Branden Linton
Posts: 391
11/14/2012
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[There is nothing left of this post.]
edited by an emptiness on 11/14/2012
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Brom Girvan: a man of shadows and secrets. http://echobazaar.failbettergames.com/Profile/Brom~Girvan
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
11/20/2012
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>I have to say, I'm very curious as to how many of us there are. How many are fully scarred, stained, and chained?
Around 0.1% of the registered player base. We like to think of it as 'hardcore mode', except that hardcore mode in most games doesn't end nearly this badly.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/6/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
Do Failbetter have an opinion on this?
We don't have a problem with people offering each other Fate, cake or other valuable substances for betrayals. Consenting adults, caveat emptor.
I don't often talk about the artistic intentions behind the Mr Eaten content, but I'll go on record here. It isn't core content, it isn't terribly commercial (I made a point of writing the latest tranche of Mr Eaten content outside formal company time), and it absolutely isn't meant to be fair. We don't even provide user support for it. If at any point you get fed up and walk away from it because it's too daft or frustrating, that's completely reasonable, and there's nearly a million words of other FL content. I can neither confirm nor deny that at the last step of the way, we'll request your real-world address and ask your permission to let a Failbetter employee come round and smash up your computer with a stick.
We built Mr Eaten partly because he's part of the Neath's backstory, but mostly because I wanted to explore the edges of choice, commitment and player reflection in interactive stories. If you like, think of it as an alternative to Molyneux's 'Curiosity', except instead of tapping on a cube you're gradually peeling your own skin off. It's been fascinating hearing and watching your responses. Thanks, folks.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/6/2012
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
We don't have a problem with people offering each other Fate, cake or other valuable substances for betrayals. Consenting adults, caveat emptor.
That metagame will get fascinating awfully fast.
Alexis Kennedy wrote:
I don't often talk about the artistic intentions behind the Mr Eaten content, but I'll go on record here. It isn't core content, it isn't terribly commercial (I made a point of writing the latest tranche of Mr Eaten content outside formal company time), and it absolutely isn't meant to be fair. We don't even provide user support for it. If at any point you get fed up and walk away from it because it's too daft or frustrating, that's completely reasonable, and there's nearly a million words of other FL content. I can neither confirm nor deny that at the last step of the way, we'll request your real-world address and ask your permission to let a Failbetter employee come round and smash up your computer with a stick.
This can only end with seven Failbetter employees being sacrificed by Seekers. Note that the staff photo has seven people, and two unnamed. Mr Names and Mr Eaten, clearly.
Alexis Kennedy wrote:
We built Mr Eaten partly because he's part of the Neath's backstory, but mostly because I wanted to explore the edges of choice, commitment and player reflection in interactive stories. If you like, think of it as an alternative to Molyneux's 'Curiosity', except instead of tapping on a cube you're gradually peeling your own skin off. It's been fascinating hearing and watching your responses. Thanks, folks.
If I can be serious for a moment, thank you. This content, which you haven't even been paid for, has (to my knowledge) inspired roleplay, questioning, at least one song, at least one convention LARP, and countless inspired and driven players. I discuss it with my friends, we muse on the nature of the Name, the past cities, the nature of love and choice. Songs remind us of the Name (see "Closer" by the Clockwork Quartet), we use our disciplines (critical theory, musicology, clinical psychology) to talk about it ... the story has become part of our lives over the time we've been playing it.
Of course we Seek the Name. We must. How could we not?
You're creating art here, and being part of it is beautiful.
edited by Asclepius Unbound on 12/6/2012
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/12/2012
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Maybe everyone at Marsh Mired 1 just has to wait for someone to push the big MR EATEN SOCIAL INVITATION button at failbetter hq
or maybe the new seekers can never get past that part and all the bug reports are sent directly to alexis' skull throne, to be burned upon a candle.
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my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/12/2012
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BREAKING: bug reports confirmed to be incinerated by alexis on candle, failbetter too cheap for skull throne, burning emails with a candle declared to be "herculean feat"
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Inpiun
Posts: 99
11/20/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
I'm very curious as to how many of us there are. How many are fully scarred, stained, and chained?
Perhaps a list is called for, like the one for Overgoated players. For anti-bragging rights.
--
My profile
@Inpiun
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
11/20/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
Edit: I just ran the numbers on that, based on a reasonable estimate of the playerbase. That's ... very few people. Possibly fewer than have Overgoats.
We have almost 200K registered users (this number is public-domain), though rather fewer monthlies. So, yes, it is very small. But dedicated, which is why we're spearheading the content push with it.
