some were a bit random!), but there was a small lack of satisfaction when you spent 15 minutes searching for information only to find that someone had already solved the puzzle and your efforts were wasted. Well done to everyone who was co-ordinating the solved and unsolved puzzles on UF and on the wiki â€" Geist, Scribe and everyone else (sorry, but I didn’t catch the names of everyone who was updating things) â€" to give us areas to concentrate on. And well done to those who posted links etc to the site to drum up those additional unique hits.

The chatrooms became just that â€" people were chatting, which is only to be expected I suppose as everyone wants to participate, but there was quite a bit of random chat not relevant to the game, which could have waited until afterwards in my opinion. Like during the Silburn-Griggs task, the rooms became really quite hectic and it was hard to keep up with what was being said. So maybe like then we should have arranged a new room that everyone can see, but only a select few could post in, to keep tabs of the solves. However, without any prior knowledge of what was going to be put before us, I think as an overall team we reacted and improvised well…… which is possibly a more important demonstration of our talents than anything.


So, to anyone who couldn’t be arsed to read the rest of this, I think it’s fair to say well done to MC & PXC for what must have been a hard event to organise. It wasn’t what I was expecting (but what is in this life??), but it was another good way to spend an evening! See you at the next live event…

Mico

[Ifurita]

I'm just starting to organize my thoughts about some puzzles I would have liked to see. I'll keep updating this thread and then crystallize my thoughts into a LJ post:

RFID Aspect
- For the RFID game, I would have liked to see a vertical components to it, so that players holding blocks not only had to get to an XY point on the grid, but also had to raise the block vertically x feet, thereby requiring team work to make a pyramid, find a tall person etc.

Cross Team Puzzling
- Some cross team puzzles would have been nice. One thought that came to mind was a puzzle, ala Four Friends Acting Up, that would take locations of other puzzles (ID's by the puzzle ID) to spell out a word or number.

Tie in's with existing PXC cards
- Some card tie-in's would have been cool. One puzzle could have been "Go to XY and tell for whom a 500 leck reward been offered for their safe return" and the picture would be Milo from card #015

Management of puzzle packs
- I heard of one team who grabbed 10 packs, didn't return until nearly wrap up time, and had left a bunch of puzzles unsolved. At the same time, other teams couldn't get puzzle packs. There could have been better management of pack distribution (e.g., show up as a team and collect a pack) or have a system where unsolved puzzles could be returned to the pool.

Coordination with on-line community
- It would have been very cool (not sure if this is possible) if the on-line community could track team locations ala the aerostat mission and help direct people
- There was also some research needed, and it would have been nice to have a means to communicate with the on-line community to help track down information, though it was also very cool to be solving puzzles with no internet search capabilities
- I suppose we could have set up a sticky board or something at the auditorium where people could come back with status updates, share information, etc

[Agent Lex]

As part of the online contingent, I've got a couple of reflections on these reflections.

[Ifurita]

The Milo tie in would have been much funnier in real life, to see a Reward! Cat Lost poster stapled to a telephone pole with Milo's face

[Ranger D]

I had lots of fun on Sat. A lot of the local ARG people were there, and of course tons of new faces. It was great to see taxi after taxi show up. The Adam, Ashin and I were teamed up and the packet we got (titled "Great Expectations" ha!) sent us to into the Exploratorium, the public library and eventually Fort Mason. There is a lot to do in the Exploratorium, but once we found the specific exhibit for each question, getting the answer was real easy. Then we headed over to the library, and with Thunderclap's help we were able to find a specific book there. Unforetunately both copies had no clues in them anywhere, so we got hosed on that one. The final puzzle had us banging our heads against a wall until someone with arcane knowledge of Fort Mason got us back on track. So we were able to get that solve in at the very last minute. Some how we got selected to have a cameraman come with us for the first part of the day. So he got video of us at the exploratorium and the library and lots of video of us driving around lost in SF. I'm kinda peeved that we didn't figure out our last puzzle while he was still around, becuase I think it was the coolest by far. Great Expectations, indeed.

I did get a chance to do the RFID game and while it had promise, it didn't work too well. After we got back from the library to regroup I heard that we couldn't do it because it was broken. Then some people ran in saying it was working again so I gave it a shot. Basically it was still not really working right. For the 1 or 2 games where it sorta worked it was fun running frantically around the stage trying to put out fire and crashing into people. I think Mind Candy got some video of it.

Like Ifurita I was pleasantly surprised at the generosity of players giving away cards they didn't need. Today I got a black card from crovax because he said, "Either you take this card or I'm going to burn it." There was lots of trading going on too. Overall there was lots of great energy there and I can't say that anything went totally completely wrong. I haven't had this much fun in a while! Everyone I met are just awesome people.

[aliendial]

[wow, how many posts since I started writing this? I started out as an answer to rose...]

No, rose, you could not watch things live. MC had cameras and I am sure we will see video later. Good thing, too. It would have looked pretty random.

