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Jun-28-2008 08:39

There have been some recent events on this game that warrant some concern. It’s no secret that there has been a lack of interest. Much of this may be attributed to the release of Shades of Mystery. If that is what people want to play, far be it from me to tell them not to play it.

That being said. I am still a paying customer of Sleuth Noir. As a paying customer there are some things that I expect. Ben has done a decent job at keeping the server up and running. We had a slight issue earlier in the week with not being able to travel and Ben did a great job of addressing the issue and getting it corrected. He always has done a great job of taking care of things. He has not however kept the game fresh and interesting. We recently had the expansion of the USS Sleuthetania. There was a buzz before the initial launch of it and we couldn’t wait to see what was in store for us.

Well what did we get? The opportunity to pay $20,000 to get on board of a ship and do nothing more than play cases. Sure there are some new characters and new items along with 2 new “coming soon” links. That’s it! I can’t help but to feel disappointed in the way this has played out. Two weeks later, the links are still coming soon and the interest of the boat has already gone away. I know I have no plans or reason to get on the boat and be cut off from my agency completely. I don’t know this for a fact, but I think a lot of people are disappointed with the boat as well and some may even be irritated and feel cheated by the whole development.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh and we are missing some secret that still needs to be unlocked on the boat, but if people aren’t playing, the secret will not be unlocked. I know that Ben is just one person and can only do so much. He has a lot on his plate right now with running both SOM and Noir. I’m sorry, but SOM means absolutely nothing to me as I don’t play over there.

Jul-13-2008 15:10

And HAPPY!!! Life just hasn't been as happy since you've been gone! ;-P

Welcome back!!!!!

Jul-13-2008 19:43

Breitkat:
You are marvellous in keeping the spirit up, but at the same time being truthful about the situation! If the community ever will need someone to keep us up and together, I will vote for you! :-)

When it comes to me, I wanted to assist with easier programming tasks, because programming is what I know. I thought that if I could do some of the easier things, Admin, the one who know everything, could take care of the harder issues, at least until I grew in skill and usefulness.
But, I NEVER had any plan of using such a position to steal code, or reveal secrets that were to be secrets, or do anything that would remove this from being the artwork of Ben Ringold.
In order to help getting myself up and running on python, I have started to develop a program that would produce a AVH-Tournament update, also in gratitude for someone giving me something to burn a little for. If I had been able to get even spyce up and running on my computer, I would have used spyce as well, because, since I have done asp, I understand how it's going to work. But since I am not there yet, I do it all in python.
Just like others have said before me, telling they would be happy to help out, I feel it's frustrating to see many possibilities and needs for refreshments, and know that people stand unpatiently waiting to be allowed to fill the gaps, and because the right doors don't seem to open, at least I see myself ending up in non-constructive paths.
It would have been like a game in itself to be participating in making refreshments to Noir, and even if the result was less than what Admin does, I would at least be occupied with something that allowed me to burn, making that a refreshment in Noir in itself.

Jul-13-2008 21:13

Welcome back Crunch!

...and just in the neph of time. The other night I found myself staring at this thread for a very long time trying to keep blood from shooting out of my eyes and asking myself, "How would Crunchpatty respond to this?" Eventually I just signed off and went to bed, where I dreamed a little dream of you (and turtle wax for some reason). Lo and behold: here you are.

However, I'm a bit conflicted about the bulk of your post.

I believe most of us do expect what we pay for, but hope for more. There's a lot of time invested here and when the fun wears off it makes sense to say, "I'm no longer as satisfied with this product as I once was, here is what it would take to get me to purchase this product again."

Most of the folks on this thread have already paid more than once, some many many times over the years. This may not entitle them to any special demands or conniption fits but does provide the business owner with a ready pool of knowledge and opinions on why first time customers become repeat customers. Paying attention to this sort of feedback makes economic sense. If maintaining the status quo was the most profitable option, there wouldn't be LOADS of "new and improved" items on every store shelf around the world.

Jul-13-2008 21:18

On a personal note, I'm not expecting any huge shakeups here. I still slog through my daily caseload even though I've got the tactics and strategies pretty much down to a science. In the cases themselves there's no real surprises and not much fun. I've expected that development since the earliest days of my career here. Since the random cases are the core dynamic of the game I don't expect any change there (and would fiercely oppose any suggestion on the point).

Still, I still very much enjoy the game because I've got a list of grander sleuth goals than "Tuesday, work 12 more cases. Wednesday, same. etc". Nearly everything on that list came about during one of the not major changes mentioned. Eventually I'll work through that list as well. Once the ocean liner is fully functional I hope to add a few more items. Hopefully the Sleuth World will develop just a hair faster than I can work through my list. If it doesn't then I'll make the choice about whether or not to continue subscribing. After all, I can still enjoy the community as an unsub.