And of that content push... more soon.
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WintersNight
Posts: 65
11/20/2012
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Wow, that's such a small number. I suddenly feel like part of an elite club. . . an elite club of sadists who should really know better
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~~alea iacta est~~
Twitter @wintersnight
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Saharan
Posts: 247
1/4/2013
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The Name! The Name! He who is bound in a robe the colour of zee-salt and red fox-fur trim has spoken to me of the Name! He has spoken, and I have listened. How could I have been so blind as to what the Name actually was? It has been staring at me all along the path! Every step I took, it was there, taunting me, the very path I trod blinding me to its presence.
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My Saint - My Twitter - My Seeker
"To light one candle to God and another to the Devils is the principle of wisdom."
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Zyxx
Posts: 45
12/17/2012
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I think of it as a quest with lore rewards. Perhaps I'm thinking about it all wrong, but it's what keeps me going on with it, since Fallen London's appeal (for me) is primarily setting and lore.
re: betrayal betrayal, yes, I feel like a fool for going for it, caveat emptor, all that stuff. I don't have any excuse other than /really/ wanting to make progress here.
Really, the primary thing I'm upset about is how much time and luck and (in some cases) Fate it takes to regain these resources. I already ground through the Affair of the Box a second time and it got incredibly boring halfway through the first time.
I just personally put a lot of emphasis on honesty. I certainly get the argument that the meta-game could/should be full of betrayal and paranoia, and I can't argue that there's not certain brilliance in that, but I feel like there's sort of a line of decency, you know? I don't want to waste another player's time, resources or money (in the form of Fate costs) even when it gives me a benefit, let alone when all it really does is impede their progress and earns me nothing but a laugh.
I don't want to blow this up bigger than it is - I fell for an obvious trick, that's on me and I admit it - but please, to anyone else considering such a thing: don't do it. It brings in-game unpleasantness to a real world that doesn't need any more, even in a trivial "first-world-problems" sort of way.
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Truezyxx on Twitter
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Zmflavius
Posts: 53
3/7/2013
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I've been wondering about what Alexis said; that those who seek this path are more likely to fail than succeed. Is that really the case? What does it mean if we fail? Everyone who seeks the name enters with the knowledge that they will endure punishing costs, for what we are assured will not be to are joy. However, take the end of the Carnival section. This sort of affirmation, that our character is doing some great (if irredeemably stupid) thing, despite having destroyed all our homes and friends, is precisely what we want for our character. Even if it's not meant to sound that way, the way the story is written comes off precisely as that.
In this case, failure, such as, "Your character goes mad, and you gain a special trait bemoaning your stupidity, why why why why why" is a victory, because in a way, by having sought the name to the very end, and have gotten something out of it, either through the aforementioned trait, or because, to steal a far over-used cliche, we have the journey to remember, is in fact a victory. Those few who do "succeed" might get merely only a trait saying as much, the same journey, or, if this saga is especially anti-climatic, the knowledge that they've self-flagellated themselves into learning that they were seeking "asdfljals," which I imagine might remain a secret for all of fifteen seconds (obviously, I don't expect this to happen).
What would be a defeat would be something like the 50 fate option; which is to say, "Your character is destroyed. Why???" This would be a complete rejection of all our efforts, and possibly the one thing that would come off as a failure for the Search.
Then, can it be that "failure" in the Search is not actually a unique and far more common message distinct from the "success" message, but some taunt like that, which, if it is not character deletion, is merely deletion of all signs of the search from your account, and 10000 change points in all menaces, with no reference to the Search?
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Zmflavius
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FogChicken1
Posts: 29
4/29/2013
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This seems like a good place to post this. I thought about starting a thread but had no wish to start another epidemic of mysterious consumption.
I recently gave up the search for the Name. I can't decide whether this is a sensible decision or an opportunity missed - probably both. However I did learn something new about myself. Apparently I am not, after all, willing to sacrifice anything in the pursuit of knowledge (as I had thought). What I truly covet is not just knowledge but understanding - which includes the ability to scrutinize knowledge from all angles, pick it apart, and generally subject it to the tools of rational analysis. If I lose the ability to do that, then what's the point? What is knowledge worth to me if I become a gibbering wreck lacking the capacity for coherent thought? As much as I would have loved to pursue the story further, it was very clear by that point that it wasn't a path my character would ever choose.
