Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Sleuth Talk


0 0
Two Sleuths with one Brain
  <<First Page  |  <Previous Next>  |  Last Page>>  

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Nov-17-2006 00:24

“Never explain yourself. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”
--Elbert Hubbard

I’ve been putting off addressing the growing dissonance over what some players believe to be unfair abuse of the agency system. There have been several reasons for my hesitancy. First, I wanted to see if the community could come to some sort of consensus (or near consensus) without a dictatorial decision from me. Second, it’s a complicated issue and I wanted to decide on an official position before jumping into the fray. And lastly, navigating this kind of social minefield is always tricky and I’m a much better game designer than I am a conflict mediator.

It seems that patience with my hands-off approach has now run its course. I’ve gotten several direct appeals from players that I should intercede, clarify, pontificate or proselytize, and that the time for me to speak up is now.

Many sleuth players have voiced the opinion that it is unfair to combine cases from multiple accounts in order to raise a single detective’s standing in the High Scores List faster than would be possible without sharing cases. This basic argument has given rise to several related disagreements, along with a healthy dose of finger-calling and name-pointing. There are several threads in Sleuth Talk devoted to these debates, so I’ll assume that everybody reading this has a grasp of the arguments on both sides.

First off, I think it’s important to note that everybody on the high scores lists has put an enormous amount of time and energy into a difficult game and should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. We’re not talking about a bug that allows for solving mysteries in under a minute or an exploit that gives you thousands of free experience points. Every detective on those lists represents thousands of solved cases and many, many hours of game play.



Replies

sunny
sunny
Lady of Shadows

Nov-17-2006 14:04

SA2, thanks for your response. You are a seasoned player and I respect your input. I also understand that you are upset that you will not be able to interact with unsubscribed players in your agency the way you are accustomed.

However, since I’m obviously the bad cop in this thread, I have to reiterate that the upcoming changes have already been decided and posted.

Agencies will continue to function in much the same way they have with subscribed players. The major change will be for those who are in an agency and are not subscribed. Agencies are and always were intended for subscribed players. There are still plenty of reasons to have an agency, most of them being the same as they were before, and I firmly do not believe that these rule changes destroy the reasons for having agencies.

As for *most* of players not liking this change, that is very hard to gage and I would be very impressed if you knew how to get that information so quickly. At any rate, as I mentioned before, these issues are not up for a vote. They stand as Ben posted them.


roamie
roamie
Well-Connected

Nov-17-2006 14:21

Since these are very drastic changes and are totally different than the game we signed up for, will refunds be given to subscribers who no longer wish to play?

BadAss
BadAss
Charioteer

Nov-17-2006 14:30

The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh

:)

biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

Nov-17-2006 14:34

I personally don't think this constitutes a drastic change as it stands now, especially since the PW thing is not set in stone yet, just something Ben is considering.

Sleuth Sindy
Sleuth Sindy
Pinball Wizard

Nov-17-2006 16:25

I would like to suggest that if the restriction on password sharing is implemented there should be more agencies available that have more space to store cases and the number of cases that a detective can analyze in the crime lab should be increased.

Odietrying
Odietrying
Old Shoe

Nov-17-2006 17:24

I just remembered something that I don't think anyone has considered.

Twice in the history of SMRT Investigations, we have had to unfortunately get rid of inactive DIRECTORS. Now, the most recent time, we spent weeks trying to contact our inactive director, and failed. The only thing we could do is eventually sign on under his name and have him resign, so we could make room for someone else.

This would not have been possible (and they would still be taking up unused space in our agency) if we didn't share passwords. So that's a problem I think should be factored in.

Autumnsprings
Autumnsprings
Con Artist

Nov-17-2006 17:55

Odie- I know that Ben can remove directors who have become inactive. We once had to do it at Fat Kitten.


Emma Barlowe
Emma Barlowe
Well-Connected

Nov-17-2006 20:29

*my two cents*

I'm okay with the new rules that Ben is implementing - but I have to say I think we should continue to allow password sharing in an agency.



Solve A Lot2
Solve A Lot2
Assistant Postman

Nov-17-2006 22:09

Sunny, I would like to respond to your comment:
"As for *most* of players not liking this change, that is very hard to gage and I would be very impressed if you knew how to get that information so quickly.

I do not pretend to know what other players think. Nor do I wish to speak for them. My comment stems from the fact that 8 people were the ones who kept posting their disagreement with the way agencies handle cases. I counted at least 18 people who disagreed with them, and did not view case swapping or password sharing as a problem.

Which is why I believe a poll should be taken to give everyone the chance to express themselves freely without fear of retribution. There are many people who avoid posting on the threads, because they do not want to add to the heated discussions - either by agreeing or disagreeing.

When people subscribed to this game, they did so knowing what the rules were. I believe there was a discussion at one time, about unsubbed people in agencies - at that time, Ben addressed it by saying that unsubbed players could remain in agencies, but they would not have the same rights as subscribed. Everyone agreed this was fair.

I have not read a post by anyone saying that they are upset someone took their cases. Ultimately, they are the ones who should be making an issue of this, if they believe they have been wronged.

This is what leads me to believe that 8 people are not speaking for the "Whole Group"



biggie528
biggie528
Lucky Stiff

This reply has been deleted by a Moderator

  <<First Page  |  <Previous Next>  |  Last Page>>  

[ You must login to reply ]