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# of dectives in an agency
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R Anstett
R Anstett

Nov-11-2006 15:36

On other threads the discussion about how many cases you can turn in is happening.

The idea that there is a rule that you can only have 2 detectives in an agency seems to be a false one to me.

If you can access every detective in the agency because you have their password then do you control all of them?




Replies

biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

Nov-11-2006 15:45

I dont believe thats the case Ran.

My point is you shouldn't be able to use inactive detectives cases. Many people leave this game for long periods of time who still have a subscription. In SMRT, if someone is going to be out, and we take the cases, we distribute them to whoever wants them, not an extra 12 to one person generally.

The point is that this is happening every day, for months at a time.

Thats why I came up with that solution. PW sharing is a completely separate issue, in my opinion.

AndreaX
AndreaX
Thespian

Nov-11-2006 15:48

Sorry RAn, that one does not apply.

Password sharing is the only way for some of us to remain contributing memebers of the agency when we (gasp!) cannot actually be on.

It is NOT the same thing as gobbling up cases for your own glory.

R Anstett
R Anstett

Nov-11-2006 15:53

I think the two are intertwined here.

What you are saying Biggie is that you think the fair way to distribute someone elses cases is evenly. Someone else might want all 12. I do not think that the rules should specify which of the two ideas if the "one true way".


If you are on a hunt and you get lucky with the favors as they pop up, it would seem to me to be very unfair to say, "Sorry you turned in 14 or 24 cases today, you can not try to earn that next favor". That would be putting in a rule to put a break in on hunting. The agencies that work hard on that need to turn in lots of cases, sometimes all as one detective.

But back to my main point.

Are you in control of how many detective then in SMRT? If you can control how their cases are distributed doesn't that imply you are in control of them?

Note that the current rules allow for Password Sharing and I do not fault anyone for using the rules to the full advantage they can. I am only pointing out other possiblities.

Fiddler's Green
Fiddler's Green

Nov-11-2006 16:05

Personally, I don't think passwords should be shared. I am Fiddler's Green

Arabella Parker
Arabella Parker
Well-Connected

Nov-11-2006 16:29

I do believe the rule is no more than 2 detectives per agency per actual person. I wish I could find the thread Ben said that in.

The line becomes very blurry when someone subscribes a detective, gives the password to someone else, and then has to stop playing. The person who originally created the detective may never log in again, but because the password is know by someone else, "person B", can use the detective as if it was their own, thus creating a situation where "person B" only subs 1-2 detectives but control many more who otherwise would be inactive.

R Anstett
R Anstett

Nov-11-2006 19:12

There is no rule because the game mechanic allows us to log into as many detectives as we want.

There may be a wish on Ben's part for that behaviour, but it is not a rule.

My original question remains, is control governed by subbing the detective? or by having access to the detective and their cases & contacts?



biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

Nov-11-2006 19:30

I've always heard it was a rule myself Ran....

As far as your original question goes, I think you control a detective when you consistely use it for an extended length of time and the original subscriber has no immediate plans to return.

I know you'll probably pick that apart (lol) but I'm generalizing, the time frame isnt up for any of us to decide.

Arabella Parker
Arabella Parker
Well-Connected

Nov-11-2006 19:42

Actually neither as far as I know. Because the only way to tag and track people is by their IP addresses, and that system is flawed at best.

If you control it by who subs the detective, then I could ask my friends with different IP addresses to sub as many detectives as they can (two each of course) and then give me the password control. I could then create an agency with all dummy agents controlled by me. (personally this would be too lonely and boring)

If you govern it by saying no more than 2 detectives per IP address ever (no sharing passwords), then people who share the computer, and thus IP addresses would be limited to one detective per person, (thus making it 2 for the IP address) and a third member of the same family would not be allowed to play.

The password sharing issue has come up and been discussed many times, and there has never been a clear answer. Unstated rules that some people may play by can not be enforced since everyone does not hold up to the same ideas or principles.


Neritina
Neritina
Well-Connected

Nov-12-2006 00:07

In our agency, password sharing is a trust issue, and not a rule, I like it that way.

- It's not a goal for us to play/use all the cases that an inactive player could offer, that's just a question of time. (but yes we like to have the password of the personn in this case, this could avoid/delay a kicking out after all)
- We respect the behavour of each player (for exemple Llolly and summer were on an AVH since two month AND inactive, and they're still on their AVH also if this is forbid the use of these detective to us).
- The more active detective playing, the better, (just today we lost a detective (probably) because nobody had the playing hours).
- In the end if a player don't like the way is detective is used he can always choose an other agency.

crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

Nov-12-2006 01:59

Two things are emerging here as the central issues: first is the need for an operational definition of the word "control" in this context, and second is a way to enforce any rule that stems from that definition.

It seems to me that irrespective of how "control" is understood, the only way to enforce it is to limit the number of cases a given detective can solve per day, as artificial as it might seem. Yes, this would change how treasure hunting works -it would give an advantage to agencies in which password sharing is the norm, as some agency members would be able to log on as others to advance hunts. But, frankly, password sharing is *already* used as an advantage in hunts, so I don't see it as a dramatic change at all.

Since what sparked this thread is actually an issue about the accumulation of experience points, another option is for each real individual player to "officially" register a maximum of 2 detectives, formally understood as "controlled" by that player, and to somehow change the number of experience points that player can collect for a case originally opened by any detective other than those two official ones.

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