The Mole: Episode 06 - The Birthday Ultimatum / The Haunted Corridor / The Box Gambit / The Nursery Party
May 27, 2012 22:35:44 GMT -5
Post by Beelzebibble on May 27, 2012 22:35:44 GMT -5
At the end of our pivotal last installment, the team was penalized a crushing 100 EP after accumulating the worst average quiz score in the game to date. Who should have taken this quiz, and who should have been barred from doing so? Meanwhile, Biscuit, after recently coming under heavy suspicion for his mishandling of "The Dossier Hunt", sought redemption by trading in his "batman" for 20 EP rather than using it to target either Elliot or Testbug. But this bold move turned out to be Biscuit's undoing, and it was he who ended up taking the long walk home. There's little room left for honor among the remaining four contestants, who'll need every resource they can muster to survive the final three episodes and uncover the traitor...
* * *
The episode's only just begun and we've already had some excitement!
As the five -- or should I say, six -- of you know, we had a bit of a prelude to this episode, a task which I would deem a mini-challenge alongside "The Surprise Audit" from the previous episode. Both tasks shared the qualities not only of being highly minimalistic in design, but also of requiring an element of surprise, meaning they couldn't be detailed beforehand like regular challenges. Let's call this one "The Birthday Ultimatum".
It was a simple test of trust. On Friday I sent the five remaining players PMs with the following title: "DON'T READ THIS. HIT CANCEL." Making use of the fact that Proboards informs you whether a recipient of one of your PMs has opened it yet, I would monitor the forum throughout the day. Every time someone logged in, they would then have 24 hours in which to resist the urge to open the PM. If that player could stave off the temptation that long, they would earn 12 EP for the pot, meaning that 60 EP altogether was available here.
But then I decided to throw in a little something extra, because it happened to be the birthday of everyone's new favorite Molevictim alum, Biscuit. Why not give him one more chance to have some input on the game? I sent Biscuit an identical PM, but set the value much higher. If he could avoid opening the PM, there'd be an extra 40 EP for the pot. And lo and behold, your unhappy twist of fate from the previous episode would be completely undone! 100 EP and we'd be right back where we were, happy as clams.
Well, that didn't work out too well for Biscuit -- his phone opened the PM automatically, leaving him no opportunity to digest the title and hold back from reading it. I wouldn't have had any sympathy for a player in the same position, but... well, it was his birthday, and seeing him break down in the shoutbox about it... I figured he could use a second chance.
So I sent him an alternate offer. Persuade the five of you each to PM me with the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BISCUIT" (title, message, wherever), and the 40 EP would be secured once again.
The only problem, of course, was how to go about pitching the idea? After all, the Mole is among the five, and would surely prefer to ignore Biscuit's PM if s/he could tell money would be involved.
Well, I don't know what Biscuit told you guys, but it worked! Over the next twenty-four hours, all five of you PMed me with the appropriate message, meaning that the 40 EP are won after all. You see -- the Mole may be a filthy saboteur, but his/her heart isn't made of stone! Man, I'm gettin' a little dewy 'round the eyes, just writing this.
Of course, the Mole might have been impelled to act cooperatively by pity for you four, no less than by fondness for Biscuit. After all, though the five players PMed me to satisfy Biscuit's birthday wishes, they also all opened the forbidden PM immediately upon logging in, like a file of tin soldiers marching off a table. Were other people also done in by their lousy fucking smartphones? Was it impossible for some people to resist the ingrained impulse to hit "OK" in the popup window, even if they noticed the title? Did anyone think I was joking? Or did someone size up the situation and coolly choose to disobey my command, knowing it would sabotage the mission? Well, yeah, someone probably did that last one. The Mole, y'know.
So, the test of trust was an absolute failure, and 0 of those 60 EP go into the pot. But hey, the 40 EP is far from shabby as a consolation prize! The scars from last episode may not have healed yet, but (to mix a metaphor) at least you guys are back on the playing-field. And hey, as long as I'm in a good mood, why not spoil it: there'll be no opportunities to lose money from the pot this episode! But as to whether you actually earn any more money, well, that's on you guys.
THE TEAM POT: 187 EP
THE MOLE'S POCKET: 227 EP
And with that out of the way, let's move on to our three proper challenges. The first of which will begin as soon as I finish my next post...
* * *
The episode's only just begun and we've already had some excitement!
As the five -- or should I say, six -- of you know, we had a bit of a prelude to this episode, a task which I would deem a mini-challenge alongside "The Surprise Audit" from the previous episode. Both tasks shared the qualities not only of being highly minimalistic in design, but also of requiring an element of surprise, meaning they couldn't be detailed beforehand like regular challenges. Let's call this one "The Birthday Ultimatum".
It was a simple test of trust. On Friday I sent the five remaining players PMs with the following title: "DON'T READ THIS. HIT CANCEL." Making use of the fact that Proboards informs you whether a recipient of one of your PMs has opened it yet, I would monitor the forum throughout the day. Every time someone logged in, they would then have 24 hours in which to resist the urge to open the PM. If that player could stave off the temptation that long, they would earn 12 EP for the pot, meaning that 60 EP altogether was available here.
But then I decided to throw in a little something extra, because it happened to be the birthday of everyone's new favorite Mole
Well, that didn't work out too well for Biscuit -- his phone opened the PM automatically, leaving him no opportunity to digest the title and hold back from reading it. I wouldn't have had any sympathy for a player in the same position, but... well, it was his birthday, and seeing him break down in the shoutbox about it... I figured he could use a second chance.
So I sent him an alternate offer. Persuade the five of you each to PM me with the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BISCUIT" (title, message, wherever), and the 40 EP would be secured once again.
The only problem, of course, was how to go about pitching the idea? After all, the Mole is among the five, and would surely prefer to ignore Biscuit's PM if s/he could tell money would be involved.
Well, I don't know what Biscuit told you guys, but it worked! Over the next twenty-four hours, all five of you PMed me with the appropriate message, meaning that the 40 EP are won after all. You see -- the Mole may be a filthy saboteur, but his/her heart isn't made of stone! Man, I'm gettin' a little dewy 'round the eyes, just writing this.
Of course, the Mole might have been impelled to act cooperatively by pity for you four, no less than by fondness for Biscuit. After all, though the five players PMed me to satisfy Biscuit's birthday wishes, they also all opened the forbidden PM immediately upon logging in, like a file of tin soldiers marching off a table. Were other people also done in by their lousy fucking smartphones? Was it impossible for some people to resist the ingrained impulse to hit "OK" in the popup window, even if they noticed the title? Did anyone think I was joking? Or did someone size up the situation and coolly choose to disobey my command, knowing it would sabotage the mission? Well, yeah, someone probably did that last one. The Mole, y'know.
So, the test of trust was an absolute failure, and 0 of those 60 EP go into the pot. But hey, the 40 EP is far from shabby as a consolation prize! The scars from last episode may not have healed yet, but (to mix a metaphor) at least you guys are back on the playing-field. And hey, as long as I'm in a good mood, why not spoil it: there'll be no opportunities to lose money from the pot this episode! But as to whether you actually earn any more money, well, that's on you guys.
THE TEAM POT: 187 EP
THE MOLE'S POCKET: 227 EP
And with that out of the way, let's move on to our three proper challenges. The first of which will begin as soon as I finish my next post...