An update on recent technical problems and more from the admin: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/250292/on-technical-difficulties-mod-coverage-and-other-things/p1?new=1
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Totally not a phalla thread
redx
I(x)=2(x)+1whole numbersRegistered User regular
I(x)=2(x)+1whole numbersRegistered User regular
So... I went out to the book store to pick up something to read. After striking out on about 5 books I went there to get, I ended up getting Cryptonomicon.
I kinda read it a bit, and well... I had a neat idea. We've played a fair number of Phalla games, and they are probably still laying about. The forum search feature should be working.
It wouldn't take too much to do a bit of poking around, and maybe find some rather neat information about how folks play phalla. By looking at the old threads, and with a bit of effort, we should be able to piece together some indicators about different aspects based on folks posting behavior. Comparing things like posts per day(average and during games), posts per day in the phalla thread, and special status, we might be able to get some neat results.
Now... I'm lazy. I don't really feel like going about this all on my own, and assistance from mods in maybe chatlogging the old games so the don't get pruned, or even the very unlike chance that an admin with slightly more direct access to the database wanted to give a hand, that would be keen too.
I know we got a fair number of math geeks, and here is an almost real world way to apply some of that(well... maybe not actual math, but statistics anyway). And there are some folks with computer skills, who might be able to get a bit more out of the forum than you would get out of the typical search feature(without doing anything that would fuck the forum up). Like, automate stuff a wee bit. (clearly, getting permission to do this would be required, and with shit that has gone down recently I could guess it might be slow in coming. Even though it would not be anything that a typical user couldn't do manually.)
I wonder if folks might be interested. I think it could be kinda neat. It would be a pretty small population size, and probably insignificant, but I figured I'd throw the idea out there.
I kinda read it a bit, and well... I had a neat idea. We've played a fair number of Phalla games, and they are probably still laying about. The forum search feature should be working.
It wouldn't take too much to do a bit of poking around, and maybe find some rather neat information about how folks play phalla. By looking at the old threads, and with a bit of effort, we should be able to piece together some indicators about different aspects based on folks posting behavior. Comparing things like posts per day(average and during games), posts per day in the phalla thread, and special status, we might be able to get some neat results.
Now... I'm lazy. I don't really feel like going about this all on my own, and assistance from mods in maybe chatlogging the old games so the don't get pruned, or even the very unlike chance that an admin with slightly more direct access to the database wanted to give a hand, that would be keen too.
I know we got a fair number of math geeks, and here is an almost real world way to apply some of that(well... maybe not actual math, but statistics anyway). And there are some folks with computer skills, who might be able to get a bit more out of the forum than you would get out of the typical search feature(without doing anything that would fuck the forum up). Like, automate stuff a wee bit. (clearly, getting permission to do this would be required, and with shit that has gone down recently I could guess it might be slow in coming. Even though it would not be anything that a typical user couldn't do manually.)
I wonder if folks might be interested. I think it could be kinda neat. It would be a pretty small population size, and probably insignificant, but I figured I'd throw the idea out there.
They moistly come out at night, moistly.
redx on
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As a villager - posts in the thread a lot
As a bad guy - not so much
But from a pure curiosity standpoint, I agree it would be interesting.
Being good at playing is tied inextricably to being extremely aware of the public facade you're projecting, and manipulating it to achieve a desired effect. All you'd do if you look at most players is start an endless chain of "Do they know I know they know I know?" and when you add "convincing liar" as another good skill to have it becomes an exercise in futility.
Don't let me rain on your parade, I'd love to see the results and I'd be willing to chip in a bit, but I think it's at best an intellectual exercise with no practical application.
I like to think they're pretty damn close to the same, but I have no illusions that the fact that I'm a monster doesn't affect me subconsciously.
Phalla V (post-counts)
Phalla VI (post-counts)
Phalla (post-counts) VII (post-counts)
Phalla VIII (post-counts)
Interesting tidbits:
(note: the average was divided by 5. even with the empty cells, i wasn't going to go through and divide each one by the correct number.)
- Only 9 people posted in all 5 of those threads. (I was one
)
- The highest average in those 5 threads was Shinto, with 53.8. tux had 51.8, Aroduc and werehippy had averages of 49.
- The records for a single thread:
- bsjezz - 145 (V)
- Aroduc - 133 (V)
- Shinto - 132 (VIII)
- Irond Will - 128 (V)
- werehippy - 120 (VI)
- tuxkamen - 115 (V)
- Elendil - 106 (V)
- Tarranon - 91 (V)
- Smasher - 91 (V)
- Running a game
- Joseph/ArrBeeBee/Kusu - 121 (VI, 57/17/47)
- ElJeffe - 76 (V)
- Shinto - 51 (VIIa/b 27/24)
- Dynagrip - 33 (VIII)
- Lowest averages for 2+ games
- docse - 6 (12 posts/2 games)
- Grid System - 6.5 (13 posts/2 games)
- saggio - 9.5 (19 posts/2 games)
- Giganticus - 10 (20 posts/2 games)
Obviously Dynagrip's number and all the numbers for VIII aren't fair, because it wasn't even a quarter of the way through, but still some interesting numbers. And of course, this doesn't take into account dying early, etc. And I haven't looked at monster/special information yet.Woot.
So the smaller game, the fewer posts per person. But the average person is going to post 26 times in a 300 to 2200 post thread, which makes it hard to get a read on them.
- Game. Average Posts per Person / Average Posts per Monster
- V. 43.36 / 78.83
- VI. 27.25/28.67
- VIIa. 11.85/26
- VIIb. 9.06/12
Wow. In some games it's a huge difference, but in others it's just a few posts. Obviously, monsters have a better life expectancy, so that could explain the small difference in VI and VIIb. But wow at game V.What would probably be most telling would be the average ratio of posts/days alive per person, but that would take a lot of work.
How likely that is to accurately predict monsters is another issue, but you can say that for any statistic we come up with.
I know that as of night two in the Hunter game I was high poster by far, but then the monsters got me. I'll bet that by the end of the game several people had caught up to my post count in the thread.
Also, I know my spreadsheet for each game always includes a notes column, because there are a lot of non-quantifiable aspects to how someone usually acts that make them suspicious or not.
Just a note, I didn't "really" participate in all 5 games. In the first one (where I have 2 posts) I was reading the game to get a feel for how it works, and I asked two questions during the general discussion.
So, my real average over 4 games is 60.75 [((49 x 2)-2)/4].
I win Phalla!