It's a pity, because there is clearly an awesome and terrible secret here. No, it's not the Name (which is, after all, just a name) but the search for it. Why do so many otherwise sane and rational people feel compelled to start spouting nonsense and inflict the most appalling privations on themselves and others in search of something they can't even define? Clearly some kind of outside force is at work here. It's invisible, like gravity, but possibly (like gravity) it could be measured and defined by observing the effects it produces. Now that would be a worthy endeavor (sadly I don't think the written content exists to allow me to do it). All you hollow-eyed damned souls mumbling about wells and snacking on indigestible substances would be a perfect collection of subjects. If only I could have a lab constructed at the University with suitable equipment, I could achieve great things. Join me for some painless and perfectly harmless tests*, and together we could make scientific history!
* Well, almost painless. Some quicksilver may be involved, and possibly radium. And of course there are the cranial calibrator probes (no more than five or six). And there will be a waiver to sign - purely a formality.
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Zyxx
Posts: 45
1/4/2013
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Saharan wrote:
The Name! The Name! He who is bound in a robe the colour of zee-salt and red fox-fur trim has spoken to me of the Name! He has spoken, and I have listened. How could I have been so blind as to what the Name actually was? It has been staring at me all along the path! Every step I took, it was there, taunting me, the very path I trod blinding me to its presence.
And yet that was merely what the Name WAS. Perhaps our quest now is to learn what it IS?
--
Truezyxx on Twitter
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
11/24/2012
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I think I might perhaps be getting through this faster than Failbetter can write.
edited by Spacemarine9 on 11/24/2012
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/6/2012
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>If failbetter smashes up our stuff it's just a bit of jolly good fun [...] We gave permission for it in this hypothetical situation.
And there, gentlemen, is the Eaten design philosophy in a nutshell.
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David
Posts: 79
12/6/2012
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Urthdigger wrote:
I welcome your opportunity to come all this way to smash my computer if I get that far. But I reserve the right to hide my laptop behind 7 fiendish puzzles.
I think that's letting Failbetter off far too easy. I'd start with a number of expensive challenges, each revealing a single digit of my longitude and latitude to enough precision to locate my residence. What's that? You completed them, and the location is the middle of an ocean? Well, you didn't think they were in base ten did you? Ten is not the number. To find the number, you'll need another series of expensive challenges... Well, let's just say it's going to be a lot of work before you get the reward of Mr. Urthdigger's seven fiendish puzzles and the chance to smash a computer.
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
12/6/2012
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Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook wrote:
As a Fallen Londoner who has, at one point or another, gone toe-to-toe with a fair percentage of the horrors that the Neath has to offer, and, though generally a cautious sort of beast, has taken some foolhardy risks and sometimes paid the price... can I just say that you're all totally bonkers. I'll stick to the million other mysteries - and other mysterious names! - that offer some resolution more worthwhile than tearing myself to pieces in the hope of someday having been torn to pieces.
So, if you're not seeking, would you mind an invitation to the path, which you can then shortly take an option to abandon and make it official?
--
Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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Urthdigger
Posts: 939
12/6/2012
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I welcome your opportunity to come all this way to smash my computer if I get that far. But I reserve the right to hide my laptop behind 7 fiendish puzzles.
--
Looking for second chances to maximize your loot output from those troublesome storylets? Check out our handy gang of volunteers in this thread, or even volunteer yourself!
@Urthdigger on twitter
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/6/2012
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
Would that be a fascinating part of the methane or just confirmation you have driven a small subset of people absolutely bonkers
I would be sort of delighted and then I would very quickly call the police.
Urthdigger wrote:
But I reserve the right to hide my laptop behind 7 fiendish puzzles.
Yeah, that's fair.
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Nigel Overstreet
Posts: 1220
12/7/2012
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I also find it interesting that, so far, my decision to seek the name has been one made almost entirely in-character. Yes, I am that type of player.
I only learned that SMEN was a thing though a role playing scene. Nigel became so enthralled that he actually became the number before the woman who told me about it did. The Name brings nothing but pain and madness, but it brings an experience like no other. The Neath's greatest Hedonist can't turn down experience because it's unpleasant! In addition, going mad seems like an awfully big adventure.
What is a ruined reputation, fortune, soul, mind and body to the most singular experience the Neath has to offer? If I were to abandon seeking the name in favor of pursuing, say, higher connections or endlessly grinding for Tales of Terror, what would be the point of inhabiting a role in the Neath at all? It bring a new level of player/character connection in a way that only the most method of acting techniques can compare. In order to play a character of my own devising properly, the game is asking me, as a player, to make a sacrifice which Echoes(I see what you did there) my character's. While plenty of games ask this sacrifice be money, which is banal, avaricious and boring, Fallen London asks that it be time, dedication and, at times, will. So far it is absolutely fascinating!
