The reason MA won't make a score board.

[Mechanic]

After reading thru a few threads on then New MA event I come up with this.

With the Big Prizes MA want every one to compete in it = More money deposit, more decay for MA (that why there are no maturity scale for points)

With the score board after 3 days the number of ppl compete in the event will drop down to the top 20.

With the score board after 5 days the number of pp compete in the event will drop down to top 10

After 7 days will be 3 ppl compete in the event

No score board = No one know how they standing so there a small hope that they can asleast get to #3 spot = more player in the event, more decay for MA

No automatic DQ warning = if you don't know, it's better for MA, keep your hope up and spend more in the event.

My self know that I don't have a chance in hell to even come in to the 50 place in this event so it doesn't make any difference one way or the other, because I play when I feel like playing and stay on as long as I want. Good luck to those that try to win this event.

 

[TJZ]

i agree 100% but it would be nice to at least see the top 20 after the competition is over, tho it may also cause some misunderstandings with those who were close to being in top 3

 

[waperboy]

Mainly, a scoreboard would require some sort of real-time tracking of the points, which they have no mechanism for. As a MA representative said in a post in the event thread, they have to do a huge database crunch after the event to determine the points.

Database access is the biggest bottleneck in any system, and to do this repeatedly during the event would likely cause major performance problems for the servers.

That's what I think is the reason for not providing a scoreboard.

 

[hedaya]

Mainly, a scoreboard would require some sort of real-time tracking of the points, which they have no mechanism for. As a MA representative said in a post in the event thread, they have to do a huge database crunch after the event to determine the points.

Database access is the biggest bottleneck in any system, and to do this repeatedly during the event would likely cause major performance problems for the servers.

That's what I think is the reason for not providing a scoreboard.

I agree but I hope that MA will learn from that event and provide a score board next time. It don't need to be a realtime scoreboard but simply one that provides results from the last period. I guess that should be possible If MA needs a pro on databases they may hire me

 

[Morg]

once they post the first scoreboard, they would be lucky to have 5 still competing after everyone saw how far behind the top 3 they actually were.

This is all for publicity towards the upcoming Convention...can almost guarantee that Star will be getting one of the prizes as he is confirmed to be attending it and will make a wonderful spokesperson while there (note: not saying in any way this is rigged...just nice timing for each of them)...and timing has always been what is most important in this game.

The 'mantra" for PE has always been that "anyone" can make it big here not just the "investors". This has always been important because without the carrot chaser the game would of folded long ago. I seriously and highly doubt that we will even see a "scoreboard" (other than the top 3) even after the event is over because of the reality check it would provide to some, and prove/confirm to others. On the other hand they may show the top closest few if the results are close enough to each other, but to post the whole list and reveal to people how far off they actually were is unlikely. It wouldnt be good for the "spirit" of the game...nor would posting one now.

I approve of the event and think it was a good strategic business move towards the IPO, but I do not think posting a scoreboard of the many people that participated would be a very good idea.

I do, however, support the idea of letting the people who may of disqualified themselves along the way. But then again, there have been many times people have violated the EULA in "unforgivable" ways and werent told about it until they tried to withdraw some time in the distant future.

 

[Tamn]

Yup, I agree with everything you said...
*nods and keeps reading*

 

[waperboy]

I agree but I hope that MA will learn from that event and provide a score board next time. It don't need to be a realtime scoreboard but simply one that provides results from the last period. I guess that should be possible If MA needs a pro on databases they may hire me

My guess is that the actual point-counting is literally a guy running a SQL script in a console

 

[hedaya]

My guess is that the actual point-counting is literally a guy running a SQL script in a console

lol A trainee is trying to figure out how it works probably. All others are in vacation

 

[Xen]

Yeah, I mean if I knew I wasn't in contention I would just stop playing...

 

[Sionkiewicz]

Mainly, a scoreboard would require some sort of real-time tracking of the points, which they have no mechanism for. As a MA representative said in a post in the event thread, they have to do a huge database crunch after the event to determine the points.

Database access is the biggest bottleneck in any system, and to do this repeatedly during the event would likely cause major performance problems for the servers.

That's what I think is the reason for not providing a scoreboard.

Two Words.. Database Replication

The replicate could be used for the data crunching and reports. No affect to the customers (as long as the replication is setup properly and only includes the needed tables). It's kinda funny that they can post auction items in real time on the client but cannot generate a page to show a daily status on this event.

The hurdle here is not technical, it's planning. They should not have executed the Event if they didn't have all the needed processes in place to determine the winner and if these processes are setup properly and available now then there is no reason not to execute them daily and give people an idea where they are. Me thinks this company really could use some PMI training.

 

[kygon]

Mainly, a scoreboard would require some sort of real-time tracking of the points, which they have no mechanism for. As a MA representative said in a post in the event thread, they have to do a huge database crunch after the event to determine the points.

Database access is the biggest bottleneck in any system, and to do this repeatedly during the event would likely cause major performance problems for the servers.

That's what I think is the reason for not providing a scoreboard.

who said it had to be real time, a nightly db script would be enuf, a top 100 players would be been a really interesting thing to see on the CL each day

 

[LedEye]

It should really be a nice option to make paynova working again... *lol* I havent deposited since november

 

[timmmers]

Yeah, I mean if I knew I wasn't in contention I would just stop playing...

