The City of Heroes Search the words, save the world Contest - March 1st, 2010
By
Auralu,
Posted on: 2010-03-01 10:58 in Forum Games
So I spend way too much time on this, find six things so far, check the thread, and then notice it says "base items". So now I'm back down to 2 things found... >_<
Tech support IRL, CLR/DRU/MED/WHM/PRI/DEF. Hmm, I sense a pattern...
S 80% E 80% A 40% K 0%
A few of my alts
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Ley (Tap)
Forge
Nerva (As in the teleppad beacon to Nerva Archyoumightcallit)
Oracle
Worktable
Conservators
Relay
Ball (Crystal)
Bed
Ice (Pillar of...)
Looks like I found my new wallpaper...
--If we can have huge sig images, why can we have only five lines of text?
--...faceplanting like a Defender pulling an AV (Nalrok_AthZim)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
...I have the patience of a coffee-fueled flea...
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If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Ley
Forge
Oracle
Worktable
Conservator
Relay
Ball
Bed
Ice
Bridge
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
conservator
forge
relay
bridge (long/short)
worktable (various)
oracle
logo (supergroup glass)
ball (crystal)
doc (auto doc)
big (leaf planter)
Oracle
Conservator
Relay
Ice
Worktable
Logo
Forge
Bridge
Ball
Ley
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Still no winner! I see some but not all 
Keep trying.
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Oracle
Conservators
Relay
Ice
Worktable
Logo
Forge
Bridge
Ball
Ley
Table
Icons
Doc
Big
Bed
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Conservators
worktable
forge
Ley (tap)
(auto) DOC
Relay
Oracle
Logo
Bridge
Ice
in my entry post Ice is for the (Pillar of) Ice (and Flame)
just want to be clear since i can't edit my entry 
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Conservator
Worktable
Forge
Oracle
Relay
Small Bridge
Ley Tap
Auto-Doc
Pillar of Ice and Flame
Supergroup Glass Logo 1
Crystal Ball/Floor Stand
Rustic Lab Bed
Big Leaf Planter
AV Rack
EZ Flooring
Tree of Wonders
Brain in a Jar
I give up
Virtue
--Blazing Tiger-- 50 Invulrn/Fire Tank
<<Virtues Tankiest Kitty>>
Try my Arcs: #4892 and #112548
@Blazing Tiger and @Aqua Fox
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Worktable
Conservator
Oracle
Forge
Bridge
Relay
(SuperGroup) Logo
(Arachnos) Mace
Only found eight, but I was trying to limit myself to words four letters and over...there's a bunch of three letter ones out there that *might* be what we're looking for.
*shakes the puzzle*
O, Magic Word Search Gods, will I win this contest...?
... Fooey. 
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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Everyone did well trying to find the answers however, there was not a winner this week..
so whats the answers?
Whats the answers and who wins the fail safe? Rule No. 8?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Niviene
Everyone did well trying to find the answers however, there was not a winner this week..
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8) If all required words haven't been found by the end of the contest, a fail safe has been put into place in order to select a winner. The first person who has managed to find the most words this week will be declared the winner of this game. In order to facilitate the selection process, no edits will be allowed after you've posted your participation.This is one of the worst run games. Ever. You think with all the legalese about participation and compliance with state and national laws there'd be a little more caution with running this a little more carefully.
What makes this the worst Word Search Ever?
1. Use of tiny words. Great way to create false positives. Tiny words don't make it hard, it makes it annoying.
2. Use of incomplete phrases. If you're going to include DOC because it's part of AUTO DOC, then guess what, you're going to have to count every THE, OF, BY, etc... found in any phrase that meets the category of the week. And besides, it's *not* DOC, it's AUTO DOC. Using a partial phrase is just dumb. Just put AUTODOC into the word generator so that this Word Search follows the rules of every single legitimate Word Search in existence. In a Word Search that has countries of the world, you will *not* find STATES and REPUBLIC by themselves as valid answers.
3. Failure to edit. Yeah, that's time consuming. If you don't have the time to check for false positives and duplicates, then don't run it. If you don't have the time to give us the list of right words and create your own finished solution with the correct words circled to show us that the right answers exist, then don't run it.
