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Jun-20-2006 10:44

Over the past six months, we've been struggling to maintain a decent level of Sleuth server performance, despite increasing numbers of simultaneous players.

This is a great problem to have! It means there are lots of new people trying out Sleuth, but it's a bit of a losing battle logistically. There has been some success making software changes to improve things, but those gains are quickly eclipsed as traffic continues to increase. There is only so much the current hardware can handle.

New server machines will be purchased in the next couple of months. This will help, but if Sleuth continues to grow, it won't be long before capacity is reached on the new machines as well, and things will slow down again.

This situation is unfair for paying subscribers, who cannot enjoy the game at peak hours due to the lag of the servers. So, in the interest of fairness there will be a rule change that will limit when unsubscribed players will be able to access the game.

Starting later this week, detectives who are unsubscribed and older than 7 days, will not be allowed to login if there are already 60 or more detectives online.

You will not be allowed to login to the game if all three of the following conditions are true:

1) There are already 60 or more detectives logged in
2) Your detective is not currently subscribed
3) Your detective is older than 7 days

Sleuth has always been as welcoming as possible to non-subscribed players. We also recognize that in some countries, the monthly subscription price is not affordable to everyone, but this rule change is necessary for the well-being of the game. Paying subscribers deserve to have access to a game that is playable, accessible and fun.

Thanks,
The Sleuth Team

Jul-5-2006 19:18

I completely agree, and wouldn't the HUGE amount of information stored lead to even slower times? I constantly have a lag on my system, whether its from the amount of people on or just my stupid computer, but I would just as soon let the cases go, rather than just keep storing them....

Jul-6-2006 08:22

I wasn't putting this out for open debate, I was hoping to hear from Ben on this matter. Even if it's just the ability to store 1 days worth of cases, I don't think it's too much to ask.

Jul-6-2006 08:57

Here's another option that doesn't require any change in file space - just don't wipe out any unopened cases when the new day comes. Example...if player A only did 3 cases today and has 7 left, why not just add the 10 for the next day and then player A has 17. Don't change file storage space, but don't erase any unused cases. That way nothing is really affected, and the player knows he hasn't lost or wasted any of his/her subscription.

Jul-6-2006 13:58

You know I have often wondered about why isn't there any "rollover cases" (like the cell phone minutes). I belive is probably to encourage active and fair participation in the game. Otherwise, think about this: an agency with 10-12 agents can just sit idle accumulating cases for 1 or 2 days, accumulate like 100 to 200 cases total and blow through 3 or 4 hunts in one day!
I know not everyone is into hunts, but it could really affect that aspect of the game, which is one of the most active anyways.
Having said that, I would still like the rollover. Maybe limit it to 2 or 3 cases...

Jul-6-2006 14:36

If it is in affect for all agencies, then there is no real 'advantage' is there? And as time consuming as this game is, do you really think hundreds of cases to prepare and solve is going to allow any team to 'blow through' anything? There is a reality we're dealing with here. I travel for work occasionally, and I would like to be able to go without feeling like I'm letting my team down, and I'm not the only one who feels that way. I am speaking for my agents, as a Director should.

Jul-6-2006 16:44

As you say, there would be an advantage for an agency that could (theoretically) find the time to do that versus one that could not on any particular day. For instance, it could be agreed in advance that we would not play our cases (none at all) on this day, say July 17th, 2006. On the next day, July 18th, we would ALL log in and do 20 or 30 cases. That would be a day dedicated for sleuthing. I know of other RPG boards that have days like that. Since not all agencies could do this at the same time, the one that could would win all the hunts.
I still see your point. What some agencies do is share passwords on the occassions when we cannot log on (travel, vacations, sickness, whatever). That way someone from my agency can log in as me and nothing is lost.

Jul-6-2006 18:34

It seems that there are many on this site who revolve every thought around the treasure hunts. I've been here over 2 years and have seen many good and bad changes because of the hunts, including a whole agency of subscribers who got so fed up with the whining about hunts that they all left. Then there's the agency (who shall remain nameless) whose leader became so obsessed that they hacked into the site to gain an advantage. I can go on, but the point I'm making is that the are more considerations to improving things around here than who is going to win a stupid hunt. The subscription offers 10 cases a day, and those cases belong to the subscriber. PERIOD! I was a faithful subscriber even when the site was horrifically slow. I was a faithful subscriber when there was only 1 city, and only a few hunts a day. I stand firm on this because this is about the individual subscriber's rights to what they're paying for, which is cases.

Jul-6-2006 20:06

I, for one, subscribe BECAUSE of the hunts. That is the part of this game that appeals to me most. Everyone is different and no one should be scoffed at for what their reasons for playing this game are.

As for getting what we have paid for, we do. We all get our ten cases a day. Whether we choose to play them or not, for whatever reason, is entirely up to us. We are already able to store 50% of our cases on any given day. Again, if we choose to take up our case files with other things, then that is our decision.

I think the restrictions Ben has put in place for the non-subscribers has helped immensely. There are still a few lag times but nothing like it was a few weeks ago. Nothing that you wouldn't find on any other site out there at peak times.

Jul-7-2006 01:42


i also have to travel for work from time to time and so it already happend that i lost an entire week (50 ! cases)

... but i also understand that it could turn into a rather huge amount of "stored up"-cases

Jul-7-2006 04:56

Another issue might be that the 10 cases a day are to encourage people to sub. If you were able to stockpile cases on days you can't play, you might decide not to subscribe every month--why bother renewing when your sub runs out when you have 187 cases stockpiled?