In addition, the young woman who introduced me to the Name, Eris Fnord(@ErisFnord) should get a free level of Marsh Mired as she technically recruited me to the Name before it was an option.
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The Romantic Egotist: Most Hedonistic Man in All of Fallen London
Are you or someone you know Overgoated? Please, let me know!
Cider Club
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salirsalisco
Posts: 38
12/7/2012
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Am I the only one who kept Seeking just because the storylets kept advising me against it? :-)
Speaking of this, I would be a bit disappointed, if in the end I had to give up on the quest just because not enough people accept my invitation... especially after all that I've gone through to reach SMEN 8!
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My profile.
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Sara Hysaro
Moderator
Posts: 4514
12/17/2012
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The post was such an obvious trap that it was comical. I'm amazed that somebody took it as anything other than the joke that it was. Maybe I just don't take things seriously enough.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Sara%20Hysaro
Please do not send SMEN, cat boxes, or Affluent Reporter requests. All other social actions are welcome.
Are you a Scarlet Saint? Send a message my way to be added to the list.
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Kade Carrion (an_ocelot)
Posts: 1372
12/18/2012
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So I have St Beau's Candle and I was super-impressed with the content leading up to it. I loved the ambiguity, the use of timing--there's a 10-turn luck-based option that really gave me a feeling of pensive melancholy, waiting for my turns to refresh to see both results--and even the serious pause about whether to continue the writing gave me, and I'd been pretty sure I'd keep going no matter what because (1) it's a character and if it gets wrecked, well, then I'll start a new one and see all the changes to early content, and (2) as I said a long, long time ago when I first started this, if the Bazaar doesn't want me pursuing the Name, it should give me more things to do. Well done.
--
Social Actions: send them to Kade Carrion (she/her; no Tournament of Lilies, please). an_ocelot has gone NORTH and cannot benefit from social actions!
Possibly-Useful Things: Spreadsheets and hints and link collections, oh my.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/18/2012
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St Beau's Candle is mine. Twitching in reaction now, detailed response later.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/12/2012
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oh hey i just realised the first Marsh Mired storylet didn't have the "all manner of thing will be well" message like all the other storylets that cause a time-delayed message to be sent
this is really a badly worded post i think but whatev'
what i'm trying to say is: nothing is well
EDIT: except mr eaten
maybe if i make enough bad puns the card rng will like me again
edited by Spacemarine9 on 12/12/2012
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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singularityshot
Posts: 29
12/13/2012
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
Maybe everyone at Marsh Mired 1 just has to wait for someone to push the big MR EATEN SOCIAL INVITATION button at failbetter hq
From a mechanical standpoint, this makes sense. We all learnt that there was a pyramid scheme at work here for the first candle, and people have openly fretted about running out of players with whom to betray. All pyramid schemes are inherently unstable, especially if allowed to run unchecked. The Mr Eaten invite serves as a braking mechanism for the pyramid scheme. One assumes that FBG did the maths, and know that there are enough players ignorant of the Mr Eaten quest to allow all those who were SSC to achieve 7 betrayals. However, it is fundamentally impossible for every player to achieve 7 betrayals. So I assume that those of us who are trying (For God's sake why?) to be Scarred, Stained and Chained will have to wait until the player base grows to the point where we can possibly get our betrayals. When that point is achieved, I assume someone will press the aforementioned button again.
Either that or we have to wait until FBG runs out of the human tears they use to flavour their tea.
--
Twitter only: @singularityshot
Profile: http://www.fallenlondon.com/Profile/singularityshot
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/13/2012
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you pay the 50 nex + it says BUT IT WAS ALL A DREAM and then you wake up in real life and alexis punches you in the face
if this gets deleted I KNOW THE TRUTH
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/15/2012
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amaresu wrote:
Of course, of course. But it's good to know it worked for somebody at least. Thanks.
You know what they say: All's fair in love and Seeking the Name.
In the deepest matters of the Bazaar, always look to the Name. Always.
