As in the early days of VFK, we still have a HUGE gap in player/VFK communications. A great many people were unhappy with the crosswords almost from the very beginning...yet the puzzles continued. Bugs were not fixed. Again, apparently it took the 'mysterious connection guy' to get them to listen. It has been rumored that VFK reads other forums as well as this one. I'm not buying it. If they did, they'd see what is going on in the 'real world'...with the players. If they DO read the forums, then they are ignoring valuable advice as to how to improve the game, fix bugs, or make the game more appealing to the masses. The forums are the 'pulse' of the VFK player.
If the developers are not creating things with a 'gamer mindset', then they're foolish to dismiss and/or ignore valuable feedback from the players when it is offered by us 'testers'. That's what our job is. They need to do THEIR job...part of which is listening to the 'testers'. Otherwise, our title as 'testers' doesn't really apply...does it?
I've seen posts on other forums where people (kids) have been IM'ed by a developer and asked their opinion on things. Wish they'd seek out the advice of some adults as well. Right now, I'm not sure they even READ the help reports I send in. I think others are beginning to feel the same way...and are no longer sending in help reports. I can't blame them. If I ever found out that my help reports are being ignored....
I didn't like the whole prize thing/puzzles from the very beginning. I just got more frustrated as days went on, and nothing being fixed or dealt with by VFK. Communication has always, and still is a HUGE issue with VFK and it's players.
idk if VFK reads the Forums either. But .. I will find it very interesting myself that I had a lot to say on another forum Tuesday night, about a half hour before VFK closing. BAM! The next morning, the puzzle was down. The thread got pretty heated, and maybe... just maybe VFK finally listened? Wishful thinking maybe, regardless I have no regrets.
I don't send VFK a ton of Help Reports. But, when I do, it's when there is a huge issue that is bothering me. Examples off the top of my head are: Twice with the Crossword puzzle, Missing my torch during the ride competition when rooms were locked down, ride pieces not working correctly after my room had been judged, and the MidSummer Night Ball, when I couldn't even log on and I wondered about wall prizes from the mazes and how they were awarded. Sometimes I get a response, most times I don't hear a thing. They will keep hearing from me if I feel I have an issue that needs to be brought to their attention, or if I have suggestions that I feel they need to hear.
Astro: You saw someone complete the puzzle in under 10 minutes??!! WOW.I....
Yes I did. I won't name names here, but we all know who certain people are that have been winning more than once. And actually 1 of the people had only won once (that I'm aware of anyway) that I had timed, that was under 10 minutes as well.
I needed to know for myself that I was going crazy trying to finish these puzzles, for basically no reason. So yeah, I took time out from working the puzzles, to actually start timing them, at this point I was fed up. I knew EXACTLY when they went up (before the in game blast too sometimes, on the evening puzzle, mind you.
), and I knew when these people finished. So yeah, under 10 minutes. Sorry people, nobody had a chance at a lamp, unless you can beat that. Now I'm sure many can very much understand the frustration with these puzzles, and how an ultra-rare prize was handled. Couple that, with a sampling of commets that I had seen floating around on other Forums: I'm using asterisks to block player titles.
I also gathered various comments from a few players, that were made publically on other Forums. Range from everything from:
"If ***** continues to win, ***** will be your only source (for the lamp) lol"
"Crosswords are off now. They are changing the rules. This stinks, I wanted more"
x1 Victorian Floor Lamp (When they release again) -- in a trade thread, actually offering THE LAMP that they don't EVEN OWN YET!
"And I think I might do my crossword on a guest instead of ***** because people are sending me IM.is to purposely slow me down... and people are just starting drama"
"2 (lamps won) in a row! Woohoo!"
"The only problem I see with your argument is that me using an unscrambler is a moral sin, but you logging in clones for host hunts is aye-okay."
So again are players cheating? ABSOLUTELY, as publically stated above!
And you are correct. There will be no happy medium with the puzzles and/or the times. People will always be unable to complete it or participate. Nothing to do other than to try to include the majority of players.
Clones: players have found that there is indeed 'power in numbers'. That power is hampering VFK from coming out with games/hunts/etc. that place all players on an even playing field. I'm afraid there is nothing they can do about it. And I really can't see how they could have stopped it if they wanted to.
Flamanar
UPDATE: I just posted this...which is when I noticed how LONG it was! Holy.....
The issue with clones I'm not sure can be fixed now, like I said before. It's gone on for over a year now.
VFK could have stopped it from the beginning and do what many online games do. SW and VMK are perfect examples. They only allow 1 avatar per email address. Actually with SW you're allowed a total of 5 avatars on your carousel. But those avatars share "currency", etc., so it's not really cloning anyway. With VFK your allowed to have multiple characters per email address. It's beyond out of hand now.