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Agency Subscription Limit
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ctown28
ctown28
Huntsman

Feb-16-2008 18:02

I think its time to revisit the idea of subscription limits for onw person within an agency. It's been the rule that one individual person can only sub up to two people in an agency. After that it's considered an unfair advantage. This was the case a while ago, maybe not so much anymore. I currently have 3 subbed detectives, ctown, Brady Quinn and Bonelady. I have never hid that but also never really offered that information. I really wasn't aware of the "rule" that is really impossible to enforce. What about couples that log in from the same IP address, families, etc.

Anyhow, when this was brought to my attention, I decided to move Brady Quinn out of Dawg Pound Investigations to avoid any conflict before omeone complained. I still think this is an unfair rule. The agencies that have "control" of their detectives because they have gone inactive and the directors know the passwords actually gives a better advantage. They got that control, yet someone else has paid their money for it. IMHO, if I want to pay to sub 3 dets, thats my money paying for it. Either lift that silly rule or ban password sharing. I don't see how you can have it both ways. Now remember, this is to be an open debate, if you are looking for an argument, find a different thread, if you disagree but want to be objective, please post and lets have a respectful debate!

Replies

Huglover
Huglover
Old Shoe

Feb-16-2008 20:03

I have tried a couple of times to subscribe a sleuth "in silence", not taking it into "my" agency, but, since I have found out what makes a sleuth grow quickly, I always get discovered and invited into an agency when I top the novice high score list. It is actually possible to get about 200 000 in 10 days. I know. But, it seems like the directors find it extraordinary, and thus I get invited...

I think it's a loyalty problem when I am involved in more than one agency, so I have ended up finding peace when I collected all myself into the same home.

Jojo
Jojo
Old Shoe

Feb-16-2008 20:43

I'll say this simply.

People don't like the idea (whether it be true or not) that someone could, essentially, "buy" wins in treasure hunts by having many detectives in one agency.

What's the difference between this and controlling since inactive detectives? - Not exactly sure, but I guess that those eventually become unsubbed.


Personally, if you have all that time and money to waste, all the power to ya.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-16-2008 20:56

I'm actually in favor of limiting the number of subscriptions people can have in any one agency, though whether that number should be raised a bit I'd be amenable to.

I'm very strongly against the banning of password sharing. It's one of the few security measures Directors have to protect their resources in Agencies. Yes, some Directors do use password sharing (Yeah, I'm one of them), and yes, somebody with less than honorable intentions could misuse the practice and go to town with them. I can pretty much guarantee, though, that they wouldn't have people stick around very long in their Agency, and their standing in the community would go straight down the tubes. Any Director worth his/her salt works HARD to help the people in his/her agency, and the people there damned well know it. Yes, there have been people who have abused the privilege in the past. And like I said, they haven't lasted long.

I do see your point, Ctown, but I'm leery of not having a limit. I think the potential for unscrupulous people to take advantage of the system is just too tempting.

Huglover, you do have a point with multiple single people having a great deal of power with apartments, high experience levels, and so forth, but they've EARNED all that. And yes, you could have one person go rushing from agency to agency, blabbing their mouths off about the next favor needed for a hunt, but that happens anyway on PM's and instant messaging. People still have to GET the actual favor, which isn't always as easy as it seems. If someone tries to switch from one agency to another because they've got the needed favor, they lose it when they join the new agency (part of the system). So quite a few safeguards have already been put in place.

Bottom line, I'm happy with the system as it is now. If there were a ban implemented on password sharing, I'd probably leave if stronger security measures weren't also implemented.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-16-2008 21:04

This idea's been bantered around quite a bit before, and I'm not sure if there'll be any difference this time around, but there ya go. ;-)

V Buster
V Buster
Old Shoe

Feb-17-2008 02:42

The issue I have with this is that it is possible to set up an agency with one main detective and a bunch of subbed/non-subbed ones and you can set each of the non-subbed ones up with a favour that has been completed but not solved.

With 11 detectives in an agency you can have each townie saved with one detective. (It may take some setting up, but it can be done.) This will then allow the "agency" to solve a single city hunt in a matter of minutes.

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

Feb-17-2008 04:07

Game mechanics aside... password sharing aside...