Ahem.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/15/2012
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too spooky for even the servers to handle
maybe once we get all the candle we'll go to mr eaten's house and find his name on a shopping list or something
and that'll just be that, quest over
edited by Spacemarine9 on 12/15/2012
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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BaronElectric
Posts: 68
12/17/2012
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Ok, Alexis, I'm fully giving you permission to use this idea for free:
There's a social action you have to do to proceed. This can only be sent to fellow Name seekers. There are two options when sending (and you have to do both some number of times to continue the search):
1) The above board approach (which probably does something horrible)
2) The sneaky approach, which causes them to no longer seek the Name.
boom, instant chaos.
edited by BaronElectric on 12/17/2012
--
Profile
Twitter: @flbaronelectric
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ignotus
Posts: 20
3/7/2013
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To my fellow seekers, those of us who were left behind at first, and could not seek the candles.
Mr. Eaten has not forgotten us. It is time.
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
12/15/2012
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Bravo to Alexis for the St Beau's candle experience - fantastic text and very creepy and satisfying. I loved seeing the carnival from a new perspective, and finding out more about the lady in the mirror. /trying to be as spoiler-free as possible.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/16/2012
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MidnightVoyager wrote:
This would be nice. Alas, I've also reached my frustration threshold, but too late to bow out. (If it sounds too easy, it can require a hell of a sacrifice or perhaps start one down a road towards being free of the Name. That would be interesting.)
To be free of the Name, you must ... do all the steps thus far IN REVERSE ORDER.
...actually, that's not a bad idea.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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MidnightVoyager
Posts: 858
12/16/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
MidnightVoyager wrote:
This would be nice. Alas, I've also reached my frustration threshold, but too late to bow out. (If it sounds too easy, it can require a hell of a sacrifice or perhaps start one down a road towards being free of the Name. That would be interesting.)
To be free of the Name, you must ... do all the steps thus far IN REVERSE ORDER.
...actually, that's not a bad idea.
Or... undo them? Like, you have to make amends to people if you're on the candles and then you have to... I dunno what to do about the stains/chains, but I know you can fix scars in a rubbery way.
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Midnight Voyager - A blood-cousin to predators. Collector of beasts. Affably mad.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/16/2012
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"What could heal a soul?" I like it.
Just got my seventh betrayal. Yay! Sent them thirty pieces of silver afterwards, for the irony.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/17/2012
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We did warn you about four times, but it also was unfair to keep saying 'if you don't like it, get off' without providing the means. As of last week, there are three more ways out, and there'll be a fourth soon. Hint: start drawing op cards again.
EDIT: as of this week, actually! because the branches were still hidden until just now. My mistake.
edited by Alexis on 12/17/2012
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/17/2012
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I now burn with the flame of St. Arthur's Candle.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
12/17/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
Interesting behaviour over in the "The Name needs you: you need the Name" thread. At least one player has successfully convinced another to send them an invitation, just in order to refuse it. This is alternately problematic, dramatically delightful, and viciously cruel. It also blurs IC/OOC in a peculiar way.
What do my fellow Seekers think of this, on an out-of-character level? I've already commented.
I think it's exceptionally mean-spirited, and I wouldn't do it. It's not one character being vicious to another, IMO, it's one player being vicious to another for no reason.
Passionario - your 'defence' doesn't make any sense. You have rejected an invite you asked for, rather than being unwittingly sucked into the search for the name. It is you who has gone against the community, not vice versa. (And I might add that the invite itself is clearly marked as being something it's not in a player's best interests to accept, so it's hardly being stabbed in the back. It's not like the invite says 'open to get sweet kitties!' and then a starveling cat leaps out and claws your face to shreds.)
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
12/14/2012
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My impatience paid off! I now have the candle, hurrah. Now I have to wait impatiently for the next part of the storyline.
*waits impatiently*
Hope you turn up your card soon, AU!
--
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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Dharlome
Posts: 51
12/14/2012
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Lady Red, I'm hoping for the exact same stroke of luck as you have received today. Candles, to me!
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/14/2012
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Well I guess luck might be contagious coz' I just pulled a card just now!
i wonder if the candle images are going to get pregressively more disturbing
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Dharlome
Posts: 51
12/15/2012
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Well, the first candle listened to my call.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/13/2012
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
Obviously I'm not going to leave bugs unaddressed, but it won't always be possible for a player to tell what is and isn't a bug.
That's fine, and makes sense. The implication that actual real bugs might be left unaddressed because "the storyline isn't supposed to be fair" was what was worrying me, so thanks for clarifying that one.
I'm actively looking forward to the reality-breaking!
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Saharan
Posts: 247
12/12/2012
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
In this case, you stand a better than even chance of ending up very upset at some point when it isn't apparent whether you're seeing a bug or frustrating behaviour, and it is my sincere recommendation that you abandon the storyline. The odds are it will leave you unhappy and dissatisfied.
