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Nov-10-2006 17:12

I was just perusing the weekly high scorers (wow! you guys are amazing...) and was wondering just how it is possible to complete so many cases (200+!) in one week. By my count, 7X12 is 84, plus maybe another 4 favors per day - that still only makes 112, if you solved everything. Where are the other 100+ cases coming from?

Nov-11-2006 14:41

Good point Ara. I am VERY proud of SMRT and all of us in there, and happy to have been a part of accomplishing what we have.

I just feel like those accomplishments get washed away by others competing unfairly just to run up the scores. I would NOT be proud of myself or of anyone in SMRT who did the same. Its an empty victory, at best.

Nov-11-2006 14:45

I tend to agree that sometimes those numbers are downright ficticious. I always felt it want againts the spirit of the rules of the game, if not against the letter of the rules.

But I suppose that if it works for some...

Personally, I am much more proud of agency accomplishments.

Nov-11-2006 14:47

I decided to let sleeping dogs lie about this a while ago when I noticed things going on on the high score board. Though I felt bad for Rem, and the other high scorers, they are adults who can speak up for themselves.

The last few days I have changed my mind. Despite wanting to stay silent, and let sleeping dogs lie. I feel I am abandoning those, that are trying to stand up for not only what they feel is right, but are also mentioning my name and stand up for me.

I never retired jstkdn although I stopped playing, just in case I ever wanted to start playing again or gun for the numer 1 spot. I have thought about retiring jstkdn, but have been asked to not do this, by the very people who are sticking their neck out right now.

I don't want to go in to a debate as to what is wrong and what is right. Because you know what, I don't know. I only know what I thought was right. I can’t say what everyone else thinks should be right.

But I can let you know about my thinking at the time.

Nov-11-2006 14:47

A few years ago I started playing rediculously hard cases (almost IMpossible didn't exist.) I was ill at the time, so I had the time. As I wasn't able to do much normal living, I set a goal for myself that I could achieve. A goal that by a community and myself would be recognized as something that took a lot of time, a lot of effort. I was aware that there was a formal maximum 2 detective rule (and with that I maximum of X cases, X contacts etc.) And I also thought that the point of playing a game, is that there was something to play. Of course the easiest way to get a lot of points is by taking a lot of cases from others, and running an assemply line of contacts. This is not playing a game, but an assembly line. Now when I thought of this, as I am sure most of us as the easiest tactic, I felt it was crossing a line. Despite there being no personal rule. I am able to discern what is playing a game, and what is not. It was obvious that everyone else was also playing the same game that I was. Not one of an assembly line. But a game where you had two detectives, 2 PE contacts, and 2 WE contacts. You played your cases, and only when you got stuck you put it in case files and asked for help.

So I embarked on a huge goal, that I knew would take me many hours and many days. So about a year, daily I spent hours playing ridiculously hard cases. I can’t tell you how many hours it took, but one year of daily playing, hours and hours each day. You can do the math.

It was hard to beat Bella Luna at the time, and stay ahead of Remmington Steel, and others. We were all very close in points. Secretly rejoicing when one of us went on holiday, so we could pass the other.  Also they put in a lot of time.

And it wasn’t just about the bella’s of the world. It’s also all the others who were counting experience points of their accomplishments, no matter if it is at 500K, 1 million or 8 million.

Nov-11-2006 14:47

Night after night was spent, day after the day. It was a huge deal, that ate a lot of time. But I wanted to claim victory, I wanted to reach this time consuming long term goal.

Unfortunately what I didn’t really think of when I put in the hours. That there are no rules in sleuth. At least not really written ones. I wronglty assumed there are a lot of unwritten rules, as apparently did all the other top players at the time. I honestly thought we all would know that the point is that we play a game. Not play a system. And I guess I have been wrong. At least a few years later, it turns out I was wrong at the time. The absence of rules, literally I suppose means an absence of rules. And with that I made a huge mistake. I never thought there eventually would be a group of people, who would play by a different rule set, as another generation did, or as many others do…..and I guess by the amount of arguments I hear, still do.

The mistake I made was, that I wrongly assumed that there were unwritten rules around this, or a line that one should not cross. What I didn’t keep in to account that others may not have this line, or this line wasn’t there to begin with. I really don’t know. But if I had known that the high score list wasn’t something that required a long term and many hours of effort, I never wouldn’t have spent the time.

Nov-11-2006 14:48

I made a foolish mistake in a lot of assumptions. And I am truly sad that I spent so many hours achieving a goal. That was really based on a wrong assumption. So what does it feel to find out that you spent 1000s of hours on a wrong assumption. Really really shit. I am really sad. If I had known, that the amount of experience points that I have could be reached in a matter of weeks, in a fraction of the amount of time I did it. I would have NEVER done it.

It was a stupid mistake on my end, assuming certain rules, and a sense of honor in achieving points. That’s all. As for any other debate, I rather leave that to those that are still playing the game and in this community.

Nov-11-2006 14:53

First of all, thanks for moving this back.

Second of all, I have nothing but respect for Nikkie and what she's accomplished in this game. You did things, in my opinion, the right, ethical, fair way and its an honor to try and overtake you :)

Nov-11-2006 15:12

I think that there are rules in Sleuth.

3 False Accusations and you are retired.

Liar/no alibi + PE = Guilty

Etc.

Everything else like the High Score boards are measuring sticks, not rules. They capture a moment in time. They do not proclaim any player better than another, they state who has the most points at that moment. If that moment has passed for a player, and they no longer play the game then they should not feel badly that someone else is now on the list.

I have talked about milestones in the past ( http://noir.playsleuth.com/map/cityhall/post.spy?id=14884 ) and those did not involve judgements of myself against others, but of judging my current self against my past self.

Aralives and Biggie make very good points that they value thier agency and that is the important thing, not the actual fame # that they currently have. In recent celebrations for Hitchhikers of London for their 100th hunt it was pointed out that it is a milestone, not that it made them better than anyone else.

The high scores are there for new people to measure themselves against if they want, to blow past if they want, or to create brand new ways of measuring like Chelsea and Carrie are now doing on the new Arch Villain High Scores.

Chron and his team should feel good about seeing their name at the top of the weekly high score list. They obviously value that number and they put in the hard work to grind out that many cases. If someone else has a different yardstick to measure themselves against it does not mean that they are wrong.

Ben creates the rules, and we just look for ways among ourselves to compete with each other. There is a reason that after you solve a case the options are:

Buy gear
Look at high scores
Purchase skills
Start a new Case

Nov-11-2006 15:29

Thanks for your opinion Ran, and you make several good points.

There is also another rule in Sleuth.

No more than 2 detectives subbed into each agency by one person.

In my eyes, this violates that rule. Its a loophole that needs to be closed. My suggestion for this is to limit the number of cases any detective can have to 32, which is the most you can have with 2 subbed detectives.

Thoughts on this?

Nov-11-2006 15:34

Starting a new thread for that topic now Biggie.