Having only 2 subs in an agency is good because at the very least you have to play the game with 4-5 other people. (Well originally at least, lapsed Agency players aside)

I could be wrong, but I would have thought the original idea behind treasure hunts would have been to engender some form of, yes competition, but also community, some form of communication between players, to foster team work, mutual support and even friendship.

Having an Agency of 1 with 10 subs (1 with 3, 4, 5 etc) doing a Treasure Hunt would surely fall a very long way short of the original reason why treasure hunts were created in the first place.

It probably falls along way short of why Agencies were invented too for that matter.

I'd really like people to consider when they talk about their rights as paying customers, to also consider their 'responsibilities' as members of the Sleuth Community, and for want of a better word, the 'spirit' in which the game should and could be played.

Sleuth Sindy
Sleuth Sindy
Pinball Wizard

Feb-17-2008 04:37

In response to V Buster's post:

Any agency can do that - and it has been done - not just an agency with multiple detectives run by one person.

And in response to the venerable Secret Squirrel:

I agree with you, BUT not everyone who has a double gives a squat about Treasure Hunts or ranking high in the High Scores. I for one just want to be able to log on and solve my cases without having to interact with a lot of people. Usually I log onto Sleuth to GET AWAY from people. Even with two detectives, I still can't solve ALL my cases, but it does help, and playing just isn't that much fun if you have to quit TOO MANY cases.

Sleuth Sindy
Sleuth Sindy
Pinball Wizard

Feb-17-2008 05:11

Perhaps a better way to state that is to simply say that I like to play independently. I don't like to share my password with other people I don't know and I don't really want to know anyone else's password (although I have in the past, I prefer not to), and I don't want to have to wait for somebody else to log on who has the contact I need to be able to solve my case. I'm sorry, but I don't see how this is hurting anyone or that it's any of their business (although I have obviously made it everyone's business now). :)

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-17-2008 12:36

Squirrel, I think you do have a very good point. We each, as a player, have both privileges and responsibilities here at Sleuth. Some of us have more of both than others. And as we've seen in the past, there are some who consciously choose not to live up to those responsibilities, choosing only to focus on the privileges, which is unfortunate, especially for the rest of us.

I think it comes down to a person's ethics really. What kinds of things are you willing to do with your detective to benefit yourself and/or other people? What kinds of things are you willing to do to harm yourself and/or other people? Unfortunately, this is a tough area to regulate, and even tougher to program for.

As I Director, I have the ability to both do great help and harm to everyone in my Agency, and in the Community at large. I consciously CHOOSE to do my damnedest to do as much help for my agents as I can, and people in general, and harm as few people anywhere, anytime as humanly possible. Not everyone has the same ethical viewpoint as mine.

There are no right or wrong answers. I think people need to ask themselves about this, like you suggested, and think hard about their answers. ;-)

Bonelady
Bonelady
Collector

Feb-17-2008 13:59

Some excellent points here. This is exactly yhe kind of discussion I was looking for when I started this thread last night.

That being said, I dont neccesarily agree that a player has any 'responsibility' to the community, but I feel they do have a certain obligation to any agency that they decide to join. I have been in quite a hadful of agencies and have given each and everyone the time and dedication it deserves. Each player should play the game as she/he sees fit.

People can be active and important members of an agency and not be involved in the Community, there are many who do so. When I first started playing this game I was much less active in the community, but being the social butterfly that I am, I've reached out and made friends with many of you. Those are friendships that I will always cherish. I am no stranger to online communities, another game I found on the internet 9 years ago has earned my some lifelong friends as well.

Now back to the original point, I don't want to see password sharing go away either, my agency asks for it but does not require it. I really wasn't aware of this "rule" of no more that 2 subs when I created this detective or else I probably wouldn't have created her. I know, I have always had the resources to find the threads about it but really never thought it to be an issue. Once it was pointed out to me I imediately contacted Admin about it and he did confirm it to me. After some debate, I decided to move Brady Quinn out of the agency that he created. Sure there are loopholes, that I could have went through, one was to "give" the detective to my co-director. I opted not to do that and to just move one of them as to not ruffle anyones feathers. It would have just been a matter of time before someone complained that I have 3 detectives in one agency. I guess an ounce of prevention is worht a pound of cure so to say. I would really like to have Brady back in DPI, and he may make occasional visits there.

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