4. Unclear rules and rules changing every week to make up for a badly designed puzzle. So, you want just the 10 correct words listed and the 10 words circled. But what if it appears twice and we didn't circle the 'correct' duplicate. If we make a notation that it's a duplicate, BAM, you fail. If we find a tiny word which should be correct but may be a false positive and we make a note showing it's correct, BAM, you fail. We're trying to prevent arguments after a winner is selected, but helpful notes are somehow confusing to the judge.
Time to find a new game for Mondays, please. Or, let TonyV help you as he keeps offering.
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As I understand it, Avatea is in France this week and I would guess that Niviene failed to realize, that Avatea made a few changes to the rules over the last few weeks, and didn't read what was copy/pasted. I didn't hear much complaining about last week's word search. So I'd just attribute the problem is one of communication. Frankly, I don't expect that Niviene has been following this game the last few weeks with all the things going on. So either she's gonna see rule 8 tomorrow and act on it, or not. It's only a game. Avatea is gonna be back next week, right? Right?
Quote:
That seems a bit angsty over a Forum Game in the For Fun! section? Although I do not frequent here, so maybe that is normal in these parts?
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
snipped
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Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
Quote:
No, he has whiny ***** fits weekly over this game, sad really.
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Originally Posted by StratoNexus
That seems a bit angsty over a Forum Game in the For Fun! section? Although I do not frequent here, so maybe that is normal in these parts?
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Quote:
Unfortunately, since the second time this game was run (I believe it was the second and only the first went off without a hitch), it has run into problems with false positives and "game changes" (one used words that bent) without directly informing people of the changes. This is a software problem that is exacerbated by the desire to make this a game that lasts for a while (meaning: huge lists of possible words and not posting a list of the actual words). After a while, those sorts of problems make it frustrating and people get a bit peeved or simply stop trying (I freely admit I barely tried last week and didn't even bother this week). I don't think anyone has "won" in a while, though a winner has been named by getting "close enough."|
Originally Posted by StratoNexus
That seems a bit angsty over a Forum Game in the For Fun! section? Although I do not frequent here, so maybe that is normal in these parts?
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People have offered to assist, including writing a Word Find Generator that guaranteed no false positives. Suggestions have been made for rules (and word selection) alterations that would lessen the false positives ("no words smaller than 5 letters, whole phrases only, and so on). I can understand people getting frustrated with this since it should be a bit of fun every week that's turned into a bit of angst. I was surprised someone tried so quickly this week, to be honest. It's sad that this is the most even-handed of the three weekly "contests" (it can be done by anyone with time and doesn't require game access nor Moderator subjectivity) and it's also become the most frustrating.
Quote:
Section titles can say 'For Fun', but it's not strictly 'for fun' it's for a prize, albeit a small one in the grand scheme of things.|
Originally Posted by StratoNexus
That seems a bit angsty over a Forum Game in the For Fun! section? Although I do not frequent here, so maybe that is normal in these parts?
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The legalese and prohibitions against people from certain geographic regions are there for a reason. When you ran a contest for a prize, it's serious business from the government's point of view.
I won last week's, though maybe I wasn't supposed to because I pointed out duplicates. So, I have no horse in this race anymore.
Last week's had 11 valid answers (instead of 10) and 4 were duplicated. If anyone had a problem with it, Avatea cut off public discussion by asking people to PM her.
The week before was a complete disaster with only 7 correct answers. And Avatea didn't bother showing were the correct answers were (because they weren't in the puzzle at all).
And the supposition that Avatea's been having problems with this puzzle for weeks and Niv didn't know about it is in itself problematic on many levels.
For the first few weeks many of us offered friendly advice to fix this contest and it only gets worse. Avatea acknowledged it might have to be scrapped in favor of a different contest.
It just can't continue the way it is, which is *not* 'for fun.'
I haven't made any complaints at all about the other two weekly contests because there's no problems with them.
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
Question, if this does get scrapped for another game, can recent winners of the word search participate immediately since it's a new game? I personally think this game can be fixed. I wonder how many are of the opinion that this should be scrapped.
