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I stepped away from this site approximately a decade ago, primarily because there were too few puzzles at that time, and all of the records being set were from those of us who had already played a puzzle previously and thus remembered the clues so well that the puzzle just fell into place when it popped up a subsequent time. I remember literally seeing puzzles within a day of having played them. You wouldn't even have to work all the clues, you could just see from a few placed letters that the quote was the same quote from yesterday.
After a decade away I'm now playing again, since about March. I've been pleased to see that there are apparently a lot more puzzles now. However I was sad today to see that I already got a repeat puzzle. I smashed the last record I set at some point in the last few months, which was 312 seconds, with a new record of 223. It was a long puzzle and I was probably flying to get 312. Getting the same puzzle again so soon is not how records should get set. 223 is not legitimate and is not fair to any other player who comes to that puzzle for the first time.
This also begs the question: for those people who have never stopped playing over the last 10 years, are they just getting the same puzzles not only twice, but thrice, four and five and six and seven and more times over? Such records, like mine today, are virtually unbeatable by anybody playing for the first time. They get MORE unbeatable every time they get set, except by other players who are also seeing a puzzle for the eighth time.
I am really surprised at how little the overall platform has changed in a full decade of absence. I don't know anything about coding and couldn't say how big of a challenge it would be to tweak the scoring or records system. But even assuming it would have been a huge challenge, I'd like to think it could have happened at some point in the last 10 years.
It would be awesome if you could allow players to repeat games when those games are randomly presented to them by the system, but make sure the system recognizes that the player has already had their 1st chance on that puzzle. Limit new records to first time solvers. Maybe even prevent repeat solves from being counted in statistics at all. I don't know the answer but it's worthy of discussion.
Still love acrostics, still love this site overall, and will still continue playing here regardless. But my guess is the community would love some tweaks.
After a decade away I'm now playing again, since about March. I've been pleased to see that there are apparently a lot more puzzles now. However I was sad today to see that I already got a repeat puzzle. I smashed the last record I set at some point in the last few months, which was 312 seconds, with a new record of 223. It was a long puzzle and I was probably flying to get 312. Getting the same puzzle again so soon is not how records should get set. 223 is not legitimate and is not fair to any other player who comes to that puzzle for the first time.
This also begs the question: for those people who have never stopped playing over the last 10 years, are they just getting the same puzzles not only twice, but thrice, four and five and six and seven and more times over? Such records, like mine today, are virtually unbeatable by anybody playing for the first time. They get MORE unbeatable every time they get set, except by other players who are also seeing a puzzle for the eighth time.
I am really surprised at how little the overall platform has changed in a full decade of absence. I don't know anything about coding and couldn't say how big of a challenge it would be to tweak the scoring or records system. But even assuming it would have been a huge challenge, I'd like to think it could have happened at some point in the last 10 years.
It would be awesome if you could allow players to repeat games when those games are randomly presented to them by the system, but make sure the system recognizes that the player has already had their 1st chance on that puzzle. Limit new records to first time solvers. Maybe even prevent repeat solves from being counted in statistics at all. I don't know the answer but it's worthy of discussion.
Still love acrostics, still love this site overall, and will still continue playing here regardless. But my guess is the community would love some tweaks.
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