If the difficulty of building the counter is the main evidence for its being fake then I don't really find that all that persuasive.
Um, it ISN'T. There's also the fact that the counter was totally fake during Halloween. The fact that the counter mysteriously jumped by about a mill when they changed the targets. The fact that it keeps incrementing steadily, in mechanical fashion, all hours of the day and night.
And what evidence is there that it IS genuine? Oh, the fact that at some point earlier they wrote code to poll user games to count buildings.
Well if a genuine and accurate counter was created back in the day, and it's so easy to use and so reliable, why did they replace it with a fake one during Halloween?
Last I'm going to say on the topic, because only EA knows for sure and it ultimately doesn't matter to anyone except players who a) assume it's real and b) base their gameplay on that assumption. Since I'm not one of those, it doesn't matter at all to me.
If the difficulty of building the counter is the main evidence for its being fake then I don't really find that all that persuasive.
Um, it ISN'T. There's also the fact that the counter was totally fake during Halloween. The fact that the counter mysteriously jumped by about a mill when they changed the targets. The fact that it keeps incrementing steadily, in mechanical fashion, all hours of the day and night.
And what evidence is there that it IS genuine? Oh, the fact that at some point earlier they wrote code to poll user games to count buildings.
Well if a genuine and accurate counter was created back in the day, and it's so easy to use and so reliable, why did they replace it with a fake one during Halloween?
Last I'm going to say on the topic, because only EA knows for sure and it ultimately doesn't matter to anyone except players who a) assume it's real and b) base their gameplay on that assumption. Since I'm not one of those, it doesn't matter at all to me.
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
If you believe the Halloween counter was genuine, I think you're the only one here who does. Pretty sure even Exruciator would disagree with you on that one.
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
If you believe the Halloween counter was genuine, I think you're the only one here who does. Pretty sure even Exruciator would disagree with you on that one.
Nope, he's not the only one.
Poorly coded perhaps, but fake, no, given the argument of both side and my experience in software development (ie how I would code the counter) have no reason to think it was fake, despite the public opinion of this forum.
Answer this, please: If EA is using a fake counter, why bother changing the milestones since they could just manipulate the rate of the fake counter to match them?
As an experienced programmer I can give you a very logical answer: because it's much easier to bump the community total and change the milestones than to alter, test and debug the code that runs the (IMO fake) community counter.
It's exceedingly easy to write a chunk of code that'll make a counter increment in identical fractions every second. It's a bit more work, and a LOT more testing, to create a chunk of code that'll make a counter appear to increment in random amounts at random times.
(And I guess you already know - it's also considerably more work to create a counter that actually polls users' game sessions to keep track of the actual totals)
And if they already wrote it the first way, there's no easy way to change it to the second way. But it would still be simple to keep the first type of counter, bump the community total and change the milestones.
EA has already revealed they have in fact created a counter that polls community game sessions sometime late last year when they recorded and published the number of Kwik-E-Marts and Krusty Burgers constructed in the game to date, donuts used and a couple other similar totals. IIRC they were touting something like more Kwik-E-Marts in the game than real 7/11s in the US (or it could have been Krusty Burger's and McDonald's, I can't remember exactly). So the code to do the counting has existed for a long time, it makes sense then that they would use that same thing to set the community prizes. If the difficulty of building the counter is the main evidence for its being fake then I don't really find that all that persuasive.
Just throwing this out there, don't care either way, but how do we know that counter was real? Hmmm.......? I've heard that 97.3% of all conspiracy theories have some basis in fact. I got that from the same place that I learned 62.8% of all statistics are made up.
I am also a programmer and I can think of countless ways to code the counter.
Then you should also know how extremely risky and ill-advised it is to make any change that's not absolutely necessary (e.g., a bug fix) to a chunk of code running on a live game that people are actively playing, and you should also know that if the counter were truly an accurate reflection of actual player activity, it wouldn't keep ticking forward at a steady rate no matter the hour of day or night.
You should also know that if it were polling and collecting actual user data, it would not be possible for the counter to go up, then back down, then back up again, as many players are seeing.
But ultimately, I'm with the commenter above: it doesn't matter if it's real or not, we're getting the prizes. I only raised the matter to try and calm some posters' nerves over this silly counter obsession.
You should also know the decision to make a change is often at the whim of a stuffed shirt who understands the concerns over making a live change and calls for it anyway over the devs recommendations.
You should know the steady rate could be an average over some time frame. Not a reflection of current activity but a delayed and averaged out.
You should know that if there is finite number of people that can be connected at one time and if people play around the world those will go a long way to smoothing out to a somewhat steady rate.
If the counter always trends upward even that could be regarded as "steady."
Any chance the up down pattern is mis-reported data and the subsequent correction? I would make sure the counter can never lower.
I still don't like it if I think about it. If it's fake and was meant to create an illusion of something not real then swing for the fences and manipulate the totals and the artificial rate of gift bags dropped.
They ALREADY showed a willingness to manipulate the totals if the observations are true...so why couple it with milestone reduction? Every response I have seen doesn't make sense.
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
If you believe the Halloween counter was genuine, I think you're the only one here who does. Pretty sure even Exruciator would disagree with you on that one.
Seems to me I'm not totally alone.