If somebody you're arguing with goes off the deep end, don't follow.
Quote:
I think it can be fixed. If a load of words relating to the topic (say, 15) were dumped in each time, and you only needed 10, and any words not intentionally there but still valid were counted, it'd be perfectly fine imo.
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Originally Posted by kidengineer
Question, if this does get scrapped for another game, can recent winners of the word search participate immediately since it's a new game? I personally think this game can be fixed. I wonder how many are of the opinion that this should be scrapped.
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[CENTER]Euro side: [B]@Orion Star[/B] & [B]@Orions Star[/B][/CENTER]
Submissions open on Mondays only from 10 AM Pacific Time (1 PM Eastern Time / 6PM GMT / 19:00 Central European Time) until 5:00 PM Pacific Time (8:00 PM Eastern Time / 1:00 AM GMT / 2:00 Central European Time) between January 11, 2010 and July 26, 2010).
Welcome to our "Search the words, save the world" forum mission!
A super computer turned evil codenamed Ebil-o is attempting to take over our most powerful nations' computer systems and exterminate us puny human beings (how original, huh?). However, every week, a short window of opportunity allows us to break into Ebil-o's matrix and reset the timer leading to our undoubtedly apocalyptic end!
How do we do that, I hear you ask? Well, we happen to have an anonymous little helper and each week, he or she snail mails us a word search puzzle containing anywhere between 5 (five) and 10 (ten) words related to City of Heroes related theme (Ebil-o likes City of Heroes; apparently, it helps him unwind after a long day hard at work planning to get rid of humanity).
Each week a new theme will be passed along and you will need to find the exact number of words youre being told exists within the block of letters you are given.
Your opportunity to save us all is through a word block located at the bottom of this post.
The goal is to be the first one to find the words based on the theme (without being told what they are), circle them in the word block (using Paint or an equivalent program) and then list them below it.
If you are the first one to answer with the correct words, you win and only then will we be able to input the words into Ebil-o's matrix, thus delaying our impending doom. As a token of our gratitude, we'll give you the "Ebil-o FTL [date]" forum title as well as 1 (one) costume code amongst the following ones:
- Carnival of Shadows Harlequin
- Freakshow Tank Boss
- Paragon Police Department Hardsuit
- Carnival of Shadows Ring Mistress
- Knives of Artemis Lt.
- Praetorian Clockwork
Have fun but not too much as each week were counting on you to save the world!Rules
1) Reply in the official City of Heroes® forum (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/) thread created for each weekly " Search the words, save the world Contest with your submission.
2) Your reply must contain a number of words or names that will be defined every time this contest is run. Please refrain from posting more than the number of words indicated in every contest post. Only post the correct number of words or names, even if you notice duplicates..
3) Your reply must also contain the following statement. Please note that your submission will be disqualified if this statement is not present in your post:
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
4) To enter the contest weekly, as of January 11, 2010, you must be 13 years of age or older. If a winner is under 18 or a minor in his or her state/province/country of residence, his or her parent or guardian must also sign any applicable releases and documentation.
5) Please note, only 1 (one) entry per forum account will be accepted. If you post a second time, you'll get disqualified, so make your one entry count! Also, once you have posted your entry, do NOT edit it as any edit will disqualify you from that day's forum game.
6) Entries must conform to the Official City of Heroes Message Forum Rules and Guidelines and to the Contest Official Rules and Conditions.
7) [I] If you win the City of Heroes® Search the words, save the world Contest one week, you are not eligible to do so again for the next 8 weeks. This is to allow other people the opportunity to win. Please be courteous to others and refrain from participating during the weeks you are not eligible to win.
8) If all required words haven't been found by the end of the contest, a fail safe has been put into place in order to select a winner. The first person who has managed to find the most words this week will be declared the winner of this game. In order to facilitate the selection process, no edits will be allowed after you've posted your participation.
Monday, March 1st, 2010 - Word Block
This week, you are looking to find 10 Base items . Please note, some of the words you are searching are only part of the name of the corresponding power if its name contains 2 or more terms. In those cases, only one of the terms will be available.
Good luck all, and don't forget that the fate of the world is in your hands!