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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: Questions/Meta

Site down - Why?

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beglee
Decorated

Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 164

Re: Give them a break

CommDirector2 wrote:

Cmon. Give MC a break.

I've been lurking a few topics just like this, complaining about site being down, not being able to 'enter' solves, not being able to be the 'first solve.' I don't dispute the fact that it's important to a lot of people to see their names up on the leaderboard, or to have fame as the first solver of certain cards... but aren't we forgetting why we've come here in the first place?

To enjoy puzzling, solving puzzles from 1-minute quickies to long-hours of distraction. We bought the cards because we want to enjoy solving them -- for that "AHA!" moment when you finally get the solution that's been evading you since you read the puzzle.

The points / leaderboard / first solve are just a bonus. It shoudn't bother you too much.

I whole-heartedly agree!! I would rather a few teething problems with the new site/card solving than any trouble with the more important and more enjoyable live events and ARG story sites.

As much as it would be nice to get a 1st solve (purely for ego reasons Smile

), i feel like the overall story, participation, collaboration and puzzle solving is much more important than wratcheting up points or top-10-solves.

Nothing in this world is bug-free nowadays, so here here, give MC a break! Smile

Quote:

And I hope you enjoyed solving the cards, and getting that AHA! moment

Goddamn I love that moment!! Ive been waiting 16 months for one such moment for Shuffled though! If i ever manage to get THAT particular aha-moment, it'll be like 1000 orgasms all at once! Very Happy

(It would even far surpass the great feeling i got today when John O'Shea knocked the ball into the net in the dying minutes of a great match! Go on UTD!!)

_________________
I think (about Shuffled), therefore I am!

PXC leaderboard name: s00bf0f8

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:58 pm

KingOfWrong
Boot

Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 45

Quote:

Nothing in this world is bug-free nowadays

I don't subscribe to all that "perpetual beta" nonsense, though I note that the site is still in beta according to the top banner. If people are using the site, then you've shipped - and you have a responsibility to your users.

It's not like we're talking about tiny glitches here, either. A complete failure under heavy load is one thing, but obviously-incorrect behaviour with the dominant browser is quite another.

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:24 pm

fretty
Decorated

Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 281
Location: South Yorkshire, England

Quote:

I would rather a few teething problems...

I think you are underestimating the number of problems with the site, not to mension how major the actual problems are themselves. In terms of teething problems, I think a trip to the dentist may be required soon.

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:36 am

hyeokmaxxcho
Guest

I must say, I am still quite disappointed at the new site. The errors and bugs with solving season 2 cards are understandable, but the problems with season 1 cards are NOT acceptable. I just purchased a whole box of season one cards last week, and I was not able to solve any of them until a couple of days ago. And even still, I can't solve any puzzles with drop-down menus. There is no excuse for season one cards not working. It has been working on the old site, so they should have at the very least, kept the old site up so people can still do season 1 solves.
It is highly frustrating when I paid over a hundred dollars for the cards, and now I can't even solve most of them on the website. Even worse, I can't even see my season one points or my ranking on the season one leaderboard. I understand there is the same issue for the season two cards as well.
I must ask, why did Mind Candy try to fix something that wasn't broken? They should have just kept the old site. Everyone was used to it, and there was a committed fan base who had invested time into getting comfortable with the site. Now, they create a new hurdle for everyone to get over, in terms of getting used to the new site. If they wanted to add new features like online puzzles, they could've done so in the framework of their old design. There is a reason why websites like Google never change what their site looks like. The look of the front page is an important image to maintain, and they have reverted back to step one.

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:27 pm

e_nygma
Decorated

Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 247
Location: Maryland, US

I do not work directly for, nor as a subcontractor to, Mind Candy. However, I suspect the answers would be something on the order of the following:

Quote:

Shouldn't these problems been sorted before opening the site for solves?

In an ideal world, yes, you have a perfectly working product before you go gold. Of course, you must not have investors and bosses and last minute requirements changes. So, please, tell me where you work so I can go there.

The flipside of this question: what do you think would have happened if MC had instead said "sorry, we're going to have to wait two weeks to get everything sorted out." What do you think would cause more heartburn?

Quote:

Why can't I find out where I am in the leaderboard if I'm not in the top 20?

Probably because they are trying to get other things working, and the database hooks to show all 54K players and their position on a leaderboard is low priority. While it is on the list of things to do, the complaints of the system not working with certain browsers is probably a much bigger deal.

Quote:

Why doesn't this work with IE?

Ask Microsoft why they decided to only partially follow the W3C standard. MC probably designed their site to work along the standard, and thus it ran afoul of MS's decision to not play nice with others. It is EXTREMELY hard to make a website that works with all of the various browsers, and even differing versions of browsers can act funny (thankfully that doesn't happen as much).

Why didn't they test it with IE? I would bet that Firefox, Opera, or Safari is their browser they use at the office. It probably slipped their minds to try IE, because if it worked there, why not everywhere? As it got close to crunch time, that little check probably got overlooked. They are human. It happens.

Quote:

Why didn't they test this before it went live?

Because they love listening to thousands of people who think they know how to field a complete system redesign kvetch and moan.

Do you honestly think they did not test at ALL before they went live? Seriously?

Did they perform comprehensive tests? Obviously not. However, do you know how much time and effort it would be to test this system comprehensively? Cut them a little slack.

Quote:

Why don't they just put the old site up for Season 1?

Probably because they converted the Season 1 database to work with the new website's hooks. They could convert the whole database back, and put up the Season 1 website. Then, when everything is working perfectly on the new website, convert the entire Season 1 database BACK.

Anyone want to place a bet that three database conversion would not cause any player to lose points, solves, or some facet of their PXC account? Anyone?

Quote:

It's unbelieveable how many problems there are. You are just putting on rose-colored glasses if you think everything is alright.

No, I don't. I have found problems with the site. Do you know what I did? I quickly shot a short message to helpSPLATperplexcity.com and gave them a brief description. In one case, one puzzle couldn't be solved because the dropdown box was missing. I told them about it (I assume I am not alone on that one), and then ... I waited patiently for them to fix it. Last night, I solved the puzzle.

Folks, yes, there are problems with the whole design. Yes, they should have thought about IE. It was a mistake. However, they are busting their asses trying to get it up and running. Complaining isn't helping, and to be honest, it probably hurts. We know that Mind Candy follows what goes on here, and I'll tell you, as a software engineer, when you hear your customers are unhappy, it gets to you.

By and large, software geeks (of which I number myself) are puzzle solvers. We DO NOT like when things don't work they way we designed them to. We hate bugs in software. We hunt them down and exterminate them as fast as we are able. Still, it bothers us because we want it to be "just so." I'm sure that Mind Candy would rather be focusing on the new storylines than worrying about the techincal aspects of their solving system. However, complaining about how disappointed you are doesn't really help. They are working on it, and in probably a week or so, they'll have most of the major issues taken care of. They will then start putting the goodies back that we've come to expect.

BE PATIENT. Probably, you will be rewarded with a lovely fun system.

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:33 pm

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