MC did intend that there be some kind of live chat visible to us in the main lounge along with the list of unsolved puzzle codes, but while the code display worked the chat bit didn't. As did (not) wifi for almost everybody. It was incredibly frustrating to participate in a tech heavy event in some kind of dead zone.

I had hoped to play intermediary or just commentator as the event evolved, since I decided not to go out with a team into a city I did not know. That plan proved impossible to execute. No wifi, no chatting in irc. My phone web access worked, and I ended up using it to help on an ascii puzzle, and my computer's dvd player helped with a bunch of movie trivia searches. I proudly wore the sole "Spectator" wristband.

I watched the RFID game for a while. My impression was "great potential, not quite ready." I'm sure we will see video of some great dashing around on the stage nonetheless.

I assume that the live event was not intended to achieve 100% solved (I could be wrong), to show 3P still interfering. So maybe we never would have hit 100% even if we solved everything available.

However, I was really hacked off to discover at the end of the solving that one of the teams had grabbed multiple packs of puzzles (10 or more?) and taken off, stayed out all day, and came back with a large portion simply unsolved. They turned in their answers and started wandering away like it was nothing. This while loads of people were wandering around the venue for a couple hours going "anyone got any more puzzles to solve?" And where the clearly enunciated goal was to get as many solves as possible. (And take only one or two puzzle packs at a time.) While the team itself was thoughtless, I also blame the event management which left so much up to chance and expected things just to go well. [We (some UF'ers) hit that team up for unsolved puzzles, not knowing what they had done but hoping for a couple of crumbs to solve and give a final boost to the solve number before the end of the event, and were astonished when they handed over sheets and sheets with only a few solved per sheet.]

There were multiples of puzzles in SF too. A problem in and of itself. But it took a while for people to figure that out. Apparently we were supposed to answer them all individually anyway, to boost the solve energy rebuilding the link (my in-game interpretation). But MC never said that. It would have been nice to have a plot that took that into account instead of (as I gather the folks online experienced too) confusion about discovering duplicates and wondering what to do. Regular scavenger hunts routinely involve everyone answering the same questions and it would not have been questioned here had it been offered that way.

That said, the social side was of course a great delight. Meeting UF'ers new and old and the rush of that group solve groove. Way fun. (Saying hi to Jane McG, Elan Lee, Kiyash and their friend, who also played.) I'll get some pics up in flickr eventually.

Oh, and the helicopter bit was way cool. The confusion as everybody's cellphones went off at once and then everyone bolting from the theater at once was a hoot. And running around outside the (extremely scenic) dome of the Palace of Fine Arts trying to figure out where the 3P guys were. And reassuring innocent citizens ("it's just a game!") as the two helicopters buzzed by about 5 times. That poor couple getting their wedding photos done were probably really perplexed.

[drinkmonsters]

My live event coverage:

TheDragonArmy and I showed up early and were the first couple through the door of the palace of fine arts. Although we couldn't find another teammate with transportation, we eventually got our hands on a puzzle pack and set out on our own. Being from Nashville, we didn't know the area at all, and decided to walk the 2 miles to a coordinate my gps pointed to in order to find what we were looking for. This turned out to be at least 5 miles through the hills of SF, and by the time we located it, and one other piece to the larger puzzle, another team had solved those portions. We set out on another puzzle (with a car and the help of two locals) and by the time we got back, that piece had been solved as well.

we played and beat the rfid games, but the whole day for me (while fun) was extremely unorganized.

The rfid games didn't work correctly, and some didn't work at all.
There were too many people out looking for the same clues, and teams were not even and not all able to go to parts of the city others could.

Suggestions:
next time only one puzzle should be given out to one team to make them feel as if they have accomplished something (even if you only get one first solve, i'm sure it feels better than solving 3 and not REALLY helping at all).
Also the puzzles could have been divided up into sections of the city, so that a team that doesn't have transportation (such as mine) can still solve puzzles. I say this with the lightest heart, even though my legs today are cramped and entirely not happy with me.

I still had a great time even though it was strenuous and I didn't help to progress the link. I hope an event happens on the East Coast next time, so I don't have to travel so far though.. haha.

[aliendial]

I had a separate thought about demographics. I was thrilled to see more people like me (not all young men) at this event than I have seen at anything else I have participated in with this community. There was one extended family where the active players were clearly the moms but husbands, grandparents and young children/grandshildren appeared to be with them. Other groups of couples not (even) in their 30's or 40's. Woo! Everybody can play!

[duckiemonster]

This is making for interesting reading; it seems that a lot of the issues which were mentioned after the London event are yet to be resolved, which is a shame.

I was asked to moderate the 'official' chat early last week, but had to decline due to a family funeral. I don't envy the moderators one little bit; I remember how bad the main Silburn-Griggs room was to keep track of. The sheer number of people in the room means that whilst Rose has a good idea:

[colin]