Lonelygirl15

tigerlilylynn wrote:We've been discussing both.
For the Petaluma Revisited drop I was told to have Luv stay put while "brother" was in route. I shilled so she didn't drive home another 3 hours empty handed.

That case of "shilling" is totally understandable.

What has been really bothering me is that some players were blatantly given answers or clues. I mean, I thought these people were really smart. I looked up to them and hoped that I could one day contribute important information that helped solve a puzzle like they did.

Although, I don't even know who "they" are right now. Honestly, I'd really like to know who exactly did this, but I know that's just because I'm angry right now and I totally understand and respect why that can't be done.

Can we compile all the facts? I don't think posting chat logs is necessary. Just someone who has the logs or knows about instructions (like in your case Tiger) or hints given by Glenn, could you come forward with facts? I don't care who it was, I just want to know what were the specific instances, to see how pervasive the practice was.

You could say "I remember once in the chat someone said Glenn had hinted with Look Familiar, I thought it was all being posted in the forums so I didn't think anything was wrong."

But please lets come up with some facts (thanks Tiger). Otherwise speculation about how many players were shilling is just that, speculation and it's probably inflamatory if not offensive to those of us that never cheated.

I can attest personally that many solves were achieved without any guidance from the PM, at least the 2 or 3 things I found solutions for were solely the result of my work and also some collaboration with other players.

Luv2Luvem wrote:

tigerlilylynn wrote: We've been discussing both.
For the Petaluma Revisited drop I was told to have Luv stay put while "brother" was in route. I shilled so she didn't drive home another 3 hours empty handed.

Then I am most grateful for your "shilling" dear.

So, did he ever confirm it was a jacked drop?

deagol wrote:

Luv2Luvem wrote:

tigerlilylynn wrote: We've been discussing both.
For the Petaluma Revisited drop I was told to have Luv stay put while "brother" was in route. I shilled so she didn't drive home another 3 hours empty handed.

Then I am most grateful for your "shilling" dear.

So, did he ever confirm it was a jacked drop?

It was supposed to have been there. It wasn't, as far as can be told, taken with malice tho. Just picked up by some confused kids prolly.

deagol wrote:

Luv2Luvem wrote:

tigerlilylynn wrote: We've been discussing both.
For the Petaluma Revisited drop I was told to have Luv stay put while "brother" was in route. I shilled so she didn't drive home another 3 hours empty handed.

Then I am most grateful for your "shilling" dear.

So, did he ever confirm it was a jacked drop?

I never got an official confirmation, no.

edit: Tiger beat me

I apologize for my niavity in the matter but it seems I have kept myself comfortably in the dark. I just would like for everyone to stop and take a deep breath and think about the consequences of their actions....... I am not on either side of the issue. Arm yourself with facts not speculation, and consider that while "people where keeping things behind the curtain" perhaps there was some investigating going on to get the facts. I know we all have heard some interesting stories....but I cannot corroborate any of what I have heard sooooo you dont see me posting it..... if that is keeping things behind the curtain than so be it...but you wont find me slandering or defaming people without facts to back up my accusations.

Completely agree tech. I'm interested in evidence or first-hand knowledge about the shills spying accusation (I think it was Lad who said something like that happened). What was the purpose of such spying by the PM?

I am really sad.

I am, I confess, an avid (some might say stalker like ) lurker. I read everything in the Opaphid Forums, love TigerLily's explanation videos, and bore my friends to tears with details about what is happening in the Tachyon/Op World (even when they are no longer listening). When Tach's music came on in "Human Ransom" I jumped up and started dancing - and I almost joined the forums then just so I could post to other people that would "get it." But I never joined because I knew I was not smart enough to help with the puzzle solving (It's in Hexa - wha?).

With today's events, I could lurk no longer. I am so sad right now. Sad that some of the best players have left, sad that the fate of Opaphid lies in question, sad to see you all torn to pieces over this and sad to see you tearing apart each other.

It is my hope that despite the unfortunate events, a new PM will take over and revive the ARG and that all those involved can find the happiness and comraderie they used to in this space.

xo,
dawn marie

I consider myself a neutral observer so perhaps I can offer some “real world” perspective.

First of all, I do not consider what Tiger did to be “shilling” – it was done to protect Luv and the integrity of the drop. It was not done to mislead anyone.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, if anyone thinks that other ARG’s and discussion forums do not have shills and/or spies then they are terribly naïve. Read the discussions of the “Lost” ARG, the “Heros” forum or even the “American Idol” forums and it’s clear that the PM’s and producers have a hand in leading and guiding the direction of the interaction. That’s just reality.

With regard to anything else that may have happened – I will refrain from commenting until more facts are known.

trainer101 wrote: First of all, I do not consider what Tiger did to be “shilling” – it was done to protect Luv and the integrity of the drop. It was not done to mislead anyone.

I just wanted to say I completely agree here.

ShardinsKitten wrote:

trainer101 wrote: First of all, I do not consider what Tiger did to be “shilling” – it was done to protect Luv and the integrity of the drop. It was not done to mislead anyone.

I just wanted to say I completely agree here.