There's quite a difference between a failure of impatience or worry on the player's side, and a legitimate storyline-ending bug that a developer (apparently) refuses to fix or even acknowledge. Yes, the story of Mr. Eaten is full of kicks to the teeth, but they're all kicks wherein the player either offers the kicker a pair of steel-toed boots, or quits. A bug that cuts your adventure short is not a player choice, and having that taken away from you by a bug in a storyline whos theme is "how far can you choose to damn yourself before you crack" is shoddy at best.
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My Saint - My Twitter - My Seeker
"To light one candle to God and another to the Devils is the principle of wisdom."
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
3/7/2013
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I think Alexis just meant that most of us seekers wouldn't be able to get to the end of the search; the steps would be too difficult, so we'd give up.
But I think I agree with the gist of your argument; a terrible end to our characters isn't a failure, or a bad thing, because that's as legitimate an ending to the story as anything else.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
7/30/2013
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You get used to it.
Hey mysterious post-editing ghost of a long-betrayed dude, probably! Long time no see! How's the whole being empty thing working out? Have you been working out? Are you proud of yourself? I think I am.
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
7/30/2013
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The Marsh Mired thing isn't timer-based, but rather sent out en-masse (almost certainly using the Broadcast Living Story function to anyone with the SMEN 8 quality and no Marsh Mired, with a timer set to just a few minutes), (at least that's how i'd do it given the storynexus toolset, but the FL devkit might have some fancier ways of going about it) so hitches that'd break time-based storylets such as K&C packages, profession payments and that wouldn't actually have any effect on it unless the living story network broke at the exact moment that the living story was broadcast or something.
It'll happen when it happens, I guess.
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
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NiteBrite
Posts: 1019
9/14/2013
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Its been three months. Three months exactly since the last prize token delivery. It's a bottleneck for sure, but not a plug or hard stop. More tokens will be issued someday. Let's just hope its somewhat more frequent than the marsh mired bottleneck.
--
I AM currently accepting calling cards.
Stats loss counter: reset, irrigo equivalent: none
[00:34] <@ortab> NiteBrite's laugh is that of a condemned soul gazing into the abyss.
Merciless Modiste avatar by Paul Arendt (based on an original image by Joe England)
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/TheBriteModiste
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Passionario
Posts: 777
12/17/2012
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Lady Red wrote:
And I might add that the invite itself is clearly marked as being something it's not in a player's best interests to accept
So was my request! It openly said that sending an invite to that particular character would be a pretty stupid and harmful thing to do.
They're not called "Untrustworthy Spirifier" for their shiny integrity and civic spirit, you know. 
Asclepius Unbound wrote:
So you're saying it was an artistic/dramatic/narrative statement?
Yes.
The prevailing consensus on this forum appears to be that Failbetter's statements about Seeking the Name are nothing but reverse psychology. That all those dire warnings about inevitable frustration and depression are simple flavor text aimed at making a video game grind more cool and edgy. That it's all a secret test of character and you'll get an awesome secret ending for your perseverance. And if that view is correct, then having Seekers actively cooperate and trust each other is only to be expected.
I am here to challenge this assumption. I believe that, when Alexis tell us that SMEN is meant to be unfair and cruel and utterly unlike the rest of Fallen London, we should take those words at face value. And this means that the surrounding metagame should have less goodwill and cooperation and more mistrust and paranoia.
Alexis Kennedy wrote:
Consenting adults, caveat emptor.
edited by Passionario on 12/17/2012
--
Passionario: Profile, Story, Ending
Passion: Profile, Appearance
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Diptych
Administrator
Posts: 3493
12/17/2012
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I always took it as read that there's almost definitely not going to be a cool prize at the end, and so that everyone's willingness to help and trust each other was simple and touching and not to be trifled with. A bit weird, but touching.
(I have to admit that I have declined a couple of Eaten invitations, before I was aware of the cost of sending them - but, in my defence, I have never sought, never been interested in seeking, and never been part of the Northbound community.)
edited by Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook on 12/17/2012
--
Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron.
Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
12/17/2012
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Passionario wrote:
Lady Red wrote:
And I might add that the invite itself is clearly marked as being something it's not in a player's best interests to accept
So was my request! It openly said that sending an invite to that particular character would be a pretty stupid and harmful thing to do.
They're not called "Untrustworthy Spirifier" for their shiny integrity and civic spirit, you know.
I suppose you have a point there. But I still think you're a bounder and a cad!
