deagol wrote:covedweller wrote:So far it doesn't seem to effect the story or game....
We all seem to get access to the same information, either way....
I've heard of a private IRC room for Tachyon's team. If true, it means not everyone gets access to the same info, and it would obviously affect the game.
You know, it seems to me that there is a growing gap among the people involved in this. There is a private chat room for Tachyon's elite followers. In my opinion, making this chat private, defeats one of the directives of this game- to openly share information. Prior to this, there have been, at least, two sects of people- those on the forums, and those in IRC. A lot of people have complained that the IRC chat was "elitist" and doesn't share information. This is not, nor has it ever been, true. The IRC chat has always been an open means of communication and information sharing. In short, everything that people figure out in the chat, comes out in the forums.
It may take a little while, especially when there are long puzzles to solve, and people tend to focus on the work that they're doing. But no puzzle ever gets started without a public announcement of some sort (ie. a change in profile, etc). The reason that the IRC people tend to get a jump on the puzzles, is because we're insane and refresh profile pages every couple of minutes.
I'm going to digress for a moment here to discuss two main types of communication. There's synchronous, and asynchronous. Synchronous, or "real time" communication is like the IRC chat. It means that people can discuss and share ideas instantaneously. Asynchronous communication takes a little longer as the word suggests, because it is "not real time." Likewise forums are a "pull" method of communcation- where each side has to "pull" information from a central source. IRC is a "push" method- where information just shows up on your screen, whether you like it or not.
Now why is this important? There are a number of different "types" of puzzles that we have seen thus far. The components that make up each puzzle can also be classified in many ways. I'm not going to get into a whole taxonomical structure for these, as there really is no point, becaues it doesn't affect how the puzzles are solved, and I'll be sure to miss something anyway.
Some of the puzzle types are geared towards real time communication. Examples of these, would be linear puzzles, where there is a series of "relatively" easy problems (ie the profile updates that were blatent codes, that translate to redirects for craigslist sites, or the contents of the SD card on the first drop). It's sometimes just quicker to solve something like that if you have real time communication. However, asynchronous communication is far superior in tougher problems (ie. CiW's massive anagram). There is no way that could be solved in "real time." A forums is a much more effective means of communication for this puzzle type. Everyone sees the puzzle, goes off with their own little piece, and comes back when they've figured something out.
Op has given us puzzles of both types, and I really don't think that Op would want to limit the number of people who are working on their puzzles. It just seems counterproductive to me. I'm also fairly certain that the puzzle types will be varied enough so that everyone gets a chance to play.
Now, why did I go on this little tirade? Where does this tie in with the private Tachyon chat room? There are two publically accessible Op rooms: #OpAphid and #OperationAphid. Anyone who can get into an IRC chat room, can go to these rooms to share information, or just come to hang out. Once again, these rooms are publically accessible, and allow for real time communication. However, the #Tachyon room is private and "invite only." I feel that this is completlely counterproductive and a blashphemy of what the PMs want. I don't feel that it's my place to say that they "can't" have a private room, but I do feel justtified in saying that they "shouldn't" have a private room, because THAT is the elitest attitude that we are all trying to avoid. The Tachyon Elite, as I like to call them, are bastardizing what this should be, and I feel that it is morally wrong to EXCLUDE the fresh blood and sparkling insights of new players who are trying to prove themselves.
Michael