EA has demonstrated they have the means to track player activity, they had a year's worth of information from last Halloween, last Christmas, Valentines and then Whacking Day to come up with a reasonable approximation of how many of what things an "average" player could and what goals could be reached while the special event is going on so the existence of an accurate global counter for Halloween doesn't seem all that far fetched. Could it still be fake? It's not beyond the realm of possibilities, but it doesn't really make sense that it would be given that a real one could be so easily constructed given what they already had and the potential blowback from the fraud being exposed. If you accept the Halloween counter was fake it doesn't make sense that the Christmas counter and goals would then be screwed up so badly.
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
If you believe the Halloween counter was genuine, I think you're the only one here who does. Pretty sure even Exruciator would disagree with you on that one.
I never looked closely enough at it. What I do know is that you could have nearly set your watch to it.
Which made me think the Xmas one was real.
If they already had a proven fake counter from Hallowe'en why the screw ups with the Xmas one? Didn't you just "successfully" pull off a fake counter without milestone changes or any alterations?
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
If you believe the Halloween counter was genuine, I think you're the only one here who does. Pretty sure even Exruciator would disagree with you on that one.
I'll add spAnser to the list of people who think the Halloween counter was probably real.
Not only am I keeping a lot of company, I'm keeping good company too!
I never really took much notice of what the original starting target was so how much has it dropped?? :?
1st was 450 million. Now 450 million
2nd was 1 billion. Now 625 million
3rd was 1.5 billion. Now 800 million
4th was 2 billion. Now 975 million
5th was 2.4 billion. Now 1.1 billion
I never really took much notice of what the original starting target was so how much has it dropped?? :?
1st was 450 million. Now 450 million
2nd was 1 billion. Now 625 million
3rd was 1.5 billion. Now 800 million
4th was 2 billion. Now 975 million
5th was 2.4 billion. Now 1.1 billion
Replies
Um, it ISN'T. There's also the fact that the counter was totally fake during Halloween. The fact that the counter mysteriously jumped by about a mill when they changed the targets. The fact that it keeps incrementing steadily, in mechanical fashion, all hours of the day and night.
And what evidence is there that it IS genuine? Oh, the fact that at some point earlier they wrote code to poll user games to count buildings.
Well if a genuine and accurate counter was created back in the day, and it's so easy to use and so reliable, why did they replace it with a fake one during Halloween?
Last I'm going to say on the topic, because only EA knows for sure and it ultimately doesn't matter to anyone except players who a) assume it's real and b) base their gameplay on that assumption. Since I'm not one of those, it doesn't matter at all to me.
The Halloween counter was fake just like the moon landing, right?
If you believe the Halloween counter was genuine, I think you're the only one here who does. Pretty sure even Exruciator would disagree with you on that one.
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know and thanks to the developers for realising that the first landmarks were borderline impossible.
Nope, he's not the only one.
Poorly coded perhaps, but fake, no, given the argument of both side and my experience in software development (ie how I would code the counter) have no reason to think it was fake, despite the public opinion of this forum.
Because real is always better than fake. Money, diamond rings, etc real always wins over fake.
Just throwing this out there, don't care either way, but how do we know that counter was real? Hmmm.......? I've heard that 97.3% of all conspiracy theories have some basis in fact. I got that from the same place that I learned 62.8% of all statistics are made up.
Edit: 99.9% chance this edit was for spelling
You should also know the decision to make a change is often at the whim of a stuffed shirt who understands the concerns over making a live change and calls for it anyway over the devs recommendations.
You should know the steady rate could be an average over some time frame. Not a reflection of current activity but a delayed and averaged out.
You should know that if there is finite number of people that can be connected at one time and if people play around the world those will go a long way to smoothing out to a somewhat steady rate.
If the counter always trends upward even that could be regarded as "steady."
Any chance the up down pattern is mis-reported data and the subsequent correction? I would make sure the counter can never lower.
I still don't like it if I think about it. If it's fake and was meant to create an illusion of something not real then swing for the fences and manipulate the totals and the artificial rate of gift bags dropped.
They ALREADY showed a willingness to manipulate the totals if the observations are true...so why couple it with milestone reduction? Every response I have seen doesn't make sense.
Fun to think about, anyway.
Seems to me I'm not totally alone.
EA has demonstrated they have the means to track player activity, they had a year's worth of information from last Halloween, last Christmas, Valentines and then Whacking Day to come up with a reasonable approximation of how many of what things an "average" player could and what goals could be reached while the special event is going on so the existence of an accurate global counter for Halloween doesn't seem all that far fetched. Could it still be fake? It's not beyond the realm of possibilities, but it doesn't really make sense that it would be given that a real one could be so easily constructed given what they already had and the potential blowback from the fraud being exposed. If you accept the Halloween counter was fake it doesn't make sense that the Christmas counter and goals would then be screwed up so badly.
+1. Wait, no that is wrong 1+1... carry the seven... oh yeah! 2!
+2!
I never looked closely enough at it. What I do know is that you could have nearly set your watch to it.
Which made me think the Xmas one was real.
If they already had a proven fake counter from Hallowe'en why the screw ups with the Xmas one? Didn't you just "successfully" pull off a fake counter without milestone changes or any alterations?
I'll add spAnser to the list of people who think the Halloween counter was probably real.
Not only am I keeping a lot of company, I'm keeping good company too!
5th basically cut in half. Very significant drop.
Yes, it's the reduction in the last four that is the good news, here
Thanks for letting us know, Spanser
I'm starting to think you have a serious crush on Josh. He lives in your head rent free.
That guy must really grind your gears.