--
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
1/8/2013
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Screaming and going nuts at restaurants, mostly.
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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streetfelineblue
Posts: 1459
1/13/2013
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Urthdigger wrote:
I imagine that, at a later date, Mr. Eaten will send out more invitations. All will be wells, and all manner of things shall be wells.
I see what you did there
--
Twitter: @streetfelineblu
Blue's LiveJournal
Blue's Echo Bazaar profile
Blue's Night Circus diary
Link to Ocelot's Enigma Ambition hint page; PM for clarification. No direct solutions provided.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
2/24/2013
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Erik Vimes wrote:
incredibly irritated with Faibetter and especially Mr Kennedy. Making the path slippery and sacrificial is perfectly fine, but straight-up not letting people even have the chance to proceed is just plain black-hearted. Even by a Seeker's definition
It's not, by design, slippery and sacrificial, it's deliberately unfair. The warnings are there for a reason. Let me go on record (not for the first time): if you take this path, you are more likely to fail than to succeed, through no fault of your own.You may get an invitation later, but if so then accepting it will probably lead to later, worse failure. If you're irritated with me or with the game right now, you will only get more irritated later on, and I recommend you get out now.
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David
Posts: 79
12/9/2012
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Allanon Kisigar wrote:
Spacemarine9 wrote:
Look, card RNG, it's been nearly a week now. I'm sorry for whatever hurt I caused you, so can you please let me get on with doing horrendous irreversible harm to myself and others?
Your pal,
Candlefan77
I can understand the enthusiasm, but do watch out for the actual gaining of the first candle. It's... damaging, though not so much as things that have gone before.
I fear the price of the second candle is worse still; though at least you have a choice this time...
Allanon Kisigar wrote:
.. my, that image for the Second Candle's card is awfully creepy.
That creepiness holds for the entirety of the second candle experience. I found it one of the most fascinating parts of this adventure yet; it did an excellent job of blurring the lines between the mystery of the 'Neath, and possible hallucinations of a Name-seeker.
For me, I began seeking the name because I became convinced it was somehow tied up in what happened with my Nemesis ambition. You simply can't solve a mystery without knowing all there is to know; and I must solve it so I must know.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/10/2012
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I eagerly await being given the opportunity to mess myself up even more!
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
12/12/2012
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It's not the destination, it's the journey.
Even if said journey is across a thousand acres of broken glass. Barefoot. On fire. And a Failbetter writer occasionally floats by and chucks a half-brick at you.
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/12/2012
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I knew they didn't provide support for the storyline, but thought they'd make an exception for what looks like a legitimate bug in its implementation.
That leaves a bad taste, if so. I'd be very upset if that happened to me.
Of course, it may be that all is proceeding fine for you guys, and you just haven't turned over the card yet.
--
Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/12/2012
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>That leaves a bad taste, if so. I'd be very upset if that happened to me.
In this case, you stand a better than even chance of ending up very upset at some point when it isn't apparent whether you're seeing a bug or frustrating behaviour, and it is my sincere recommendation that you abandon the storyline. The odds are it will leave you unhappy and dissatisfied.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/12/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
all will be well.
So they'd have us believe...
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/12/2012
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
alexis' skull throne
I only wish I had a skull throne. Maybe Santa will oblige.
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Nigel Overstreet
Posts: 1220
12/6/2012
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
I can neither confirm nor deny that at the last step of the way, we'll request your real-world address and ask your permission to let a Failbetter employee come round and smash up your computer with a stick.
This is acceptable. If you could call first so I can put the kettle on, I'd appreciate it. If you took all the trouble to come over, offering a cup of tea is the least I could do.
Alexis Kennedy wrote:
We built Mr Eaten partly because he's part of the Neath's backstory, but mostly because I wanted to explore the edges of choice, commitment and player reflection in interactive stories. If you like, think of it as an alternative to Molyneux's 'Curiosity', except instead of tapping on a cube you're gradually peeling your own skin off.
And that's why Mr Eaten content, should get harder. It tests the limit of player dedication, loyalty and commitment. If it got easier, what would be the point?
--
The Romantic Egotist: Most Hedonistic Man in All of Fallen London
Are you or someone you know Overgoated? Please, let me know!
Cider Club
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David
Posts: 79
12/7/2012
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Spacemarine9 wrote:
You don't really mess up your main account _that_ much. A few stat drops here, menace points there, maybe you lose a few hundred items. Possibly things will take a turn sharply for the worse later on, but hey! Better than grinding out a bajillion points of melancholy so you can boast to be the Most Depressed in the Neath
Also: Devils run screaming when you try to sell them what's left of your soul, and two cards you can't discard. And that's just so far...