As do I. I really hope no one thinks that Tiger did anything wrong. I was not just going to go home that night...I had 2 other locations that I was going to search. Had it not been for Tiger I would have been out all night. And then come home empty handed.

trainer101 wrote:Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, if anyone thinks that other ARG’s and discussion forums do not have shills and/or spies then they are terribly naïve. Read the discussions of the “Lost” ARG, the “Heros” forum or even the “American Idol” forums and it’s clear that the PM’s and producers have a hand in leading and guiding the direction of the interaction. That’s just reality.

There is one fundamental difference between the OpAphid ARG and those ARGs:

The OpAphid ARG is, or at least started, as a totally original creation.

The ARGs you mention were probably created by a marketing team to solely promote the TV shows they are based on. I personally don't expect ARGs like that to abide by the rules that ARGs generally abide by.

EDIT: Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh. Looking back over this, I didn't mean it to sound so angry. I'm just so angry at this whole situation that I'm letting it get the better of me. I didn't mean to sound like I'm yelling at you, Trainer. That was not my intention. Sorry...

No offense taken - I'm not easily offended.

You bring up a very good point though - OpAphid was/is a totally original creation and as such has the right to set it's own rules and guidelines. Just because people expect games to be run a certain way, does not mean they are.

tigerlilylynn wrote:We've been discussing both.
For the Petaluma Revisited drop I was told to have Luv stay put while "brother" was in route. I shilled so she didn't drive home another 3 hours empty handed.

That's not shilling either, as most everyone, it seems already agrees. I'm trying to illustrate the difference because people seem to be really confused about what a "shill" really is. What you did was not for anyone's benefit per se...just keeping the game on check. That's like a yellow or even red flag in a NASCAR race.

A shill is somebody who actively works for the game operator...and knows they're working for the operator. They pretend to be a game competitor in order to garner attention and play to get things movings along. This is done for the benefit of the game operator, and often at the expense of participants. It's also seen in auctions...when somebody continually hikes up a bid price in order to raise the final bid....but without actually winning the auction. This person is usually working with the auctioneer or owner of the item being auctioned.

A cheat is somebody who does anything outside of the generally accepted rules of the game in order to advance themselves as a player in the game. They do it for their own recognition and benefit. A cheat can be working with or without the knowledge of the game operator, there just usually isn't any benefit for the operator except for auxiliary favors, perhaps.


IN this case...it seems the ones who apparently did what they did....did it not for the benefit of the entire game, but for themselves--to get credit for figuring out the puzzles. That's cheating.

Some have said that it's no different than getting hints from the characters. That's not true.

For example, Tachyon gave my a very good hint about the swimming pool in that one movie scene. That was the hint that helped "break" the case as it were....but I did it within the realm of game play by sending a message to Tachyon via youtube. And, as per the rules, I posted the message for everyone to see. That was for the benefit of the entire game.

If people were getting hints from the PM, then they are obligated t post the hints in the forums for everyone. Clearly, they weren't doing that? Why? Because their methods of getting hints/answers was outside the rules of the game...they were cheating. What's worse is the the PM went along with it...and perhaps even encouraged it. Rumors like that have been circulating for months, but nobody was ever willing to prove it.

Can we compile all the facts? I don't think posting chat logs is necessary. Just someone who has the logs or knows about instructions (like in your case Tiger) or hints given by Glenn, could you come forward with facts? I don't care who it was, I just want to know what were the specific instances, to see how pervasive the practice was.

I think, as game participants, we are owed this. Thing is, people don't want those logs posted because there was "personal" information revealed. Others don't want them posted because they don't want to be "outed" as a cheater. Well, screw that. I offered before, and I'll do it again. If anyone has them...send them to me and I will personally redact anything remotely personal and off -topic. I'm very good about stuff like that and do not gossip about that stuff.

I have to say, though, again...you guys should never, ever consider forum posts or chat logs to be private, especially when you are discussing elements of the game. There is no such thing as a "private chat" when you're dealing with the Internet. If you choose to reveal personal information, then you need to be aware that anybody could possibly have that.


Take Miss Antonella Barba on American Idol. Those photos of her were meant to be private....but they still got out.

This is crazy. The next thing will be that Bree doesn't really exist or something...ok, a bad joke. Well, not a bad joke, but maybe a bad
time for a joke.

I don't understand why this had to take place, though. I mean...it seems the shrill/cheater controversy could've been avoided by route of increasing the rate of Tachyon messaging or putting out more hints via the videos. I understand that "they" wanted to make it appear as if the players were making legitamate gains, but... overall they just stifled the fun of it b/c the question becomes, "was the puzzle actually solved?" If not...then what's the point?

Honestly, though. I'm sorry to see what everyone's going through. I'm so new to this that it doesn't affect me as much. The best analogy that I came up with was that it'd be like a soccer team that makes it to the World Cup finds out that some of their players were on steroids and getting unfair insights as to the other team's strategy. Bad analogy? Well, it wasa still better than most of what I come up with as far as puzzles are concerned. Anyhow, I'm just trying to be empathetic as to what you guys are going through, b/c despite the fact that I haven't been here a long time, I really do look forward to seeing what everyone's posted and where the train of thought has led us.

Best,
Themos