Jul-14-2008 03:35

Well I have to agree with nic here I know I certainly burnt out playing. I went for a long time not playing when I was in America because I had no computer then when I came back to England everyone had left and I thought what's the point. I made a great amount of friends on here and once they had gone I just thought well I'll try Shades for something new and fresh.

I couldn't ever say I'm bored with the content because to be honest I haven't done half of it. I always used my cases in THing because I saw hitchhikers were catching up to eye spy and didn't seem to have any intent on stopping. What can I say I wanted to stay at number 1 lol. I only have one contact in Cairo, haven't done the pyramids etc, I think I heard somewhere there's new shoes? I haven't got secret number 1 and I certainly haven't been on the Sleuthtania yet. Oh yeah and I've only ever done 2 scripted mysteries :)

But everything did become one huge competition in treasure hunting and I know all the top agencies eye spy, hitchhikers, smrt, blue pagoda, alQ etc where constantly grinding cases constantly in and order to win as many hunts as possible day after day. This was back when a hunt would only last a couple of hours of course. It's no wonder we all burnt out doing that really.

Jul-14-2008 05:15

I believe that the whole community will need something in Noir, that's making it fresh, a new kind of competition, which can be fun, last for some days, and become more of a casual thing. Most of us have tried those things that is won in a combination of luck and doing a huge bunch of cases. - and it have the tendency to wear us out, because there are few who have the time to put in over a longer period.

Most of us believe that Secret # 1 will be found by in some way to ask a certain townie the correct specific question. I will be splitting of a part of my program, that I developed to be able to ask all the townies in the city where you stay one or more specific questions. It may also be used in Shangri La to get all the clues from the scolars, or to know where the ambassador resides... I will then ask ctown28 if DPI will host a download place for the program, and give some help in getting it running, and about current limitations. This will equip at least some of you to go hunting for Secret # 1.
I do ask two things though. 1) That you accept the infirmities of the program, and don't try to change it. 2) That you will share with the community if you find some clues about anormalities in the answers of the townies in a certain city.

Jul-14-2008 17:40

In general. I'm just using the above as an example...

I don't doubt the validity or inventiveness of the program created. I don't wish to nay say the idea or stunt creativity. I'm not saying don't do it, or people not to participate.

What I am 'asking' is: 'is this part of the answer to the problems that we've become so keen to discuss'?

When you sit and ask yourself 'does a program that saves me 20 or so clicks really:

enhance my gaming experience, or indeed
speak to the nature of the game itself?

I wonder what sort of answer you come up with?

When you sit and ask yourself 'does a program that tries to find a short cut to an answer which has stood the test of time, bloody mindedness and luck, really:

enhance my gaming experience, or indeed
speak to the nature of the game itself?

I wonder what sort of answer you come up with?

Pehaps if and when the game goes open source, these are the kinds of questions a community / ideas committee might need to ask itself.

The difference between those changes which 'enchance' for overall community gaming pleasure, and those changes which 'enhance' for personal player gain.

Like I said I don't wish to detract from the ingenuity of the programming involved OR the willingness of people to participate, I just thought it was a good example of what might come up in the future in terms of 'change' and 'change'.

Jul-14-2008 20:14

I can only speak for myself.

For me it have been the no. 1 reason why I have been able to stick with this game this long, that I have been able to do a program that have saved me from repeating clicks as of routine.

I used it mainly on cases in the beginning, and noticed what I did each time I was solving a case that needed no real brain activity. That part I automated. The other part I left for having fun. I am sorry to say that to me the game is not about being patiently enough to repeat clicks, but what braining activity it's able to create for me.

I have to say that I do admire the patience of all of you who have the will and patience and time to solve as much cases as it needs to get above 5 mill xp, without any automated tool to aid you.

Having a tool to aid you don't really change the gaming experience, it's just giving you the ability to save some clicks, if it's so that you find repeating those clicks might become so routine that they wear you out, or stops you from doing something. It's not solving any of the problems this thread is about. If I had believed so, I would have offered this program at a much earlier time.

Jul-15-2008 05:02

Oh I meant to say I'm intrigued what Ctown has up his sleeve certainly sounds interesting :)

Maybe we could get another AVH going to raise morale. I know for a lot of people it's new content they want but in the meantime that doesn't stop us from doing little things to bring back the old spirit. We could arrange big prizes for the winner and runners up etc.

Jul-15-2008 07:09

Well Ms. Helen, we do have another AVH coming up here, but thats not what I have in mind, something comepletely different that's never been done here. Still working out some of the kinks but an announcment will be coming very soon. Just have a few more things that I need to look at before I announce it. Hopefully I'll know more by the end of this week! I bet I have most of you wondering by now. Some of you already know! ;-)