Stop then


Kygon is right, a top 100 daily would be nice. Don't tell me that it can't be done ...we do have a HOF for killing spree already set up don't we..how different is this really? Similar thing for all 3 mobs....top 50 maybe, that would give everyone a clue how badly they were losing.


t

 

[fluKe]

Its really simple... MA displays standings, half the people stop trying immediately. Less income from decay, less profits, unhappy shareholders

 

[Xen]

Stop then


Kygon is right, a top 100 daily would be nice. Don't tell me that it can't be done ...we do have a HOF for killing spree already set up don't we..how different is this really? Similar thing for all 3 mobs....top 50 maybe, that would give everyone a clue how badly they were losing.


t

My point was that most people that can afford to and are willing to participate in this event are dedicated players anyway. If any of them drop out of the comp because they are not in contention, MA's income from them probably would not drop much.

 

[Hotei]

i have to ask, almost afraid to do so...

Is there a possibility that they already know who they want to give the prizes to and that is why there isn't a scoreboard? I know it would be wrong, but one never knows. (though i do agree with the above posts that most would stop competing if they saw how far back they were).

Just thoughts, no one get mad

Best to all for the holiday season.

Hotei

 

[Echo Biatch]

I am not asking MA to show me how many points the top 100 has just their position....

There could be as little as a few hundred points between 1 and 100.....

all it would take is for the servers to go down for a short period cutting short a hunters hrs in just one session for the players below to overtake him

If there is one thing you can be sure of in life is that anything can happen...

An 11yo boy lifted a tractor off his trapped father....everyone said it could not be done .....

A NON UBER could win this competition .... everyone says it cant be done....

expect the unexpected......hope for the best......be the best you can be..

 

[ermik]

My guess is that the actual point-counting is literally a guy running a SQL script in a console

SELECT * FROM KILLED_MOBS WHERE MOBTYPE=ATROX



// ermik

 

[EarlVonKippler]

there is not a bad intention with not making a leaderboard, imo. i believe it is just not something they felt like spending resources on. i tend to lean more towards the idea they are too lazy and or unable or too busy to do features we feel may be needed.

 

[Alodar]

Doesn't seem to well planned out to me. If you are going to run a contest this could have all been taken care of long ago in preparation. Now there is only disgruntled players instead of people enjoying the game. I didn't even see the last note about playing only six hours till just a few minutes ago, when was that added? Shoot, I probably already disqualified my self already.


Even if I hadn't had a chance to win anything, it would have been fun to participate. Hopefully they will learn something for next time. I can't believe I was in the beta for this game back in 2001 and now I am still "hoping they will learn" better customer relations.




--Alodar

 

[Dorsai]

My take on it.

1. The real time thing. I think doing it daily would be enough. MA go off-line for a short period to copy the relevant DB onto a otherwise unused system.

Then come back on-line.

Set the backup system crunching, while EU carries on.
The following morning, MA staff arrive & the leader board is published, as of 4pm yesterday.

2. Once someone knows they have 100 points, and the leader has 1,000,000, they will quit.

Simple, Echo Biatch has solved that.

Don't show points, just position.
Limit it to the top 10.
No one will want to "give up" as they won't know if the top 10 are separated by 10 points, or 10,000. They also won't know if they are 11 points off of top place (and hence not in the top 10), or 210,001 points off of position 1,000.

But it won't happen, as it's too late to change it now.

Next time, perhaps MA might.

 

[Centech]

Displaying the score would get in the way of MA giving the LA to whoever that have already decided to give it to. Duh.

NOTE: I'm joking.. probably.

 

[Ultimus]

I see a more obvious and subtle solution. Let each player get their own running score. Heck, it could even be client tracked (unofficial, of course - with the official score calculated by the database crunch). This way people can track their own progress but not know others. Now, the social bunch we are we would be sharing, but nobody really knows if anyone is telling the truth and many will refuse to share, heightning the lure and bringing in more competition and $$$ for MA.

Just my 2 cents, er...pec worth.

Ultimus

 

[Vap0r]

I'd say stop the big credit card kids from paying people to run off mobs and just make the prizes lootable. 1 Set of shadow will be dropped between now and Jan 1st along with one deed for the new LA. All mobs eligible so no more hording specific mobs of course if you looted the shadow in the wrong gender it could be swapped out by MA hehe

 

[jambon]

yup I agree, MA doesn't give a flying f*** about the desires of the players... Or more over - saving the players any money... saving the player some money = MA not being able to wipe their asses with hundreds of OUR hard earned dollars...

Hence why every update only brings more and more retarded crap that no one asked for... when was the last time a suggestion made to MA actual went somewhere?

I mean geez... where is the line of communication breaking down..

We ask for them to finish the taming profession... they add fingernails to the avatars.

We ask them to reintroduce the stamina stat... they take actual peds and items out of the loot...

We ask them to fix the bug with changing items... they add a 2 pec decay to when you change clothes or armor regardless of if your in town on in the middle of butt f*** no-where to combat "lag" HAH. No too much lag in the middle of nowhere...

We ask for quests and story lines... they come up with some lame-ass self-serving attempt involving black orbs and notes with bar codes on them where the players are supposed to figure out what's going on, hell I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even know... they are just gonna watch the forum and take the best player idea and make it that.

We ask for better loot distribution... they say their traditional hyped up phrase "EU it's dynamic" and leave it at that... you know what else is dynamic.... rolling a dice... just like at the craps table...

We complain about all the crap MA has been pulling... they toss us a few cheesy gifts and hope it makes it all better.

We find a small bug or technique that gives players a slight advantage... it's patched within the hour *cough* opallo amp nerf *cough*

*shrugs* so... how is them not putting a scoreboard in any different... they are far to busy working on a way to "even things out" in EU aka how MA can make more money off screwing people over in game... if they raise the amount of no looters by 25% that's another $600,000 in their pocket, BRILLIANT.

 

[Tussi]

@jambon: Full ack.

Tussi