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
11/27/2012
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Esterhazy wrote:
Which is to say, I don't know what would happen if you sent out two invites at the same level and both were accepted. Finding willing participants is difficult enough without 'wasting' one.
I have three floating invitations currently, so I'll let you know. Admittedly, spending a Searing Enigma to troll Alexis Kennedy was extravagant, but I regret nothing.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
11/29/2012
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Allanon Kisigar wrote:
the Searing Enigma is the expensive one anyways...
So young, so naive...
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
11/29/2012
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idea: let us recruit our acquaintances but you lose the acquaintance FOREVER
i have a phd in game design hire me as your ideas man
in other news i've had this card burning a hole in my deck for like half a week now, getting enigmas is hard :[
edited by Spacemarine9 on 11/29/2012
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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djcrashoverride
Posts: 67
11/30/2012
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My alt has been trying to find the name somewhat stridently, but never gets further than its hunger. It will gladly accept an invitation to speed things along.
@kakkoi_hakujin
edited by djcrashoverride on 11/30/2012
--
An inescapable, sagacious, irresistible and magnificent gentleman:
http://echobazaar.failbettergames.com/Profile/DJCrashoverride
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
11/30/2012
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Hey, guys! I found the name!
As it turns out, it's Newspaper!
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
12/4/2012
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amaresu wrote:
That is certainly going to make things a lot more difficult.
So much so that they'll have to change the mechanic once the second wave of Seekers (those who were betrayed by us) get to this stage. It's a pyramid-scheme model, and is working only because Seeking the Name is so rare in the playerbase (which makes it an excellent mechanic to spread the story - fair play Failbetter!). Eventually people who were betrayed will have nobody to themselves betray, and only those who've already passed this step will be able to continue Seeking. So, yeah, expect a mechanics change eventually.
--
Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
12/4/2012
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We have no plans to make Seeking the Name any easier for anyone at any point. If anything, it's likely to keep on getting more difficult for both existing and future players.
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Curious Fellow
Posts: 22
12/5/2012
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
We have no plans to make Seeking the Name any easier for anyone at any point. If anything, it's likely to keep on getting more difficult for both existing and future players.
I actually appreciate this. Thank you. We crazy, masochistic, self-destructive sorts need a challenge. 
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David
Posts: 79
12/5/2012
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A new card popped into my hand today:
St Beau's Candle
Be afraid; it's a side-show of horrors. I'm loving it the way one would love a choose-your-own-adventure Cthulhu novel.
Edit: Oh dear. It has the mother of all fate options. Assuming your mother was Elizabeth Bathory.
edited by The Dave on 12/5/2012
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Dharlome
Posts: 51
11/20/2012
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I agree Lady Red, however they do discourage us quite...forcefully. I wouldn't blame those who aren't as nuts as the seekers.
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Spacemarine9
Posts: 2234
11/20/2012
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
doesn't end nearly this badly.
Ominous!
also hahaha i have the worst luck with cards ever
EDIT: i posted this and then the next card i drew was a scary candle
edited by Spacemarine9 on 11/20/2012
--
my rats will blot out the sun
Ratgames
FL lore/mechanics questions and answers
#FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit.
#SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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Kade Carrion (an_ocelot)
Posts: 1372
11/14/2012
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[Sometimes there are insects on the skin and sometimes they are below it.]
edited by an emptiness on 11/14/2012
--
Social Actions: send them to Kade Carrion (she/her; no Tournament of Lilies, please). an_ocelot has gone NORTH and cannot benefit from social actions!
Possibly-Useful Things: Spreadsheets and hints and link collections, oh my.
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Guest
11/19/2012
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[Only the scarred, stained and chained are dreaming.]
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Asclepius Unbound
Posts: 389
11/20/2012
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If I didn't know better, I'd think that the Seekers were getting a positive thrill from having their thoughts and missives consumed.
But that would be unhinged.
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Alas, Asclepius Unbound is now forever beyond the reach of invitations. A successful Seeker.
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Branden Linton
Posts: 391
11/20/2012
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Asclepius Unbound wrote:
If I didn't know better, I'd think that the Seekers were getting a positive thrill from having their thoughts and missives consumed.
But that would be unhinged.
Now who here would want destroy themselves?
--
Brom Girvan: a man of shadows and secrets. http://echobazaar.failbettergames.com/Profile/Brom~Girvan
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