Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Sleuth Talk

Oct-11-2005 07:41

Password sharing is bad. While it may not have harmful effects on many, many occasions, all it takes is one mistake and a lot of bad may come of it.

On that note, what could be implemented to prevent the need/desire for password sharing yet couldn't be abused.

Facts:
1) Done in agencies so that cases/favors can be used when the person who gave the password is not around.

2) Passwords are mostly given to one or more directors. Sometimes it must only be shared with one other member of the agency.

3) The 10 case a day limit is so that the amount of time you can spend Sleuthing isn't a huge unbalancing factor.

Ideas
1) For vacationing sleuths, have the ability to set up an "Agency Auto-play". Basically, you choose a difficulty level and, until you turn it off, your sleuth will automatically take cases of that difficulty and store them in the case files until your # of slots is full.

2) Add an agency permission so that each agent can choose which agency members can play as them. This is what (we) programmers refer to as a "hack", but its better than having people give out passwords.

3) Change the game mechanics somewhat... First, add a hard limit of say 15 cases/day for a single detective. The number doesn't matter much as long as its more than the number of cases you can get in a day. Second, allow the number of cases allowed per day to roll over. Third, there is no third. Here's an example of what I mean here:

Day 1: detective goes on vacation, 10 cases available
Day 2: detective is still on vacation, 20 cases available
...
Day 7: detective comes back from vacation, 70 cases available. Detective plays 15 cases and cannot play anymore. 55 cases remain
Day 8: 55 cases + 10 new cases - 15 played cases = 50 cases
...
Day 18: 5 cases + 10 new cases - 15 played cases = 0 cases - detective has now "caught up" from his "vacation"

Oct-11-2005 19:29

10 cases is usually more then enough. Sometimes I get them all done, sometimes not. It may be a good idea to have roll over and whatever cases you dont solve continue to the next day. Eventually I'd have several hundred saved up so hey for those days im home all day and bored, I'll have tons of cases to work on. Then again it would pressure me a bit into thinking I have to do them all in one day. Thats where I'd make a mistake and get a false perhaps because of thinking I need to rush through them.

Oct-11-2005 19:40

CFM, this post has nothing to do with Mojo policy. My day job is a developer and the idea of password sharing just gives me chills. Its probably equivalent to a guy leaving the toilet seat up, but mulitplied by 10 or 100 or something.

Anyway, the last idea wasn't that you'd have 40 cases or 80 cases or 100 cases to work. You'd have that many available, but the most you could *actually* play on any day would be 15. And by "play", I mean quit, false accuse, or solve.

Dummy accounts ... well, they would "help" no matter what the "rules" are. As for using passwords to boot people, there's gotta be a better way for that too. Perhaps being able to "assign" equipment to agents or the agency and then, upon dismissal, they would be given their equipment.

Oct-12-2005 12:51

I think it would be great if there was a feature where someone cant leave an agency until they've put back the gear they've borrowed. Or if we have to kick someone out,their gear has to be off them. (unless its their own) BUT, since there isnt a feature like that, I will just continue to have the password requirement. :)